Trace and Tell your Family's Empire Stories
Country Histories
Malaysia is divided in two parts, geographically separated by the South China Sea. West Malaysia lies on the Malay Peninsula south of Thailand, while East Malaysia lies along the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Malaysia's coastlines border one of the oldest, wealthiest and busiest trading routes of the world and its development has been shaped by the Indian, Chinese, Arab and European civilisations that traded in the region over the centuries.
The end of British rule in the region was made inevitable by Japanese occupation during the Second World War. A successful war of counter-insurgency, known as the Malay Emergency, was fought against Malayan Chinese Communists between 1948 and 1960. Independence followed rapidly under a conservative constitution that protected western access to Malaysia's many valuable natural resources.
Browser by chapterAlthough the defeat of the Japanese was generally welcomed, the fact that an Asian power had defeated the British so quickly made a powerful impression and hastened the end of colonial rule. But the question of independence quickly became bound up with the politics of the emerging Cold War in Asia. Tension between the armed MCP and other political movements brought Malaya to the brink of civil war. The British needed to stabilise this situation quickly and effectively.
The United Malay Nationalists Organisation was founded in 1946 by Malay nationalist Dato' Onn bin Jaafar (1895-1962) to campaign against British proposals to establish a Malayan Union that would have effectively curtailed the power of the sultans and given equal status to non-Malays. In its place the 1948 Federation of Malaya Agreement introduced a constitutional formula that was acceptable to Malay opinion. North Borneo and Sarawak, meanwhile, gained colonial status.
