Since the rejection of the 1949 Labor Bill in Malaya by the Council of Sultans, communal relations between the Malay and non-Malay communities of Malaya have steadily deteriorated. Rhetoric between major Malay and non-Malay parties has become increasingly vitriolic, as the two have increasingly seen their interests as being directly at odds with each-other, and the policies pursued by their respective political parties have accordingly taken a zero-sum perspective. With the disintegration of the Alliance and the Malayan Chinese Association, the battle lines have been firmly drawn between the UMNO and the AMCJA, with the MCP as a third party implicitly supporting the AMCJA’s ethnic policy, while focusing more on labor issues.

Throughout this conflict, the various Sultans have launched a major protest against the Commonwealth (in some cases seemingly due to the pressure of their subjects rather than their own desires), vetoing every bill placed before them. While many bills important for the function of the state have been in turn overridden by the Governor-General, most bills making a departure from the status quo have been allowed to fail, for fear of triggering a stronger Malay backlash. The fallout from the “Halim Affair” continues to poison relations between the British and Malays — the colonial government has refused to acknowledge the incident at all, while Malay leaders have constructed increasingly conspiratorial narratives of a far-reaching British conspiracy to put the country in the hands of the Chinese.

Race riots have broken out in most of Malaya’s cities, often spurred on with the implicit aid of the Malay elite, who have helped transport ethnic Malay rioters from their rural strongholds into the cities, and have probably convinced the Malay elements of the police force to turn a blind eye (though this is for now impossible to prove). Even more worrying for the British, the Sultans are increasingly asserting themselves through their appointed State Councils, passing bills to further enshrine the role of Malay customs in day-to-day life and even attempting to create implicitly all-Malay local police and paramilitary forces. So far, most of these bills, which are arguably unconstitutional under the Commonwealth, have been put on hold by the Governor, but pressure is mounting on the British to do something to repair relations with the Malays.

The UMNO’s newest set of demands:

• Britain should make a formal investigation into the “Halim Affair” and dismiss those responsible.

• All Chief Ministers and senior officials of the Malay States should be Malays appointed with the consent of the Malay rulers.

• Britain should provide a concrete timeline for the independence of Malaya as a primarily-Malay state.

• Britain should make a concrete effort to level the economic playing field between Malays and other races.

Meanwhile, the MCP has been steadily growing in strength due to widespread labor unrest. Communist organizers have made great inroads among working-class Chinese, and even managed to recruit a sizable contingent of Indian and Indonesian migrant workers, Orang Asli tribespeople, and Malays. The MCP’s control over the labor movement has also strengthened, as the recent leadership elections for most of the unions in the Pan-Malayan General Labor Union have resulted in a large number of Communists being elected.

However, the MCP has largely shifted away from ethnic politics despite their general platform of a Malaya open to all races, sensing that their brand as a Chinese organization has harmed their overall viability as a political force. Instead, the MCP has concentrated their rhetoric against British-owned big businesses, a common target for Malay and non-Malay alike. Killings of British plantation managers have continued at a slow but terror-inducing pace, with together with widespread strikes have put a meaningful dent in the bottom line of the colony and of the Sterling Area as a whole.

However, as frustration against the British authorities (for failing to accomplish any meaningful reforms) and the Malay elite (well, they’re literally aristocrats) mounts, talk of armed struggle has also started to spread. Worrying reports have started to filter into Kuala Lumpur of weapons being stolen from police stations and large numbers of rural Chinese going into the mountains to receive guerilla training and indoctrination sessions.

However, despite the general sense that things are coming apart at the seams, there remains hope for a peaceful settlement. The increasingly visible strength of the Communists has led to talk amongst the AMCJA and UMNO of a settlement agreeable to both communities — the average Chinese businessman is just as, if not more anti-communist than a Malay Sultan. The respective leaders of the opposing camps are coming to realize that their division has only fueled the communist boogeyman, though this message has clearly not reached the rank and file, fired up with ethnic resentments as they are.

The leader of the UMNO, Onn Jafaar, has signaled his openness to the opening of the UMNO to non-Malays and the transformation of the party into a big-tent organization on the two pillars of independence and anti-communism (and necessarily in support of relative equality). Other Malay leaders have viewed this with great skepticism, but even Tunku Rahman has been increasingly speaking of “alignment of communal interests” and “constructive cooperation.” AMCJA leader Tan Cheng Lock has likewise made lukewarm statements in favor of political unity.

TLDR:

• Malays continue to be not happy and are doing everything they can to peacefully obstruct British rule, and also maybe want their own paramilitary forces.

• Non-Malays are also not happy with the British but are less inclined to rock the boat.

• The two can’t quite decide whether they dislike each other or the British more but they’re seemingly moving towards joining against the British and the communists.

• The communists are growing in both strength and notoriety as labor unrest, often leading to bloodshed, consumes Malaya.

• The British foreign trade balance is not having a good time.

Political Party Speedrun: