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Thursday, 6 March 2014
Malaysia flag
14 equal horizontal stripes of
red (top) alternating with white (bottom); there is a blue rectangle in the
upper hoist-side corner bearing a yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star;
the flag is often referred to as Jalur Gemilang (Stripes of Glory); the 14
stripes stand for the equal status in the federation of the 13 member states
and the federal government; the 14 points on the star represent the unity
between these entities; the crescent is a traditional symbol of Islam; blue
symbolizes the unity of the Malay people and yellow is the royal color of Malay
rulers. 14 equal horizontal stripes of red (top) alternating with white
(bottom); there is a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side corner bearing a
yellow crescent and a yellow 14-pointed star; the flag is often referred to as
Jalur Gemilang (Stripes of Glory); the 14 stripes stand for the equal status in
the federation of the 13 member states and the federal government; the 14
points on the star represent the unity between these entities; the crescent is
a traditional symbol of Islam; blue symbolizes the unity of the Malay people
and yellow is the royal color of Malay rulers.
Welcome To Malaysia
To know Malaysia is to love Malaysia, a bubbling, bustling
melting pot of races and religions where Malays, Indians, Chinese and many
others ethnic groups live together in peace and harmony.
Multiculturalism has not only made Malaysia a gastronomically
paradise, it has also made Malaysia home to hundreds of colourful festivals.
It's no wonder that we love celebrating and socialising. As a people,
Malaysians are very laid back, warm and friendly.
Geographically, Malaysia is as diverse as its culture. There
are two parts to the country, 11 states in the peninsula of Malaysia and two
states on the northern part of Borneo. Cool hideaways are found in the
highlands that roll down to warm, sandy beaches and rich, humid mangroves.
One of Malaysia's key attractions is its extreme contrasts.
Towering skyscrapers look down upon wooden houses built on stilts, and
five-star hotels sit several metres away from ancient reefs. For the perfect
holiday full of surprises, eclectic cultures and natural wonders, the time is
now, the place is Malaysia.
13 Mei 1969
The May 13 Incident is a term for
the sectarian violence in Kuala Lumpur (then part of the state of Selangor)
which began on 13 May 1969. The riots led to a declaration of a state of
'national emergency', resulting in the suspension of Parliament by the
Malaysian government, while the National Operations Council (NOC or Majlis
Gerakan Negara, MAGERAN) was established to temporarily govern the country
between 1969 and 1971.
Officially, 196 people were
killed in the riots between 13 May and 31 July 1969, although journalists and
other observers have stated much higher figures. Some reports at the time
suggested that over 2,000 were killed by rioters, police, and Malaysian Army
Rangers, mainly in Kuala Lumpur. The Barisan Nasional coalition government,
which has ruled unabated since independence, has pinned the blame for the
incident solely on the opposition Democratic Action Party, which is larged
perceived as Chinese-based. Many, however, allege that the riots were simply a
ploy by the Malay elites within the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
to topple the moderate Tunku Abdul Rahman, as well as to further their agenda
of Ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) which has dominated Malaysian government
policy ever since.
The Independent Federation of Malaya [Part 2]
Reaction to colonial rule began
in the early 20th century. In 1915, Indian sepoys rebelled and came close to
taking control of Singapore. In 1931, the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) was
established. It had links with developing communism in China and drew most of
its support from the Chinese community. By 1937–38, anti-colonial nationalism
began among the Malay community, with the formation of the Union of Young
Malays.
The Japanese occupied the country
from 1941–45. Resistance, mainly from the Chinese, was led by MCP guerrillas.
British rule was reintroduced after the war, but met active resistance from the
MCP. Malay nationalists also campaigned for independence. The United Malays’
National Organisation (UMNO, the principal Malay party) was formed in 1946.
The Federation of Malaya,
comprising 11 peninsular states, was established in 1948. A communist-led
insurrection in that year was suppressed by the UK (although guerrilla warfare
continued in the north of the peninsula and Borneo and the last insurgents only
surrendered in 1989).
A delayed general election took
place in 1955. This was won by the Alliance Party, formed out of UMNO, the
Malayan Chinese Association and the Malayan Indian Congress.
The Independent Federation of Malaya [Part 1]
The history of British involvement
in Malaya goes back to 1786, when the East India Company established a trading
post on Penang Island. Sir Stamford Raffles founded a British settlement on the
island of Singapore in 1819 and by 1830 the British Straits Settlements also
included Malacca. From the 1870s the sultans of the small Malay states began
accepting British ‘advisers’, who were effectively rulers. In 1896 a federation
of Negri Sembilan, Perak, Selangor and Pahang was established with its capital
at Kuala Lumpur. Heavy immigration from China and India was encouraged to
supply labour for British rubber plantations and tin mines.
Invading from the north, the
Japanese rapidly overran Malaya and took Singapore in 1942. After the war, in
1948, a Federation of Malaya was created under British protection, but British
and Commonwealth troops had to put down a Communist insurrection, which lasted
into the early 1950s. It was by now agreed that Malayan independence was the
answer to the Communist claim that they were fighting to free the Malayan
people from the British yoke. An election in 1955 was won hands-down by the
United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) by running Malay candidates in
Malay-dominated areas, Chinese candidates in Chinese areas and Indian
candidates in Indian ones. The UMNO’s leader Tunku Abdul Rahman became prime
minister when the independent Federation of Malaya came into being in 1957.
