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The
course of Malaysian history has been
determined by its strategic position at one
of the world's major crossroads, its
tropical climate, the surrounding
environment and the regime of the north-east
and south-west monsoons.
Its position and other geographical
circumstances made the country a natural
meeting place for traders from the East and
the West. The lush tropical forest and the
abundance of life existing in it and in the
surrounding water made Malaysia an easy
place for the settlement and sustenance of
small, self-supporting human communities. At
the same time the thick jungle and
mountainous terrain of the interior
inhibited communication, while the absence
of broad, flood-proned river valleys and
deltas precluded the development of
elaborate systems of water control such as
those upon which the civilisations of Java
and the Southeast Asian mainland came to be
based. In contrast Malaysia's development
has come from the sea. Its inhabitants
quickly acquired a skill and reputation as
sailors and navigators. Subsequent trading
contacts have been responsible for the waves
of outside influences which have modified
their way of life.
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Nature's
bounty no doubt accounts for the fact that
Malaysia was one of the earliest homes of
Man. Stone implements found at Lenggong in
Perak and the remarkable finds in the Niah
Cave of Sarawak provide evidence for this.
The earliest of the present-day inhabitants
of Malaysia are the orang asli of the
Peninsula and people such as the Penan of
Sarawak and the Rungus of Sabah, many of
whom still pursue a largely nomadic way of
life. Their presence in the country probably
dates back to over 5000 years. These early
settlers were probably the pioneers of the
movement of peoples southwards from China
and Tibet through Mainland Southeast Asia
and the Malay Peninsula to the Indonesian
Archipelago and beyond. The next arrivals to
the country, the Malays, represented the
second and third wave of this movement.
The first Malay settlers (the Proto-Malays)
had probably established themselves here by
1000 BC. This movements were followed by
other waves of immigrants (the Deutero-
Malays) over the next few centuries, who
came equipped with more advanced farming
techniques and new knowledge of metals. The
Malay peoples also spread out into the
islands of the archipelago, settling down
into small self-contained communities which
gave rise to the complex and variegated
ethnic pattern of Malaysia and Indonesia
today. The Malays of the Peninsula had their
closest affinities with the Malays of
Sumatra, and for centuries the Straits of
Melaka did not form a dividing line between
two nations but served as a corridor linking
different parts of the same family. Until
recent times the Malays and Malay-related
inhabitants of the area remained politically
fragmented, but they shared a common
culture. Together with the orang asli they
make up the indigenous peoples of Malaysia
today, and are classified as "sons of
the soil" or Bumiputera. Despite the
considerable differences between the various
Bumiputera groups, they all share certain
characteristics which are the hallmarks of
the indigenous culture of Southeast Asia.
These characteristics are rooted in an
agrarian-maritime economy and reflected in a
village society where leadership was largely
through consensus and those attitudes were
informed by a belief in an all-pervasive
spiritual world. Although the culture of the
Malays in particular came to be overlaid by
Hiduism and then prevaded by Islam, elements
of this basic culture still persist.
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A
new phase in the historical development of
the inhab- itants of Malaysia began around
the first century BC with the establishment
of regular trading contacts with the world
beyond Southeast Asia, specifically China
and the sub-continent of India. Although
Chinese contacts started as early as, if not
predating those of India, it was the Hindu
and Buddhist elements of Indian culture
which made a major impact on the region.
Over a period of a thousand years these
influences gradually made themselves- selves
be felt, and have left their marks in the
native language, literature and social
custom. During this Hindu- Buddhist period
which was marked by a tremendous growth in
the East-West trade, the shadowy outlines of
the first political units emerged in the
Peninsula and in Kalimantan. However, for
the greater part of this time the
inhabitants of the area were subjected to
the sway of either Javanese or Sumatran
power The most tangible evidence of the
Hindu-Buddhist period in Malaysian history
is now to be found in the temple sites of
Lembah Bujang and Kuala Merbok in Kedah.
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The
Hindu-Buddhist period of Malaysian history
ended with the penetration of Islam into the
area. Brought primarily by Indian and Arab
traders, there is evidence of the presence
of the new religion in the region as early
as the thirteentl1 century. After 1400,
Islam became a major influence with the
conversion of the Malay-Hindu rulers of
Melaka. From Melaka, Islam spread to other
parts of the Malay Peninsula and to the
Malay states in Sumatra and along the trade
routes throughout the Indonesian
archipelago. Once established as the
religion of the Malays, Islam profoundly
affected Malay society and the Malay way of
life.After the collapse of Melaka, the
sultanate of Brunei in Kalimantan rose to
become the principal agent for the
propagation of Islam in that area.
