Malaysia Agreement

Malaysia Agreement
Malaysia Agreement
Agreement relating to Malaysia between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore
Agreement Relating to Malaysia between UK, N. Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore.djvu
Agreement relating to Malaysia
Signed 9 July 1963
Location London, United Kingdom
Signatories Government of United Kingdom
Government of Malaya
Government of North Borneo
Government of Sarawak, and
Government of Singapore
Parties  United Kingdom
 Malaya
North Borneo North Borneo
 Sarawak
 Singapore
Depositary Secretariat of UN registered Nr. 10760 (English and Malay)
Language English, and Malay
Agreement relating to Malaysia between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore at Wikisource
Malaysia Act 1963 (document)

The Malaysia Agreement or the Agreement relating to Malaysia between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore is the name used for the decolonization[1] of North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore which it was union in 1963 with existing independent states of the Malaya[2] as the states of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore and the union was renamed Malaysia.[1], then Singapore cease to be a state of Malaysia on 9 August 1965 become an independent state.[3]


Contents

Background

The Malayan Union was established by the British Malaya and comprised the Federated Malay States of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang; the Unfederated Malay States of Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor; and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It came into being in 1946, through a series of agreements between the United Kingdom and Malayan Union.[4] The Malayan Union was superseded by the Federation of Malaya on 1 February 1948, and achieved independence within the Commonwealth of Nations on 31 August 1957.[2]

After the end of the Second World War, decolonization became the societal goal of the peoples under colonial regimes aspiring to achieve self-determination hereinafter, the Special Committee on Decolonization (also known as the U.N. Special Committee of the 24 on Decolonization, It reflected in the United Nations General Assembly's proclamation on 14 December 1960 of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples hereinafter, the Committee of 24, or simply, the Decolonization Committee) was established in 1961 by the General Assembly of the United Nations with the purpose of monitoring implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples and to make recommendations on its application.[5] The committee is also a successor to the former Committee on Information from Non-Self-Governing Territories. Hoping to speed the progress of decolonization, the General Assembly had adopted in 1960 the Resolution 1514, also known as the "Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples" or simply "Declaration on Decolonization". It stated that all people have a right to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end.[6]

Under the Malaysia Agreement signed between Great Britain and the Federation of Malaya, Britain would enact an Act to relinquish sovereign control over Singapore, Sarawak and North Borneo (now Sabah). This was accomplished through the enactment of the Malaysia Act 1963, clause 1(1) of which states that on Malaysia Day, Her Majesty’s sovereignty and jurisdiction in respect of the new states shall be relinquished so as to vest in the manner agreed[7]

Decolonization, Self-Determination and Referendum

The issue of self-determination with respect to the peoples of North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore formed the bedrock of yet another challenge to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. Under the Joint Statement issued by the British and Malayan Federal Governments on 23 November 1961, clause 4 provided: Before coming to any final decision it is necessary to ascertain the views of the peoples. It has accordingly been decided to set up a Commission to carry out this task and to make recommendations ........

In the spirit of ensuring that decolonization was carried in accordance with the wishes of the peoples of North Borneo, the British Government, working with the Federation of Malaya Government, appointed a Commission of Enquiry for North Borneo and Sarawak in January 1962 to determine if the people supported the proposal to create a Federation of Malaysia. The five-man team, which comprised two Malayans and three British representatives, was headed by Lord Cameron Cobbold.[8]

In Singapore, the People's Action Party (PAP) sought merger with Malaysia on the basis of the strong mandate it obtained during the general elections of 1959 when it won 43 of the 51 seats. However, this mandate became questionable when dissension within the Party led to a split. In July 1961, following a debate on a vote of confidence in the government, 13 PAP Assemblymen were expelled from the PAP for abstaining. They went on to form a new political party, the Barisan Sosialis, the PAP’s majority in the Legislative Assembly was whittled down as they now only commanded 30 of the 51 seats. More defections occurred until the PAP had a majority of just one seat in the Assembly. Given this situation, it would have been impossible to rely on the mandate achieved in 1959 to move forth with merger. A new mandate was necessary, especially since the Barisan argued that the terms of merger offered were detrimental to the Singapore people.

On 11 September 1963, just 4 days before the new Federation of Malaysia was to come into being, the Government of the State of Kelantan sought a declaration that the Malaysia Agreement and Malaysia Act were null and void, or alternatively, that even if they were valid, they did not bind the State of Kelantan. The Kelantan Government argued that both the Malaysia Agreement and the Malaysia Act were not binding on Kelantan on the following grounds that the Malaysia Act in effect abolished the Federation of Malaya and this was contrary to the 1957 Federation of Malaya Agreement that the proposed changes required the consent of each of the constituent states of the Federation of Malaya – including Kelantan – and this had not been obtained

Decolonization drive

The Declaration states that "the subjection of peoples to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, is contrary to the United Nations Charter, and is an impediment to the promotion of world peace and cooperation, and that steps should be taken to transfer, unconditionally, all powers to the Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories so that they might enjoy complete freedom and independence".[9]

Also in 1960, the General Assembly of the United Nations approved resolution 1541 (XV) In Article 5 of the Resolution 1514, states: Immediate steps shall be taken, in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom, moreover in Article 3 provided that [i]nadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence. To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514, the General Assembly created the Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (referred to popularly as the Special Committee on Decolonization in 1961. Even though Great Britain abstained from voting on Resolution 1514, pressure on her to decolonize was palpable. Not only did this pressure come from the international community, it came from its strongestally, the United States of America who extracted this concession from the British in the Atlantic Charter[10] and in the Principle VI, Article 73 e of the Charter defining free association with an independent State, integration into an independent State, or independence as the three legitimate options of full self-government[11] compliance with the principle of self-determination.[12][13][14]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b See: The UK Statute Law Database: the Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Malaysia Act 1963
  2. ^ a b See: The UK Statute Law Database: the Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Federation of Malaya Independence Act 1957 (c. 60)
  3. ^ See: the Independence of Singapore Agreement 1965 and the Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom Singapore Act 1966.
  4. ^ See: Cabinet Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies. 21 February 1956 Federation of Malaya Agreement
  5. ^ See: the United Nations Special Committee on Decolonisation - Official Website
  6. ^ See: History of U.N. Decolonisation Committee - Official U.N. Website
  7. ^ See: Section 1(1), Malaysia Act 1963, Chapter 35 (UK).
  8. ^ Cobbold was Governor of the Bank of England from 1949 to 1961. The other members were Wong Pow Nee, Chief Minister of Penang, Mohammed Ghazali Shafie, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Abell, former Governor or Sarawak and David Watherston, former Chief Secretary of the Federation of Malaya.
  9. ^ See Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples
  10. ^ Clause 3 of the Charter reads:
    Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.
  11. ^ See: General Assembly 15th Session - resolution 1541 (XV) (pages:509-510)
  12. ^ See:United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514
  13. ^ See:United Nations General Assembly 15th Session - The Trusteeship System and Non-Self-Governing Territories (pages:509-510)
  14. ^ See:United Nations General Assembly 18th Session - the Question of Malaysia (pages:41-44)

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