History

Kuala Lumpur came into being in the late 1860s when a band of prospectors in search of tin landed at the meeting point of the Kelang and Gombak rivers and imaginatively named the place Kuala Lumpur--'Muddy Convergence'. More than half of those first arrivals died of malaria and other tropical diseases, but the tin they discovered in Ampang attracted more miners and K.L. quickly became a noisy, brawling, violent boom town.

Shifting between colonial powers--largely at the mercy of events in Europe--the whole Malaysia peninsula came under British rule in 1913, when it was known as British Malaya. The economy prospered; by the commencement of WWII, Malaya supplied nearly 40% of the world's rubber and 60% of its tin. This pre-war boom period also saw massive movements of Chinese and Indian nationals to the region. By 1931, the Chinese outnumbered the indigenous Malays. The war had a devastating effect on Malaya, which fell to the Japanese with relative ease. It took Japanese forces just a month to repel the British and move into Kuala Lumpur. A month later, the Japanese were at Singapore.

Following WWII, the British inherited a nation brimming with racial tension. Chinese guerillas who had earlier fought the Japanese turned on the British, prompting the declaration of 'the Emergency'--a state that lasted a decade. When Malaya gained independence in 1955, a coalition of Malays, Indians and Chinese assumed power, although the constitution granted indigenous Malays special privileges. In 1963 Malaysia came into being, combining Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah (Brunei pulled out at the last moment). As soon as the new nation was formed, the Philippines laid claim to Sabah, while Indonesia laid claim to the whole 'East Malaysia' region. British troops in the region took three years to quell the threat. At the same time, a dispute erupted between Singapore and Malaya over pro-Malayan policies. Singapore was kicked out of the union in 1965.

Although Malaysia was by the mid-60s a politically united country, internal political and social problems continued. Despite the luxury of legal privileges, Malays had a very weak hold on Malaysia's economy. In 1969 only 1.5% of company assets in Malaysia were held by Malays, and they had a per-capita income that was less than 50% of non-Malays. Despite this, there was still much resentment directed towards the Malays, spilling over into bloody riots following the 1969 election. From then until now, successive governments have attempted to gradually legislate away inequities between races in Malaysia. Running alongside this push for equality is a strengthening Islamic resurgence. Many fear that a growing religious divide might reverse the trend towards peace and economic stability in Malaysia. A full-blown Islamic revival threatens to adversely affect Malaysia's economy, and widen the rift between Malays and ethnic Chinese.

Ethnic troubles aside, Malaysia has also been gripped recently by the Asian economic crisis which began in Thailand in 1997. This crash was the first significant glitch on the otherwise bullish Malaysian economy since WWII. The staging of the Commonwealth Games in 1998 was seen as a feather in Malaysia's cap, and helped restore some national confidence. This revival was somewhat overshadowed by political and social turmoil sparked by the sacking and arrest of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.