The Origins and Formation of Malaysia

The formation of Malaysia may appear to have been the completion of unfinished business and the last, rather predictable, chapter in the history of colonial empire in Southeast Asian. It came at the end of a spate of decolonization by the Macmillan government and at a time when European powers were generally eager to detach themselves from overseas dependencies if, indeed, they had not already done so. In fact, the principal components of the Malaysia project had previously passed beyond colonialism: Malaya had been independent since 31 August 1957 and, although sovereignty over Singapore lay with Britain until its transfer to Malaysia, the island enjoyed internal self-government from June 1959. Brunei (which had been expected to join the federation until the Sultan pulled out on the eve of the signing ceremony) was a protected state with its own sovereign ruler and, therefore, beyond British jurisdiction. Of the participating countries, only North Borneo and Sarawak were crown colonies, and, in a manner of speaking, only North Borneo and Sarawak were being decolonized. Indeed, as the final touches were put to Malaysia, the British presented it to the United Nations, not as a new state, but as an extension of an existing member-state, that is to say an extension of the independent Federation of Malaya to which Sabah (North Borneo), Sarawak and Singapore merely acceded. In short, the creation of Malaysia appears to have been an un-dramatic piece of house-keeping, an operation to tidy up the remnants of empire. But the documents expose another, rougher side to the story: one in which policy making snagged on the contradictions of multiple objectives; one in which Britain was buffeted by the conflicting demands of local politicians and interventions from outside; one in which events frequently brought planning to a standstill and deadlock fostered despondency; one in which resistance was met by guile or coercion, and the prospect of failure provoked desperate measures; one in which not all of Britain's objectives were fulfilled while some of its fears were realized. Indeed, the Malaysia that was inaugurated on 16 September 1963 failed wholly to satisfy any of the parties to it It was neither forged through nationalist struggle, nor did it reflect a homogeneous national identity. Rather it was the product of grudging compromise and underpinned by only fragile guarantees; its formation was peppered with resistance and that it came into being at all was regarded by many at the time as a close-run thing.

~ A J Stockwell , Institute of Commonwealth Studies

'Konfrantasi'

On 20 January, 1963, Dr. Subandrio announced that his country was adopting a policy of 'confrontation' towards Malaya pertaining the 'Malaysia plan'. It became clear soon after the tripartite Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Manila in June 1963 that the Indonesians did not feel themselves committed to accept anything less than a referendum in Borneo. Dr. Subandrio was soothing, but the Defence Minister, General Nasution, made plain his disapproval. He was Quoted as saying that ..."There have been various interpretations given to the Foreign Ministers' Meeting ... , but to us this is a matter of principle. We oppose Malaysia because it is 'neo-colonialism'; that confrontation would continue; and that 'We will assist our brothers in North Borneo to attain their right to self-determination."
Meanwhile, the benefits of Malaysia to the British looked uncertain. The 'Grand Design' turned out to be trouble, almost more trouble than it was worth. Britain was encumbered with the embarrassing obligation to protect the micro-state of Brunei. Moreover,Singapore's separation in August 1965 seemed a disaster, since the British government had always regarded the merger of Malaya and Singapore as the principal advantage of Malaysia, if not its raison d'etre.
Constrained by circumstances beyond British control, plans were deflected by events and the outcome fell short of expectations in several respects. As inauguration day drew near, 'Malaysia plan' was placed in jeopardy by greater or lesser crises: unresolved disputes between Malaya and Singapore; a last-minute hitch in the relations between Malaya and Sarawak; the United Nations mission to Borneo; Indonesian 'Confrontation'; an attempt by Kelantan to win an injunction against the implementation of the Malaysia Act Indeed, a nation-state had yet to be fashioned from Britain's former dependencies and in the following years resentment of control from Kuala Lumpur would fester in Sabah and Sarawak and force Singapore to secede.

[ the first experimental hovercraft,SRN-5,tested in Tawau during the 'Konfrantasi' ,courtesy of Australian War Museum]

Sandakan , post-war

“There is still a certain enforced simplicity about life in North Borneo. There is no newspaper , the Government printing press was destroyed in the war. There are very few telephones and they are seldom in order . There is a mail once in ten days , if the aeroplane manages to call . The radio is little used , for the electricity supply is so weak and the transmitting stations so far away that few sets produce anything audible . North Borneo can , in fact , be recommended for those who wish to retire from the world . But there are drawbacks . There is a very poor water supply and medical services are primitive.”

