Historical Development of the Federalism System in Malaysia: Prior to Independence

Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 75 2016 International Seminar on Education, Innovation and Economic Management (SEIEM 2016) Historical Development of the Federalism System in Malaysia: Prior to Independence Wan Kamal Mujani * Wan Hamdi Wan Sulaiman Department of Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilization, Department of Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilization, Faculty of Islamic Studies Faculty of Islamic Studies The National University of Malaysia The National University of Malaysia 43600 Bangi, Malaysia 43600 Bangi, Malaysia [email protected] [email protected] Abstract—This article discusses the development of the Australia etc. According to the book Comparing Federal federalism system in Malaysia prior to independence. During its Systems in the 1990s, Bodin states that even though this administration in Malaya, the British introduced the residents system requires city-states to hand over territorial sovereignty system to facilitate administrative affairs there. Hence in 1895, to the central government, this does not mean that the the Treaty of Federation was made and the Federated Malay territories will lose their identities. Meanwhile, the book States was formed by the British. The introduction of this treaty Decline of the Nation-State asserts that this type of marks the beginning of a new chapter in the development of the administrative system became more influential when the federalism system in Malaya. One of the objectives of this United States of America, which became independent from research is to investigate the development of the federalism British influence in 1776, chose this system to govern the vast system in Malaysia prior to independence. This entire research country. This system was later followed by Canada (1867), uses qualitative methods through literature review i.e. historical study and content analysis methods such as an in-depth review of Australia (1901), India (1950), and Nigeria (1960 CE) [1]. the books in question. This research found that the federalism system in Malaysia was developed after the Treaty of Federation III. THE FEDERALISM SYSTEM PRIOR TO INDEPENDENCE was introduced by the British. The history of the federalism concept in Malaya began in Keywords—History, Federalism, Malaya, before independence 1895. Nevertheless, the weakness of this system stirred opposition from the Malay community who felt that their position and interests were being threatened by the federalism I. INTRODUCTION system. Prior to the arrival of the British, administration of The federalism system was introduced by the British before Malay states was under the system of absolute monarchy, Independence to facilitate the administrative system and where the king or sultan became the source of law and head of management of the economy. The historical development of government in their respective states. Nevertheless, the arrival the federal government system in Malaysia is closely related to of the British in 1824 through the Anglo-Dutch Treaty changed the expansion of British influence in Malaya. Before the the administration system of the Malay States. The British federalism system was introduced, Malaya previously adopted became interested to interfere with the administrative affairs in the residents system introduced by the British in 1874, initially Malaya. in the states of Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang. Before the federalism system was introduced, Malaya had However, this system led to many inconsistencies in terms of previously accepted the residents system introduced by the administration, causing the level of development among the British in 1874 through the Treaty of Pangkor, which was the states to become imbalanced. To overcome this system's first form of interference from the British government. Firstly weakness, the British implemented the Treaty of Federation in the states of Perak, Pahang (1888), Selangor (1895), and (1895) on July 1, 1986, by uniting all the four states under one Negeri Sembilan (1895). According to the book Government administration center known as the Federated Malay States. Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pacific, behind interference in the four states, the British had their own II. CONCEPT OF THE FEDERALISM SYSTEM intentions of taking over the power of the Malay state rulers. The federalism concept has existed since the Greek golden Through the residents system, the four states were forced to age in the 13th century BCE when city-states around Greece accept a British Resident to advise the sultan in all matters collaborated to improve their common security in facing except religious affairs and Malay traditions. During that time, attacks from enemies. Afterwards, in the 16th century CE the the Malay sultans lost their authority as the absolute ruler of federalism concept began to spread to Europe when Jean Bodin their respective states and were instead ruled under British who was an influential French political thinker asserted that the jurisdiction. Under the residents system, the British failed to best administrative system was the federalism system because standardize policies and administration in the four states, it promoted the unity of small territories to become a strong causing the level of development to become imbalanced. On country such as Malaysia, United States of America, India, July 1, 1895, the Treaty of Federation was implemented by the Copyright © 2016, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. 517 This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (ASSEHR), volume 75 British under the name of the Federated Malay States. With the of a liberal citizenship policy will cause anxiety among Malay introduction of this treaty, a new chapter began in the leaders because of the huge Chinese-Singaporean population. development of the federalism system in Malaya. The The proposal for the Malayan Union plan was announced federalism concept introduced by the British was not done in by Edward Gent, the Deputy Permanent Under Secretary for its true sense. It did not include the distribution of power and the Colonies, for the first time in the Parliament of United functions between the federal and state government. Instead, Kingdom in January 1944. Bornean territories such as Sabah, many decisions were made by the Resident-General. Sarawak and Brunei were also included in the original plan but In 1909, the transition of power from the Malay sultans to their entry was later removed from the final proposal as Borneo the Federal Government began with the formation of the was still under a state of instability. In the same year, the Unfederated Malay States. As a result of the Treaty of Colonial Office invited Sir Harold MacMichael (a British Bangkok in 1909 between the Siamese government and the representative) to go to Malaya to gather the signatures from British, the Unfederated Malay States, which consists of Perlis, Malay state rulers. It took him only 22 days to gather the Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Johore, were forced to signatures of every Malayan ruler as a result of the threats from accept a British adviser in their respective states. There were the British government by forcing the Malay sultans to accept differences in terms of the administration between the their proposal. They did not allow enough time for the sultans Federated Malay States and the Unfederated Malay States. The to consult with their respective council. In fact, the sultans who administrative system in the Federated Malay States was refused to sign the treaty were threatened to be replaced by similar to the unitary system because all administrative powers another sultan. were held by the Resident-General. On the other hand, the After receiving the treaties in 1946, the British introduced system of government in the Unfederated Malay States was the Malayan Union to facilitate and standardize administration similar to the confederate system (a confederation, the power and to prepare the Malayan people towards self-government. of member states was preserved whereas their sovereignty was However, the Malayan Union faced stiff opposition from the untouched and still intact) given that the government power Malay community at that time. The book Federalism in Asia: was still held by each sultan in their respective states. At that India, Pakistan and Malaysia provides details regarding the time, the Unfederated Malay States refused to join the Malayan Union constitution which consist of nine Malay states, Federated Malay States due to fear of losing authoritative Malacca, and Penang united as one British colony lead by the powers [2]. British Governor. Singapore was not included because the In 1914, the British succeeded in expanding its influence British considered Singapore its sole property obtained through across the entire Malaya. In addition, an attempt to standardize a treaty with Sultan Hussin. All jurisdictions of the Malay the administration between the Straits Settlements (Singapore, sultans in the Malayan Union government including rights to Malacca, and Penang), the Federated Malay States and the make foreign affair policies were taken over by the governor. Unfederated Malay States was also made. However, efforts to The Malay sultans, even though they were given rights towards combine the three state administrations went to no avail. In fact, religion and Malay traditions, did not have authority over them the inconsistencies between these administrations continued because Their Highnesses were only ranked ordinary members until the outbreak of World War II. It caused the entire Malaya in the council meetings chaired by the Malayan Union to fall easily into the hands of the Japanese i.e. in only 55 days. governor. The Malayan Union constitution also acknowledges Upon realizing this weakness, the Colonial Office in London the citizen status of immigrants through 'Jus Soli' at birth and finally made a new constitution for Malaya known as the leeway was given to immigrants who apply to become a Malayan Union. As early as 1942, the British had established Malayan Union citizen.

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