ABSTRACT
The founding of the Straits Settlements in the early nineteenth century and the availability of capital, labour and natural resources expedited interest in the Malay States. Utilitarianism, capitalism and modern bureaucracy entered the lexicon of the political economy of the Malay States. The law of increasing returns and path dependence ensured that Malay demands continued to be kept up. With Malay demands comes greater Malay capacity that saw the creation of strings of Malay-based institutions – the Malay land reservation enactment, the Malay Administrative service, the Conference of Malay rulers, the special quotas for Malay civil servants, the creation of Malay education institutions that produced intellectuals who then contributed to Malay nationalism. The exclusive nature of Malay institutions was evenly matched by the emergence of non-Malay exclusive institutions, particularly involving Malaya’s second largest community, the Chinese.
