Federation of Malaysia formed

On 16 September 1963 the Federation of Malaysia came into being, joining the Federation of Malaya with Singapore and the British colonies of North Borneo, renamed Sabah, and Sarawak. The Sultanate of Brunei stayed out. Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaya's prime minister, was the main architect, and Britain approved the plan as a way to end its colonial rule in Southeast Asia.¹³

The idea was launched by the Tunku in 1961. Singapore's leaders feared that an independent but small city of mostly Chinese people would be unstable, and wanted merger with Malaya. Kuala Lumpur worried that Singapore alone could become a communist base, and saw the Borneo territories, with their Malay and indigenous peoples, as a balance to Singapore's Chinese majority. The Cobbold Commission in 1962 and a United Nations team in 1963 found that most people in Sabah and Sarawak were in favor, though with conditions that many later said were not met. A rebellion in Brunei in December 1962 added urgency. Indonesia and the Philippines objected, the latter because of its claim to Sabah.¹³

Two years later the union broke apart in part. Disputes between Singapore's leader Lee Kuan Yew and the federal government over race and politics led to Singapore leaving on 9 August 1965. The remaining Malaysia continued, and Sabah and Sarawak have kept a special status, with their own immigration controls. The formation date, 16 September, is a public holiday called Malaysia Day, since 2010.²