History of Malaysia

Around the first century BC the Malay people, who mostly lived in isolated villages, got in contact with the nearby large civilizations of India and China. Traders from these areas had great influence on the culture, language and social habits. Small farm and fishing villages were transformed and organized into political states like in India. Hinduism and Buddhism were introduced. The worldwide development of navy and navigation and the growing role of naval trade routes gave the Malays an important role in the trade between East and West (Ars, 2001).
In the thirteenth century Arabic and Indian traders spread the word of the Islam, which rapidly was taken over by the Malay people and rulers. For the population the Islam meant unity and identity, for traders and leaders converting to the religion also had political and economic motives. The Islam penetrated the entire Malaysian culture and society, but not as extreme as in other countries like Afghanistan and Iran.
In 1511 the Portuguese set foot on the island of Malacca as the first Europeans. The Portuguese did not only come for the spices and luxurious goods, they also tried to spread Christianity and exterminate the Islam. They failed in doing this. The Portuguese were beaten by the Dutch East India Company in 1641, which colonized Malacca until the Brits came (Ars, 2001).
The British took over Malacca from the Dutch in 1824 in exchange of the city Bencoolen in Sumatra. The British started the process of political integration of the Malay states in what was later called British Malaya. Local Malay rulers were allowed to keep their position, in exchange for the British to indirectly use their power to control the island. The colonization by the British has had a great impact on the Malaysian society and economy, a turning point in the history of the country. Malaysia and Singapore were embedded in the British Empire and a government, public services and infrastructure were set up. The British were involved in a lot of trade with the Chinese and stimulated their immigration for more trade and to let them work in the tin mines. The British thought the Malay people were lazy workers, so labourers from India were imported to work at the rubber plants and as civil servants. This was the start of the delay of the Malay people in contrast to the Indian but especially the Chinese, which was the base for the racial conflicts years later (Ars, 2001).
In 1942 the Japanese conquered Malaysia. The cruel treatment of the population by the Japanese ensured that the British were welcomed again after the war was over in 1945. But the occupation did change something: the people had started to think about being independent. The struggle for independence had started and in August 1957 Malaya became independent from the British. In 1963 the British colonies of Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah joined from what of then would be called Malaysia. Singapore joined Malaysia, although there were a lot of problems with the majority of the population being Chinese. Because of that, tensions grew stronger and two years after the connection Singapore was kicked out of the federation. Tensions between Malay people and people from Singapore still exist (Ars, 2001).
The Malaysian government had the difficult task of uniting the different races and cultures under one flag. The Chinese dominated the economy and the Malays ran the politics. The Malays got more control in 1967 when the Islam was claimed to be the national religion and Bahasa Malaya the national language. This led to Chinese opposition and eventually in 1969 to race riots. Hundreds of people were killed, houses were burnt and stores were plundered. A state of emergency was called out for the next two years. After the riots the government tried to restore the delay of the Malays by introducing the ‘bumiputra’ (princes of the country) politics. The traditional population would get a place in the modern economy: every company was obliged to hire Malay people, Malays were favoured in receiving higher education and could become more active in the government. The bumiputra politics eventually did not have much of an effect. Until today the government has not succeeded to give the Malays an equal position and economy and politics still are divided by racial lines (Ars, 2001).