This article is part of the History of Malaysia series.
Prehistoric Malaysia (60,000–2,000 BCE)
Gangga Negara (2nd–11th century CE)
Langkasuka (2nd–14th century)
Pan Pan (3rd–5th century)
Srivijaya (3rd century–1400)
Kedah Sultanate (1136–present)
Malacca Sultanate (1402–1511)
Sulu Sultanate (1450–1899)
Johor Sultanate (1528–current)
Jementah Civil War (1879)
White Rajahs (1841–1946)
British Malaya (1874–1946)
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
Burney Treaty (1826)
Straits Settlements (1826–1946)
Larut War (1861–1874)
Klang War (1867–1874)
Pangkor Treaty of 1874
Federated Malay States (1895–1946)
Unfederated Malay States (19th century–1946)
Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909
Battle of Penang (1914)
North Borneo (1882–1963)
Mat Salleh Rebellion (1896–1900)
World War II (1941–1945)
Battle of Malaya (1941–42)
Parit Sulong Massacre (1942)
Battle of Singapore (1942)
Syburi (1942–1945)
Battle of North Borneo (1945)
Sandakan Death Marches (1945)
Malayan Union (1946–1948)
Federation of Malaya (1948–1963)
Malayan Emergency (1948–1960)
Bukit Kepong Incident (1950)
Independence Day (1957)
Federation of Malaysia (1963–present)
Operation Coldstore (1963)
Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation (1962–1966)
Brunei Revolt (1962–1966)
Singapore in Malaysia (1963–1965)
1964 Race Riots (1964)
Communist Insurgency War (1967-1989)
May 13 Incident (1969)
New Economic Policy (1971–1990)
Operation Lalang (1987)
1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis (1987–88)
Asian financial crisis (1997–98)
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The history of Malaysia is a relatively recent offshoot of the history of the wider Malay-Indonesian world. Culturally and linguistically, there was until recent times little to distinguish the territories which now constitute Malaysia from the lands of the Malay Archipelago. Today the Malay world is divided into six states - Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei and East Timor – largely as the result of outside influences. Image File history File links History_merdeka. ... Caves paintings of Tambun, dated 3000 BC, in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. ... The Common Era is the period beginning with a year near the birth of Jesus, coinciding with the period from AD 1 onwards. ... Gangga Negara was believed to be a lost Hindu kingdom somewhere in the state of Perak, Malaysia. ... Era Vulgaris redirects here. ... Langkasuka (-langkha Sanskrit for resplendent land -sukkha of bliss) was apparently the oldest kingdom on the Malay peninsula. ... A call of pan-pan is a very urgent message concerning the safety of a ship, aircraft or other vehicle, or persons on board who require immediate assistance. ... Map of Southeast Asia at end of 12th century. ... now. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For the province, see Sulu Location of Sulu in the Philippines Capital Jolo Language(s) Arabic (official), Tausug, Malay, Banguingui, Bajau languages Religion Islam Government Monarchy Sultan  - 1450-1480 Shariful Hashem Syed Abu Bakr  - 1884-1899 Jamal ul-Kiram I History  - Established 1450  - Annexed by USA 1899 The Sultanate... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Jementah Civil War happened in 1879 in Jementah, Sultanate of Johor when Tengku Alam, the heir of Sultan Ali of Muar refused to give the district of Muar under temporary administration of Sultan Abu Bakar of Johor. ... The White Rajahs refer to a dynasty that founded and ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946. ... British Malaya was a set of states that were colonized by the British from the 18th and the 19th until the 20th century. ... The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, also known as the Treaty of London (one of several), was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in London on March 17, 1824. ... The Burney Treaty was a treaty signed between Siam and the British in 1826. ... The Straits Settlements were a collection of territories of the British East India Company in Southeast Asia, which were given collective administration in 1826. ... Larut War was a series of four wars started in July 1861 and ended with the signing of the Pangkor Treaty of 1874. ... The Klang War or Selangor Civil War took placed in the Malay state of Selangor and was fought between Raja Abdullah bin Raja Jaafar, the administrator of Klang and Raja Mahdi bin Raja Sulaiman from 1867 to 1874. ... The Pangkor Treaty of 1874 was a treaty signed between the Sir Andrew Clarke on behalf of the British and Raja Abdullah of Perak. ... The Federated Malay States (FMS) was a federation of four states on the Malay Peninsula - Pahang, Perak, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan - established by the British government in 1895, and lasted until 1946, when they together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay States formed the Malayan Union. ... The Unfederated Malay States were five Malay states, namely Johore Terengganu Kelantan Kedah Perlis Together the states were not a single entity but merely a category to describe those states which were not Federated Malay States or Straits Settlements. ... The Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1906 (in which the Malays were not represented) effectively dissected the northern Malay states into two parts: Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla, Satun and Yala remained under Siam, but Siam relinquished its claims to sovereignty over Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis, and Terengganu to Great Britain. ... The Battle of Penang occured in 1914, during World War I. It was a naval action. ... Motto: Pergo et Perago (Latin: I undertake and I achieve”) British North Borneo Capital Jesselton Language(s) Malay, English Government Monarchy Monarch  - 1882 - 1901 Victoria  - 1952 - 1963 Elizabeth II Governor  - 1896 - 1901 Robert Scott Historical era New Imperialism  - North Borneo Company May, 1882  - British protectorate 1888  - Japanese invasion January 1... Mat Salleh Rebellion was a series of major disturbances in North Borneo, now Malaysian state of Sabah, from 1894 to 1900. ... Throughout much of the Second World War, British Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak were under Japanese occupation. ... Combatants British Army, Indian Army, Australian Army, Federated Malay States Volunteer Forces Imperial Japanese Army Commanders Arthur Percival Tomoyuki Yamashita Strength 140,000 70,000 Casualties 5,000 killed, 50,000 prisoners of war no more than 34,000 The Battle of Malaya was a conflict between a Commonwealth army... Parit Sulong is a small village in Johor, Malaysia on the Simpang Kiri River, 30 km east of Muar. ... Combatants Malaya Command: Indian III Corps Australian 8th Div. ... During the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, control of the State of Kedah was given to Thailand by the Japanese. ... The Battle of North Borneo was fought from June 17 to August 15 of 1945 between Australia and Japan. ... October 24, 1945. ... The Malayan Union was formed on April 1, 1946 by the British. ... The Federation of Malaya, or in Malay Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was formed in 1948 from the British settlements of Penang and Malacca and the nine Malay states and replaced the Malayan Union. ... The Malayan Emergency was an insurrection and guerrilla war of the Malay Races Liberation Army against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia. ... Combatants Malayan Races Liberation Army or Malayan Communist Party Malayan Police Commanders Muhammad Indera Sgt Jamil Mohd Shah Strength 200 25 Casualties about 40 dead 25 dead including non-combatants Bukit Kepong Incident was a historic armed encounter which took place on the February 23, 1950 between the police and... Hari Merdeka (Independence Day) is a national day of Malaysia commemorating the independence of the Federation of Malaya from British colonial rule. ... Motto Anthem Negaraku Capital (and largest city) Kuala Lumpur2 Official languages Malay Government Federal constitutional monarchy  -  Paramount Ruler Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin  -  Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah bin Haji Ahmad Badawi Independence  -  from the United Kingdom (Malaya only) August 31, 1957   -  Federation (with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore3) September 16, 1963... In February 1963, the government of Singapore conducted a security operation, named Operation Coldstore (sometimes spelled Operation Cold Store), and arrested at least 107 left-wing politicians and trade unionists. ... The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation was an intermittent war over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia in 1962–1966. ... Combatants United Kingdom Australia New Zealand Malaya Brunei Parti Rakyat Brunei Indonesia Commanders General Sir Nigel Poett Yassin Affandi Strength  ?  ? Casualties  ?  ? The Brunei Revolt broke out on December 8, 1962 and was led by Yassin Affandi and his armed rebels. ... On 16 September 1963, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaya together with Sabah and Sarawak to form Malaysia. ... The start of the July riot on Prophet Muhammads birthday, that would later injure hundreds and kill 23 people. ... Combatants Malaysian Federal Government Malaysian Army Royal Malay Regiment Royal Ranger Regiment Royal Malaysian Air Force Royal Malaysian Police Malayan Communist Party Commanders Abdullah CD (Che Anjang Abdullah) - CPM leader Chin Peng - Secretary general Ah Sek (Ah Sze) Casualties Civilian casualties: The Communist Insurgency War or Second Malayan Emergency was... Combatants Malaysian Malay Malaysian Chinese Casualties Around 200 killed The May 13 Incident is a term for the Sino-Malay race riots in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 13, 1969. ... Under the Malaysian New Economic Policy, Bumiputra are given discounts on real estate. ... Operation Lalang (or in English, Weeding Operation; also referred to as Ops Lallang) was carried out on 27 October 1987 by the Malaysian police to crackdown on opposition leaders and social activists. ... The Sultan Abdul Samad Building housed the Supreme Court at the time of the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis. ... The Asian financial crisis was a financial crisis that started in July 1997 in Thailand and affected currencies, stock markets, and other asset prices in several Asian countries, many considered East Asian Tigers. ... World map depicting Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is a vast archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia (Indochina) and Australia. ...

