Into this world, Britain introduced its second colonial occupation, resulting in high unemployment, inflation, and increased taxes. To satisfy domestic economic needs, colonial officials sacrificed those of their subjects, while rescuing Malaya’s planters and miners to bring crucial dollars from the lucrative rubber and tin industries into the sterling area. After the war, 30 percent of Malaya’s exports went to the United States. British exchange controls, which reduced American imports thus conserving dollars, meant that Malaya had a trade surplus with the United States that surpassed the
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