The Rubber Kingdom - Malaysia

In the 1920s, the Malay Peninsula became the world-famous "Rubber Kingdom". 
The colonists vigorously promoted rubber cultivation. 
In 1786, British colonists invaded the Malay Peninsula. Subsequently, they established a comprehensive colonial rule over this region for over a hundred years. 
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the electrical industry and the tire manufacturing sector rose rapidly, and the demand for rubber in the international market increased dramatically. 
The British colonists began to focus on developing the rubber industry on the Malay Peninsula. 
From 1870 to 1937, the United Kingdom increased its investment, which led to the continuous expansion of the area and scale of rubber plantations in this region. 
From 1895 to 1927, British colonizers imported a large number of cheap laborers from India and China, solving the problem of labor supply. 
With the rise of plantations, the rubber production on the Malay Peninsula increased from less than 200 tons to 636,000 tons per year. 
A single industry can lead to serious consequences. 
The rapid rise and excessive prosperity of the rubber industry objectively promoted the economic development of the Malaysian Peninsula. 
After that, a large number of cities developed. For instance, Kuala Lumpur, benefiting from the prosperity of tin mines and rubber plantations, gradually grew into the largest city on the Malay Peninsula. 
The fiscal revenue also increased significantly, rising from 200,000 pounds in 1874 to 12 million pounds in 1940. 
However, the sole focus on developing the rubber industry in the Malaysian peninsula has led to a series of adverse consequences. 
The most serious issue is that the industrial structure is overly simplistic, with lagging manufacturing development; the country's reliance on foreign trade is high, making the economy fragile; the area of grain cultivation has sharply decreased, resulting in the inability to achieve self-sufficiency in grain; and regional development is gradually becoming unbalanced. 
Even after the independence of the Malaysian Peninsula, these factors still hindered the normal development of its economy and society.