Malaysia’s geographical position places it between the great civilisations. To the west are Hindu India, the Islamic Middle East and Christian Europe. To the north-east are China and Japan. The shipping routes from China to the west pass through the region, and the most direct route passes through the Strait of Malacca. This has made Malaysia a natural meeting place of trade routes and cultures, something which has brought the area great wealth, but has also made it difficult for the Malay peoples to resist foreign influence and dominne. Hinduism (known as in some modern Indian languages[1]) is a religion that originated on the Indian subcontinent. ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... This wide-angle map of south-east Asia shows that the Strait is the most direct route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. ...

Overview

The history of the Malaysian area can be seen as four successive phases of outside influence, followed by the final assertion of Malay independence.

• The first phase saw the domination of Hindu as well as Buddhist culture imported from India, which reached its peak in the great Srivijaya civilisation based in Sumatra, which ruled most of the Malay world from the 7th to the 14th centuries.
• The second phase began with the arrival of Islam, which began in the 10th century, and led to the conversion of most of the Malay-Indonesian world and the breakup of the Srivijayan empire into many smaller sultanates, the most prominent of which was the Melaka (Malacca). Islamic culture has had a profound influence on the Malay peoples, but has also been influenced by them.
• The third phase was the intrusion into the area of the European colonial powers: first the Portuguese, who captured Melaka in 1511, then the Dutch and finally the British, who established bases at Penang and Singapore. European domination led to the most fateful event in Malay history – the Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1824, which drew a frontier between British Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies, which became Indonesia. This arbitrary division of the Malay world has proved permanent.
• European domination also led to the fourth phase of foreign influence: the mass immigration of Chinese and Indian workers to meet the needs of the colonial economy created by the British in the Malay Peninsula and North Borneo. The Chinese and Indians posed a profound threat to the Malays, dominating economic life and the professions, and at one time threatening to make the Malays a minority in their own country.

British power in East Asia was fatally wounded by the Japanese occupation of the region in 1942-45. Although short-lived, the Japanese occupation unleashed the forces of colonial nationalism in Malaya as elsewhere. But Malay nationalism triggered a reaction from the Chinese, who feared Malay and Islamic domination and turned in large numbers to the Malayan Communist Party. It took a tough military response from the British, and concessions by both the Malay and Chinese political leaderships, to end the Communist insurgency and bring about the establishment of an independent, multi-racial Federation of Malaya in 1957. This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... Map of Southeast Asia at end of 12th century. ... Sumatra (also spelled Sumatera) is the sixth largest island in the world (approximately 470,000 km²) and is the largest island entirely in Indonesia (two larger islands, Borneo and New Guinea, are partially in Indonesia). ... Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... State motto: Bersatu dan Setia (United and Loyal) State anthem: Untuk Negeri Kita (For Our State) Capital George Town Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas  - Ketua Menteri Dr Koh Tsu Koon History    - Ceded by Kedah to British 11 August 1786   - Japanese occupation 1942... The Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, (Dutch: Nederlands Indië) was the name of the colonies colonised by the Dutch East India Company which came under administration of the Netherlands during the ninteenth century (see Indonesia). ... Communist Party of Malaya (CnoPM), also known as the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) until the 1960s was founded in Singapore in 1930 with a predominantly Chinese membership, carrying out armed resistance to the Japanese during World War II. From 1948 to 1960, its military arm, the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army... The Federation of Malaya, or in Malay Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, was formed in 1948 from the British settlements of Penang and Malacca and the nine Malay states and replaced the Malayan Union. ...

