Question) The economic pattern used by the British colonialists left significant impacts on the socio-economic status of the Malaysian community after the independence. 

What were the impacts and how did the government deal with the economic challenges at that time?

 

Malaysia gained independence in the year 1957 when the British colonialist left their country. These are some of the social-economic impacts that the British colonialist left and how the Malaysian government managed to deal with them;

1. The rural population had until independence been neglected with regards to education an modernization. The Malaysian government ensured that they expanded the primary and secondary education in rural areas.
2. With the British policy of divide and rule, some ethnic communities were left underprivileged when the British colonialists left Malaysia in 1957, therefore the government corrected this by providing equal opportunities in farming,education, production and export to all its citizens with the aim of rectifying historical imbalances that had occurred during the British colonial period.
3. Upon gaining independence, Malaysian economy was largely based on handful of agricultural and mineral exports and the ethnic Malay people largely worked in areas of low productivity and poverty was widespread among them. The government created a policy of redistribution and development state with the aim to address the historical shortcomings and tackle backwardness among the largest racial groups .
4. The British colonialist took control of all the factors of production i.e capital, labor and land and therefore entrepreneurship was hardly practiced by the Malay community. The government rectified this by training its citizens on entrepreneurship after independence hence making the economy to grow fast.
5. The creation of Rural and industrial Development Authority (RIDA) and the Federal Land Development Authority ( FELDA) which helped in increasing Malays participation in business and land reforms, which encouraged cultivation of cash crops .