The Malay kingdom of Melaka which dominated
both sides of the Straits of Melaka for a
hundred years marked the classical age of
Malay culture . Most of the Malay States of
the Peninsula today can trace their genesis
back to the Melaka sultanate. In Kalimantan
the inhabitants of modern Sabah and Sarawak
lived an autonomous existence although the
ancient kingdom of Brunei exercised a
general sway over them until the end of the
nineteenth century.
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Both
the Melaka and Brunei empires were shattered
by the coming of the Europeans into the
region. Melaka fell to a sudden Portugese
assault in 1511. The power of Brunei was
crippled in its infancy by the establishment
of the Spaniards in the Philippines and by
the rise of Dutch power in Java. Johor tried
to take the place of Melaka but was
restricted not only by the Europeans, but
also by the activities of local rivals such
as the Achinese, Minangkabau and the Bugis.
As a result, the present-day States of the
Peninsula gradually emerged as sovereign
units in their own right.
Despite their technological superiority,
European power in the region remained
restricted until the British intrusion at
the end of the eighteenth century which
brought the resources and organisation of
the Industrial Revolution. From their new
bases of Pulau Pinang (1786), Singapore
(1819) and Melaka (1824), which became known
collectively as the Straits Settlements,
their influence and power spread into the
Malay Peninsula, and the process of
political integration of the Malay States of
the Peninsula into a modern nation-state
began. In 1824 the Malay world was
arbitrarily divided into British and Dutch
spheres of influence (i.e. by the
Anglo-Dutch treaty of that year). In 1874
the British took the first steps towards
bringing the peninsula States under their
direct supervision when they imposed the
Pangkor Treaty on the rulers of Perak and
made similar arrangements in Selangor.
Meanwhile in Kalimantan, the States of
Sarawak and Sabah were beginning to take
shape as British adventurers acquired the
territories at the expense of the Brunei
sultanate. By 1914 the political
organisation of the present-day states of
Malaysia was as follows:
- The
Straits Settlements : British crown
colony headed by a British governor,
consisting of Singapore, Melaka, Pulau
Pinang, Labuan, the Cocos Isles and
Christmas Isle. Capital: Singapore.
- The
Federated Malay States : British
protectorate headed by a British High
Commissioner (Governor of the Straits
Settlements); consisting of the States
of Negeri Sembflan, Pahang, Perak and
Selangor.
- The
Unfederated Malay States : British
protectorate under the tutelage of a
British Adviser in each State
responsible to the British Commissioner,
consisting of Johor, Kedah, Kelantan,
Perlis and Terengganu.
- Sarawak
: British protectorate ruled by the
Brooke family. Capital: Kuching.
- Sabah
: British protectorate, ruled by the
Chartered Company of the British North
Borneo. Capital: Jesselton (Kota
Kinabalu).
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The
Japanese invasion of Malaya and British
Borneo in late 1941, which culminated in the
humiliating British surrender in Singapore
two and a half months later, shattered
Western colonial supremacy and unleashed the
forces of incipient nationalism. Although
the British were able to resume their
authority in the region after the collapse
of Japan in 1945, they faced an entirely new
political situation and those circumstances
forced them to adopt new policies. As a
result the Straits Settlements were
dissolved. Pulau Pinang and Melaka were
joined with the Malay States of the
Peninsula to form a new Malayan Union.
Singapore became a separate crown colony and
so did both Sarawak and British North Borneo
in place of the former Brooke and Chartered
Company regimes. Labuan was joined to
British North Borneo.
These new arrangements met with considerable
Malaysian opposition. In Sarawak a strong
campaign developed opposing the crown colony
status and culminated in the assassination
of the second British governor (1949). But
the most serious opposition was in the Malay
Peninsula against the Malayan Union which
reduced the status of the Malay States
virtually to that of a British colony.
Consequently, the British were obliged to
abandon the Malayan Union scheme, and in
1948 in its place established the Federation
of Malaya, after protracted negotiations
with the Malay Rulers, the United Malays
National Organisation (UMNO) and other
parties concerned. The new Federation
consisted of all the nine Malay states of
the Peninsula, along with Melaka and Pulau
Pinang, united under a federal government in
Kuala Lumpur headed by a British High
Commissioner.
