Peninsular Malaysia

“ As a rule, however, Malaysia, in consequence of its perpetual summer under an equatorial sun, its rich alluvial soil—often of that peculiar richness associated with volcanic materials—and its plentiful rainfall, is clothed with a primeval forest which for luxuriance can scarcely be matched in West Africa or Brazil. ”

“ North of the Indo-Malaysian cradle-land lies the vast 'Asiatic section' of the eastern hemisphere, which is separated from the southern peninsulas by the Himalayan line, except along the Pacific coast where passage to the north is possible between the longitudinal ranges of Cochin-China. This continental area is the traditional abode of the Mongols or Yellow people. Between the equatorial belt and the Asiatic area, the 'Indo-Mediterranean-European section' spreads out towards the west from Indo-Malaysia to the Atlantic coast of the continent. ”

“ The one island of Java contains about three-fourths of the entire population of Malaysia, which is probably about forty millions. The vast majority of the population are Mohammedans, but the hill-tribes of the Peninsula and of the larger islands are still heathen, the Dyaks of Borneo and the Battas of Sumatra being the most numerous of the non-Mohammedan races. There are also many hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants in Malaysia, of whom only one here and there have become Mohammedan. ”

“ The three Governments would similarly send observers to the two territories to witness the investigations of the working teams and the Federation of Malaya would do its best to ensure the co-operation of the British Government and of the Governments of Sabah and Sarawak. ”

“ As your Lordships, I think, are aware, the Governments of Malaya and Singapore have agreed in principle to the creation of a common market which would extend to the whole of Malaysia, and this idea has been accepted by North Borneo and Sarawak. ”

“ In a series of meetings in London this week British and Malayan Ministers examined the proposal to create a 'Federation of Malaysia' which would embrace the Federation of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, Sarawak and Brunei. ”

“ It is acceptable to the Committee that on the creation of Malaysia the indigenous peoples of the Borneo territories should be placed in the same position as the Malays under the present Constitution of the Federation of Malaya. They are the "founder citizens and to place them in a position different from that of Malays from the constitutional point of view would only create anomalies. ”

“ By itself, or even in association with Sarawak, North Borneo would find it very expensive to exist as an independent territory, and its voice in the councils of the world would be small. The peoples of Malaya and Borneo have cultural, economic and historical ties which make them fit naturally together as a group. Malaysia offers for them all the prospect of sharing in the destiny of what the British Government believes will be a great. prosperous and stable independent State within the Commonwealth. ”

“ The survival of an Indonesian group on the western verge of Malaysia is all the more remarkable since the Nias islanders, a little farther north, are of Mongol stock, like most if not all of the inhabitants of the Sumatran mainland. ”

“ Malay or Indian Kingdom. This kingdom comprises India, the Malay Archipelago, and the Andaman Islands. Now, anterior to the Aryan conquest, Yellows and Blacks lived in India. The latter are still found in a pure state in the peninsula of Malacca, and in the Andaman Islands; Malaysia presents a perfect mixture of most different races, from the White to the Negro. The Malays, properly so-called, are much rather a population levelled by the action of Islamism, than a race in the true sense of the word; they present in a high degree the characters of intercrossing. ”

“ WHEREAS Malaysia was established on the 16th day of September, 1963, by a federation of the existing states of the Federation of Malaya and the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore into one independent and sovereign nation ”

“ The southern extremity of the division approaches the insular region of Malaysia, and it is fringed along its entire western coast by a number of islands, forming in the north the Moscos and in the south the Mergui Archipelago. The eastern frontier is formed by a mountain range 5000 feet high, which acts as a water-parting between the Tenasserim and the Siamese river systems. ”

“ The indigenous peoples and the Chinese are both an integral part of the population of Sarawak; both have played their part in the past and both have their part to play in the future; it is essential that they should live and work in harmony. If these things can be achieved, the intensification of political consciousness arising out of the Malaysia proposals will in the long run prove beneficial. ”

“ The rice field, the coconut palm and the river provide the Malay with an easy living, supplemented in the past by the proceeds of occasional piracy. He was not likely to be industrious so long as his property was liable to be seized at any moment by his rulers or their deputies. The Malay, as we find him all over the East India Islands, will hunt, fish, sail a boat or fight with considerable energy and skill, but he takes ordinary life in an easy [85] fashion. He has no desire for the business of money-making and prefers to live in his simple fashion in his own homestead or kampong. ”

“ Whether of Indonesian or of what is called "Malay" stock, the intruders were rude Oceanic peoples, who in the prehistoric period, prior to the spread of civilising Hindu or Moslem influences in Malaysia, had scarcely advanced in general culture much beyond the indigenous Papuan and Negrito populations of that region. Even at present the Gaddanes, Itaves, Igorrotes, and others of Luzon are mere savages, at the head-hunting stage, quite as wild as, and perhaps even more ferocious than any of the Aetas. ”

“ As this is possibly the last occasion on which we shall have an opportunity of discussing at any length the problems of Malaya, since the territory of Malaysia will be independent on August 31, and we do not normally discuss the affairs of independent countries in this House, perhaps I may be allowed to say a word or two about a man whom I consider to be a really great man of our time, the father, to a large extent, both of Malaya and of Malaysia. ”

