THE COMPROMISE ON 1957 AND 1963

It took 50 years for September 16 to be declared as Malaysia Day and only after a watershed election saw the five State Government fall to the Opposition, and Sabah and Sarawak assuming kingmaker status in Parliament in 2008. 

Previously, when the Opposition PBS politicians floated the idea – although theirs was to mark it as Malaysia’s Independence instead of August 31, 1957 – they were branded as anti-Federal. Some say it was only when the Pakatan Rakyat State Governments started honouring September 16 with gatherings that the Government acted fast by declaring it a public holiday two years ago. Why was the significance of September 16 so late in coming and is the little emphasis about the formation of Malaysia in the history books to blame?

The last General Election(12^th) created it’s responsible for this kind of decision because the Barisan Nasional is now highly dependent for retaining Putrajaya on Sabah and Sarawak. Previously, there was a high input from Sabah and Sarawak but when they lost six states, then that means now to retain Putrajaya they must at all costs retain the support of Sabah and Sarawak. So if they don’t give any concessions, they might politically also get a blacklash here and they can’t afford to do that. It could be a turning point or other reasons also.

An issue that keeps resurfacing every year is whether Malaysia’s Independence should be calculated from 16 September 1963(Malaysia’s Formation) thus making her 48 years instead of 54 years(Malaya’s Independence in 1957).

Actually, the compromise now reached is 1957 is taken as Merdeka and 1963 is taken as Malaysia Day. That is a good compromise because if we take 1963 as Independence Day, then what happens to the Federation? The only thing you can say is Independence Year for the Federation is 1957 and Independence Year for Sabah and Sarawak is 1963. That’s one way of looking at it. But we cannot just now transfer Independence Day for the whole country to 1963 because the Federation got its independence in 1957.

The formation of Malaysia does not correspond or does not translate into independence. You must not confuse that. To say the truth Sabah also achieved independence a few weeks ealier before the formation of Malaysia. We should not be confuse the issue of independence with the formation of Malaysia. The formation of Malaysia has nothing to do with independence. We can’t change history. If you shouted in 1963, then what about the people in West Malaysia where Tunku Abdul Rahman shouted seven times Merdeka. It would have been meaningless. So the beauty compromise is that the Independence Day is August 31 and the Malaysia Day is September 16.

BUT which 31 August? 1957 or 1963?