A Company of Planters: Confessions of a Colonial Rubber Planter in 1950s Malaya

by John Dodd

Through a collection of letters written to his best friend and to his father in England, and from his own personal diary entries, John Dodd's memoir offers a fascinating and amusing glimpse of life as a colonial rubber planter. With true stories and confessions that would make even Somerset Maugham blush, we discover what life was really like for young colonial planters in late-1950s Malaya. Increasing daily rubber output may have been their goal but for the young planters the bigger picture of chasing girls and finding a ‘keep' was of much greater importance. But life was more than just a series of stengahs in the clubhouse, dalliances in the Chinese brothels of Penang and charming ‘pillow dictionaries' – there were strikes, riots, snakes, plantation fires and deadly ambushes by Communist terrorists to contend with. Set against the backdrop of the Emergency period, the rise of nationalism and Malaya's subsequent Independence, A Company of Planters is a very personal, moving and humorous account of one man's experiences on the frequently isolated rubber plantations of colonial Malaya.

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2007

Reviews

[Khairul Hezry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 21-year old Brit, fresh from working in Kenya applies for a job as a planter at a rubber estate in Malaya in 1956. After being asked just three simple questions at the interview, he finds himself on board a cruise ship bound for the Peninsula. Thus begins four years of John Dodd's life as a managerial assistant at a Kedah rubber estate in pre-Independence Malaya.

It's not all work though. He tells us of his forays into brothels in Penang which usually ends horribly wrong for him, looking out for Communists ambushes, attending Malay weddings (he hates the nasi minyak) and trying to figure out whether he's house is haunted by a pontianak.

A fun read though it could become tedious after reading page after page of his life on the plantation. The best parts of the book is where Dodd discusses his British colleagues who were by and large were just as inexperienced as him and some were just plain incompetent. He was surprised they held onto the land for this long with such poor quality management.

[Laine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished and enjoyed basically for its view on expat life, being an expat in SEAsia myself. I laughed a lot at his colonial attitude and rejoiced as he slowly adapted to his new world. While dated in the late 1950s, it still resonates.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book covers the same ground as Elephants, Tigers and Tappers: Recollections of a British rubber planter in Malaya, which is much better IMO. Both are the accounts from British expat rubber planters in Malaya in the late 1950s, but while that book was the result of actual descriptive writing and was chock full of beautiful landscape descriptions and interesting tales, Dodd's book is a mere aggregation of all the letters he wrote and diary entries from that period, seemingly with barely any editing. That would still have been okay had it not been quite dry reading of his comparably mundane days. Full of complaints of the people he worked with, both superiors and subordinates/servants, the monotony of the rubber plantation landscape and drudgery of his daily tasks, punctuated by the occasional trip to town to blow off steam at the whorehouse. No disrespect is intended here, for someone who persevered and became a permanent resident in Malaysia for thirty odd years, despite the grumbling. I suppose when one looks back on the past usually only the good memories remain, even if the daily experience itself was nothing to write home about (heh). An entire book consisting of the latter does not work well.

[Richard F · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. This book is at its best a fascinating perspective into 1950s post-war industrial colonialism and also a historic view into the life of the original 'expats' in southeast Asia. I liked the information on the dietary habits, management styles and traditions that we now find either quaint or antiquated. There also many stories to be entertained by, although they mostly revolve around drinking or hookups.

At its worst, it is a bit if a plodding repetitive account of what sounds like an uneventful and humdrum life on the rubber plantations, which caused managers to nitpick out of what sounds like boredom. But perhaps that is also the point?

Overall worth a read if you are interested into a unique historical perspective... Possibly the 'birth' of the expat.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting view of 1950s Malaya from a Colonial perspective.
The book doesn't leave much to the imagination and at times the author doesn't come across as that likeable, but I think this is because the account is so honest, which in itself is commendable.
It was great to read about how little some things have changed (I actually read some parts about the E&O Hotel whilst staying there) but how much other aspects have.
I also quite liked the varying tones between the various letter recipients and the diary, it was an interesting literary device (for a while at least).
Worth a read if you're interested in Malaysia.

[Jasmin Mohd-zain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho Hum.

Quite a promising read going by the backcover blurb. But every day is any day and any day is every day. So it seem in the book.

Maybe the writing format or the tone was a tad boring.

I read it for research abt ole Malaya.

[Sivasothi N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding his feet in Malaya, adventures of a rubber planter at the end of the Emergency

A light and entertaining read of the exploits of a new rubber planter in Malaya at the tail-end of the Emergency in Malaya which he saw little of. It’s pieced together from letters John Dodd wrote his best friend, father and his journal entries.

I’d like to have learnt more details about his job but this light touch made for a pleasant read and perhaps as a preamble to Boris Hembry’s “Malayan Spymaster : Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit Fighter and Spy”

[S THOMAS · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

Interesting facts about rubber planting and the machinations of bedding women in 50’s Malaya. The hank god for air conditioning today.

[Chris Austen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One can tell that the author has an enormous amount of experience in terms of the subject matter. Very well written and so diverse in the content. A fascinating book!