Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pulau Pinang and Melaka although parts of the proposed Malayan Union would
remained British Settlements. Singapore would remained as a separate colony.
The Malayan Union and Singapore would have separate Governors and their
individual Executive and Legislative Councils.
In the Malayan Union, the Malay Sultans would be Presidents in his own State, of
a Malay Advisory Council which would be mainly concerned with religious
matters. The Malay Sultans would be asked to sign new treaties which would
give the British Government jurisdiction in their states. These constitutional
proposals actually represented a complete change of policy by the British
Government. The Malay States had never been British territories. They were and
always have been protected Malay States.
Political parties and associations were formed all over the country to fight the
Malayan Union proposals which were to come into effect on 1 April 1946 when
civil government were to be restored.
The proposal also stated that apart from Malays, only second generation
Chinese, Indians and other races would automatically qualify for the federal
citizenship. Thus the Malayan Union was officially terminated on the 31st January,
1948.
MALAYAN INDEPENDENCE
The termination of the Malayan Union in 1948 had made the British to commit
themselves to prepare the way fro the Federation’s independence. Under the
twin pressure of the Emergency and the development of a strong Malay
nationalist movement, that is UMNO, the British introduced elections in 1951 at
the local level. The problem of obtaining political coopertaion 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 and later joined
by the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC). When the first federal elections were
held in 1955, the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance, which was headed by Tunku Abdul
Rahman, won an overwhelming vistory, that is 51 out of the 52 seats contested.
Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed the Federation of Malaya’s first Chief
Minister. The Alliance was successful in pressuring the British to relinquisht heir
sovereignty and the Federation of Malaya achieved its independence on the 31st
August 1957.
PENUBUHAN MALAYSIA &
KONFRONTASI DENGAN
INDONESIA
In 1955 Singapore was granted internal autonomy under the Rendel Constitution
and David Marshall was appointed the first Chief Minister. By 1959, Singapore
had achived full interbal self government and was led by the Peoples’ Action
Party (PAP) under Lee Kuan Yew. In sarawak, local elections were introduced in
1959.
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, Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei was mooted by Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Tunku’s proposal was generally accepted by the people of malaya and Singapore
but raised doubts in Sabah and Sarawak.
However, the proposal was oppossed by the Philippines as they asserted a claim
over Sabah. The proposal also received oppositon from Indonesia where it was
vieved as a “neo-colonialist’ plot by Sukarno and the powerful Indonesian
Communist Party.
The years after the formation of Malaysia saw confrontation from Indonesia
which took the form of armed attacks on the Peninsula and across the land
fromtiers of Sabah and Sarawak. The confrontation came to an end in 1966 by
an agreement signed in Bangkok, Thailand.
1970-an
Tun Abdul Razak took over as Prime Minister upon the retirement of Tunku Abdul
Rahman Putra Alhaj on the 22 September 1970. The economic prosperity
achieved in the 1970s enabled the administration of Tun Abdul Razak and Tun
Hussein Onn who took over on thhe death of Tun Razak in 1976 to make
considerable progress towards these ends. Malaysia also established a more
independent foreign policy which lead to the founding of ASEAN in 1967.
Malaysia also recognised Communist China in 1974 and identifying the nation
with non-aligned countries of the third world.
The New Economic Policy was given a fresh impetus under the premiership of
Tun Hussein Onn. The National Unit Trust or Amanah Saham Nasional was was
introduced to allow bumiputera to invest in shares. This Unit Trust was controlled
by National Equity Corporation or Permodalan Nasional Berhad.
1980-an
The 1980s brought new
political directions and
economic challenges.
Dato’Seri Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad who took over
the premeiership from Tun
Hussein Onn on 17th July
1981 initiated a bold policy
of heavy industrialization
such as the national car
project, oil refineries and a
steel industry. The national
car project first started as a
joint venture between
Perusahaan Otomobil National Berhad(PROTON), HICOM berhad, Mitsubushi
Motor Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation. On 9th July 1985, the first Proton
saga was manufactured. The Proton car became the best selling car in the local
passenger car for both the Malaysian and overseas markets since 1990
1990-an
Several projects were initiated during the 1990s and among them were the
Petronas Twin Towers, Menara Kuala Lumpur and the Kuala Lumpur
International Airport (KLIA)
The Petronas Twin Towers project was launched on 15 September 1992 together
with Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) Project. The twin Towers have 88 floors in
each of the of the towers and full height 0f 451.9 m above ground level. Thus it
had been aknowledged by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban habitat as the
second tallest building in the world, making them a new world landmark right in
Kuala Lumpur.
Menara Kuala lumpur which stand at 94 m above sea level and 421 meters high
has been recognised as the third tallest communication tower in the world and
the tallest in Asia. Menara Kuala Lumpur is a communications tower for Malaysia
and is equipped with new technology to meet the requirements of increasing
technology demands in the country. Menara Kuala Lumpur has become a major
tourist attraction as it is truly an outstanding landmark and ambassador for the
city of Kuala Lumpur and the nation. The tower is a new source of pride for
Malaysians and a measure of the nation’s progress towards vision 2020.