Mother remained in specified state to become an Asian (5)

'an asian' is the definition.
(I know that Malay is a type of Asian)

'mother remained in specified state' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'mother' could be 'ma' (Ma is another word for mother or mum) and 'ma' is found in the answer.
'state' could be 'la' (abbreviation for Louisiana) and 'la' is found in the answer.
A single letter 'y' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'to become' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?