# Report of the Commission of Enquiry, North Borneo and Sarawak, 1962/CHAPTER 4/general matters

London, United Kingdom: The National Archives, Kew, pages 56–63
Section A.—Recommendations on Certain General Matters.
148. We make the following general recommendations, which are unanimous except where otherwise stated:
We therefore recommend that the existing Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should be taken as the basis of the Constitution of the new Federation with such amendments and safeguards as may be necessary. We also recommend that no amendment, modiﬁcation or withdrawal or any special safeguard granted should be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State concerned.
We encountered some opposition to the name "Malaysia", particularly from a number of non-Muslim elements of the population in Sarawak. This opposition stems from the same cause as the anxieties about Religion, Language and the Head of Federation, with which we deal elsewhere in this Section. They all reflect the fears held by the non-Malays and non-Muslims that the effect of Malaysia will be to put them in a position inferior to that of the Malays and Muslims. We cannot see, however, that any other name would be appropriate in view of the geographical historical relevance or the name of Malaysia and its ​wide current usage. We believe moreover, that in fact objections to the name would not persist for long. We recommend, however, that the word "Malaysia" should be generally incorporated into the Malay language; at present it is widely translated into Malay as "Melayu Raya".
Feeling on the point ran much stronger. There are differences of opinion among the Commission.
We recommend the insertion in the State Constitution of a specific provision to this effect.
There remain the provisions in the exiting Federal Constitution of Malaya that Islam is the national religion and that certain public expenditure may be incurred for Islamic purposes. All Muslim communities would welcome the provision that Islam should be national religion of the Federation. But even with guanrantees of freedom of religion for the Borneo States, we have met with strong resistance from many non-Muslim communities to the idea that these Federal provisions should apply to the Borneo territories. We consider that this is a matter for the peoples of the Borneo territories (which have a non-Muslim majority) to decide for themselves at a later stage when fully elected representative bodies have been constituted. We recommend therefore that the Federal provisions should not be extended to the Borneo territories in the meantime.
We think that all Muslim communities would welcome a provision that Islam should be the national religion of the Federation. Amongst the non-Muslims who appreared before us there was a substantial number who would not object to the present practice in the Federation of Malaya, as they are satisfied with provisions for fundamental liberties and freedom of religion in the Malayan Constitution. There were, however, a number of non-Muslims who most anxious that there should be no national religion for the Federation; a great many of them, however, would be prepared to consider that Islam might be made the national religion provided that it should not be the religion of their particular State. Taking these point fully into consideration we are agreed that Islam should be the national religion for the Federation. We are satisfied that the proposal in no way jeopardises freedom of religion in the Federation, which in effect would be secular. ​There remain, however, some objection to the provisions in the existing Constitution of the Federation of Malaya that certain public expenditure may be incurred for Islamic purposes. We feel unable to make any positive recommendation in this respect as this resistance, though strong, is small and any recommendation for a Constitutional provision to meet this objection will do violence to present provisions in the Malayan Constitution which the weight of opinion does not require. We therefore limit ourselves to recording the point.
With regard to official languages, a majority of opinion favours Malay and English as official languages without any time limit in the Borneo States. The Chairman and the British members recommend that a provision to this effect be made in the Constitution. The Malayan members feel that from consideration of Malaysia taken as a whole, such a provision as a permanent feature cannot be readily acceptable without doing undue violence to the existing provisions of the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya. They recommend, therefore, that provision should be made which, while not affecting the position of Malay as the national language for the Federation of Malaysia, would ensure the continuance of English as an official language in the Borneo territories along with Malay for a period of 10 years after the establishment of Malaysia and to continue thereafter until such time as the Central Government in consultation with the State Governmnent of the territory concerned provides otherwise. The Central Government should not institute any move without prior consultation with the State Government.
It has been widely represented to the Commission by all races and communities in North Borneo and Sarawak that the small population of the two territories in relation to their size makes it essential to provide them with protection against unrestricted movement of people from other parts of the Federation. We have no doubt that this is a legitimate and essential requirement. We think, however, that control over immigration into any part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the Central Government, subject to the proviso that such entry into Sarawak or North Borneo should also require the approval of the State Government concerned. The Federal Government should guarantee the unrestricted entry for purposes of employment of persons recruited by the State Government, except on grounds of security. In relation to the question of entry from any other Malaysian territories into Sarawak or North Borneo, we recommend that it should be subject to the control of the respective States. The free movement or persons in the service of the Central Government such as Federal officials, should, however, be guaranteed by the State Government. The Federal Government will have a clear interest in the movement or, for example, persons known to be subversive. The State Government will be well aware of security aspects and will be able to take this into account in controlling entry into their States We consider that the present Visitor's Permit valid for three months should be retained in order to encourage exchange of visits among the peoples of Malaysia and the creation of a Malaysian sense of national unity. We would recommend also that there should be no restrictions on movement from the Borneo territories into Malaya.
