Abstract
This study examines how the first major military incursions in Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in 1963-1964 were reported in three selected Malaysian English-language newspapers. These newspapers are The Straits Times, published in Singapore, North Borneo News and Sabah Times (hereafter Sabah Times), published in Sabah, and The Sarawak Tribune, published in Sarawak. This study employed a qualitative content analysis of the newspapers to examine their coverage on the issue. The findings show that The Straits Times generally provided the widest coverage on the first major military incursions in Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia. Sabah Times, on the other hand, provided the most extensive news coverage on the military raid on Sabah. This was probably due to limited manpower and financial strength of the two newspapers and not the lack of concern of both newspapers and their readers of the situation in the affected localities. Keywords: Indonesia–Malaysia Confrontation, military incursions, The Straits Times, North Borneo News and Sabah Times, The Sarawak Tribune, news media coverage
Highlights
This study examines how the first major military incursions in Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in 19631964 were reported in three selected Malaysian English-language newspapers
It is worth noting that while The Straits Times already published the first news article on the incident on 13 April 1963, The Sarawak Tribune and Sabah Times only began to cover the incident on 16 April 1963 and 15 April 1963 respectively
Based on the findings of this study, it can be said that The Straits Times generally provided more extensive coverage on the first major military incursions on Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia compared to The Sarawak Tribune and Sabah Times
Summary
This study examines how the first major military incursions in Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia during the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation in 19631964 were reported in three selected Malaysian English-language newspapers. The scope of this study covers the period before the official formation of the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, for simplification, this paper refers to the three selected English-language newspapers as ‘Malaysian' English-language newspapers. The Indonesia– Malaysia Confrontation was Indonesia's political and armed opposition against the creation of the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. The Federation comprised of the Federation of Malaya (present-day Peninsular Malaysia), Singapore and the British colonies in North Borneo, i.e., Sabah and Sarawak. The president of Indonesia, Sukarno, perceived the formation of Malaysia as a manifestation of British neocolonialism, especially because Britain would continue to have military bases in Malaya and Singapore. The foreign minister of Indonesia, even announced on 20 January 1963 that Indonesia would execute a policy of confrontation against Malaysia (Nik Anuar Nik Mahmud, 2009, p. 75)
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