The 10. 27 million Peninsular Malaysian community comprises approximately 53 per cent Malays, 35 per cent Chinese, 11 per cent Indians, and 1 per cent other races. This ethnic pluralism evolved during the increased British political and economic involvement from 1850 to 1930, when large numbers of Chinese and Indians were brought in as cheap labourers to work the tin mines and rubber estates. In the beginning the majority of these immigrants usually returned to their native countries after a few years, but later an increasingly significant number decided to stay permanently, so that by 1957 more than two-thirds of them were local born.