We are aware that the provision relating to the restricted freedom of movement of citizens would conflict with the fundamental liberties as guaranteed under the Constitution, but in view of the very special nature of the situation, we strongly recommend that appropriate constitutional provision be made to facilitate such arrangement.
A number of witnesses suggested that there should be a trial period with a right to secede from the Federation after a stated number of years. We believe that inclusion of a secession clause would mean a constitution throughout the trial period of political and perhaps racial ​divisions. We feel that if it is decided to create a Federation, the decision should be made wholeheartedly and without reservations. We do not recommend inclusion of a secession clause.
We have already made it clear in Chapters l and 2 that this is a matter to which the Chinese communities in both Sarawak and North Borneo attach such importance that it inﬂuences the attitude of many of them towards the Malaysia proposals as a whole. They fear that the arrangements under the pre—Merdeka Constitution of the Federation of Malaya might be applied to them.
At present persons of any race born in either of the two territories are automatically citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies; and aliens, regardless of race, who have resided in either territory throughout the 12 months preceding their applications and also have resided there or in the United Kingdom or one of its other dependencies for four years out of the seven preceding that 12 months and intend to continue such residence are eligible to apply in the Governor for naturalisation as citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. Additional requirements are evidence of good character and a sufficient knowledge of the English language or a language recognised in the territory as being on an equality with the English language. In practice Malay has been accepted.
Although the great majority of the Chinese in both Sarawak and North Borneo have either been born in one or other territory or have resided there for a substantial number of years, only a small proportion of those who were not born locally have in fact applied for citizenship. It is necessary to secure sponsors; some expenses is involved; and there has up to now been no particular advantage in becoming a citizen. Moreover, many Chinese might not have been able to pass a language test in any language other than their own. It was on behalf of this considerable body of non-citizens that requests were made to us that the qualiﬁcations for citizenship in Sarawak and North Borneo after Malaysia comes into being should remain the same, or approximately the same, as those now in force for citizenship of the United Kingdom and Colonies. There was readiness in some cases to agree to a rather longer qualifying period of residence such as seven or eight years instead of five.
We have considerable sympathy with these requests, although we believe that the fears of the Chinese are usually based on a misunderstanding of the present position in Malaya.
Our attention has been drawn to the memorandum in setting out the Heads at Agreement for a merger between the Federation of Malaya and Singapore (Singapore Command Paper No. 33 of 1961) in which ​it has been agreed that a Singapore citizenship will be retained which will automatically carry with it nationality of the new Federation of Malaysia. We have considered Whether on this analogy there is a case for creating a separate citizenship for the Borneo territories which would carry with it nationality of Malaysia. We have found no special reason to suggest such a separate citizenship for the Borneo territories. There is no local legislation on citizenship at present in either Sarawak or North Borneo—as there is in Singapore—and we believe that the recommendations that we make below will meet the more important of the points which have been made to us.
We recommend as follows:
For the purposes of such an application a person should be deemed to be of good character in the circumstances provided in Article 18 (4) of the Constitution of the Federation ​of Malaya, i.e., unless he has during the three preceding years been convicted of a criminal offence for which he has been sentenced to death or imprisonment for twelve months or more and in respect or which he has not received a free pardon.
Again, as with the previous category, we consider that the formalities for obtaining citizenship should be reduced to the minimum so that as few difficulties as possible are put in the way of people who have made their homes in the Borneo territories and who wish to remain in Malaysia as citizens. During the period of the application of these arrangements we recommend that the existing provision in Sarawak and North Borneo regarding a language test should apply. We also recommend that there should be a waiver for a limited period of the language test in respect of persons above a certain age.
We also recommend that such an applicant should take the citizenship oath in the term prescribed in the existing Constitution of the Federation of Malaya.
We further recommend that if a person obtains a certificate of citizenship under this arrangement it should be possible for him to app|y, at the same time that he obtains his own certificate, for the grant of a certificate of citizenship in respect of any of his minor children born before that date and ordinarily resident with him in Malaysia.