Here we go again

LETTER | Sarawak and North Borneo as equals to the Federation of Malaya (FOM) in 1963? What are you smoking? Many of us who lived through that period in our nation's history can recall the aftermath of the end of the Second World War.

Great Britain, effete after the costly and punishing world war, embarked on a programme of rationalisation and had no choice but to give up far-flung possessions that had little or no strategic significance.

Enter Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo, three backward possessions in Soth-East Asia that held valuable natural resources and pretty nothing else.

In 1961, Lee Kuan Yew's People's Actions Party (PAP) was facing tremendous pressure from fellow-founder Lim Chin Siong's breakaway left-wing faction and two critical by-elections in Hong Lim and Anson (won by opposition Ong Eng Guan and David Marshall respectively) saw Lee scrambling to Kuala Lumpur to beg his Oxbridge alumnus, Tunku Abdul Rahman, PM of the FOM, to absorb Singapore into the FOM and save him from an almost certain ignominious defeat at the next poll.

Alas, the racial composition of the enlarged FOM would mean the Chinese forming the majority race; so no go.

Lee must have contacted another Oxbridge alumnus, Harold Wilson, and their likely behind-the-scene machination probably caused the British authorities to strong-arm Tunku (by various threats of withdrawing air-sea-land defence provided by Commonwealth forces) to accept a merger of his FOM with Singapore and the three British territories in Borneo to form a new entity to be called Malaysia.

The proposed inclusion of the Borneon states besides Singapore was intended to keep the ethnic composition of the new nation similar to that of Malaya, with the Malay and indigenous populations of the other territories cancelling out the Chinese majority in Singapore.

To the British, the situation was ideal as in Tunku's FOM, they have a safe and stable place to park the three economically valuable possessions. It was touted as a win-win-win situation for Britain, Malaya and Singapore.

Whatever the form, the substance was that the three eventual new entities (Brunei having opted to stay out when its demand for its sultan to be primus inter pares was rejected) joined as another three new states to the existing eleven in the enlarged federation; another three stripes and another three points to the star on the national flag.

At this juncture in history, Sarawak and North Borneo were very backward by Malayan and Singapore standards. Political awareness was rather scant. Sophistication, urbanity and savoir-faire were foreign attributes and exotic concepts.

In fact, Malayans and Singaporeans referred to them as "ulu" (up-river and therefore primitive).

Now you know why Sarawak and North Borneo asked for control over immigration as they feared the carpet-baggers from Singapore and Malaya stealing all the good jobs from the locals.

Alas, for political reasons, both Sarawak and Sabah misused and abused this provision to prevent certain people from entering; but that's another story.

Today, we are asked to regard Sarawak and Sabah as "equals" to the FOM in 1963. Come on, be real. 

Yes, many will agree that under the BN, the two Borneo states have been unfairly treated and much needs to be done to redress and rectify but to now declare Sarawak and Sabah as "equals" to the Federation of Malaya in 1963 is, at best, mind-boggling and at worst, a travesty of the historical truth.

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