In 1963 Malaya became Malaysia with the acquisition of the British territories in North Borneo and Singapore. The Chinese-majority Singapore and the Federation decided to part ways in 1965. Malaysia survived this crisis as well as confrontation with Indonesia, but nearly succumbed to its own internal tensions in the race riots of 1969. This crisis led to the imposition of emergency rule and a curtailment of political life and civil liberties which has never been reversed. Since 1970 the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has ruled Malaysia almost as a one-party state, co-opting the Chinese and Indian leaderships through the device of the “National Front coalition.” The Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation was an intermittent war over the future of the island of Borneo, between British-backed Malaysia and Indonesia in 1962–1966. ... UMNO Flag The United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, (Malay: Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu), is the largest political party in Malaysia and a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has ruled the country uninterruptedly since its independence. ... Barisan Nasional (National Front) is a political coalition in Malaysia. ...

Malaysia under UMNO rule has prospered mightily, reaching close to “first world” living standards by the 1990s. This growing prosperity has helped minimise political discontent, but has masked a decisive shift of power in favour of the Malays. Successive UMNO governments have been determined to break the Chinese domination of the economy and the Indian domination of the professions, and to create Malay business and professional classes. This has been achieved by imposing the Malay language on the education system and through systematic discrimination in favour of Malays. These measures caused great resentment, but the results have been the creation of a more genuinely integrated and multi-cultural society. The terms First World, Second World, and Third World were used to divide the nations of Earth into three broad categories. ... The Malay language, also known locally as bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ...

Malaya under Indian influence

The history, as opposed to the pre-history, of the Malay-speaking world begins with the advent of Indian influence, which dates back to at least the 3rd century BC. Indian traders came to the archipelago both for its extremely abundant forest and maritime products and to trade with merchants from China, who also discovered the Malay world at an early date. Both Hinduism and Buddhism were well established in the Malay Peninsula by the beginning of the 1st century AD, and from there spread across the archipelago. Chinese chronicles of the 5th century AD speak of a great port in the south called Guantoli, which was probably in the Strait of Malacca. In the 7th century, a new port called Shilifoshi is mentioned, and this is believed to be a Chinese rendering of Srivijaya. Buddhism is a dharmic, non-theistic religion and a philosophy. ... This wide-angle map of south-east Asia shows that the Strait is the most direct route from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific. ... Map of Southeast Asia at end of 12th century. ...

The site of Srivijaya has never been found, but it was probably at the mouth of one of the rivers in eastern Sumatra, possibly near Palembang. For 700 years the Maharajahs of Srivijaya ruled a loose-knit maritime empire that controlled the coasts of Sumatra, Peninsular Malaya, and Borneo. Sometimes they also ruled parts of Java,but there were always rival Javanese states which resisted Srivijaya’s hegemony. Srivijaya lived by trade, welcoming annual trading fleets from China and India, and also traders from further afield, including Japanese, Iranians and Arabs. Its greatest enemies were the Siamese, who were always trying to encroach from the north. To secure a powerful ally against these enemies, the maharajahs paid tribute to the Chinese Emperors, but they were never under Chinese control. Location of Palembang Palembang is a city in the south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. ... 1. ... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... For the country formerly called Siam see Thailand SIAM is an acronym for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ...

From the 10th century the power of Srivijaya began to decline. Never a centralised state, it was apparently weakened by a series of wars with the Javanese, which disrupted trade. In the 11th century a rival power centre arose at Melayu, a port believed to have been located further up the Sumatran coast, possibly in what is now Jambi province. Melayu’s influence is shown by the fact that the name is the origin of the word “Malay.” The power of the Hindu Maharajahs was also undermined by the spread of Islam. Areas which were converted to Islam early, such as Aceh, broke away from Srivijaya’s control. By the late 13th century also, the Siamese kings of Sukhothai had brought most of Malaya under their rule. But the great wealth of the Srivijayan sphere, with its rich resources of aromatic timber, sea products, gold, tin, spices, wax and resins – all highly prized both in China and in the west – kept Srivijaya prosperous until it faded away in the 14th century. Jambi is a province of Indonesia located on the east coast of central Sumatra, which contains a city also named Jambi, located at . ... Aceh (IPA pronunciation: , pronounced approximately Ah-Cèh, but with [e], not [ei] at the end) is a special territory (daerah istimewa) of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. ... The Sukhothai kingdom was a kingdom in the north of Thailand around the city Sukhothai. ...

Melaka and Islamic Malaya

The earliest record of a local law influenced by Islamic teaching and written in Jawi. The stone monument is found in Terengganu.

The port of Melaka (traditionally spelt Malacca) on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula was founded around 1400 by Parameswara, a rebel prince of the Srivijaya royal line, claimed in Sejarah Melayu to be a descendant of Alexander the Great. Expelled from Sumatera for killing the ruler of Temasek (now known as Singapore), Parameswara established himself together with his followers in Melaka. It rapidly assumed the place previously held by Srivijaya, establishing independent relations with China, and exploiting its position dominating the Straits to control the China-India maritime trade, which became increasingly important when the Mongol conquests closed the overland route between China and the west. Within a few years of its establishment, Melaka officially adopted Islam, and the Raja became a Sultan. Image File history File links KlMuseumBatuBersurat. ... Image File history File links KlMuseumBatuBersurat. ... The Jawi alphabet. ... A replica of the Terengganu Inscription Stone at the National Historical Museum in Kuala Lumpur. ... State anthem: Terengganu State Anthem Capital (and royal capital) Kuala Terengganu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin1  - Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh History    - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 12,955 km² Population  - 2001 estimate 879,692  - Density 67. ... State motto: Bersatu Teguh (Malay, United We Stand) Capital Malacca Town Governor Tun Datuk Seri Utama Mohd Khalil Yaakob Chief Minister Datuk Seri Haji Mohd Ali Mohd Rustam Area 1,650 km² Population  - Estimated 648,500 State anthem Melaka Maju Jaya This article is about a state in Malaysia. ... The Malay Peninsula (Malay: Semenanjung Tanah Melayu) is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia. ... People by name Parameshwara: The fourteenth century Indian mathematician. ... Sejarah Melayu or The Malay Annals is a historical literary Malay work that chronicles the establishment of the Malacca Sultanate and spans over 600 years of the history of the Malay Peninsula. ... Alexander the Great (Greek: ,[1] Megas Alexandros; July 356 BC–June 11, 323 BC), also known as Alexander III, king of Macedon (336–323 BC), was one of the most successful military commanders in history. ... Honorary guard of Mongolia. ...

