Uneven Economic Development In Malaysia

Although there are many factors also contributing to the uneven economic development in Malaysia, the British colonial rule, during the 1700s to the till the late 1900s, is the key factor to how malaysia has become today and also the uneven economic development in the states of Malaysia. Uneven economic development means different states in Malaysia developing and improving the standards of living and economic health at different rates, and also having different amounts of revenue. The unevenness is due to the federated malay states being generally more economically developed than the unfederated malay states, which are less economically developed, with the exception of Johor. In this essay, I will be discussing British colonial rule is the

One major impact of the British colonial rule is education. The British had brought education to the people of Malaya that they had colonised. However, states like Perlis and Terengganu were part of the Unfederated malay states and thus, they did not get as much education as the Federated malay states such as Perak and Kelantan. Due to the people in the federated malay states being more educated than the Unfederated malay states, more revenue will come to the Federated malay states as the people in Federated malay states will have more job opportunities and thus, the economy will be better in Federated malay states than Unfederated malay states. Also, a standardised currency system was put in place by the British to help boost economic growth for those states they colonised. This can be seen from different states of Malaya having different currencies such as seashells, or cattle trading and when British came they established a unified currency, the straits dollar, to allow a diverse trade for all states. This means that at that point in time, traders could not bring currencies into other states, and thus the value of money differed through the states.When the British left, they left behind infrastructure such as roads, bridges, harbours and railways for the states they colonised. These roads and bridges were used by the British to connect the tin mines and rubber plantation. One example is the first railway line in Malaya which connected Taping in Perak to Port Weld. By introducing education into Malaya, mostly federated malay states, the British had helped the people become more educated and this in turn will give the people of Malaya more experience and job opportunities which will then bring the state’s economy higher due to the higher revenue that the state is getting.By putting in place a standardized currency, trade is able to occur around the states without having