Since independence in 1957, Malaysia had embarked on the complex decampment from entrenched British practices.
The powers-that-be intended to phase out the preference for the English language, customs, culture and outlook, and replace them with a new Malaysian identity and complexion. However, after three generations, the transition wasn't successful, but neither was it a failure.
A Malaysian-British culture emerged: new sensibilities, norms and practices but still rooted in old British soft imperialism. Here's the "Britishness" that Malaysia absorbed: wearing a suit and tie, collared shirt and dresses and gowns, easily interchangeable with national costumes and apparel.
Indispensable is drinking tea and coffee, eating fish and chips, steak, shepherd's pie, cake, biscuit and the big breakfast. Local pop culture blended comfortably with British fetishes, from going gaga over the Beatles and James Bond to fusing business and commercial practices and architecture into military, and civil and security services.
The classic literature of Shakespeare and Orwell was in the school syllabus, at least until the late 1970s, while communication in the Queen's and now the King's English became de rigueur. The British promoted primary industries like rubber and oil palm, which were exploited as major global exports.
This one is seared into Malaysians: British pillaging of natural resources and wealth but so was their socio-economic transformation and political shift from feudalism to Westminster-style democracy.
The last bastion of British essence that's undergoing a review: their legacy of laws. Should Malaysia retain, further study or abolish 164 pre-1969 laws? Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said is tasked with resolving this. Which law? Azalina did not say just yet, so the matter is still speculative but the government might delve into the security laws dating back to 1948 and the civil law ordinance conceived in the 1950s.
Perhaps a look at the contentious Sedition Act 1948 that criminalises speech deemed as inciting hatred or contempt against the government. Originally promulgated to check communist terrorists, civil societies have campaigned for a repeal or a softening of its archaic reach.
The Civil Law Ordinance 1956 links to English Common Law and equity rules, affecting also Sabah and Sarawak. Could it be that a new common law is being mulled? In line with current debate, the Malaysia Act of 1963 that merged Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore to form the Federation of Malaysia may be analysed. While the law rejected British sovereignty and jurisdiction, their influence is still codified.
By reviewing aspects of these British-minted laws, Malaysia is extricating itself from the last throes of British colonialism.
It may be decades overdue but realistically, prising Malaysia out of its historic British ethos continues to be a work in progress.