The political power of the Malaccan Sultanate helped Islam’s rapid spread through the Malay world, reaching as far as the Philippines and leaving Bali as an isolated outpost of Hinduism. Islam came to the Malay Archipelago via India, and was rather different to the Islam practised in its Middle Eastern homeland. It was greatly influenced by the mystical traditions of Sufism, and also absorbed some elements of Malay’s animist and Hindu traditions. Because Islam was introduced by traders and not by military conquest, there was no imposition of the Arabic language or Arab political customs. Since most Malays could not read the Qur'an, the local version of Islam was much less rigorous than in the Arabic world. And since the indigenous Malay rulers retained their power, the Islamic clergy did not gain the political influence it enjoyed in other parts of the Islamic world. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Bali is an Indonesian island located at , the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. ... World map depicting Malay Archipelago The Malay Archipelago is a vast archipelago located between mainland Southeastern Asia (Indochina) and Australia. ... Sufism is a mystic tradition that found a home in Islam and encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Allah, divine love and the cultivation of the heart. ... Arabic ( or just ) is the largest living member of the Semitic language family in terms of speakers. ... This article or section seems to contain too many quotations for an encyclopedia entry. ...

Melaka’s reign lasted little more than a century, but it was of great importance, because it came to be seen as the golden age of Malay self-rule, and the Sultans of Melaka became the models for all subsequent Malay rulers. Melaka became a great cultural centre, creating the matrix of the modern Malay culture: a blend of indigenous Malay and imported Indian and Islamic elements. Melaka’s fashions in literature, art, music, dance and dress, and the ornate titles of its royal court, came to be seen as the standard for all Malays. The court of Melaka also gave great prestige to the Malay language, which had originally evolved in Sumatra and been brought to Melaka at the time of its foundation. In time Malay came to be the official language of all the Malay states, although local languages survived in many places. The Malay language, also known locally as bahasa Melayu, is an Austronesian language spoken by the Malay people who reside in the Malay Peninsula, southern Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, central eastern Sumatra, the Riau islands, and parts of the coast of Borneo. ...

European domination

The closing of the overland route from Asia to Europe by the Ottoman Empire and the claim towards trade monopoly with India and south-east Asia by Arab traders led the European powers to look for a maritime route. In 1498 Vasco da Gama, sent by King John II of Portugal, found the way around the Cape of Good Hope to India, and in 1511 Afonso de Albuquerque led an expedition to Malaya which seized Melaka after a month-long siege and made it the capital of Portugal’s eastern empire. Motto دولت ابد مدت Devlet-i Ebed-müddet (The Eternal State) Anthem Ottoman imperial anthem Borders in 1680, see: list of territories Capital Söğüt (1299–1326) Bursa (1326–65) Edirne (1365–1453) Constantinople (Ä°stanbul, 1453–1922) Language(s) Ottoman Turkish Government Monarchy Sultans  - 1281–1326 Osman I  - 1918–22 Mehmed VI... Dom Vasco da Gama (IPA: (Sines or Vidigueira, Alentejo, Portugal, c. ... John II of Portugal João II of Portugal (Portuguese pron. ... The Cape of Good Hope; looking towards the west, from the coastal cliffs above Cape Point. ... Afonso de Albuquerque Afonso de Albuquerque, Afonso dAlbuquerque or Alfonso de Albuquerque (pron. ...

The son of the last Sultan of Melaka fled to the island of Bintan off the southern tip of Malaya, where he founded a new state which eventually became the Sultanate of Johore. Freed from Melaka’s domination, the Malay world broke up into a series of quarrelsome successor states, of which the most important were Aceh, Brunei, Johore and Perak. Other states such as Banten, Yogyakarta, Kedah, Selangor, Sulu and Terengganu also emerged as independent sultanates. By the late 16th century the tin mines of northern Malaya had been discovered by European traders, and Perak grew wealthy on the proceeds of tin exports. But the European colonial powers were bent on expanding further into the region. The Portuguese gained control of the spice-rich Moluccas (Maluku), and in 1571 the Spanish captured Manila. Bintan Bintan Island or Negeri Segantang Lada is an island of 1,866 square kilometer located about 48 km (30 miles) southeast of Singapore. ... The Sultanate of Johor (or sometimes Johor-Riau) was founded by Malaccan Sultan Mahmud Shahs son, Sultan Alauddin Riayat Shah in 1528. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Succession of states. ... Aceh (IPA pronunciation: , pronounced approximately Ah-Cèh, but with [e], not [ei] at the end) is a special territory (daerah istimewa) of Indonesia, located on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. ... State Motto: the state moto as appeared on the coat of arms reads kepada Allah berserah which literally means all hopes is to God (Allah) Capital Johor Bahru Bandar DiRaja Bandar Maharani Sultan Iskandar Al-haj Chief minister Abdul Ghani Othman Area 19,984 km² Population 2. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Ipoh Royal Capital Kuala Kangsar Sultan Sultan Azlan Muhibbuddin Shah Chief Minister Dato Seri Diraja Tajol Rosli bin Mohd Ghazali Area 21,006 km² Population  - Est. ... Map showing Banten within Indonesia Banten is one of the provinces of Indonesia and located at the western end of the island of Java. ... The Special Region of Yogyakarta (Indonesian: Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, or DIY), is a province of Indonesia on the island of Java. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Alor Star Royal Capital Anak Bukit Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Chief Minister Dato Hj Mahdzir Bin Khalid Area 9,426 km2 Population  - Est year 2003 1 778 188 State anthem Allah Selamatkan Sultan Mahkota Kedah (Jawi:قدح, pop. ... State motto: Dipelihara Allah State anthem: Duli Yang Maha Mulia Capital Shah Alam Royal capital Klang Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Sharafuddin  - Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo History    - Federated into FMS 1895   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 7,956 km² Population  - 2005... Sulu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). ... State anthem: Terengganu State Anthem Capital (and royal capital) Kuala Terengganu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin1  - Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh History    - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 12,955 km² Population  - 2001 estimate 879,692  - Density 67. ... This page is about the geography and history of the island group in Indonesia — for the political entities encompassing the islands, see Maluku (Indonesian province) and North Maluku. ... Nickname: Map of Metro Manila showing the location of Manila Coordinates: 14°35 N 121° E Country Philippines Region National Capital Region Districts 1st to 6th districts of Manila Barangays 897 Incorporated (city) June 10, 1574 Government  - Mayor Jose L. Atienza, Jr. ...

The Dutch arrived in the region in 1596. They hated the Portuguese both for religious reasons and as commercial rivals, and were determined to evict them from the wealthy islands they called the East Indies. Led by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), they soon overcame the weak sultanates in Java and founded Batavia (Jakarta) as their capital in 1619. From there they expanded across the archipelago, forming an alliance with Johore against their main enemies, the Portuguese at Melaka and the powerful Sultan of Aceh. In 1641, after several attempts, the VOC-Johore alliance captured Melaka, breaking Portuguese power in Malaya for good – Portugal was left with only Portuguese Timor. Backed by the Dutch, Johore established a loose hegemony over the Malay states, except Perak, which was able to play off Johore against the Siamese to the north and retain its independence. The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... Dutch colonial possessions, with the Dutch East India Company possessions marked in a paler green, surrounding the Indian Ocean plus Saint Helena in the mid-Atlantic. ... Jakarta (also Djakarta or DKI Jakarta), formerly known as Sunda Kelapa, Jayakarta and Batavia is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. ... Portuguese Timor is the former name (1596 - 1975) of East Timor when it was under Portuguese control. ...

