Amazon.com description: Product Description: Economic Change in East Malaysia is an authoritative study in the economic history of Sabah and Sarawak since the 19th century. It emphasises their distinctive colonial history, the attempts at modernisation since they became part of Malaysia in 1963 and the economic and environmental consequences of their continued economic dependence on a relatively small range of primary products, including timber. In addition to reinterpreting economic change over a long-term period, the book provides for the first time a comparative account of economy and society in Sabah and Sarawak. A second focus is on the tension between these states and the federal government on issues like oil revenue and immigration.