Report tries to assess the possible effect on Malayan society if Sarawak, Brunei, North Borneo and Singapore unite to form the Federation of Malaysia.

Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman says the purpose of the plan is to end colonialism and simultaneously prevent the spread of communism, a real threat considering the 20,000 strong army in nearby Vietnam. Commonwealth Malaysia would be anti-communist but also anti-SEATO and so Britain could only use her bases under the terms of a separate defence treaty. Malaya herself at present enjoys comparative prosperity (based on tin and rubber) and racial harmony. Creation of Malaysia incorporating one million extra Chinese could however upset the already artificial balance (civil service has four Malays to every Chinese) between the commercially active Chinese and the predominantly rural and poorer Malays. Interviewed Malays discount the possibility of racial strife although an economist at the multiracial University of Malaya does admit that the tensions existing between prosperous traders and poor farmers and fishermen can easily be misrepresented as a racial conflict.