This study investigated low-level primary education of rural village schools in Malaya to determine the influence of education in the development of the Malaysian community during the period from the 1890's to 1941. In addition, the concept that the "mass" can develop into an "audience" with specific interests and demands was considered. The four sources of information for the research were official government records in London and Kuala Lumpur, interviews with Malay schoolteachers, the pre-war Malay press, and a local survey in the subdistrict of Ulu Langat, Selangor, Malaya. The investigation revealed that, at the establishment of the colonial government (1896), the Malays of the Federated Malay States were not a homogeneous community, but a diversity of Malaysian peoples. The period of British rule saw the emergence of the Malay community as colonial policies caused both stimulation and reaction. Among the educational forces contributing to the creation of a cultural community were the government Malay vernacular primary schools, the trained Malay schoolteachers, the Islamic religious teachers, and the secular Malay vernacular press. (Author/JS)