MALAYSIA FORGING A PROSPEROUS NATION ENDLESS ROWS OF RUBBER TREES STRETCH FOR MILES OVER A LUSH RUBBER PLANTATION IN WESTERN MALAYA . IN THE EARLY MORNING HOURS, WOMEN TAPPERS EXTRACT THE THICK FLUID THAT IS THE LIFEBLOOD OF A NEW BRITISH COMMONWEALTH NATION THAT SOME TIME THIS SUMMER WILL COME INTO BEING . IT IS THE FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA, COMPOSED OF INDEPENDENT MALAYA, SELF-GOVERNING SINGAPORE, AND BRITISH PROTECTORATES OF SARAWAK, BRUNEI AND NORTH BORNEO . MALAYSIA IS THE DREAM OF MALAYA'S PRIME MINISTER ABDUL RAHMAN, 60, THE MAN ON THIS WEEK'S COVER . HE IS A CAMBRIDGE-EDUCATED LAWYER WHO LED HIS NATION TO INDEPENDENCE IN 1957 DURING ITS SUCCESSFUL, TWELVE-YEAR STRUGGLE AGAINST COMMUNIST GUERRILLA INSURGENTS . THE LARGEST PRODUCER OF RAW RUBBER IN THE WORLD, THE NEW COUNTRY WILL BE THE MOST PROSPEROUS AND BUSTLING NATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, ENCOMPASSING 129,500 SQUARE MILES AND 10 MILLION PEOPLE OF ELEVEN ETHNIC GROUPS RANGING FROM ABORIGINAL TRIBESMEN TO MILLIONAIRE SULTANS . MENACING ITS FUTURE ARE THE EXPANSIONIST AIMS OF NEIGHBORING INDONESIA AND THE THREAT OF PEKING-DIRECTED COMMUNIST SUBVERSION . BUT WITH ITS SUCCESSFUL CREATION, MALAYSIA PICTURED AND DISCUSSED IN THE COLOR PAGES AND COVER STORY THAT FOLLOW COULD BECOME THE STRONGEST ANTI-COMMUNIST BULWARK IN SOUTHEAST ASIA . MALAYSIA MALAYSIA WILL CUT A 1,600-MILE ARC THROUGH THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, FROM THE SOUTHERN BORDER OF THAILAND THROUGH THE MALAY PENINSULA AND SINGAPORE TO THE NORTH COAST OF BORNEO . POLITICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY, MALAYA IS THE KEYSTONE OF THE FEDERATION . WITH ITS POPULATION OF 7,000,000, MALAYA WILL DOMINATE THE NEW NATION'S GOVERNMENT, WHICH WILL SIT IN THE MALAYAN CAPITAL OF KUALA LUMPUR . THE MELTING-POT QUALITY OF THE NEW FEDERATION IS A REFLECTION OF MALAYA'S OWN CONGLOMERATION OF MALAYS, CHINESE, TAMILS, PYGMY NEGRITOS, AND OTHER ABORIGINAL TRIBESMEN IN THE DANK, TANGLED TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS OF THE INTERIOR . OFF THE SOUTHERN TIP OF MALAYA IS THE ISLAND STATE OF SINGAPORE, TEEMING WITH 1,700,000 PEOPLE . ONE OF THE LARGEST PORTS IN THE WORLD, SINGAPORE HAS THE HIGHEST ANNUAL PER CAPITA INCOME IN SOUTHEAST ASIA $450 . SINGAPORE'S CHINESE POPULATION, WITH STRONG TIES TO RED CHINA, PRESENTS THE NEW NATION WITH THE PRESSING PROBLEM OF COMMUNIST DOMINATION . BUT SINGAPORE HAS THE MOST POWERFUL MILITARY INSTALLATIONS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, WILL BE THE HOME BASE FOR THE BRITISH ARMY, NAVY AND AIR FORCE UNITS THAT WILL BE MALAYSIA'S PRIMARY DEFENSE . THE THREE TINY COLONIES OF SARAWAK (POP . 784,000), BRUNEI (POP . 84,000) AND NORTH BORNEO (POP . 