Issue Date: March 06, 1963 Malaysian Federation: vs. Federation

Indonesian President Sukarno announced February 13 that his government's opposition to the formation of the proposed 5-state Malaysian Federation. Sukarno said would support rebel forces that were fighting in Britain's territories of , Sarawak and against the merger of those 3 areas with Malaya and . Indonesian Foreign Minister Subandrio had declared February 11 that Indonesia would give full support to the Brunei rebels to block the federation's formation. Subandrio, citing Malayan Prime Minister 's "incurable hostility" toward Indonesia, said that if Indonesia had a "common land frontier with the federation [of Malaya]," "physical conflict would be difficult to avoid." An Indonesian note submitted to Britain February 22 called the Malaysian Federation a threat to Indonesia's security. The note, delivered by Indonesian Ambassador B. M. Diah to Lord Home, British foreign secretary, was in reply to a recent British demand that Indonesia refrain from intervening in the Brunei revolt. Malaya February 13 had announced an expansion of its armed forces to counter what it called Indonesia's policy of "confrontation" toward Malaya and its "hostile attitude" towards . Brunei agreement to enter the Malaysian Federation had been formally announced in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya February 7. The sultan of Brunei, Sir Omar Ali Saifuddin, who was in Kuala Lumpur conferring with Malayan officials on term's of Brunei's entry into the federation, had agreed in principle in 1962 to bring his territory into the federation. A final decision had been delayed, however, because of strong opposition from Brunei's Rakyat (People's) party. [See 1963 Borneo: UK Troops Alerted] © 2011 Facts On File News Services

Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation: "Malaysian Federation: Sukarno vs. Federation." Facts On File World News Digest: n. pag. World News Digest. Facts On File News Services, 6 Mar. 1963. Web. 3 Aug. 2011. . For further information see Citing Sources in MLA Style. Facts On File News Services' automatically generated MLA citations have been updated according to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th edition. American Psychological Association (APA) Citation format: The title of the article. (Year, Month Day). Facts On File World News Digest. Retrieved Month Day, Year, from World News Digest database. See the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Citations for more information on citing in APA style.