The “Dacing” in Sabah and Sarawak

Abstract

The dating is the pair of scales which is the symbol of Malaysia's ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) which won all the thirteen states in the August 1974 General Elections. The functions of the dating are taken to include the maintenance of the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara (National Ideology). Specifically, this article focuses attention on the weight and future of the dating in the Malaysian Bornean states of Sabah and Sarawak. However, in so far as the stress of the follow ing discussion is on the state of national life in Malaysia, it is pertinent to trace briefly at the outset the political backgrounds of Peninsular Malaysia (formerly Malaya), Sarawak, and Sabah. National life has developed by gradual, but at times traumatic, stages in Malaysia. It began with the help of the not entirely altruistic British when Malaya became Federation in 1948. While the British characteristically preoccupied themselves with the Emergency (1948-60), the Malayans gradually ceased to be mere onlookers in plural society and became increasingly knowledgeable and involved in the art of government and self-rule. Independence became more than coveted ideal when political evolution gained momentum and Malayans attained Merdeka (Freedom) in 1957. At the stroke of midnight on 31 August that year, the Prime Minister, Tengku Abdul Rahman, declared that the Federation of Malaya would forever be a sovereign, democratic, and independent State founded on the principles of liberty and justice and ever seeking the welfare and happiness of its people and the main tenance of just peace amongst all nations. The constitutional framework and mechanics of federation had been lengthily discussed; and prima facie, the independent Malaya, which became nation-state formally in 1957, appeared all set to promote national life and evolve distinctive political ethos for the seven million people of the Malay Peninsula. Among South east Asian countries, there had seldom been such smooth transfer of authority from metropolitan power to the inhabitants of dependent territory as witnessed the departure of Britain and the succession of the United Malay National Organiza tion (UMNO)-Malayan Chinese Association (MCA)-Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) Alliance to the reigns of Federal Government. Yet, the very smoothness of that transfer underscored the incompleteness of Malayan independence. Ever since the concept of national life became serious consideration, one of the hair-splitting problems which Peninsular nation-makers had to deal with was Singapore's wish to be part of Malaya. On balance, probably more people on the island desired merger with the mainland than there were Peninsuiarites desirous of accepting Singapore into united Malaya. At all events, it is instructive to note that it was that tiny, pivotal, and intriguing city-state which brought Sarawak and ' Sabah onto the political map of Southeast Asia in the early 1960's. It was obvious