After 47 years of the formation of Malaysia, this year Malaysia 'celebrates' its 1st Malaysia day officially. Last year 16th September was gazetted as a Public Holiday to mark the day Malaysia was formed 46 years ago.
Based from what I knew the following was the chronology of events that lead to the formation of Malaysia:
- Pre-WW2 - British Malaya during the colonization years.
- 1945 - Malayan Union concept was established by the British after WW2 to establish a crown status nation
- 1946 - Malayan Union was then established on 1st April 1946. This formation however, this has led to several uprising from the locals objecting the Malayan Union. This event has led to formation of many left and right wing political parties and movements.
- 1948 - To eliminate the uprising and riots among the Malays, British decided to replace the Malayan Union with the establishment of The Federation of Malaya on 31st January 1948.
- 1948 - Malaya entered the State Of Emergency period due to the uprising of the Communists
- 1949 - The First Malaya General Election, in which was won by the Alliance Party
- 1955-1956 Tunku Abdul Rahman led a group of Alliance Party leaders to London to negotiate about the independence Of Malaya. Finally, the negotiation is concluded in February 1956 and the independence was officially given.
- 1957 - Independence and formation of The Federation Of Malaya at 31 August 1957.
- 1960 - The Communist rebels became weaker and weaker, leading to the uplift of the State of Emergency since 1948. But the abolishment was never made formal.
- 1962 - Talks started on giving independence to Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei between the then Local Leaders and the British. Singapore welcomed the idea to enter Malaya. However, Brunei opposition leaders objected to this motion that lead to Brunei abandoning the decision to enter Malaya. Sabah and Sarawak generally agreed to enter however was objected by The Phillipines and Indonesia. Phillipines claim their sovereignty over Sabah while Indonesia wants to form a vast Malay nations that includes Malaya. Indonesia started the 'Konfrontasi Indonesia' from 1962 until 1966. The United Nations conducted a survey over locals of Sabah and Sarawak through the Reid Council and Cobbold Council. Eventually Sabah and Sarawak agreed to enter Malaya.
- 1963 - The Formation of The Federation of Malaysia is established on 16 September comprising of 9 states of Malaya , Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore.
- 1965 - However due to disagreement and misunderstanding among leaders of central government and Singapore authority, Singapore left the Union at 6 August 1965 to form a separate nation. Read more about this in LKY recent's New York interview and TMM rebuttals.
Prior to the Malayan Union uprising there were several movements that were established but not recorded in the current history books thought in schools (at least the last time i've looked). I shall not delve into the details here as some people are a little bit sensitive of these as history seems to have been 'rewritten'.
To the young, it seems that 16th September is yet another holiday. Since the so-called 'Raya' mood is sort of still in effect for the Malays, it's still Raya time.
For me, reflecting back and attempts to ensure at least my kids knew and understand at their current mindset level what had transpired and constantly reminding them what is a country all about. My message to them is simple, a country is not about it's politicians nor it is about its glory of having the *-est (read large, tall, etc etc) things. It's never about this is my country and not yours. It is about it's people, where they came from and where they're heading. It's how to we move forward. That is what a country is all about.
Happy Birthday Malaysia!
.rr
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