Political Parties in Mainland Malaya

Abstract

Whatever impact the formation of Malaysia had on the areas involved, the merger, in 1963, of mainland Malaya with Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah (North Borneo) — and the separation of Singapore in 1965 — has been a complication in the life of the political analyst in the midst of efforts to formulate generalizations about the country's political life. Obviously adjustments are being made in the whole range of political affairs as the various components of the enlarged federation are in the course of integration into a single operating political system. Yet, differences remain, and there is still much to be learned by considering the component parts as separate entities. Distortions will result from such a procedure, but as long as the researcher and his audience are alerted to the distortions, and no claim of completeness made, the built-in error need not be too misleading.