Number of words: 237

Singapore was a busy city inhabited by Chinese, Indians, Malays and of course the British. It was a free port and everything was duty free and cheap. A trading centre around which the far east revolved which created, on the one hand great prosperity and on the other hand extreme poverty.

For the lucky ones money was plentiful but nobody carried any cash. You signed a chit for everything you bought, even a box of matches, and your bills rolled in at the end of each month. 

For the most part the Chinese, and to a lesser degree, the Indians were the business people, while the Malays followed more leisurely pursuits such as gardening, fishing and chauffeuring private cars. 
The British ran the government and the civil service and occupied the more important posts in the trading companies. 

Upcountry, on the mainland of Malaya, lay the main wealth. Over 3 million acres of rubber and almost half the world’s supply of tin. The planters, with their beautiful spacious bungalows and gardens and the large force of Tamil labour, were almost entirely European and enjoyed a standard of living unheard of by their counterparts in Europe. One of my first priorities was to learn Bazar Malay, the common business language spoken by everybody and far removed from the Rajah Malay spoken by the better class Malays.

Excerpted from Pg 6-7 of ‘Guest of an Emperor’ by Arthur Cransie