Tun Abdul Razak – Imagining Malaysia’s Future Through His Lenses

Following independence of Malaya in 1957 and the formation of Malaysia in 1963 its future looked good owing to massive exports of tin and rubber, a good education system, and healthcare system left by the British, though the latter two were largely concentrated in urban locations. 

However, the divide and rule policies of the British and the isolation of the ethnic Malays with the majority of them living in poverty, and the distinct locational, sectoral, and occupational differentiation ethnically intensified ethnic tensions, which boiled over into the 1969 bloodshed. 

Hence, the Razak administration launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971 targeting rural development and export-oriented manufacturing to alleviate poverty and remove ethnic identification by location, sector, and occupation. 

In addition to seeking a return in focus of future political leaderships to revive the spirit of cultural pluralism envisioned in the Rukun Negara, this book breaks ground by pointing to the vision that the Razak administration pursued through policies that strengthened the economic, political, and social fabric of the country to unite Malaysians from all walks of life.