The Malaysian Estates Staff Provident Fund 1947-2017: Malaysia's Oldest Provident Fund, with an Economic, Social and Political Perspective

Dato’ Jeyaraj C. Rajarao, born in Penang in 1932, was an undergraduate at the University of Malaya in Singapore and proceeded to the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University, on a British Council Scholarship in October 1959. In 1960 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship though, after clashing with one of his supervisors, he resigned his scholarship and returned home in 1961.Despite the instructions of the Alliance government not to employ him, J.M.B. Hughes defiantly gave Rajarao a temporary teaching job at Penang Free School where he taught from 1962 to 1964. He was the assistant city secretary for George Town City Council in 1965, but had to leave in 1966 when the council was taken over by the Alliance. He then joined the Rubber Research Institute of Malaysia where he retired in 1987 as head of the Publications, Library and Information Division. He writes extensively on the history of socio-economics, and is the author of The Legacy of MARDEC: Origin, Development and Contributions to the Rubber Industry, which was awarded the best book prize on commerce and industry in 2014.Rajarao continues to pursue his ideals of a just, fully democratic, harmonious and progressive Malaysia, and actively supports many events and undertakes various projects to ensure these ideals are realised.