British colonial policies set the stage for the subsequent balance between state and civil society in Malaysia, including the persistent racial stratification of the public sphere, cross-racial differences in modes of state–society engagement and the focus on development of citizenship skills for some groups and autonomous self-regulation for others. This article explores the vestiges and implications of this legacy in Malaysia to assess, first, how determining an effect the colonial experience had on later political developments; and, second, how consideration of the sort of civil society and state–society relations that emerged out of this historical context adds nuance to our understanding of semi-democracy. Source: Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 43:1, 61 – 81, March 2005. Author: Weiss, Meredith.