The Chinese in Malaya by Victor Purcell was published in 1948.
It was presented to me by my firm’s senior partner CYC in 2014. It is a gem.
Dr Purcell was an honorary political adviser to the MCA. He is famous for saying Templer was anti-chinese. (p xx and xx1 Templer and the road to Malayan Independence by Leon Comber, 2015 published).
Since then, the next survey on the Chinese in Malaysia is the 2000 book edited by Lee Kam Hing and Tan Chee Beng.
The 3rd book I have here is on Cantonese Society in HK and Spore. It’s a collection of essays written by a British anthropologist who lived in Spore 1951-55 and HK 1955-1983.
All 3 are now out of print.