The Survival, Revival and Decline of British Economic Influence in Malaysia, 1957-70

Independence for Malaya in 1957 (and the enlargement of the federation to form Malaysia in 1963) did not have an immediately adverse effect upon British economic interests there. Indeed, Britain retained, and even revived, its huge commercial, industrial, and financial presence in Commonwealth Southeast Asia well into the 1960s. From the middle of that decade, however, British economic influence in Malaysia declined quite rapidly. The main focus of this article is to examine three possible causes of this downturn: declining competitiveness on the part of British manufactures; UK government policy towards private investment and public expenditure overseas; and entrepreneurial weaknesses among the British agency houses in Malaysia.