The weakness of the Malay states in this period allowed other people to migrate into the Malay homelands. The most important of these were the Bugis, seafarers from eastern Indonesia, who regularly raided the Malay coasts and finally seized control of Johore following the assassination of the last Sultan of the old Melaka royal line in 1699. Other Bugis raiders took control of Selangor. The Minangkabau peoples from Sumatra also migrated into Malaya, and eventually established their own state in Negeri Sembilan. The fall of Johore left a power vacuum on the Malay Peninsula which was partly filled by the Siamese kings of Ayutthaya kingdom, who made the five northern Malay states – Kedah, Kelantan, Patani, Perlis and Terengganu – their vassals. Johore’s eclipse also left Perak as the unrivalled leader of the Malay states. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... State motto: Dipelihara Allah State anthem: Duli Yang Maha Mulia Capital Shah Alam Royal capital Klang Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Sharafuddin  - Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo History    - Federated into FMS 1895   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 7,956 km² Population  - 2005... The Minangkabau ethnic group (also known as Minang or Padang) is indigenous to the highlands of West Sumatra, in Indonesia. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Seremban Royal Capital Seri Menanti Yang di-Pertuan Besar Tuanku Jaafar ibni Almarhum Tuanku Abdul Rahman Chief Minister YAB Dato Seri Utama Mohamad Haji Hasan Area 6,645 km2 Population  - Est. ... The kingdom of Ayutthaya was a Thai kingdom that existed from the 1350 to 1767. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Alor Star Royal Capital Anak Bukit Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Chief Minister Dato Hj Mahdzir Bin Khalid Area 9,426 km2 Population  - Est year 2003 1 778 188 State anthem Allah Selamatkan Sultan Mahkota Kedah (Jawi:قدح, pop. ... State motto: Berserah kepada Tuhan Kerajaan Kelantan State anthem: Selamat Sultan Capital (and royal capital) Kota Bharu Ruling party PAS  - Sultan Tuanku Ismail Petra  - Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat History    - Siamese control 1603   - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942-1946   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 14... Patani or Patani Raya is a region in Southern Thailand known in the history as thePatani kingdom. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Kangar Royal Capital Arau Raja Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Regent Syed Faizuddin Putra Chief Minister Shahidan Kassim Area 810 km² Population  - Est year 2000 198335 State anthem Amin amin ya Rabaljalil Perlis (Jawi ڨرليس) in full Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia. ... State anthem: Terengganu State Anthem Capital (and royal capital) Kuala Terengganu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin1  - Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh History    - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 12,955 km² Population  - 2001 estimate 879,692  - Density 67. ...

The economic importance of Malaya to Europe grew rapidly during the 18th century. The fast-growing tea trade between China and Britain increased the demand for high-quality Malayan tin, which was used to line tea-chests. Malayan pepper also had a high reputation in Europe, while Kelantan and Pahang had gold mines. The growth of tin and gold mining and associated service industries led to the first influx of foreign settlers into the Malay world – at first Arabs and Indians, later Chinese – who colonised the towns and soon dominated economic activities. This established a pattern which characterised Malayan society for the next 200 years – a rural Malay population increasingly under the domination of wealthy urban immigrant communities, whose power the Sultans were unable to resist. Tea leaves in a Chinese gaiwan. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Kuantan Royal Capital Pekan Sultan Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Chief Minister Dato Seri Adnan Yaakob Area 35,964 km2 Population  - Est year 2005 1,372,500 State anthem Pahang State Anthem Pahang (Jawi: Ú¨Ù‡Ú ) is the largest state on Peninsular Malaysia, occupying the huge Pahang...

English traders had been present in Malay waters since the 17th century, but it was not until the mid 18th century that the British East India Company, based in British India, developed a serious interest in Malayan affairs. The growth of the China trade in British ships increased the Company’s desire for bases in the region. Various islands were used for this purpose, but the first permanent acquisition was Penang, leased from the Sultan of Kedah in 1786. This was followed soon after by the leasing of a block of territory on the mainland opposite Penang (known as Province Wellesley). In 1795, during the Napoleonic Wars, the British occupied Dutch Melaka to forestall possible French interest in the area. When Melaka was handed back to the Dutch in 1815, the British governor, Stamford Raffles, looked for an alternative base, and in 1819 he acquired Singapore from the Sultan of Johore. The twin bases of Penang and Singapore, together with the decline of the Netherlands as a naval power, made Britain the dominant force in Malayan affairs. British influence was increased by Malayan fears of Siamese expansionism, to which Britain made a useful counterweight. During the 19th century the Malay Sultans became loyal allies of the British Empire. The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was the first joint-stock company (the Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). ... State motto: Bersatu dan Setia (United and Loyal) State anthem: Untuk Negeri Kita (For Our State) Capital George Town Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas  - Ketua Menteri Dr Koh Tsu Koon History    - Ceded by Kedah to British 11 August 1786   - Japanese occupation 1942... Seberang Perai (formerly known as Province Wellesley) is a narrow hinterland opposite Penang island on the Malay Peninsula, which together with the island forms the Malaysian state of Penang. ... Combatants Allies: Austria[1] Portugal Prussia[1] Russia[2] Spain[3] Sweden United Kingdom[4] Ottoman Empire[5] French Empire Holland Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Naples Duchy of Warsaw Bavaria[6] Saxony[7] Denmark [8] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack von Leiberich Gebhard von Blücher Karl... Thomas Stamford Raffles. ...

