The Formation of Malaysia

• 1. THE FORMATION OF MALAYSIA 16TH SEPTEMBER 1963 JV Emily Ken Simer

2. THE MERGING PLANThe idea to unite Malaysia with neighbouring countries was raised several times.Merger of Singapore suggested in 1955 by David Marshall rejected by Tunku Abdul Rahman.Lee Kuan Yew proposed the idea again in 1959 unfavorable response 3. THE MERGING PLAN 27th May 1961: Tunku Abdul Rahman suggested the merger of Malaya with: - Singapore - North Borneo: Sabah - Sarawak - Brunei 4. Free throughunificationwas the main general factorof the proposal. 5. REASONSPolitical Reasons- To curb communist threat- To boost and accelerate theindependence of Brunei,Singapore, Sabah andSarawak.- To create racial harmony 6. REASONSEconomy- To boost regional economyfor people and countriesSocial- To create Malaysian nationnew identity based on sharedcultural heritage 7. TOWARDS THE FORMATION OF MALAYSIA 8. 1.Harmony Entourage toSabah and Sarawak (June 1961) Tunku wanted the people to understand the merging concept. Sarawak United Peoples Party (SUPP), Sarawak People Party (SNAP) and Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak (BARJASA) expressed opposition. 9. 1. Harmony Entourage to Sabah and Sarawak (June 1961) United National Kadazan Organization (UNKO)s leader: Donald Stephens publicly rejected the idea. Tunku promised to give considerable autonomy to lead. 10. 2. Visit to Brunei (July 1961) A.M. Azahari and his party not interested in merging idea. Sultan formed special committee to assess publics opinion. 11. 3. Singapore Conference (August 1961) Should be decided by the people. Singapore hold autonomy powers ineducation and labour. Central government responsible fordefense, internal security. A referendum showed than morethan 70% people agreed to merger. 12. 4. Borneo States Meeting (November1961) A meeting to discuss Borneos status asBritish colony. To assess the peoples reaction towardsthe merging idea. It too widened English-Malaya defencetreaty to protect South East Asia fromcommunism threats. Proposal to assist to review SultanBruneis opinion and to maintain Britishmilitary base in Singapore. 13. 5. Malaysia Solidarity ConsultativeCommittee (Middle 1961) Was formed when mostBorneos leaders expressedskepticism. Meeting held to relay trueintention and reasons ofmerging. Received strong support. 14. 6. Cobbold Commission (August 1962) Was formed to assess thefeelings of the Sabahans andSarawakians. Committee consisted 2 Britishand 2 Malaysian. Found 70% accepted the idea. 15. 7. Inter Government Committee(August 1962) Was formed to plan thelegislative of the new country. Was headed by LordLandsdowne. Analyzed important matters the report was accepted bycommittee as basis to formulateMalaysia. 16. 8. Singapores Referendum Amidst opposition, PAP restore peoplesconfidence in merging by mentioningthese matters:- promised the people not losing statusof citizenship.- better international economicprospects.- easier to curb communist threat. Referendum had shown 70% acceptedthe merging 17. 9. United Nations Mission (June 1963) To assess the acceptance of theSabahans and Sarawakians. Tunku met President Sukarno andPresident Macapagal to explicate theidea. Convinced them the people agreed andaccepted the idea. Referendum reflected positive reactionfrom the people authenticate Cobboldsreport. Despite this, Indonesia unwilling to back 18. WITHDRAWAL OF SINGAPORE Polarization between Malays and Chinesebecame obvious. Election 1964: claim of Lee Kuan Yew belittlingMCA leaders. Create conflict between MCA and PAP andUMNO - leaders and people Idea of campaign: all Chinese must support PAPto compel UMNO agreed to PAPs demand. Racist campaigning created tension led to riot. 27th April 1965: Lee Kuan Yew launchedMalaysia for Malaysian. 19. WITHDRAWAL OF SINGAPORE Malays angry: proposed MelayuBersatu. Tan Siew Sin and T.H. Tan proposedSingapore to withdraw. 7th August 1965: agreement ofwithdrawal was signed. 9th August 1965: Singapore officiallywithdrew and formed a Republic 20. Difficulties encountered at thebeginning stage A. Malaya B. Singapore C. Brunei D. Sarawak E. Sabah 21. Malaya There were not much opposition from the Malayans. Only the Malays oppose the merging of Singapore withMalaya. They fear that the high majority of Chinese population fromSingapore will threaten the Malay sovereignty. Fear that the culture, language and socioeconomic status willfurther worsen. Malays dominated the political life of the country; whereasthe Chinese and Indians hold the preponderance of economicpower. The Malays later on support the formation of Malaysia whenSarawak, Sabah and Brunei was brought in. 22. Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and his Peoples Action Party (PAP) fullysupports the formation of Malaysia. But, the Singaporean Socialist Front opposes themerge. They claim that formation of Malaysia is a plot for theBritish to continue controlling the region. Supported by Labour Party leaded by David Marshall ;as well as United Peoples Party leaded by Ong EngGuan A referendum was held on the 1st September 1962. Purpose of referendum is to gauge the opinions of thepublic. 23. Brunei Brunei was equally keen on the merge withMalaya. Sultan Ali Saifuddin was hoping to gain protectionfrom a larger country like Malaya. However, A.M. Azahari,the leader of the BruneiPeoples Party, strongly opposed the merge. Claims that the formation of Malaysia isa neocolonialism. He wanted to unite Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak toform North Kalimantan. 24. He launched a revolt against the governmentof Brunei under North Kalimantan NationalArmy. They get the supports from Indonesia andPhilippine. Wanted to over throw the Brunei governmentbut failed and was defeated. A.M. Azahari fled to Indonesia. 25. Sabah and Sarawak Most of the locals opposed the formation of Malaysia because: I. Non-Malays were not happy with the Malayanpolitical domination. II. Hope to maintain under British rule. III. Fear that they will be forced to change their religioninto Islam. IV. Fear of losing authority in the administration of theirgovernments. Separated from the rest of Malaysia by 650 km therefore they were afraid that they might secede from the federation. 26. Sabah and Sarawak British formed the Cobbold Commission led byLord Cobbold, to investigate the reaction of thepeople in Sabah and Sarawak towards the merge. 1/3 supported the merge wholeheartedly. 1/3 supported on the grounds that they will joinMalaya only after they achieved theirindependence. 1/3 supported it on the grounds that their rightsbe maintained. 27. Confrontation of Indonesia &Claim of Philippines 28. Confrontation of Indonesia It was held in 1962 Undeclared war between west Malaysia andIndonesia Tunku Abdul Rahman sign the Londonagreement. Former President Sukorno announced theGanyang Malaysia 29. Confrontation of Indonesia Light infantry operations, air-transport , riversbut there were no air-power Indonesia attack east Malaysia, but the Britishback the newly formed Malaya August 1966, Indonesia president Suharto riseto power and a peace agreement was sign. 30. Claim by the Philippines Also known as the North Borneo dispute Sabah was known as North Borneo back then 1878 ruler of sulu, Sultan jamalul ALam signthe territory of north borneo to Gustavus Vonoverbeck and Austrain who is the counsel inthe Austro Hungarian empire. 31. Claim by the Philippines Sarawak was developed first. Singapore andSarawak went into Borneo gave them freedom tochoose their political status , economic, cultural. Lord cobbold was a representative send by theMalaya and British to North Borneo. The Philippine and Indonesia rejected the findingof Cobbold. 32. THE COBBOLDCOMMISION Lord Cobbold lead thejoint Anglo-MalayanCommission of Inquiry. (Survey) Feb- April 1962, Lord Cobbold visited Sabah and Sarawakand reported the results.1/3 - Favours formation of Malaysia without concernsover terms and conditions.1/3 -Favours formation of Malaysia with conditions.1/3 - Wants independence before Malaysia and stronglyprefer to have British rule continue. 33. Results of Cobbold Comission is that the people ofSabah and Sarawak were supportive towards theformation of Malaysia. But Indonesia and the Philippines rejectedthe findings of the Cobbold. During the meeting, Philippines and Indonesiaagreed to drop their objection if the new commissionfound favours of the people in joining Malaysia. United Nations mission to Borneo in June1963 reported 2/3 of the people was infavour of joining Malaysia. 34. SINGAPORE Lee Kuan Yew, representive from PAP uses theresults of a referendum on 01/09/1962 to determineThe peoples support, results were positive. On 16/09/1963, Singapore joined Malaysia. Then Lee Kuan Yew opposed the bumiputra policy. A riots among the nations happened in 1964,23 people were killed and hundreds injured. So, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yewsigned a separation agreement on 7 August 1965. 35. BRUNEI1) The position of the Sultanof Brunei within the Counsilof Malay rulers.2) The Status of Brunei within Malaysia.3) The riches of oilThese matters discusse during the negotiationwith Malaysia was considered as sensitive,thus Brunei decided to opt out in theformation of Malaysia. 36. BRITAINS REACTIONEventhough the British had toreturn back the countries that is under theircontrol to the people, the Britishsupports the formation of Malaysia.This reaction is also because this actprotects their investment in the country. 37. July 1963, The Malaysian Agreement wassigned by five countries and was sealed.Malaysia was born as a new nation on16th September 1963