Malaysia’s colonial history plays a significant role in informing the sociopolitical backdrop of The Storm We Made. Though modern Malaysia did not exist until 1963, its component states developed a shared national identity during colonial rule under the British and a four-year occupation by the Japanese.

Following the occupation of Malacca by the Dutch from the 17th to the 19th centuries, the British gained control of the Johor Sultanate in 1824, along with the island of Penang, the Pahang Kingdom, and the island of Singapore. This led to the creation of the Straits Settlements, which enabled the British Crown to rule the territories as a royal colony. Over the next century, the colony absorbed several neighboring territories from Siam, Perak, Selangor, and other states to improve its economic strength in the region. Before the century had ended, Britain organized the Federated Malay States to centralize their power. They situated their administrators, the British Residents, across the federation while the Resident-General managed the combined entity from the capital of Kuala Lumpur. A larger number of British territories remained unfederated, enabling those states to operate under the influence of a less powerful British Advisor.

British Malaya was invaded by the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941, coinciding with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.