Years later, I realised the irony: the drink that sweetened my childhood was once used to sweeten colonial control. But colonial Malaya, with characteristic efficiency, saw in toddy not culture but convenience. If empire could be distilled into a drink, toddy was its tropical edition: simple to make, quick to ferment, and perfect for “pacifying the labour force”. In Malaya, toddy anaesthetised it. One reformist summarised it best before a closed toddy hut in Kedah: “We are not fighting the drink.

Source: The Edge Markets January 12, 2026 01:16 UTC