This period of slow consolidation of power into a centralised government and compromise—the Sultans retain their reign but not rule in their states—would have a great impact on the later road to nationhood. It effectively marked the transition of the idea of Malay states as a collective of lands governed by feudal rulers to a more Westminster-style federal constitutional monarchy. This became the accepted model for the future Federation of Malaya and ultimately Malaysia, distinguishing the nation in a region where other countries adopted stricter, heavily centralised administrations.