Out in the Midday Sun

The story of British Malaya, from the days of Victorian pioneers to the denouement of independence, is a momentous episode in Britain's colonial past. The British came as fortune-seekers to exploit Asian trade shipped through Penang and Singapore. They found a mature Asian culture in a land of palm-fringed shores and primeval jungle. Like modern Romans, they built townships, defences, communications and hill stations, superimposed their law and established an idiosyncratic political system. They also developed the tin and rubber of the Malay States, encouraging Chinese and Indian immigrants by their open-door policy. The outcome was a vibrant multi-racial society - the most cosmopolitan in the East.