480,000), SEPARATED FROM MALAYA AND SINGAPORE BY 400 MILES OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, WERE INCLUDED IN THE FEDERATION MAINLY TO REDRESS ITS POPULATION BALANCE IN FAVOR OF THE NON-CHINESE PEOPLES . MANY OF THE PEOPLE IN THE THREE JUNGLE TERRITORIES ARE HALF-NAKED PRIMITIVE NATIVES WHO LIVE COMMUNALLY IN LONGHOUSES, WORSHIP ANIMIST WATER SPIRITS, AND HUNT WITH BLOW GUNS AND POISONED DARTS ; IN NORTH BORNEO THE DUSUNS VENERATE CLOUD-CAPPED MOUNT KINABULU (13,455 FT.), HIGHEST PEAK IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, AS THE GATEWAY TO PARADISE . AS INLAND ROADS ARE ALL BUT NONEXISTENT, RIVER CANOES ARE THE MAIN FORM OF TRANSPORTATION DUSUN GIRLS WEAR RATTAN BRAS TO MARKET IN NORTH BORNEO . KADAZAN MISS WEARS FESTIVE GARB AT CATHOLIC MISSION SCHOOL . CHINESE WOMAN IN A SINGAPORE TEMPLE LIGHTS JOSS STICKS AS AN OFFERING . MALAYAN POLICEMEN HAVE KEPT ORDER IN BRUNEI . MALAYAN BEAUTY POSES BY THE SULTAN'S PALACE IN KOTA BAHRU . KAYAN MAN SPORTS TRIBAL TATTOO, PIERCED EARS IN SARAWAK . INDIAN GIRL IS RUBBER TAPPER ON MALAY PLANTATION . IBAN WIFE IN SARAWAK PREPARES RATTAN FOR HER WEAVING . RICH CROPS & GREAT RESOURCES RICE, BEING HARVESTED IN KEDAH, " RICE BOWL " OF MALAYA AND HOME OF ABDUL RAHMAN, IS MALAYA'S MAIN FOOD CROP . BUT DESPITE GOOD YIELDS, AREA HAS TO IMPORT MUCH OF THE RICE IT USES 35 PER CENT IN 1961 NOODLES DRYING AT ROADSIDE FACTORY ARE MADE OF RICE FLOUR . MIXED WITH FISH OIL AND HOT PEPPERS, THEY ARE SECOND IN POPULARITY ONLY TO RICE . OIL FROM FIELDS IN TINY BRUNEI HAS BROUGHT GEYSER OF WEALTH TO BRITISH PROTECTORATE . BUT EVEN WITH MODERN RIGS, OIL PRODUCTION IS NOW FALLING OFF, HAS DROPPED 37 PER CENT SINCE RECORD HIGH IN 1956 . RUBBER WORKERS TREK LIQUID LATEX TO PLANTATION SMOKEHOUSE . RUBBER IS NO . 1 CASH CROP, AND MALAYA ACCOUNTS FOR ONE-THIRD WORLD'S SUPPLY . TIN HAS BEEN MINED FOR CENTURIES IN FIELDS OF MALAYA, WHICH STILL PRODUCE 40 PER CENT OF FREE WORLD'S SUPPLY . EUROPEAN AND U.S . FIRMS ACCOUNT FOR HALF OF PRODUCTION, WHILE SMALLER MINES ARE OWNED BY CHINESE . PINEAPPLE, HERE BEING CANNED IN THE MODERN NEW FACTORY OF LEE CO., LTD., IN JOHORE, HAS BECOME $10.8 MILLION EXPORT, IS SHIPPED ROUND WORLD FROM MALAYA . PEPPER VINES IN GARDEN NEAR KUCHING IN SARAWAK CLUSTER AROUND CHINESE FAMILY'S PRIMITIVE FARMHOUSE . EXPORTED FROM BORNEO TO EUROPE AS FAR BACK AS MIDDLE AGES, PEPPER STILL ACCOUNTS FOR $8.3 MILLION IN FOREIGN TRADE . RIPE BERRIES ON VINE ARE ORANGE-RED . BLACK PEPPER COMES FROM DRIED BERRIES, PREMIUM WHITE PEPPER FROM BERRIES WHOSE SKINS ARE SOAKED OFF . DIVERGENT PEOPLE, CONTRASTING CREEDS HINDU PENITENTS BY THOUSANDS SURGE UP AND DOWN 370 STEPS LEADING TO SACRED BATU CAVES NEAR KUALA LUMPUR DURING THAIPUSAM FESTIVAL . INDIANS, BROUGHT IN AS WORKERS AT TURN OF CENTURY, ARE NOW 10 PER CENT OF MALAYA'S POPULATION . LONGHOUSE DWELLERS IN THIS HOME OF 17 IBAN FAMILIES LIVE IN TYPICAL COMMUNAL STYLE . SARAWAK'S PRIMITIVE PEOPLE HAVE FORSAKEN RITUAL HEAD-HUNTING, NOW PREFER PEACEFULLY TO HUNT, FARM AND WEAVE .