A brief description of North Borneo by UNESCO visiting the west coast from Jesselton , both north and south , and fly across the island to Sandakan on the 11^th march 1948.

[ Sandakan airport in the 1950's ]

British North Borneo~folklore,religion & custom.

The collection of Dusun,Bajau and Illanun stories was made in the years 1910 and 1911,during parts of which Ivor H N Evans was stationed in two adjoining districts of Tuaran and Tempassuk ; while material contained in the paper ,that on customs and beliefs of the 'orang dusun' , was collected partly at the same time as the folk-stories ,partly on a short visit by Ivor to the Tempassuk district in 1915.
The Tempassuk is inhibited by three different peoples ,the Dusuns,the Bajaus and Illanuns , and it is chiefly from the first of these that the tales have been collected ; for , since both Bajaus and Illanuns are Mohamedans , their folklore is not nearly so extensive as that of their Dusun neighbors , who are pagans. The Mohamedans, roughly speaking , form the coastal and estuarine population, while the Dusuns, with the exception of those of a few large villages on the plains, which border on the Bajau zone, are confined to the foot hills and mountainous portion of the area. The Tuaran district is divided between Bajaus and Dusuns , but here Illanuns are wanting.
It would seem that the Dusuns are the original inhabitants of the country ,and that the Bajaus and Illanuns ,are later arrivals who have driven the first named inland. This is known to be a fact in the case of the Illanuns ,who are a tribe of Mindanao in the Philippines ; of whom small roving parties have settled in Borneo. The origin of the Bajaus ,[in Tempassuk they call themselves "Sama"], unknown , but they are widely spread along the coast of North Borneo. However , as far as the Tempassuk is concerned, tradition asserts that they first came in trading boats from the direction of Kudat , and eventually fought the Dusuns and formed settlements in the country.
It is often said by Europeans resident in North Borneo , without ,sufficient evidence ,that the Dusuns have a large admixture of Chinese blood . 'Orang Dusun' , which literally means 'people of the orchard' , is a name originally used by the Malays to denote large sections of natives population of British North Borneo, which they considered to be of similar habit and culture . The term is loose but useful and has consequently been adopted by Europeans.
Ivor H N Evans noted that in those parts of the country he had visited , the Dusuns ,cannot be said that they have any tribal organization, the village community being the unit .In the Tempassuk district,the Dusuns style themselves 'Tindal', while that the upcountry Tuaran natives do the same . Around Tuaran settlement,however, they seem to call themselves 'Suong Lotud',[people of the country; i.e. the developed country as opposed to the jungle]. These Tuaran villages differ somewhat in their customs from the Tempassuk natives.
It must be understood that in these writings , i merely deal with Ivor H N Evans notes of the Tempassuk district and with the villages immediately surrounding the Government post at Tuaran back in 1910 till 1915.

Cloth made of 'lamba' ,or bark-thread

The materials from which Dusun cloth is made are lamba , the fibre of a species of wild banana, cotton, or thread made from some kind of tree-bark. These may either be mixed — e,g, a cloth may have a warp of lamha and a woof of cotton or bark-thread — or used singly. When finished, the cloth is dyed with native indigo and is then ready for making up into the skirts, hoods or trousers or which it is chiefly intended. Cloth is not woven in the villages around Tuaran, but cloth-weaving is general in the Dusun villages of the Tempassuk, and also in the upland villages of the Tuaran district. Some very fine cloths are made by the Rungus  who live outside the Tempassuk district in the direction of Kudat; these have elaborate patterns in white on a black background and are sometimes further ornamented by the insertion of a few strands of red thread". — Ivor H. N. Evans

 When i was in Kota Belud ,an elder told me that  in the olden days they used to beat tree bark to flatten it to make clothes. Also, a manually operated weaving instrument was used ~ but alas, this art has lost and very few have practice the skills. For beauty sake, young girls had to have their teeth filed (which was not a pleasant experience) by their parents .

