Slavery in Malaysia

In the 19th-century, the territory successively came under the control of the British Empire, which started a process to gradually abolish slavery and slave trade from the 1870s until the final abolition in 1915.

During this time, Orang Asli groups suffered raids by the Minangkabau and Batak forces who perceived them to be of lower in status.

Orang Asli settlements were sacked, with adult males being systematically executed while women and children were taken captive and sold into slavery.

[6][7] Hamba abdi (meaning, bondslaves) formed the labour force both in the cities and in the households of chiefs and sultans.

[12] A British report from the 1880s described slavery in Pahang and customs of "unlimited corvee, [and] the right of the Sultan to force women and children into his harem, were all abusers that had to be taken on, but only gradually and with sufficient civil servants, police and military on the ground".

In 1875 the British forcibly introduced the abolition of slavery in Perak, which was finalized under Hugh Low's residency on 31 December 1883.

[17] In 1887, they effectively undermined the institution of slavery in Pahang by providing slaves the same legal protection as free people.

[25] Maxwell did not trust the British, since he was aware of the colonial British policy to avoid interference in issues that could cause unrest, and he forcefully campaigned against the common custom in the region to sell Chinese and Teochew children as slaves under the guise of adoption, as well as to classify the mui tsai trade as slavery, which was done in Straits Settlements in 1933.