The early history of “classical” development economics is closely intertwined with the experi­ences of developing countries during the period from the 1940s to the 1960s.

This was a period which witnessed the decolonization of many Southeast Asian countries. Much of the economic thought that emerged in these countries during this period was very much related to the economic challenges faced by these countries after gaining independence.

In the case of Southeast Asia, there have been relatively few studies that have attempted to review how economic thought has evolved. The main purpose of this chapter is to address this gap by providing a concise narrative of what can be termed as a brief history of economic thought in Indonesia and Malaysia. The reader might ask: why Indonesia and Malaysia? In a sense, there is an element of arbitrariness in this choice — the two contributors specialize in Indonesia and Malaysia. However, the two countries provide a useful opportunity for a comparative study of economic thought in two geographically proximate states. Whilst the national languages of the two countries are very similar (“Bahasa” in Indonesia and Malaysia), the economic and political trajectories have been very different since the countries’ independence, and were also rather distinct before this time. The structure of the chapter is as follows. The first section will provide a brief historical background that will serve as a context for the history of economic thought in the two countries. The second section dwells briefly on economic thought in the pre­independence period. The core of the chapter then focuses on post-independence economic thought, while a final section concludes.