Three distinct and very different ethnic groups, Malays, Chinese, and Indians, combined to form the populous of Malaysia. The nation evolved from a feudal colonial society into a singular, modern-day peaceful country. Malaysia's contributions to world affairs are significant, but as a country, it's often overlooked as a player on the world stage. During the past one hundred twenty years, Malaysia has made huge strides into the twenty-first century. The country's global evolvement from a shambled and discombobulated, piecemeal feudal system into a modern, unified powerhouse is a remarkable feat. Incredibly, despite undue external political pressures from the West and religious pressures from the Middle East, Malaysia has somehow mastered the technique of blending the best of the East and the West to form its own singular independent identity. The characters in the short stories of Malaya House reflect the temperament and social commentary of the times as well as the gradual evolvement and eventual maturity of a developing nation. They also illustrate how the citizens of Malaysia have decided that they can get along, put past hatred and racism aside, and show the world that people from all persuasions can live in relative peace and tolerance with Islam as their central core.

The first edition of the book was published in 1974, and received a book award for best non-fiction in English presented by the National Book Development Council of Singapore in 1976, while the Second Edition published in 1986, saw much more econometric-statistical analysis. This Third Edition highlights the role of banking and finance in the economic development of Singapore and Malaysia; recent developments in Singapore and Malaysia are analysed; and special topics are presented in Epilogues 1 and 2.