ABSTRACT
Although Malaya became independent in 1957, the British lingered until 1960, when officially the state of emergency was ended. The new government was headed by Tunku Abdul Rahman (1957–1970), who came from a princely family and was a pro-Western, pronouncedly anti-Communist Anglophile. He wanted very much to redress the imbalance of the British days when the ethnic Malays had lagged far behind the Chinese community in education, economy, and civil service. As prime minister, his policy would be to integrate the Chinese community into the national mainstream by containing the Communist guerrilla movement (mostly consisting of ethnic Chinese) and to give special attention to the Malays, the Bumiputras (Sons of the Soil), to make up for past neglect.
