Researching social welfare history in Malaysia using archival materials

Scholars intent on learning about history and the development of social welfare in Malaysia would be confronting challenging difficulties to locate and obtain appropriate documented sources, since reference are not readily available.The social welfare history has not received attention from scholars it deserves, as compared to economic and political aspects.Though there are contributions to the literature that suggest social welfare in Malaysia was originally moulded by the British, to date not many research has been undertaken to explain or ascertain this proposition especially from the Malaysian perspectives.The use of archival materials in studies would be considered ‘unusual’ because during the British administration period, most references are located elsewhere in many archives in the world.To contribute to the knowledge base of social welfare, the first aspect to be learned is its history.Thus, it is the researcher’s intention to explore the archival materials in Malaysia as well as overseas to provide, in essence, an understanding of welfare provision in Malaysia. This paper discusses the use of both the archival materials and other sources to project a more vivid documentation on the history and development of social welfare in Malaysia during the era of the British colonialisation