Malaysia Day, a truly historic occasion

16 September 2010- Malaysia Day Celebration

Rightly, I should join Malaysians in rejoicing the celebration of Malaysia Day, the way it should be.  Thanks to the Prime Minister Dato Seri Haji Mohd Najib Tun Razak, a very liberal and farsighted leader, that Malaysia Day is being accorded the recognition that it truly deserves. As much as we should not quarrel about August 31 as our Independence Day, due recognition must be given to the date of birth our beloved nation Malaysia.

As Malaysians, we should feel proud with the way that Malaysia came about, not through bloodshed but through friendly argument and compromise. The spirit of co-operation and concord was the living proof of the desire of the people in Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah to share a common destiny.

The Malaysian flag raising ceremony

I keep on asking myself does it make any difference whether we joined or formed Malaysia?  To start with Malaysia could have been formed without Sarawak, had the people decided against it. But they did not. Instead wisdom and foresight prevailed and a good majority, to borrow the phrase of the United Nations team, which had been tasked to assess the support of the people towards the formation of Malaysia in middle August 1963, of the people supported the formation of Malaysia.

The team was confronted by ugly demonstrations in Kuchings, Sibu, Miri and others but they got averagely friendly receptions in sub-urban and rural areas.

Crowd singing Negaraku at Stadium Perpaduan

The chronology of events leading to the formation of Malaysia must necessary start with the landmark announcement by YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Alhaj, then the Prime Minister of Malaya during a press luncheon of Foreign Correspondents Club in Singapore on May 27, 1961. As Britian was anxious to get rid of Sarawak and Sabah for obvious reasons, it decided to marry Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak to form a new federation.  Then all the states were either colonies or protectorate of Great Britain that had the same structure of civil service, system of government and English speaking. The idea was mooted and introduced to YTM Tunku Abdul Rahman.   During the press luncheon, he spoke of his wish to form a new federation through mergers of Malaya with Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah. 

He made the proposal against the backdrop that:  

·    The then British Labor Government decided to shrink their policy East of Suez Canal;

·    There was a general yearning from the people in the colonies to be free;

·    In the case of Sarawak, Indonesia under Sukarno was making threatening overtures against the State; and

·   The Clandestine Communist Organisation (CCO) was an internal threat in the State.

        

In the next 18 months of political and constitutional discussions, things went ahead favorably because the ideal of Malaysia caught the imagination of the overwhelming majority of the peoples in Sabah and Sarawak.

The activities of Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee, the merger talks between  the Federation of Malaya and Singapore, the broad agreement reached in London to establish Malaysia, the appointment of Cobbold Commission and its exhaustive enquiries in the Borneo Territories  and the subsequent establishment of Inter-governmental Committee.

The Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Committee, held its first meeting in Jesselton (now Kota Kinabalu) on August 24, 1961.  Take note that the word Malaysia was already in use way back in 1961. The committee, after a number of meetings agreed in principle to form a strong federation with special privileges and autonomy reserved for Sabah and Sarawak.

The Malaysia Agreement was finally signed in London in early July 1963.

The present and future generations of Anak Sarawak have every reason to be grateful to those leaders who were involved in negotiating the terms and conditions for the State to join the proposed federation of Malaysia.

They recognized the fact that Sarawak then did not have the expertise, experience and maturity to administer the state on its own, it was short of financial resources, it was facing the threat from armed members of Clandestine Communists Organisation (CCO) and threatening overtures from President Sukarno of Indonesia.

The fact that Sarawak had much in common with Singapore, Malaya and Sabah in terms of legislative system, government and language also helped to convince the leaders to support the formation of Malaysia.

Once Malaysia Solidarity Consultative Council (MSCC) made the decision to form a new federation, the Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) was formed to discuss and draft the terms and conditions of the Constitution.

In the case of Sarawak, the leaders insisted that the constitution must include a special clause to guarantee among others the autonomy of the State over Land, Civil Service, Local Government and Immigration.  They were adamant that the special autonomy reserved for Sarawak must be entrenched in the Agreement as well as the constitution.

They were concerned that without the clauses on the autonomy, they would not be able to convince the people to accept Malaysia. 

The Malaysia Day celebration can become an important event of the Merdeka celebration.  But the date of the Merdeka should not be a subject of debate. Let us all celebrate the day not the anniversary of Independence; as the country has two anniversaries 53 for Malaya and 47 for Sarawak and Sabah, they can be very confusing. After all we should celebrate the date not the anniversary of Independence.

Clearly, the concept of Malaysia had already started to become open discussions since May 1961 and we joined Malaya, Singapore and Sabah to support its formation. Later Sarawak also joined the other territories to form the new the federation of Malaysia.  Sometimes we get too excited to overlook the fact that Malaysia was formed not only between Malaya and Sarawak but Singapore and Sabah too. In other words even if Sarawak decided not to join the federation, it would still be formed.  Hence I do not believe that we should feel too strongly that we formed Malaysia.

The other misleading argument being raised by some politicians, the opposition politicians in particular, is that rightly we should celebrate our Independence Day on September 16, 1963. The question is why September 16? What about Malaya which gained its Independence on August 31, 1957?  We must respect their sensitivities too.  Are we also going to forget the fact that Sarawak gained its internal self-government from Great Britain on July 22, 1963? Is the date not significant?  In any case, Malaysia was supposed to come forth on August 31, 1963 but it had to be postponed due to pressures from the late Sukarno of Indonesia and President Diedo Macapagal of the Philippines.  Remember Sukarno had the grand design to form Indonesia Raya and the Philippines, a claim over Sabah.

Besides, USA celebrates 4 July as its Independence Day on the day that the 13 original states formed the Union and declared Independence from Britain some 200 years ago. The date never change even as more and more states, the latest being Hawaii and Alaska, joined the Union.  

The wishes of the people to join the formation of Malaysia were ascertained by the Cobbold Commission and by Assessment team from the United Nation. Malaysia was formed on September 16,1963 not out of wishes of the people but circumstances leading to it. The people made their decision to form Malaysia after much care and thought, finally arriving at the mutual consent by debate and discussion, enquiries and elections held over two and half years. 

The common desire and aspiration of the people was to see that Sarawak could be developed to become a modern and progressive state. The people wanted to see that the development that had already been started by leaders like YTM Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman and Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak, the Father of Rural Development, could be extended to Sarawak.

However, an article in the newspaper under the heading “ The rocky road to Independence” by Gabriel Tan, a pre- Merdeka  reporter , embedded with Cobbold Commission  and later the UN Assessment team to ascertain the wishes of the people on Malaysia,  highlights there were plenty of anti-Malaysia demonstrations.

For example, there were rowdy anti-Malaysia demonstrations to welcome the arrival of the UN Assessment team on August 16, 1963.  The demonstrators produced placards with slogan like: “We do not want Malaysia, Malaysia means control by Kuala Lumpur!”.

Rightly, we should remind ourselves that Malaysia came into being amidst serious regional hostilities towards its creation and with communist insurgencies rife in the country. We have prevailed and thrived against all adversaries. Clearly, the road to nationhood was not an easy journey. Surprises, disappointments, tension and crisis marred the way. We must know the difficult struggle, though not a bloodshed, that had led to the birth of our beloved nation. Hence, the celebration of Malaysia Day is a truly a historic event. 

Happy Malaysia Day.

  

 benuasains

*Photos Source: google.com images