British Malaya

Main article: British Malaya

In 1824 British hegemony in Malaya was formalised by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, the decisive event in the formation of modern Malaysia. The Dutch evacuated Melaka and renounced all interest in Malaya, while the British recognised Dutch rule over the rest of the East Indies. This imposed an arbitrary frontier on the Malay world, one which has never been overcome. Penang, Melaka and Singapore were united as the Straits Settlements, ruled by a British Governor in Singapore. During the 19th century, the British concluded treaties with the Malay states, installing “residents” who advised the Sultans and soon came the effective rulers of their states. The wealth of Perak’s tin mines made political stability there a priority for British investors, and Perak was thus the first Malay state to agree to the supervision of a British resident. Johore alone resisted, holding out until 1914. In 1909 the weakened Siamese kingdom was compelled to cede Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu to the British. (Siam retained the Sultanate of Patani, leaving a Muslim minority in southern Thailand which has been a source of much trouble for successive Thai governments.) British Malaya was a set of states that were colonized by the British from the 18th and the 19th until the 20th century. ... The Straits Settlements were a collection of territories of the British East India Company in Southeast Asia, which were given collective administration in 1826. ... State motto: no State motto Capital Alor Star Royal Capital Anak Bukit Sultan Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Chief Minister Dato Hj Mahdzir Bin Khalid Area 9,426 km2 Population  - Est year 2003 1 778 188 State anthem Allah Selamatkan Sultan Mahkota Kedah (Jawi:قدح, pop. ... State motto: Berserah kepada Tuhan Kerajaan Kelantan State anthem: Selamat Sultan Capital (and royal capital) Kota Bharu Ruling party PAS  - Sultan Tuanku Ismail Petra  - Menteri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat History    - Siamese control 1603   - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942-1946   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 14... State motto: no State motto Capital Kangar Royal Capital Arau Raja Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Regent Syed Faizuddin Putra Chief Minister Shahidan Kassim Area 810 km² Population  - Est year 2000 198335 State anthem Amin amin ya Rabaljalil Perlis (Jawi ڨرليس) in full Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia. ... State anthem: Terengganu State Anthem Capital (and royal capital) Kuala Terengganu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Sultan Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin1  - Menteri Besar Idris Jusoh History    - British control 1909   - Japanese occupation 1942   - Accession into Federation of Malaya 1948  Area  - Total 12,955 km² Population  - 2001 estimate 879,692  - Density 67. ... Patani or Patani Raya is a region in Southern Thailand known in the history as thePatani kingdom. ...

During the late 19th century the British also gained control of the north coast of Borneo, where Dutch rule had never been established. The eastern part of this region (now Sabah) was under the nominal control of the Sultan of Sulu, a vassal of the Spanish Philippines. The rest was the territory of the Sultanate of Brunei. In 1841, a British adventurer, James Brooke, leased Kuching from the Sultan and made himself the “White Raja” of Sarawak, steadily expanding his territory at Brunei’s expense. North-eastern Borneo was colonised by British traders, and in 1881 the British North Borneo Company was granted control of the territory under the distant supervision of the governor in Singapore. The Spanish Philippines never recognised this loss of the Sultan of Sulu’s territory, laying the basis of the subsequent Filipino claim to Sabah. In 1888 what was left of Brunei was made a British protectorate, and in 1891 another Anglo-Dutch treaty formalised the border between British and Dutch Borneo. Thus the borders of modern Malaysia were formed, in complete disregard of ethnic and linguistic factors, by the colonial powers. Borneo is the third largest island in the world. ... State motto: Sabah Maju Jaya State anthem: Sabah Tanah Airku Capital Kota Kinabalu Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang di-Pertua Negeri Ahmadshah Abdullah  - Ketua Menteri Musa Aman History    - Brunei Sultanate 19th century   - British North Borneo 1882   - Japanese occupation 1941-1945   - British control 1946   - Accession into Malaysia 1963  Area  - Total 76... Sulu is an island province of the Philippines located in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). ... Sir James Brooke Sir James Brooke (the most legendary person ever!!)(29 April 1803 – 11 June 1868) was born in Coombe Grove, near Bath, educated at Norwich School, England and became the first White Rajah of Sarawak. ... Nickname: Location in Malaysia Coordinates: Country State Malaysia Sarawak Establishment Uncertain, granted city status in 1988 Government  - Mayors North: Abdul Hamid Mohd Yusoff South: Chong Ted Tsiung Area  - City 1,863 km²  (719 sq mi) Population (2006)  - City 579,900  - Density 322/km² (834/sq mi) Time zone MST (UTC... State motto: United, Industrious, Dedicated (Malay: Bersatu, Berusaha, Berbakti ) Capital Kuching Governor T.Y.T Tun Datuk Patinggi Abang Muhammad Salahuddin Chief Minister Y.A.B. Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Haji Abdul Taib Bin Mahmud / Pehin Sri Dr. Hj. ... The British North Borneo Company was chartered company assigned to administer North Borneo (todays Sabah in Malaysia) in August 1881 and North Borneo became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs administered by the company until 1946 when it became the colony of British North Borneo. ...

By 1910 the pattern of British rule in the Malay lands was established. The Straits Settlements were a Crown Colony, ruled by a governor under the supervision of the Colonial Office in London. Their population was about half Chinese, but all residents, regardless of race, were British subjects. The first four states to accept British residents, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, were termed the Federated Malay States: while technically independent, they were placed under a Resident-General in 1895, making them British colonies in all but name. The Unfederated Malay States (Johore, Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu) had a slightly larger degree of independence, although they were unable to resist the wishes of their British Residents for long. Johore, as Britain’s closest ally in Malay affairs, had the privilege of a written constitution, which gave the Sultan the right to appoint his own Cabinet, but he was generally careful to consult the British first. A United Kingdom overseas territory (formerly known as a dependent territory or earlier as a crown colony) is a territory that is under the sovereignty and formal control of the United Kingdom but is not part of the United Kingdom proper (Great Britain and Northern Ireland). ... The Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet official in charge of managing the various British colonies. ... This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... The Federated Malay States (FMS) was a federation of four states on the Malay Peninsula - Pahang, Perak, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan - established by the British government in 1895, and lasted until 1946, when they together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay States formed the Malayan Union. ...

Multi-racial Malaya

Unlike some colonial powers, the British always saw their empire as primarily an economic concern, and its colonies were expected to turn a profit for British shareholders. Malaya’s obvious attractions were its tin and gold mines, but British planters soon began to experiment with tropical plantation crops – tapioca, gambier, pepper and coffee. But in 1877 the rubber plant was introduced from Brazil, and rubber soon became Malaya’s staple export, stimulated by booming demand from European industry. Rubber was later joined by palm oil as an export earner. All these industries required a large and disciplined labour force, and the British did not regard the Malays as reliable workers. The solution was the importation of plantation workers from India, mainly Tamil-speakers from South India. The mines, mills and docks also attracted a flood of immigrant workers from southern China. Soon towns like Singapore, Penang and Ipoh were majority Chinese, as was Kuala Lumpur, founded as a tin-mining centre in 1857. By 1891, when Malaya’s first census was taken, Perak and Selangor, the main tin-mining states, had Chinese majorities. Tapioca is an essentially flavourless starchy ingredient, or fecula, produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking. ... Species = Harpagophytum procumbens Ref: ARS-GRIN 2002-06-01 Uncaria is a genus of plants known colloquially as Gambier, Cats Claw or Uña de Gato, which are found in Asia, Africa, and South America. ... Latex being collected from a tapped rubber tree Rubber is an elastic hydrocarbon polymer which occurs as a milky colloidal suspension (known as latex) in the sap of several varieties of plants. ... Palm oil from Ghana with its natural dark color visible, 2 litres Palm oil block Palm oil is a form of edible vegetable oil obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Nickname: City of Millionaires or Bougainvillea City Location in Malaysia Coordinates: Country Malaysia State Perak Establishment Around 1880 Mayor Mohamad Rafiai Moktar Area    - City 643 km²  (248. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1870 US Census for New York City A census is the process of obtaining information about every member of a population (not necessarily a human population). ...

