Please tell me about one of the leaders involve in independence for our MALAYSIA country?

Question

Remember also the details of his/her early life, influences and struggles.
Also what are the qualities you admire in this person?
( Tell about FACTUAL)

NON- MALAYSIA CITIZEN ALSO CAN ANSWER IF YOU WANT TO EARN POINTS...

This was my school assignment…
Please……….
help me(@_@)

Answer 1

Tunku Abdul Rahman, Dato' Sir Onn Bin Ja'afar and Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock are possible personalities you can focus on. You will get a host of details on their lives at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunku_Abdul_Rahman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onn_Jaafar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tan_Cheng_Lock

as well as at

Tunku Abdul Rahman
http://www.pmo.gov.my/website/webdb.nsf/vALLDOC/683147F9E2B0F7E148256D52001861E5

Dato' Sir Onn Bin Ja'afar
http://www.malaysia.net/lists/sangkancil/1999-03/msg00242.html

Tun Dato Sir Tan Cheng Lock
http://www.tourism-melaka.com/emelakainfo/TUN%20TAN%20CHENG%20LOCK.pdf
[Acrobat PDF Format]

Answer 2

Tunku Abdul Rahman? ..
details..try to search yourself la

Answer 3

VII HISTORY

Humans lived in the area of present-day Malaysia as long as 40,000 years ago. The early history of the area is obscure because there are few local documents and almost no archaeological remains, especially any with inscriptions. According to Chinese sources, however, early contacts were made with China. Traders also spread Hindu influences from India, which affected people’s customs and the rituals of local rulers. Peninsular Malaysia was not unified politically but was split into small kingdoms and subdivided into chiefdoms defined by river valleys. Political rule of Borneo was even more fragmented. Some of the mainland kingdoms may have been subject to a degree of control by larger empires centered in Cambodia or Java, such as Majapahit.

About AD 1400 Parameswara, a Sumatran prince, founded the kingdom of Malacca on the site of present-day Melaka. He was converted to Islam, which traders from India had already brought to the area, and Malacca became a center for the further spread of the Muslim faith. Malacca prospered and expanded its influence into most of the Malay Archipelago, but in 1511 it was conquered by the Portuguese under Afonso de Albuquerque. The Portuguese in Malacca survived constant fighting with neighboring Johor, Aceh in Sumatra, and other states. In 1641, however, Malacca fell to the Dutch, who replaced the Portuguese as the leading European trading power in the region. Like their predecessors, the Dutch were frequently at war with neighboring kingdoms and succeeded in extending their influence to parts of Johor. In this period the northern Malay kingdoms—Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan, and Terengganu—were frequently under the influence of Siam (present-day Thailand).

A The Imposition of British Rule

The British became active in the area in the 18th century, partly because they sought trade, but also to check French power in the Indian Ocean. The sultan of Kedah, looking for help against the Siamese, leased the island of Pinang to the English East India Company in 1786, and Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, a company administrator, founded Singapore in 1819. Under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, Britain secured Malacca from the Dutch and in return relinquished its claims to Sumatra and nearby smaller islands. Singapore, Pinang, and Malacca (which collectively became the Straits Settlements in 1826) were then administered by Britain.

In the mid-19th century tin-mining activity greatly expanded in the Malay Peninsula, and Malay rulers and the immigrant Chinese they employed became involved in territorial disputes. Fearful that these disputes might disrupt trade, the British took control of the peninsular states, working indirectly through the Malay rulers. Using diplomacy and taking advantage of dynastic quarrels, the British persuaded the rulers to accept British “residents” or “advisers,” who dictated policy. Before World War II (1939-1945) the native states were classified as either federated or unfederated, with British control somewhat looser in the unfederated states. The federated states were Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, and Pahang. The unfederated states were Johor and the four northern states, which were acquired from Thailand in 1909. At the top of the British system of rule was a high commissioner, who was also governor of the Straits Settlements.

The present Malaysian territories in Borneo were largely under the domination of the powerful Muslim state of Brunei until the 19th century. Before then, Europeans traded on the island but made no permanent settlements. In 1841, however, the sultan of Brunei rewarded Sir James Brooke, an English adventurer who helped to suppress rebels, with a gift of land and the title raja of Sarawak. Brooke and his successors expanded the territory. To the east, the sultans of Brunei and Sulu also granted land to Europeans. In 1882 the British North Borneo (Chartered) Company purchased the European-held territory. British North Borneo and Sarawak became British protectorates in 1888.

British colonial impacts on Malaysia, especially West Malaysia, while not always positive, were profound. For example, Britain was directly or indirectly responsible for the establishment of the plantation system and the commercialization of agriculture; the framework for the present-day transportation system; multiracialism (through the importation of Chinese and Indian labor); the introduction of English and an educational system; and modern political institutions.

