MALAYA
1. The Federation of Malaya gained independence in 1957. It had be formed in 1948 from the old Federated Malay States, the Unfederated Malay States and two of the Straits Settlements. (Singapore, the third became a British colony). There were two administrative services in Malaya in 1957, -the Malayan Civil Service (MCS) and the Malayan Administrative Service (MAS). The MCS originated in the Federated Malay States in the nineteenth century; it did not operate in the Unfederated Malay States. It was the elite service and the preserve of British officers. According to 1911 regulations its members were to be "of pure European descent on both sides". This was to prevent the recruitment of Eurasians as well as locals. The MAS was set up later as a special service for Malays in the Unfederated Malay States, and as a junior branch of the MCS. Entrants to the MAS were Malays educated at the college specially created for the purpose and nominated for the service. They were predominantly of good birth ie related to the Malay aristocracy.
2. The Unfederated Malay States did not have a unified civil service; there were separate state civil services. In the Straits Settlements, a civil service (the Straits Settlements Civil Service was created in 1933 and recruited numbers of Chinese and Indians.
3. It appears that when the Federation of Malaya was set up in 1948 the MCS and the MAS were extended to cover the whole of the Federation. It is not clear what happened to the Straits Settlements Civil Service but it is likely that it was subsumed in the two. Over the years some Malays from the MAS had been promoted to the MCS. As Malaya moved towards independence, it was agreed that the MCS should be "Malayanised", beginning in 1954. The number of Malays thereafter rose steadily. I attach a table indicating the ethnic composition of the MCS from 1950-1970 and a table of the Malayanisation of the senior bureaucracy from 1956-62.
4. Of the local civil servants in 1957, the Malays would have been predominantly Malayan nationals. Of the Chinese and Indians, those originating from the Straits Settlements were likely to have been Citizens of the UK and Colonies as well as Malayan citizens. Some may not have registered for Malayan citizenship, and remained only Citizens of the UK and Colonies. Others, because of their origins in the "protected states" of the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, may have become stateless. There are no easily obtainable break-downs for the status of Malayan civil servants of local origin at independence and colonial official recruitment schemes did not specify the status of locals invited to apply.
civil servants at independence and the official colonial recruitmen schemes did not specify the status of locals invited to apply.
Page 15Page 16
Mr Morris HKD