ABSTRACT
Compared with most other countries in the world, Malaysia is economically well off. Its per capita income is the highest in Southeast Asia apart from those of Singapore and Brunei, and its credit is good. Worldwide forces that dictate the demand, and the prices, for Malaysia's exports are almost entirely beyond the government's control. Malaysia imports not only a substantial amount of food and manufactured goods but also machinery, equipment, and some oil and lubricants. After independence was gained in 1957, while political power lay in the hands of the Malays, economic power, apart from the substantial share possessed by foreign business, belonged mostly to the non-Malays, especially the Chinese. New Economic Policy objectives are: to attack poverty; to attain an "ethnic balance" in various economic sectors and occupations; to create more Malay entrepreneurs and managers; to raise the share of capital held by Malays; and to increase the proportion of Malays attending universities and similar institutions.
