Page 90 - Ancient Kingdoms: Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam

Initially the plan was to create an independent state with equal citizenship for all no matter
their ethnicity (by this time Malaysia was a mix of locals, known as Malays, plus Indians and
Chinese who had immigrated during the British Empire days). But many of the Malays wanted
the government to be in their hands alone, causing a political split that largely ran along
race lines. The situation was further complicated by the rise of a Communist insurrection in
$ # 1]ZX $ # _Z $! 8LWLd^TL bL^ TY L ^_L_P ZQ PXP]RPYNd L^ OTʬP]PY_ R]Z`[^ QZ`RS_ QZ]
control, with the British/Malay faction ultimately winning.

However, the racial divisions continued to be an issue for decades. Often policies favored
the Malay majority over the Chinese and Indian populations, a trend known as “positive
discrimination”. Today many of these policies are written into the Malaysian constitution (and
\`P^_TZYTYR _SPX T^ _PNSYTNLWWd TWWPRLW NL`^TYR XLYd _Z ^PP ]LNP ]PWL_TZY^ L^ _SP OPʭYTYR T^^`P
of modern Malaysia.

90