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By
the Agreement of 1948 the British had
committed themselves to preparing the way
for the Federation's independence. Under the
twin pressures of a communist rebellion (the
Emergency) and the development of a strong
Malay nationalist movement (represented by
UMNO), the British introduced elections,
starting at local level in 1951. The problem
of obtaining political cooperation among the
main ethnic groups in the country to fight
for independence was resolved by the
successful establishment of an alliance
between UMNO and the Malayan Chinese
Association (MCA), the two principal
communal parties, in the same year, which
was subsequently joined by the Malayan
Indian Congress (MIC).
When the first federal elections were held
in 1955, the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance, headed
by Tunku Abdul Rahman, won an overwhelming
victory (51 out of the 52 seats contested),
and the Tunku was appointed the Federation's
first Chief Minister. The Alliance was
successful in pressuring the British to
relinquish their sovereignty in August 1957.
In the meantime slower constitutional
progress had been taking place under British
colonial rule in Singapore, Sarawak and
Sabah. In 1955 Singapore was granted
internal autonomy (the Rendel Constitution)
and had its first Chief Minister (David
Marshall). By 1959 Singapore had achieved
full internal self-government and was led by
the Peoples' Action Party (PAP) under Lee
Kuan Yew. In Sarawak local elections were
introduced in 1959.
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The
first move towards the formation of Malaysia
came in 1961 when the idea for the formation
of a wider federation comprising the
Federation of Malaya, Singapore and the
Kalimantan States (including Brunei) was
mooted by Tunku Abdul Rahman in a speech in
Singapore. The Tunku's proposal received
mixed reception. It was generally popular in
Malaya and Singapore but raised doubts in
Sabah and Sarawak. It also quickly aroused
opposition from the Philippines which
asserted a claim over British North Borneo (Sabah)
and from Indonesia where it was viewed as a
"neo-colonialist" plot by Sukarno
and the powerful Indonesian Communist Party.
However, the proposal had the immediate
effect of accelerating constitutional
development in Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei.
Elections were held for the first time in
Brunei and in Sabah in 1962. A joint
Anglo-Malayan commission headed by a former
governor of the Bank of England, Lord
Cobbold, visited Sabah and Sarawak in 1962
and reported that the majority in both
states favoured the formation of Malaysia.
However, continued Philippine and Indonesian
opposition led to the sending of a United
Nations mission to Borneo in 1963, which
also reported that public opinion was in
favour of joining Malaysia. Consequently, on
16 September 1963, Malaysia was formally
promulgated, although without Brunei which
by this time had declined to join.
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The
first few years of Malaysia were taken up by
a serious challenge to its survival, mainly
from Indonesia whose policy of confrontation
took the form of armed attacks on the
Peninsula and across the land frontiers of
Sabah and Sarawak. Confrontation was finally
brought to an end by an agreement signed in
Bangkok in 1966, while the Philippines gave
its formal recognition to Malaysia the same
year. In the meantime, however, (i.e. in
1965) Singapore ceased to be a member of the
Malaysian federation and became an
independent state.
In the seven general elections which have
been held since the formation of Malaysia
(the most recent being in 1990), the ruling
coalition of political parties- formerly the
Alliance, but expanded in 1971 to become the
Barisan Nasional-has easily retained its
majority in parliament. However, in 1969 for
the first and up till now the only time, the
coalition lost its overall two- thirds
majority. Communal tensions resulted in the
13 May 1969 incident in Kuala Lumpur,
leading to the establishment of an emergency
government-the National Operations Council.
Parliamentary rule was resumed in 1971.
Since then the broad aim of the
administration has been the fulfilment of
the New Economic Policy which is designed to
eradicate poverty regardless of race, and to
eliminate the identification of occupation
with race.
The economic prosperity achieved in the
1970s enabled the administration of Tun
Abdul Razak, who succeeded Tunku Abdul
Rahman as premier in 1970, and Tun Hussein
Onn who took over on the death of Tun Razak
in 1976 to make considerable progress
towards these ends. At the same time,
Malaysia established a more independent
foreign policy, helping found ASEAN in 1967,
recognising Communist China in t974, and
identifying the nation with the non-aligned
countries of the Third World. The 1980s have
brought new political directions and
economic challenges. The administration of
Dato' Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (1981) has
seen the search for new sources of support
and development (the Look East Policy), the
initiation of a bold policy of heavy
industrialisation (the national car, a steel
industry and oil refineries) and an
aggressive foreign policy asserting the
interests of the undeveloped South versus
those of the developed nations of the North.
The ruling coalition of parties in the
Barisan Nasional continues to dominate the
political arena but a number of
developments, including the coming of age of
a new generation of voters, suggest that
there may be changes in the traditional
pattern of Malaysian politics.
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| Source
from Information Malaysia 1997 Yearbook |
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