Click here for  On the Occasion of Commemorating 50 Years of Sarawak’s Independence and Freedom From British Rule pdf files.

Speeches

On the Occasion of Commemorating 50 Years of Sarawak’s Independence and Freedom From British Rule

July 22, 2014

Speech by

YAB Tan Sri Datuk Amar (Dr) Haji Adenan bin Haji Satem

Chief Minister of Sarawak

On the Occasion of Commemorating 50 Years of Sarawak’s Independence and Freedom From British Rule

We feel greatly honored by your presence here Pehin Sri among us today. Not only because you are our head of State but because 50 over years ago, you were what I call present at the creation. You were present not just as a spectator but a participant in the freedom of Sarawak from Colonial rule, the decision to be a party in the formation of  Malaysia and, of course,  and the party to the setting up of the preservation of the special privileges for the State of Sarawak together with North Borneo now known as Sabah.

You are a witness and participant in all these and if I may add the only remaining member of Sarawak’s first Cabinet.  Stephen Kalong Ningkan is no longer with us,  James Wong Kim Min is no longer with us, Awang Hipni Pengiran Annu is no longer with us, Teo Kui Seng is no longer with us and recently,  of course, Dunstan Endawie anak Enchana is no longer with us.

So you are the sole survivor as it were of the first cabinet of the free Sarawak.  We wish you a long life, stay with us much, much longer and don’t join your other colleagues so soon.

Sir may I be permitted to address the other members of our audience.

51 years ago, the people of Sarawak made three critical decisions. They made three critical decisions with regards to their future. The first decision they made was that the people were no longer content to be subject people, they were no longer content to be a colony in the British empire.  The people wanted the country back, we want to rule ourselves. 

The British Empire was witnessing its last day ever since Harold Macmillan, then the Prime Minister of United Kingdom who made a decision that England would withdraw from the colonies East of Suez. The wind of Change had come over Africa. They were prepared to give up their colonies East of Suez.  Everybody knew that was the decline of and coming to the end of the British Empire.

They could no longer resist the forces of Nationalism and the forces of Change.  After India in 1947, the British lost the jewels in the crown.  That was a clear signal for them to withdraw.  The question here is not so much whether they were prepared to leave but how to leave smoothly. And thanks heaven, we did not win our Independence by war or revolution or bloodshed, we won by sitting round the table and negotiate our ways according to the constitution.

The British were reluctant at first but in a way they knew the game was up for them, they had to leave but leave properly.  Because arrangements were made and both parties were agreeable, we parted as friends not as enemies. 

So the 22^nd of July 1963, we had our first Governor, we had our first Chief Minister all from Sarawak. We came on our own we became sovereign people. And the promises made by the third Rajah in September 1941 that the Brookes’ family held Sarawak in trust for the people of Sarawak.  But then they would redeem that trust and handed back the governance of the country to the people.

That was one of the cardinal principles of 1941.  Of course, they did not fulfill that promise, a few months later the Japanese came.  In December 1941, the Japanese invaded Sarawak and became our masters. But then after the Japanese destroyed the country, we became backward, poor and a miserable country.

And the Brookes family thought, much to the opposition of the local people, it was better for Sarawak to become a British colony.  So for 17 years from 1946 to 1963, we were a British colony. Eventually, when we could prove ourselves, now we have the Constitution, we were no longer ruled from the Whitehall of some officials in London. We have the constitution not based powered in London but to the people themselves. We have an elected government, we became self-governance. That was the stage reached on July 22, 1963.

The second decision that we made not by referendum but by the Commission of Inquiry by the so-called Cobbold Commission, we decided in favor of being a party to the formation of a bigger Federation called Malaysia.  It is wrong to say we joined Malaysia because at that time there was no Malaysia to join.

But it is correct to say we are a party to the formation of Malaysia by virtue of the Malaysia agreement signed in Lancaster House in London by Harold MacMillan for England, Tunku Abdul Rahman for Malaya, Lee Kwan Yew for Singapore, Donald Stephen/Mustapha Harun for North Borneo and for Sarawak, Abang Openg, Ling Beng Siew, Jugah anak Barieng and Datu Bandar Abang Haji Mustapha.  Therefore, we are a party to the formation of Malaysia.

We have decided on that. If we compare the situation in 1963 to what it is now. In 1963 we were under the threat of communist resurrection, we had hostile neighbors, China was expansionist. Indonesia our nearest neighbor was influenced was D.M.Idit of Parti Kommunis Indonesia, who had an expansionist view and influence on Sukarno to oppose the formation of Malaysia. 

Ganyang Malaysia was the battle cry of Malaysia Indonesia confrontation.  Those of you who are old now can remember those old days.  Our country alone was defenseless we could not afford to be on our own in those circumstances. So for the sake of security and for the sake of racial balance and for the sake of peace and security, Malaysia was the only option open to us then.

And 50 years later, we came to the conclusion that our second decision to be part of Malaysia has been a good and wise one.  From the backwater of forests, with GDP too ashamed to mention, with per capita too poor to mention, our GDP has become multiplied by leaps and bounds, our per capita has also multiplied by leaps and bounds.  From a backwater to what we have today, a state, which is on the verge of industrialization.

And the third decision we made that was we agreed with the formation of Malaysia but we must have special consideration over rights and privileges and others over and above those states in the Federation of Malaya, in West Malaysia.  And those were acceded to and have cemented our relationship on better level with the Federal government. Those three major decisions that we made indeed made history and will become what we are today basically because of the three basic decisions we made.

Ladies and gentlemen, as in the Federation, inevitably there will be conflicts, there will be misunderstandings, there will be frictions, we complain about too much centralization or the Federal may complain about too much devolution but we can work them out. We had our differences but we could work them out as fellow citizens. As indeed we have worked out our relationship with the Federal government in years before and in years to come.

Our friends in Semenanjung and in the Commonwealth have come to our defense in the early 60s when we were in danger of being invaded by unfriendly neighbors. After the Brunei rebellion of December 1962, the shots were overheard all over Sarawak and indeed parts of Sarawak were taken over by the rebels.  But our friends came to our rescue; that we don’t forget to save our country from the clutches from communism and envious neighbors.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are glad therefore; we have survived and prospered as a nation for the last 50 years.    We now seek a more perfect union we want to seek unity in diversity. We must recognize our diversity as people. It should not pose as hindrance to the people. Other countries have become united in spite of their diversity.   In fact we can be united because of our diversity.

As we go along to face the future, we hope there will be peace, there will be harmony. In fact at a time like this, when our country faces two disasters in the forms of MH370 and MH17, it is time for us to be united behind our leaders in seeking justice, in seeking compensation, in seeking justice especially for those Malaysians who perished, the innocent Malaysians who perished in MH370 and MH17.

This is not the time for recrimination; this is not the time for us to politicize what is a national tragedy.  It is the time for us to stand behind our leaders, our Prime Minister in his efforts to seek justice for our people.  On this 50^th and 51^st anniversary of becoming Independence and becoming part of the Federation of Malaysia, we hope for peace, we hope for prosperity and we hope for a greater future for the new generation, who will come after us.

Thank you.