At a ceremony in the new Merdeka
Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Abdul Rahman proclaimed Malaya as ‘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
maintenance of a just peace among all nations.’ He went on to say that Malaya
had been ‘blessed with a good administration forged and tempered to perfection
by by successive British administrators’ and called for Britain’s legacy not to
be forgotten or spoiled in the future. A message from the Queen welcomed Malaya
to the Commonwealth and numerous Commonwealth premiers sent goodwill wishes. The
Union Jack was lowered and the Malayan flag hoisted in its place, while
elsewhere in the country there were fireworks, bonfires, dances and concerts.
The federation was renamed
Malaysia in 1963, when besides Singapore and all the Malay states it also included
two areas in North Borneo – Sarawak and Sabah. Singapore opted out and went its
own way in 1965.
Wednesday, 5 March 2014
The Malayan Emergency
After the defeat of the Japanese
in the Second World War, a new problem emerged for Malaya’s colonial rulers.
After the Allied victory and when the British sought to reclaim their colonial
sovereignty over Malaya, they found resentment to foreign rule.
Chinese guerrilla fighters, who
had been armed and air supplied by the British during the war, emerged from the
jungle and under Chin Peng began their terror campaign to take over the country
by force. Thus an intense jungle war began between the Malayan Communist Party
and British, British Commonwealth and Malay forces.
The security forces coordinated
emergency operations, and created 500 new villages for Malayan citizens who had
lived in remote areas beyond government protection. These citizens previously
lived in constant fear that the Communists would appear and force them to
supply food and money.
By depriving the insurgents of
their critical sources of supplies and information, the Communists began to
attack the new settlements. However, the security forces were fighting on their
own ground, and proved too strong for the insurgents. These forces were able to
concentrate on jungle operations, thereby destroying the Communists and their
camps.
This was to be the only war the
West had won against Communism, lasting for twelve years, from 1948 until 1960.
Second World War
By the start of the Second World War, Malaya’s economy was
flourishing with the output of tin and rubber, giving it great strategic
importance. Malaya fell under the threat of a Japanese invasion when the US and
British governments froze essential raw materials and oil supplies to Japan.
Japan was then forced to look to South East Asia for shipments.
While Britain was preoccupied with defending itself against the threat of
German invasion at home, the Japanese wasted no time in pursuing their
occupation of Malaya, commencing with the bombing of the beaches of Kota Bharu
in Kelantan and Singapore on 8 December 1941.
The takeover continued almost without opposition as
Commonwealth troops defending Malaya were expecting an invasion by sea and not
by land. They were inadequately trained in jungle warfare and lacked
ammunition, and fell easily to the Japanese invaders. Malaya was occupied for
the next three and-a-half-years by the Japanese. The occupation ended only with
the United States’ bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 and the
end of the war. British forces then landed in Malaya and re-established their
authority.
History of Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia
In prehistoric times, the region was inhabited by aboriginal
people. In the 2nd century BC settlers arrived from south China. Around the beginning
of the 1st century AD, Indian traders began settling in Kedah and along the
west coast of the peninsula. Hinduism and Buddhism were introduced during this
early period; the Indian kingdom of Kunan was founded in the 1st century AD and
Buddhist states developed to the east. The Javanese controlled the peninsula
around 1330–50. The port of Malacca was founded in the 15th century; its rulers
converted to Islam and traded with Muslim merchants, and Islam replaced
Buddhism across present-day Malaysia.
The Sultanate of Malacca was seized by the Portuguese in
1511 but, a century later, they were driven out by the Dutch in alliance with
the Sultan of Johor. The peninsula then became a Malay kingdom ruled by Johor.
In 1786 the Sultan of Kedah granted the island of Penang to the British East
India Company for use as a trading post; less than a decade later, the British
took Malacca from the Dutch. In 1819 the British also acquired Singapore.
Penang, Malacca and Singapore were ruled directly by Britain as the Straits
Settlements.
By a series of treaties between 1873 and 1930, the British
colonial administrators took control of the foreign affairs of the nine Malay
sultanates on the peninsula. In 1896 the Federated Malay Sates (Selangor,
Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Pahang) came into existence, with Kuala Lumpur as
the capital. The sultanates of northern Borneo – Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak –
also became British protectorates.
Immigrants from southern China and southern India came to
work in tin mines and on the plantations, facilitating the peninsula’s
transition from a trading outpost to a commodity producer. The British
introduced rubber farming towards the end of the 19th century.
Tuesday, 4 March 2014
Importances of history in making a better future
The importance of history is in
its capacity to help one to draw conclusions from the past events. It may be
said that history is to the human race, what memory is to each man. It sheds
the light of the past upon the present, thus helping one to understand oneself,
by making one acquainted with other peoples. Also, as one studies the rise and
fall of empires and civilizations, the lessons of the past help one to avoid
the pitfalls of the present.
History makes one’s life richer
by giving meaning to the books one reads, the cities one visits or the music
one hears. It also broadens one’s outlook by presenting to one an admixture of
races, a mingling of cultures and a spectacular drama of the making of the
modern world out of diverse forces.
Another importance of history is
that it enables one to grasp one’s relationship with one’s past. For example if
one wonders why the Malaysia flag has red and white stripes, a moon and a star
or why Brunei follows monarchy, one has to turn to history for an answer.
History is of immense value to
social scientists engaged in research. Thus the political scientist doing
research on the parliamentary form of government has to draw his materials from
the treasure trove of history.
It preserves the traditional and
cultural values of a nation, and serves as a beacon light, guiding society in
confronting various crises. History is indeed, as Allen Nerins puts it, "a
bridge connecting the past with the present and pointing the road to the
future."
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