The Chinese mostly arrived poor, but their industrious habits and tight-knit networks of mutual aid soon made many of them rich. In the 1890s Yap Ah Loy, who held the title of Kapitan China of Kuala Lumpur, was the richest man in Malaya, owning a chain of mines, plantations and shops. the Chinese also brought with them banking and financial expertise which the locals lacked and soon dominanted the industry, and Chinese businesses, usually in partnership with London firms, soon had a stranglehold on the economy. Since the Malay Sultans tended to spend well beyond their incomes, they were soon in debt to Chinese bankers, and this gave the Chinese political as well as economic power. At first the Chinese immigrants were nearly all men, and most intended to return home when they had made their fortunes. Many did go home, but a signifigant number also stayed. At first they married Malay women, producing a community of Sino-Malayans or baba people, but soon Chinese brides also began arriving, establishing permanent communities and building schools and temples. Yap Ah Loy Yap Ah Loy was also known as Yap Tet Loy and Yap Mao Lan who was largely responsible for the development of Kuala Lumpur as a commercial and mining centre in the middle of the 1800’s. ... Peranakan, Baba-Nyonya () and Straits Chinese (; named after the Straits Settlements) are terms used for the descendants of the very early Chinese immigrants to the Nusantara region, including both the British Straits Settlements of Malaya and the Dutch-controlled island of Java among other places, who have partially adopted Malay...

The Indians were initially less successful, since unlike the Chinese they came mainly as indentured labourers to work in the rubber plantations, and had few of the economic opportunities that the Chinese had. They were also a less united community, since they were divided between Hindus and Muslims and along lines of language and caste. An Indian commercial and professional class emerged during the early 20th century, but the majority of Indians remained poor and uneducated in rural ghettos in the rubber-growing areas. Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ...

Traditional Malay society had great difficulty coping with both the loss of political sovereignty to the British and of economic sovereignty to the Chinese. By the early 20th century it seemed possible that the Malays would become a minority in their own country. The Sultans, who were seen as collaborators with both the British and the Chinese, lost some of their traditional prestige, particularly among the increasing number of Malays with a western education, but the mass of rural Malays continued to revere the Sultans and their prestige was thus an important prop for colonial rule. A small class of Malay nationalist intellectuals began to emerge during the early 20th century, and there was also a revival of Islam in response to the perceived threat of other imported religions, particularly Christianity. In fact few Malays converted to Christianity, although many Chinese did. The northern regions, which were less influenced by western ideas, became strongholds of Islamic conservatism, as they have remained. Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ...

The one consolation to Malay pride was that the British allowed them a virtual monopoly of positions in the police and local military units, as well as a majority of those administrative positions open to non-Europeans. While the Chinese mostly built and paid for their own schools and colleges, importing teachers from China, the colonial government fostered education for Malays, opening Malay College in 1905 and creating the Malay Administrative Service in 1910. (The college was dubbed “Bab ud-Darajat” – the Gateway to High Rank.) A Malay Teachers College followed in 1922, and a Malay Women’s Training College in 1935. All this reflected the official British policy that Malaya belonged to the Malays, and that the other races were but temporary residents. This view was increasingly out of line with reality, and contained the seeds of much future trouble. The Malay College Kuala Kangsar (fondly known as the Malay College, MCKK, MC or Koleq and sometimes dubbed the Eton of the East) is the premier residential school in Malaysia. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ...

In the years before World War II, the British neglected constitutional development in Malaya. Following their usual policy of indirect rule, they were concerned to prop up the authority of the Sultans and to discourage any talk of Malaya as a united or self-governing country. There were no moves to give Malaya a unitary government, and in fact in 1935 the position of Resident-General of the Federated States was abolished, and its powers decentralised to the individual states. With their usual tendency to racial stereotyping, the British regarded the Malays as amiable but unsophisticated and rather lazy, incapable of self-government, although making good soldiers under British officers. They regarded the Chinese as clever but subversive to British authority; and indeed during the 1920s and ‘30s, reflecting events in China, the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) and the Communist Party of China built rival clandestine organisations in Malaya, leading to regular disturbances in the Chinese towns. The British saw no way that Malaya’s disparate collection of states and races could become a nation, let alone an independent one. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Kuomintang of China (abbreviation KMT) (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung1-kuo2 Kuo2-min2-tang3)[1], also often translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party, is a political party in the Republic of China, now on Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in... The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys constitution. ...

War and Emergency

Tugu Negara, the Malaysian national monument is dedicated to those that fell during World War II and the Malayan Emergency

The outbreak of war in the Pacific in December 1941 found the British in Malaya completely unprepared. During the 1930s, anticipating the rising threat of Japanese naval power, they had built a great naval base at Singapore, but never anticipated an invasion of Malaya from the north. Because of the demands of the war in Europe, there was virtually no British air capacity in the Far East. The Japanese were thus able to attack from their bases in French Indo-China with impunity, and despite stubborn resistance from British, Australian and Indian forces, they overran Malaya in two months. Singapore, with no landward defences, no air cover and no water supply, was forced to surrender in February 1942, doing irreparable damage to British prestige. British North Borneo and Brunei were also occupied. Image File history File links Tugu_negara. ... Image File history File links Tugu_negara. ... The National Monument commemorates those who died in Malaysias struggles for freedom (principally against the Japanese occupation and during the Malayan Emergency of 1946-60) The Tugu Negara or the National Monument located in Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia. ... Indochina, or French Indochina, was a federation of French colonies and protectorates in south-east Asia, part of the French colonial empire. ...

