Malaysia
History & Politic
Malaysia History (Overview)
The
ancestors of the people that now inhabit the Malaysian peninsula first
migrated to the area between 2500 and 1500 B.C. Those living in the
coastal regions had early contact with Chinese and Indians; seafaring
traders from India brought with them Hinduism, which was blended with
the local animist beliefs. As Muslims conquered India, they spread the
religion of Islam to Malaysia. In the 15th century A.D., Islam acquired
a firm hold on the region when the Hindu ruler of the powerful
city-state of Malacca, Parameswara Dewa Shah, converted to Islam.
British
and Dutch interest in the region grew in the 1800s, with the British
East India Company establishment of a trading settlement on the island
of Singapore. Trade soared, with Singapore's population growing from
only 5,000 in 1820 to nearly 100,000 in just 50 years. In the 1880s,
Britain formally established protectorates in Malaysia. At about the
same time, rubber trees were introduced from Brazil. With the mass
production of automobiles, rubber became a valuable export, and
laborers were brought in from India to work the rubber plantations.
Following
the Japanese occupation of Malaysia during World War II, a growing
nationalist movement prompted the British to establish the
semiautonomous Federation of Malaya in 1948. But Communist guerrillas
took to the jungles to begin a war of national liberation against the
British, who declared a state of emergency to quell the insurgency,
which lasted until 1960.
The
independent state of Malaysia came into existence on Sept. 16, 1963, as
a federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah (North Borneo), and Sarawak.
In 1965, Singapore withdrew from the federation to become a separate
nation. Since 1966, the 11 states of former Malaya have been known as
West Malaysia, and Sabah and Sarawak as East Malaysia.
By
the late 1960s Malaysia was torn by communal rioting directed against
Chinese and Indians, who controlled a disproportionate share of the
country's wealth. Beginning in 1968, the government moved to achieve
greater economic balance through a national economic policy.
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Federation
of Malaya
The Federation of Malaya
was established in place of the Malayan Union after protracted
negotiations with the malay Rulers, the United Malays National
Organisation (UMNO) and other parties concerned. The new Federation
consisted of all the nine Malay states of the Peninsula, along with
Melaka and Pulau Pinang. The federation of Malaya was under the
administration of a federal government in Kuala Lumpur headed by a
British High Commissioner.
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Malayan
Independence
The termination of the Malayan Union in 1948 had
made the British to commit themselves to prepare the way fro the
Federation's independence. Under the twin pressure of the Emergency and
the development of a strong Malay nationalist movement, that is UMNO,
the British introduced elections in 1951 at the local level. The
problem of obtaining political coopertaion among the main ethnic groups
in the country to fight for independence was resolved by the successful
establishment of an alliance between UMNO and the Malayan Chinese
Association (MCA), the two principal communal parties and later joined
by the Malayan Indian Congress (MIC). When the first federal elections
were held in 1955, the UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance, which was headed by Tunku Abdul Rahman,
won an overwhelming vistory, that is 51 out of the 52 seats contested.
Tunku Abdul Rahman was appointed the Federation of Malaya's first Chief
Minister. The Alliance was successful in pressuring the British to
relinquisht heir sovereignty and the Federation of Malaya achieved its
independence on the 31st August 1957.
31
August 1957 - Independence Day (Malaya)
Tun Abdul Razak took
over as Prime Minister upon the retirement of Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra
Alhaj on the 22 September 1970. The economic prosperity achieved in the
1970s enabled the administration of Tun Abdul Razak and Tun Hussein Onn
who took over on thhe death of Tun Razak in 1976 to make considerable
progress towards these ends. Malaysia also established a more
independent foreign policy which lead to the founding of ASEAN in 1967.
Malaysia also recognised Communist China in 1974 and identifying the
nation with non-aligned countries of the third world.
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Malaysia
Politic
 In the 1980s, Dr.
Mohamad Mahathir succeeded Datuk Hussein as prime minister. Mahathir
instituted economic reforms that would transform Malaysia into one of
the so-called Asian Tigers. Throughout the 1990s, Mahathir embarked on
a massive project to build a new capital from scratch in an attempt to
bypass congested Kuala Lumpur.
Beginning in 1997 and continuing through the next
year, Malaysia suffered from the Asian currency crisis. Instead of
following the economic prescriptions of the International Monetary Fund
and World Bank, the prime minister opted for fixed exchange rates and
capital controls. In late 1999, Malaysia was on the road to economic
recovery, and it appeared Mahathir's measures were working.
Mahathir sacked his heir apparent, Anwar Ibrahim,
from his posts as deputy prime minister and finance minister in Sept.
1998, after a disagreement over how to deal with the country's economic
problems. In defiance, Anwar launched a reform movement attacking the
government. The prime minister then jailed Anwar, who was beaten and
convicted on trumped-up charges of corruption and sodomy. In 2004, a
year after Mahathir left office, Malaysia's high court overturned
Anwar's conviction, releasing the former deputy prime minister, who had
served six years in prison.
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The
Parliment
..
In Oct. 2003, Mahathir retired after 22 years in
office. His rule led to his country's enormous economic growth but was
also characterized by repression and human rights abuses. Malaysia's
new prime minister, Abdullah Badawi, has a more statesmanlike
reputation, and in his first year in office he made headway on reducing
corruption and instituting reforms. In March 2004, the ruling National
Front coalition won an astonishing 90% of parliamentary seats, and
Abdullah was reelected on his own merits.
Referrences:
See
also Encyclopedia: WikiPedia;
History of Malaysia.
Department of Statistics www.statistics.gov.my
Malaysia History "Sejarah Malaysia"
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