“ In many tribes the people live in communal houses like those of the Pueblo Indians of America.
A large part of the population of Oceania is of Malay origin. As a rule the Malaysians are intelligent and take readily to western civilization. They are confined chiefly to the larger islands south and west of the Asian continent. In such parts of Malaysia as have become European possessions, they are farm laborers, and in this employment they have no superiors.
A Malay boy
LINK TO IMAGE
Of all the native peoples of Oceania, the Polynesians are perhaps the most interesting. ”

“ We are confident that, if the response is satisfactory, the ultra-nationalists would realise that Malaysia is not contrary to their convictions and the chauvinists would reconcile themselves to the new structure. ”

“ Although not the next largest group in point of numbers, it will be convenient to deal next with the Melanaus, as their attitude towards the Malaysia proposals is almost identical with that of the Malays. The Melanaus live in kampongs mainly in the coastal areas of the Third and Fourth Divisions and just over 70 per cent of them are Muslims. ”

“ A citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies born in Sarawak or North Borneo or naturalised in either territory before the date on which Malaysia comes into effect should by operation of law become a citizen of the Federation of Malaysia. We include in this category persons who were born in either or the territories before the dates on which they became British colonies. There is, however, one qualification that needs to be made. Some persons in this category might have severed all connexion with Borneo and the other territories that will form Malaysia. ”

“ On the Malay Peninsula, at the extreme southeast corner of Asia, appear the first members of the Malay race, seemingly a distant branch of the Mongoloid, which spreads over Sumatra, Java, and other islands of the Eastern Archipelago. ”

“ For the purposes of this article, however, only those among these races which bear the name of Orang Malayu, speak the Malayan language, and represent the dominant people of the land, can be included under the title of Malays. These people inhabit the whole of the Malayan Peninsula to the borders of lower Siam, the islands in the vicinity of the mainland, the shores of Sumatra and some portions of the interior of that island, Sarawak and Brunei in Borneo, and some parts of Dutch Borneo, Batavia and certain districts in Java, and some of the smaller islands of the archipelago. ”

“ The oceanic islands, on the other hand, are grouped between the tropics in isolated archipelagoes, extending more than halfway across the Pacific. The lines of entry into this insular region lead back to Indo-Malaysia, the cradle-land of mankind and the point of intersection of the three racial regions of the old world. Oceania was, accordingly, peopled from three sources, successive waves of Negro, Caucasic and Mongolic migration coming together in Indo-Malaysia and spreading out again over the islands of the Pacific. ”

“ Oh! dear people, stewing in India and swearing at all the Governments, it is a glorious thing to be an Englishman. "Our lot has fallen unto us in a fair ground. Yea, we have a goodly heritage." Take a map and look at the long stretch of the Malay Peninsula,—a thousand miles southerly it runs, does it not?—whereon Penang, Malacca, and Singapur are so modestly underlined in red ink. See, now. We have our Residents at every one of the Malay native States of any importance, and right up the line to Kedah and Siam our influence regulates and controls all. ”

“ In the vast island world of Indonesia, where constant contact with the sea has bred the amphibian Malay race, we are not surprised to find that the typical Malay house is built on piles above the water; and that when the coast Malay is driven inland by new-comers of his own stock and forced to abandon his favorite occupations of trade, piracy and fishing, he takes to agriculture but still retains his sea-born architecture and raises his hut on poles above the ground, beyond the reach of an enemy's spear-thrust. ”

“ Both natives and non-natives who support Malaysia have stressed to us that Malaysia must come about as quickly as possible since feelings were already running high between groups opposing and those supporting Malaysia. ”

“ Parliament may by law make any provision necessary to adapt Articles 83 to 86 in order that they may apply to land in the States of North Borneo, Malacca, Penang, Sarawak and Singapore as nearly as practicable, having regard to differences in the system of land tenure, in the same manner as they apply to land in other States. ”

“ The Malay is the latest immigrant. He is of mixed breed, and the link that holds the Malays together is religion, for they are Mahomedans, whereas the Kayans, Land and Sea-Dayaks, and other tribes, are pagans. To accept their own traditions, the Bruni Malays came from Johore, whereas the Sarawak Malays, like those of the Malay peninsula, came direct from the ancient kingdom of Menangkabau. ”

“ The colony of the Straits Settlements consists of the islands of Singapore, Penang and the Dindings, the territory of Province Wellesley, on the mainland opposite to Penang, the insignificant territory of the Dindings, and the town and territory of Malacca. The Federated Malay States under British protection consist of the sultanates of Perak, Selangor and the Negri Sambilan on the west coast, and the sultanate of Pahang on the east coast. ”

“ The Malay Peninsula—that slender tongue of land which projects into the tepid seas at the extreme south of the Asiatic Continent—is but little more than a name to most dwellers in Europe. But, even in the Peninsula itself, and to the majority of those white men whose whole lives have been passed in the Straits of Malacca, the East Coast and the remote interior, of which I chiefly write, are almost as completely unknown. ”

“ The views expressed to us by these peoples were that they did not want independence and that they relied on the British to continue to provide the help and guidance which they felt they still badly needed. They did not understand the Malaysia Plan and could not avoid the impression that the British, who had ruled them so well, were preparing to desert them. They wanted the British to stay until they were able to look after themselves. ”