First Malaysia Plan

The plan's objectives were to promote the welfare of all citizens, and improve the living conditions in rural areas, particularly among low-income groups.

As a result, the government sought financial aid from the United States (US) to avoid having the plan crippled by a lack of funding, going as far as to express support for the Vietnam War, which was unpopular among certain segments of the Malaysian populace.

However, Malaysia never directly provided military support for the United States, in accordance with its policy of neutrality, and as a result, failed to receive substantial economic assistance from the US.

[5] The First Malaysia Plan also had to address the problem of unemployment, which reared its head for the first time in the 1960s; despite encouraging growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment rates had not grown at a commensurate pace.

The income disparity between rural and urban areas that the Second Malayan Five Year Plan had sought to resolve was also not satisfactorily eliminated.

The government also attempted to rehabilitate inefficient coconut holdings, modernise fishing methods, and provide assistance to poultry and livestock farmers.

Limited investment in social capital, despite the various land development schemes, had failed to either stem the tide of rural-urban migration or raise the incomes of rural families.

The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the leading party of the Alliance, in turn held its own march to "teach the Chinese a lesson".

[11] Although the NEP's stated goal was to "eradicate poverty" and "eliminate the identification of race with economic function" through a "rapidly expanding economy", many non-Malays considered it to be "an open and blatant form of racial discrimination".