First published in 1990, this study analyses the development and success of the Malaysian economy since independence in 1957. The author explores various facets of the contemporary centrally-planned development policy and the colonial inheritance from which it derives. It becomes evident that rural bias is significant in the area of primary commodities, including rubber and tin, and in relation to the economy as a whole. This is in spite of a conspicuous shift in the manufacturing sector toward export-orientated high technology products.