By November 1952, the Federation Regiment was able to recruit 434 men, of which only 75 were of Chinese descent, though a large proportion of the Chinese applied to be officers or to join the technical services. By 1957, the Malay Regiment had grown to seven battalions, but the Federation Army was only able to raise a single battalion of the Federation Regiment. The British found it hard to attract non-Malays to join the Federation Regiment, though this problem was also faced by the Malayan Police force.