Only UMNO lost one constituency against PAS.ġ7. Such was the support of the Malays for the MCA and MIC alliance candidates that they won even against Malay candidates from PAS. In the 1955 elections to the Federal Legislative Assembly, since there were very few constituencies with Chinese or Indian majorities, the MCA and MIC partners had to put up candidates in Malay majority constituencies after UMNO undertook not to contest in these constituencies but to support MCA Chinese and MIC Indian candidates instead.ġ6. Tunku Abdul Rahman, the President of UMNO decided on a coalition with MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and the MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress). The British kept up the pressure for the Malays to be more liberal with citizenship for non-Malays.ġ5. This proposal was rejected by the other UMNO leaders and Dato Onn had to resign.ġ4. Naturally the Malay citizens far outnumbered the Chinese Malayan citizens.ġ3.Ĝhinese leaders appealed to the British, who then persuaded the UMNO President, Dato Onn Jaafar to propose to open UMNO to all races. Only Chinese who were British subjects in the colonies of the Straits Settlements were eligible to become citizens in this new Federation. They forced the British to return to the status quo ante in a new Federation of Malaya.ġ2. The Malays rejected the Malayan Union and its citizenship proposal. It was in this tensed situation that the British proposed the Malayan Union which would give the “guests” the right of citizenship as indistinguishable from that of the Malays.ġ1. But the ill feeling and animosity between the two races remained high.ġ0.
Tension rose and a Sino-Malay war was only averted because of the arrival of British forces.
Malay villagers retaliated by killing the Chinese in the rural areas. They seized many people, Chinese and Malays and executed a number of them.ĩ. When Japan surrendered the Chinese guerillas came out and seized many police stations in the interior and declared that they were the rulers of the country. Many Chinese formed and joined guerilla forces and disappeared into the jungle. When Japan conquered the Malay States and the colonies of the Straits Settlements, the Chinese felt insecure as the Japanese were their historical enemies.Ĩ. They did not think that the foreigners who had settled in the country would ever demand citizenship rights.ħ. The Malay subjects of the Rulers and the Rulers themselves did not feel threatened by the numbers of these non-Malays and the disparities between the general wealth and progress of the foreign guests and the subjects of the Rulers. The foreign guests prospered in the British ruled Malay States and in the British colonies of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. There were no citizenship or documents about citizenship status as in most countries.Ħ. Initially the peoples living in the States were divided into indigenous Malays and aborigines who were subjects of the Malay rulers and foreign guests who were not subjects of the rulers. Even the aborigines accepted this as shown by their submission to the rule of the Malay Sultans.ĥ. These treaties obviously recognised and legitimised the States as Malay States. Through treaties signed by the Rulers of the Malay States of the Peninsular the British acquired the right to rule the Malay States.
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