"There had been no restrictions to the admission of non-European British to the civil services of the Straits Settlements or the Federated Malay States from the date of that proclamation till 1904, when the colonial government secretly and silently, without any announcement, imposed a colour bar in the regulations.Up to 1904 the requirement was that "cadets must be natural-born British subjects selected by open competitive examination held by the Civil Service Commissioners."