Malaysia came into being in only 26 months, from the time Malaya’s first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj broached the Malaysia Concept on May 27, 1961 in Singapore to its fruition on Sept 16, 1963.
This was considered a remarkable achievement, considering the complexities of forming a federation encompassing so many territories, and the hurdles faced, both within and without, including armed opposition from a neighbouring country.
In his speech to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association, Tunku formally expressed his wish for a closer association between Malaya and the British protectorates of Singapore, Brunei, North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak.
Assoc Prof Dr Bilcher Bala of Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s history programme said Tunku emphasised the need for and benefits that would be derived from a larger federation in terms of political, economic and social development.
“Malaya, Singapore and Brunei were more developed at the time while Sarawak and Sabah were lagging behind,” he noted.
“This perceived benefit was a strong impetus during the process of consultation and referendum on the Malaysia Concept until the signing of the Malaysia Agreement on July 9, 1963.”
Dr Bilcher: The formation of Malaysia was delayed because a referendum had to be carried out.
Dr Bilcher said that despite the 1962 Cobbold Commission already having established that two-thirds of the people of Sabah and Sarawak accepted the Malaysia Concept, the two nations most opposed to the federation -- the Philippines and Indonesia -- were not satisfied.
The Philippines claimed Sabah and Indonesia saw the formation of Malaysia as a neo-colonial plot.
“An independent UN commission, the United Nations Malaysia Mission, was established with representatives from nine countries.
“Because the referendum had to be carried out in Sabah and Sarawak, the formation of Malaysia was delayed.
“The Malaysia Agreement was amended to postpone the date of Malaysia Day from Aug 31 to Sept 16, 1963.”
The UN’s commission’s report, which was published on Sept 14, affirmed that Sabah and Sarawak supported the Malaysia Concept.
Not satisfied, Indonesia launched the ganyang or “crush Malaysia” campaign, which led to an armed confrontation between the two nations from 1963 to 1966.
Although the concept of regional integration had been floating around for years, Tunku was initially not keen on a merger with Singapore in particular during the early years of Malaya’s independence, said Prof Datuk Dr Danny Wong Tze Ken, who is dean of Universiti Malaya’s Arts and Social Sciences Faculty.
Ironically, by the early 1960s, it was the situation in Singapore that hastened the merger as Prof Wong said Tunku was concerned about the growing communist influence there and its effect on the peninsula once the British left.
Tunku, in his speech to Parliament on Oct 16, 1961 when he introduced the motion on Malaysia, said: “A merger would prevent those who are communist-minded from being able to align an independent Singapore with the Communist bloc.”
Prof Wong noted that the term Malaysia had been used since the 1920s to refer to the region of the eventual Malaysian states and that the idea of coming together was not entirely alien as “personal networks were already very strong and people felt quite at home in each other’s states”.
Prof Wong: People-to-people ties between the British protectorate states were already strong.
While then Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew had backed Malaysia, other leaders such as Sabah’s Donald Stephens and Sarawak’s Stephen Kalong Ningkan and Temenggung Jugah had been more cautious at first but were persuaded by Tunku and the economic development they saw taking place in Malaya.
Tunku, too, acknowledged these bonds when he said that “there is a natural affinity between the (Borneo) territories and the Federation, an affinity which I should say has no exact parallel anywhere.”
Dr Bilcher said the British had first envisioned a merger in 1949 -- dubbed the Grand Design, later the Malaysia Concept, based on the concept of federation.
Most agree that the inclusion of the Borneo states was also aimed at balancing Singapore’s majority Chinese population with the indigenous peoples of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei.
In fact, the idea of Singapore, Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak forming a federation, affiliation or union first before joining Malaysia had been raised earlier but Tunku felt that this would take years and exposed these territories to the Communist threat.
In the same speech in Parliament on Oct 16, 1961, he noted that the new federation would enable the Borneo territories to transform their present colonial status to self-government for themselves and absolute independence in Malaysia simultaneously, and “baulk the Communist attempt to capture these territories.”
Dr Bilcher agreed: “The truth of the matter was that Sabah and Sarawak could not go it alone back then.”
It was a busy time for all those involved in the merger as many issues had to be ironed out, including the problems of divestiture for these colonial entities and the viability of the new nation.
“Making such a union work was challenging as each entity was at different stages of development under the British crown,” noted Prof Wong.
An important matter that had to be fulfilled was the rights of the people of Sarawak and Sabah to express their opinion through the democratic process, especially by elections.
“This was especially challenging in Sabah as there were no political parties among the indigenous communities until after Malaysia was mooted,” noted Prof Wong, who is Sabahan.
Dr Bilcher, who is a Kelabit from Sarawak, said the district and state elections results offered further proof of support for a federation.
“Parties supporting the Malaysian Concept won a majority of the seats,” he noted.
When asked about the current state of the union, Prof Wong believes that the people of Sabah and Sarawak as well as their leaders are conscious of the fact that their predecessors made a commitment to Malaysia.
“They are honouring it but looking carefully at their rights and what is due to them under the Malaysia Agreement,” he said.
For Dr Bilcher, Malaysia Day also means Unity Day to commemorate how the people and their leaders worked together to free the nation from colonialism.
“So, the phrase ‘Stronger Together’ as the theme of Malaysia Day 2022 symbolises that the people of Malaysia who are made up of various races, religions and political beliefs should live peacefully and support the strength and unity that the country has achieved all this while,” he said.