The Japanese had a racial policy just as the British did. They regarded the Malays as a colonial people liberated from British imperialist rule, and fostered a limited form of Malay nationalism, which gained them some degree of collaboration from the Malay civil service and intellectuals. (Most of the Sultans also collaborated with the Japanese, although they maintained later that they had done so unwillingly.) The occupiers regarded the Chinese, however, as enemy aliens, and treated them with great harshness: during the so-called sook ching (purification through suffering), up to 40,000 Chinese in Malaya and Singapore were killed. Chinese businesses were expropriated and Chinese schools closed. Not surprisingly the Chinese, led by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), became the backbone of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA), which with British assistance became the most effective resistance force in the occupied Asian countries. But the Japanese also offended Malay nationalism by allowing their ally Thailand to re-annex the four northern states, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu that had been surrendered to British in 1909. The loss of Malaya’s export markets soon produced mass unemployment which affected all races and made the Japanese increasingly unpopular. Communist Party of Malaya (CnoPM), also known as the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) until the 1960s was founded in Singapore in 1930 with a predominantly Chinese membership, carrying out armed resistance to the Japanese during World War II. From 1948 to 1960, its military arm, the Malayan Peoples Liberation Army... The Malayan Peoples Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) originated from among ethnic Chinese cadres of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) who became increasingly opposed to Japan due to its invasion of China in 1937. ...

The Malayans were thus on the whole glad to see the British back in 1945, but things could not remain as they were before the war. Britain was bankrupt and the new Labour government was keen to withdraw its forces from the East as soon as possible. Colonial self-rule and eventual independence were now British policy. The tide of colonial nationalism sweeping through Asia soon reached Malaya. But most Malays were more concerned with defending themselves against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) which was mostly made up of Chinese, than with demanding independence from the British – indeed their immediate concern was that the British not leave and abandon the Malays to the armed Communists of the MPAJA, which was the largest armed force in the country. During the last year of the war there had been armed clashes between Chinese and Malays and many Malays were killed by the armed Chinese communists members of the MPAJA and the returning British found a country on the brink of civil war. The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ...

In 1946 the British announced plans for a Malayan Union, which would turn the Federated and Unfederated Malay States, plus Penang and Malacca (but not Singapore), into a unitary state, with a view to independence within a few years. There would be a common Malayan citizenship regardless of race. The Malays were horrified at this recognition that the Chinese and Indians were now to be a permanent and equal part of Malaya’s future, and vowed their opposition to the plan. The Sultans, who had initially supported it, backed down and placed themselves at the head of the resistance. In 1946 the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was founded by Malay nationalists led by Dato Onn bin Jaafar, the Chief Minister of Johore. UMNO favoured independence for Malaya, but only if the new state was run exclusively by the Malays. Faced with implacable Malay opposition, the British dropped the plan. UMNO Flag The United Malays National Organisation, or UMNO, (Malay: Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu), is the largest political party in Malaysia and a founding member of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has ruled the country uninterruptedly since its independence. ... Dato Sir Onn Bin Jaafar (1895-January 19, 1962) was a Malay politician and a Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Johor in Malaysia, then Malaya. ...

Meanwhile the Communists were moving towards open insurrection. The MPAJA had been disbanded in December 1945, and the MCP organised as a legal political party, but the MPAJA’s arms were carefully stored for future use. The MCP policy was for immediate independence with full equality for all races. This meant it recruited very few Malays. The Party’s strength was in the Chinese-dominated trade unions, particularly in Singapore, and in the Chinese schools, where the teachers, mostly born in China, saw the Communist Party of China as the leader of China’s national revival. In March 1947, reflecting the international Communist movement’s “turn to left” as the Cold War set in, the MCP leader Lai Tek was purged and replaced by the veteran MPAJA guerrilla leader Chin Peng, who turned the party increasingly to direct action. In July, following a string of assassinations of plantation managers, the colonial government struck back, declaring a State of Emergency, banning the MCP and arresting hundreds of its militants. The Party retreated to the jungle and formed the Malayan Peoples’ Liberation Army, with about 3,000 men under arms, almost all Chinese. The Communist Party of China (CPC) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), also known as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys constitution. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... Lai Tek was the Malayan Communist Party leader before Chin Peng replaced him. ... Chin Peng (Traditional Chinese: 陳平, Simplified Chinese: 陈平, Mandarin Chén Píng) (born 1924), was born Ong Boon Hua (Mandarin: Wang Yonghua or Wang Wenhua Chinese: 王文華) in Sitiawan, and was a long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP). ... Malayan Peoples Liberation Army is the military arm of the Malayan Communist Party. ...

The Malayan Emergency involved six years of bitter fighting across the Malayan Peninsula. The British strategy, which proved ultimately successful, was to isolate the MCP from its support base by a combination of economic and political concessions to the Chinese and the resettlement of Chinese squatters into “New Villages” in “white areas” free of MCP influence. The effective mobilisation of the Malays against the MCP was also an important part the British strategy. From 1949 the MCP campaign lost momentum and the number of recruits fell sharply. Although the MCP succeeded in assassinating the British High Commissioner, Sir Henry Gurney, in October 1951, this turn to “terrorist” tactics alienated many moderate Chinese from the Party. The arrival of Lt-Gen Sir Gerald Templer as British commander in 1952 was the beginning of the end of the Emergency. Templer invented the techniques of counter-insurgency warfare in Malaya and applied them ruthlessly. The Malayan Emergency was an insurrection and guerrilla war of the Malay Races Liberation Army against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia. ... Sir Henry Lovell Goldsworthy Gurney was born on 27 June 1898, in London. ... Field Marshal Sir Gerald Templer, KG (1898 - 1979) was a British military commander. ... Counter-insurgency is the combating of insurgency, by the government (or allies) of the territory in which the insurgency takes place. ...

Later, Richard Noone and his protege Edmund Colin Ritson Dewsnup (aka Ruslan) carried forward Templer's initiative in a non-conventional follow-up by establishing a tribal based fighting unit known as the Senoi Praaq, an Orang Asli unit commanded for the next five or six years by Ruslan. Ruslan and his 'killer elite' effectively underwrote Malaya'a independence. Noone, Ruslan and sundry Orang Asli combantants are among the individuals to be remembered during this year's Merdeka Day celebrations. The Senoi Praaq is a unit of the Royal Malaysian Police made up almost entirely of non-Malay tribal peoples known collectively as the ORANG ASLI (aborigines) of Peninsular Malaysia. ... Dataran Merdeka, or Independence Square. ...

Towards Malaysia

Dataran Merdeka (Independence Square) in Kuala Lumpur, where Malaysians celebrate Independence Day on 31 August each year

Chinese reaction against the MCP was shown by the formation of the