MALAYA: 1,200,000 New Citizens

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One of the factors that makes Malaya a chronic Asiatic trouble spot and a major headache for the West is its population. Roughly half of it (about 3,000,000) is Chinese. Relatively recent immigrants (most arrived during the last half-century), Malaya's Chinese are industrious and formidable trade competitors for the more easygoing Malays and East Indians. For that reason, Malayan lawmakers have blocked the Chinese from becoming citizens. Thus disfranchised, the mass of Chinese in Malaya have little patriotic interest in the country's future, and most of them tacitly support the guerrillas (almost all Chinese) whom a large British army has been doggedly fighting for three years. No matter what stern measures the British take, the guerrillas seem always to find a haven among their countrymen.

Finally, the British proposed to give citizenship in the Federation of Malaya to some of the Chinese, e.g., those born in certain Malayan provinces, or those with one Malaya-born parent. By these standards, the British estimated, only about 350,000 Chinese would be eligible for citizenship. The Malays did not like the idea, but after months of negotiations, they finally agreed. When the bill became law, it brought a whopping surprise to Malaya.

The original British estimate had been woefully off. Census officials reported last week that 1,200,000 Chinese—nearly four times as many as was originally estimated —are in fact eligible for citizenship under the conditions laid down by the new law. The Malays were shocked. They had thought that, legally speaking, the Chinese would only get a foot in the door; instead they were smack in the living room, i.e., they will have a major voice in government, escape trade restrictions on foreigners, etc. The British hope that they will also shoulder the duties of citizenship, including service in the Malayan army. But there was no doubt last week that, as one U.S. observer put it, "the federation got more than it had bargained for."