A Far Eastern Shipping Giant

In 1824, an Anglo-Dutch treaty confirmed British control of the Malay States of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore, while demarcating the influence of the Dutch over Java. A serious terrorist insurgency existed in Malaya from 1948 until July 1960 when three military operations finally cleared the jungles of terrorists. Operation Seladang in Pahang State, operation Bamboo in North Perak State, and operation Brooklyn in Kedah State were successful, but the total cost of the insurgency to the British government was over £700 million. British and Australian troops had killed or captured 9,581 terrorists at a loss among their own numbers of 1,851 troops killed and 2,526 wounded.

The population of peninsular Malaya was 49% Malay, 39% Chinese and 12% Indian, and the path forward to Malaysian independence would have to take into account both economic and political considerations. Rubber was the most important cash crop in peninsular Malaya, timber was the main export earner in Sabah in Borneo, while petroleum exports were increasing in Sarawak in Borneo. Oil palm and cocoa developments were planned, while new industries including electronics and electrical goods and textiles were planned in the new economic strategy, covering the next twenty years of the newly independent country of Malaysia.

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