ORIGIN
Scientists have found archaeological evidence of human inhabitants in the
Niah Caves in Sarawak from about 40,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of inhabitants on the Malay Peninsula that has been
found is from about 10,000 years ago. Neolithic culture was well established by 2500-1500 BC. Most scholars believe the earliest
settlers on the Malay Peninsula came overland from southern China in small groups over a period of thousands of years. These
early inhabitants became the ancestors of the Orang Asli.
During the 1000's B.C., new groups of migrants who spoke a language related
to Malay came to Malaysia. The ancestors of these people had traveled by sea from south China to Taiwan, and later from Taiwan
to Borneo and the Philippines. These people became the ancestors of the Malays and the Orang Laut. The newcomers settled mainly
in the coastal areas of the peninsula.
Small Malayan kingdoms existed in the 2nd or 3rd centuries AD, when adventurers
from India arrived and initiated more than 1,000 years of Indian influence. About A.D. 1400, a group of Malay-speaking migrants
came to the Malay Peninsula from Srivijaya, a trading kingdom on the island of Sumatra (now part of Indonesia). Led by a Sumatran
hindu prince called Paramesvara, these newly arrived immigrants established a commercial kingdom called Malacca
and secured Chinese protection for the city-state.
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY
THE CONFRONTATION- 1963
In September 1963, North Borneo (quickly renamed Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore
joined Malaya in the Federation of Malaysia. Both Indonesia, which laid claim to Sarawak, and the Philippines, which argued
it had jurisdiction over Sabah, reacted angrily. Although the Philippines backed down, Indonesia didn't, and border skirmishes
known as the Konfrontasi ensued. Indonesian soldiers crossed the border, and only the arrival of British and Gurkha troops
averted a wider war.
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| Click for full size image |
THE INDEPENDENCE
Although UMNO stuck to its "Malays first" policy, in 1955 the new leader,
Tunku Abdul Rahman, forged a united position between UMNO, the moderate Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and the Malayan
Indian Association. This merger was called the Alliance, and it was to sweep into power under the rallying cry of Merdeka
(Freedom) for an independent Malaya .
With British backing, Merdeka was promulgated on August 15, 1957. The first
Prime Minister was Tunku Abdul Rahman. The new constitution allowed for the nine Malay sultans to alternate as king, and established
a two-tier parliament - a house of elected representatives and a Senate with delegates from each of the states. Although the
system was, in theory, a democracy, the Malay-dominated UMNO remained by far the most influential party. Rahman committed
the country to economic expansion and full employment, and foreign investment was encouraged.
After full self-government was attained by Singapore in 1959, its leader
Lee Kuan Yew wanted Singapore and Malaya to be joined administratively. Rahman initially agreed, although he feared the influence
of pro-Communist extremists in Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP). He campaigned hard for the inclusion of Sarawak
and North Borneo in a revised federation, to act as a demographic balance to the Chinese in Singapore.
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WORLD WAR 2
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| Japanese soldiers attacking via Batu Pahat River |
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| Mortar Troops from The Malay Regiment |
| Lieutenant Adnan Saidi |
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| Click Image for Battle of Pasir Panjang |
Lt Adnan Saidi was born in 1915 in Kajang, Selangor. He received
his education in Pekan Sunei Ramal in English. Upon graduation, Adnan was chosen to be a trainee teacher and taught at Pekan
Sunei Ramal for a year. In 1933, when he was 18 years old, he joined the Malay Regiment. He was the best recruit for the intake.
In 1936, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. In the following year, he was chosen to represent his platoon in a military
parade in London to honour the ascension of King George VI to the throne. Shortly thereafter, Adnan Saidi was promoted yet
again to coy-sergeant-major and headed for Singapore for an officer conversion course. Upon graduation as a 2nd
lieutenant, he became the commander of 7th Platoon, C Coy of the 1st Malay Regiment
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| Japanese money in Malaya |
THE EMERGENCY - 1948 to 1960
The period of unrest, which lasted from 1948 to 1960, was referred to as
the Emergency. On 16 June 1948 three British planters were executed by
communist terrorists (CTs) and a State of Emergency was declared by the British government.
The violence peaked in 1950 with ambushes and attacks on plantations near Ipoh, Kuala Kangsar, Kuala Lipis and
Raub, and the assassination of the British high commissioner to Malaya. In 1956, Chin Peng and most of the Malayan Communist
Party's remaining cell members fled over the border to Thailand where they received sanctuary; some still live there and only
formally admitted defeat in 1989.
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| Chin Peng, Chen Tien dan Rashid Maidin coming out from the jungle to attend The Baling Talk |
THE MALAYSIAN FLAG
Malaysia's flag is based on that of the United States, a country
whose democratic ideals the young nation sought to emulate upon gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957. The 14 stripes
represent Malaysia's states, while the square in the upper left contains the moon and sun of Islam.
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