SEPTEMBER 16 — Today is Malaysia Day.
As Vasanthi Ramachandran reminds us, on this day in 1963 Malaysia came into being.
That date marked the creation of Malaysia through an agreement — the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), consisting of 11 clauses with annexes, including the Constitutions of the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore, the Malaysia Immigration Bill and the Agreement between the Governments of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore on common market and financial arrangements.
Article I of MA63 states that “[t]he Colonies of North Borneo and Sarawak and the State of Singapore shall be federated with the existing States of the Federation of Malaya as the States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in accordance with the constitutional instruments annexed to this Agreement and the Federation shall thereafter be called ‘Malaysia’”.
Malaysia is the agreed name. Federation is the agreed political union of the states, namely the States of the Federation of Malaya, the State of Sabah, the State of Sarawak and the State of Singapore.
Article II imposes on the Government of the Federation of Malaya to “take such steps as may be appropriate and available to them to secure the enactment by the Parliament of the Federation of Malaya of an Act in the form set out in Annex A to this Agreement and that it is brought into operation on 31st August 1963 (and the date on which the said Act is brought into operation is hereinafter referred to as ‘Malaysia Day’).
Annex A is the Malaysia Bill which was duly presented to the Parliament of the Federation of Malaya, read and debated at length for five days (including on a Saturday) before it was passed at its third reading on August 20, 1963 — at 11.25pm.
The Act (No. 26 of 1963) received the Royal Assent on August 26, a mere five days to Malaysia Day on August 31.
Two days later on August 28, a subsequent agreement between the parties to MA63 which was signed in Singapore, amended MA63 by substituting the date “16th September” for the date “31st August”.
If not for the subsequent agreement, Malaysia Day and Merdeka Day would have been celebrated on the same day — that is, August 31.
Now, Article III imposes on the Government of the United Kingdom to submit to Her Britannic Majesty before Malaysia Day Orders in Council for the purpose of giving the force of law to the Constitutions of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore as States of Malaysia as set out in Annexes B, C and D.
Annexes B, C, D were duly given legal effect a day after the subsequent agreement when the Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore (State Constitutions) Order in Council 1963 was made on August 29.
The Government of the United Kingdom was also imposed a duty under Article IV to pass an Act of Parliament “providing for the relinquishment, as from Malaysia Day, of Her Britannic Majesty’s sovereignty and jurisdiction in respect of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore so that the said sovereignty and jurisdiction shall on such relinquishment vest in accordance with this Agreement and the constitutional instruments annexed to this Agreement”.
The British Malaysia Act 1963 (Chapter 35) had been duly passed on July 31, 1963, by which Her Majesty’s sovereignty and jurisdiction in respect of the new States of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore “shall be relinquished so as to vest in the manner agreed” in MA63.
The gist of the above is this.
Malaysia Day was intended to be on August 31. The date was brought further to September 16 because the laws needed to be passed and made before Malaysia Day.
The timeline to Malaysia Day from the date MA63 was signed (July 3, 1963) was perhaps too ambitious.
But not Malaysia.
Malaysia was already agreed by parties to MA3.
Malaysia was agreed as a federation of states. It has been so since.
But as we celebrate Malaysia Day on September 16, remember that it was intended to be August 31.
Let it be though.
We are Malaysians on August 31 and on September 16.
We are Malaysians on every other day.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