Nabalu ,or [peng-alu-an], the Dusun afterworld

In the past, the Dusuns, as do some of the tribes and people in North Borneo , believe that the souls of the dead ascend a mountain , and , as Kinabalu ,or better ,Nabalu, towers up the height of about 13,500ft, dominating the whole Tempassuk District and indeed ,the country many miles beyond it ,what could be more natural than for them to choose this magnificent mountain for the resort of departed souls ? They believe however ,that the ghost of the dead may linger near their former homes before undertaking their journey , for, in the lowland villages of Tempassuk [Kota Belud] ,when a death has occurred,the old women weep and cry aloud to the spirit of the deceased ,since they are afraid that if the ghost were to loiter near the village it would do the survivors some mischief. With an object of preventing the soul's return , the bamboo bier on which the corpse has been carried is sometimes cut to pieces at the grave side , while that in some lowland villages mourners on returning from a funeral slash with their chopping knives at the step of the house and the door of the room in which a death has occurred.
Since Nabalu is the home of the dead, a ceremony has to be performed ,and offerings made, before its ascent can be undertaken by human beings. In addition ,those who climb the mountain must not use its ordinary name while on it, but must refer to it as 'agayoh ngaran' ,which means 'big name'.
Whilst in the interior part of the Kinabatangan [William B Pryer ,1898] ,the most objectionable custom practiced by the dusuns was that of human sacrifice or "surmungup" as they called it ; the ostensible reason seems to have been to send messages to dead relatives , and to this end they used to get a slave ,usually one bought for the purpose , tie him up and bind him round with cloths,and then after some preliminary dance and singing , one after another they would stick a spear a little way -an inch or so- into his body , each one sending a message to his deceased relatives/friends as he did so. There was even more difficulty in getting them to abandon this custom than there was to leave head hunting. Down in the south-east of North Borneo ,the Tidong way of managing "surmungup" is for a lot of them to subscribe till the price of a slave is raised , he is then bought , tied up , and all the subscribers grasping simultaneously a long spear , it is thrust through him at once. Another custom worth mentioning were of the Tunbunwhas ,that was embalming of the dead. ; this is done with the valuable Borneo camphor ,abundant in the woods in their neighborhood ,more particularly on the Kinabatangan; the coffins are hewn out of a solid piece of 'billian'.

[ The Kwijau or Kuijau are an indigenous ethnic group residing in the Interior Division of North Borneo , to the west and north of Keningau.
- A Kwijau grave at Apin Apin , courtesy of the National Archive , U,K.]

[ Dusun grave at Kampong Keranaan, Tambunan , courtesy of the National Archive , U,K.]

Borneo political reactions to 'Greater Malaysia Plan' [July 9 ~ July 15 1961]

Political leaders in the Borneo Territories have commented on the general outline of the Greater Malaysia Plan described by Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya ,Tunku Abdul Rahman , during his visit to Brunei and Sarawak.
The Tunku made it clear that he would like to see Sarawak,North Borneo and Brunei become States of Malaya and had the following points to make ;
~ that it would be difficult for the Borneo territories to be independent on their own without having the necessary resources to meet the cost involved and to develop their countries.
~ that in coming in as states of Malaya , they "would enjoy absolute equality" with the other autonomous states.
~ that they would also enjoy the same privileges and benefits as the other states and  that money would go towards their development.
~ that there was no need for the Borneo territories to form a federation and achieve independence before joining in with Malaya.
The first reaction in Borneo to the Plan came from the Sarawak United People's Party which , in a statement issued in Kuching on July 8th 1961, said that any question of federation with Malaya by Sarawak should be postponed until after independence had been achieved.
The Party went on to say that it would welcome any assistance from Malaya or from any other country in its fight for independence and that it would be prepared to take part in any meeting , such as that was suggested by the Socialist Front of Malaya ,to examine the implications of the Plan.
A joint statement was next issued in Jesselton [Kota Kinabalu] by Ong Kee Hui,chairman of Sarawak United People's Party ; A.M. Azahari, President of the Parti Rakyat Brunei ; and Donald Stephen, a prominent North Borneo leader, who is taking a leading part in the formation of his country's first political party.
They said ; " We met in Jesselton to discuss and consider current political developments which affect the three territories . We believe that it is vitally important that the constitutional advance in the three territories should be speed up and with this in view , elections should be held in the territories where an undertaking has been given by the Governments concerned so that the legitimate aspirations of the people for political advancement can be satisfied. We further agreed that there should be frequent exchange of views and discussions on matters of common interest by political leaders of Brunei, Sarawak and North Borneo. It was agreed that a United Front should be taken on this important matter and that the British Government should be advise that so far as the wishes of the people of the three territories can be ascertained , any plan in accordance with the pronouncements made by Tunku Abdul Rahman in Brunei and Sarawak would be totally unacceptable to the people of the three territories."