B The Coming of Independence

Malaya, Sarawak, and North Borneo were seized by the Japanese in 1941 and 1942 and remained under Japanese occupation until World War II ended in 1945. Ethnic rivalries complicated the movement for independence that emerged after the war. The British had encouraged Chinese and Indian immigration to supply labor needed by the tin, rubber, and other industries. In the 1940s the population of the Malay states was approximately 50 percent Malay, 37 percent Chinese, and 12 percent Indian. Deep divisions separated these groups, coinciding substantially with religious and linguistic differences. With independence approaching, Malays expressed concern that immigrants would acquire political power. In 1946 they protested successfully against a scheme, known as the Malayan Union, that would have given most immigrants citizenship and voting rights while reducing the power of the Malay rulers. In 1948 the peninsular states formed the Federation of Malaya, which retained the power of the sultans.

The Alliance, the dominant political party that emerged in the 1950s, was multiethnic in its leadership but also ensured separate representation of ethnic groups through three component parties: the United Malays National Organization, the Malayan Chinese Association, and the Malayan Indian Congress. The Alliance won an overwhelming victory in the first nationwide elections in 1955. The British and the Alliance worked out the constitution, providing for a federal state; a bicameral parliament consisting of one elected and one appointed body; citizenship for most non-Malays; and special provisions for the Malays, who were regarded as less economically developed and were given preference for civil service jobs, scholarships, and licenses. In 1957 the Federation of Malaya (which occupied what is now West Malaysia) gained independence from Britain. It joined the United Nations that same year.

Meanwhile, the government had been fighting a Communist-led rebellion, known as the Malayan Emergency, since 1948. Most Communists were poor ethnic Chinese who were opposed to British colonial rule. When the Federation of Malaya became independent in 1957, they continued to fight for Communist rule. By the time the conflict finally ended in 1960, about 11,000 people had died. Not until 1989, however, did the Communists formally agree to lay down their arms.

C An Independent Malaysia

In 1961 Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaya’s first prime minister, proposed a Malaysian federation of Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo (later called Sabah), and Brunei. All but Brunei joined the federation in 1963. Economic and political disputes based on racial differences led to Singapore’s exit in 1965.

Since independence, ethnic disputes have dominated Malaysian politics. In the 1960s these disputes centered on the preeminence of Malays in politics and the supremacy of Chinese and Indians in the economic arena. In the 1969 general elections, the Alliance faced opposition from both Malay and non-Malay parties. Immediately afterward serious rioting broke out in Kuala Lumpur and at least 200 people were killed. The government invoked emergency powers and imposed restrictions on raising ethnically sensitive issues; parliament did not meet again until 1971. The new prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak, announced a new program called the New Economic Policy (NEP) to alleviate poverty in general, but also to improve specifically the economic condition of the Malays. Among the goals of the NEP was to increase the employment of Malays in occupations dominated by non-Malays. He also broadened the Alliance (already extended to Sarawak and Sabah) into an organization called the National Front, which included some opposition parties. The National Front won the 1974 elections decisively and also, under Prime Minister Datuk Hussein Onn, the 1978 elections. Ethnicity, however, still dominated the political scene, and two major opposition parties opposed the National Front: the Pan-Malayan Islamic Party and the Democratic Action Party. When Hussein Onn retired in 1981, he was succeeded by his deputy, Mahathir bin Mohamad.

A constitutional conflict in 1983 between the Mahathir government and the hereditary sultans led to a compromise restricting the power of Malaysia’s head of state to veto certain legislation. In 1987 the Mahathir government responded to the alleged threat of rising tensions between Malays and Chinese by arresting opposition leaders and suspending four newspapers. Constitutional amendments passed in 1993 and 1994 further restricted the powers of the head of state. The amendments prohibited the nine hereditary rulers from pardoning themselves or their families from criminal charges and removed the head of state’s power to delay legislation. The National Front, having won three consecutive victories in 1982, 1986, and 1990 with Mahathir as prime minister, gained an even greater majority in the elections of 1995. Mahathir again retained his position as prime minister. Since the early 1990s the centerpiece of the Mahathir era has been “Vision 2020,” his program to propel Malaysia into the ranks of developed industrial nations by 2020.

Southeast Asian financial markets suffered a serious blow in 1997 when investors lost confidence in a number of Asian currencies and securities. The impact to Malaysia’s economy was not as severe as it was in other Asian countries, but economic concerns caused the Mahathir government to scale back or postpone several important infrastructure projects.

Mahathir differed with Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on what Malaysia’s response to the economic crisis should be, and in September 1998 Mahathir dismissed Anwar from his government posts. Anwar then launched a campaign against government corruption and began speaking to supporters around the country, often drawing huge crowds. The government arrested Anwar on charges of abuse of power and personal misconduct, which Anwar claimed were part of a political conspiracy against him. He was convicted of abuse of power and given a six-year jail sentence in April 1999. In a separate judicial verdict in August 2000, Anwar was found guilty of sodomy and sentenced to nine additional years in prison. Despite the controversy surrounding Anwar’s arrest, the National Front decisively won November 1999 legislative elections and Mahathir retained the office of prime minister.