It also sought to circumscribe the sultans’ influence by centralizing the power of the Malay states and Malacca and Penang into a single, directly ruled British entity. Britain also sought to confer “Malayan Union Citizenship,” a distinct common citizenship status, on all locally born Chinese and Indians, who would join the Malay population already holding citizenship claims bestowed by the sultans. The newly formed United Malays National Organisation, comprised almost entirely of Malays, rebuffed British plans. For the organization’s members, Britain was violating the inviolable: the nominal
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