been swift, almost entirely compressed in the early years of the 1960's. Certain fortuitous factors intervened to accelerate what originally promised to be a slow-paced process. These were chiefly: (1) the advocacy in May 1961 of an enlarged Federation of Malaysia by the Prime Minister of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, offering the option of independence by adherence to an established state; (2) the surprising momentum which the Malaysian proposal acquired between 1961-63, partly due to its firm support by British colonial officials in Borneo; and (3) the availability of existent Malayan political forms, particularly the Alliance concept of communally based political parties joined together in a governing coalition, which proved transferable to the similarly multi-racial society in Borneo. The rapid pace of this change was the more noteworthy, since the antecedent colonial tradition had been strongly authoritarian. Until World War II Sarawak had been for over a century the personal preserve of James Brooke, the White Rajah, and his heirs; North Borneo, known since 1963 as Sabah, had since 1881 represented the last of a dying species, the chartered commercial company.' After the war both had become Crown Colonies with a British governor wielding all significant executive authority. Legislative councils with initially limited powers and restricted electorates were gradually becoming partially popular bodies. Yet within a period of less than three years, a complex multi-party system emerged in both territories, functioning by 1963 with the full accouterments of parliamentary democracy. This article will appraise (1) the major features of the evolving Bornean party system between 1961-63, and (2) the crucial problem of cabinet instability under communal coalitions in Borneo since the formation of Malaysia in 1963.2