Majlis Amanah Rakyat / Noor Natasha Edora Abd Aziz

Malaysia is one of a few countries in which a majority and politically dominant ethnic group, the Burniputera were socially excluded and economically in the aftermath of colonial rule. Since the fall of Malacca to the Portuguese in 1511, the Malay states have fallen to the Western powers, such as the Portuguese, the Dutch, and the British. British occupation of Malaya brought about considerable changes in the economic structure of native society. The Malays were more focused on rural areas, in line with their kampong-centred traditional agricultural economy. The Chinese were concentrated in towns that ran the modern economy. Likewise, the Indians were focused in the estates to work the rubber plantations. This dual economy eventually led to a wide economic gap between the rich and the poor. In the 20th century, Malaya showed a rapid economic development. This development focused on tin mining and rubber planting. The two modern economic activities grew rapidly in Malaya after British arrival, but the opportunity to participate in this economy was not seized upon by the Malays, who were more comfortable with the traditional self-sufficient farming and fishing activities. Although in the early stages, tin mining was the domain of Malay nobility such as
Long Jaafar, the lack of manpower led the Malay nobles to allow Chinese entrepreneurs to run the mines. From here, the massive influx of Chinese
immigrants led to their monopolisation of this sector. This situation also happened in the rubber plantations, monopolised by the Indians that came from their motherland. This mass influx of Indian and Chinese labourers led to change in societal structure in Malaya. The situation then ultimately condemned the Malay society to economic backwardness. They were beginning to be concerned with the economic power of other races in Malaya, while feeling threatened in their position as the natives. They realised that if this economic weakness was coupled with political impotency, it would threaten their position and caused them to lose out to the other races. To remedy this economic imbalance, the British High Commissioner proposed the creation of the Rural Industrial Development Agency (RDA).