Cobbold Commission

Members

Members of the Commission were:

• Lord Cobbold, former Governor of the Bank of England, chairman of the Commission
• Wong Pow Nee, Chief Minister of Penang,
• Ghazali Shafie, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Anthony Abell, former Governor of Sarawak
• David Watherston, former Chief Secretary Of Malaya.

Report

The Commission released its findings, report and recommendations on 1 August 1962. It concluded that the formation of Malaysia should be implemented. However, Lord Cobbold also stressed that all parties enter the federation as equal partners. Lord Cobbold had secretly, without disclosing in the report, written to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 21 June 1962: "I have supported Malaysia in the report on the assumption that Singapore also joins in ... if Singapore were to drop out, a federation between Malaya and the Borneo territories without Singapore would have few attractions.

Cobbold Commission opined that compared to other options such as the continuation of British rule, early independence of the respective Borneo states or the creation of a federation of the Borneo states themselves, the Malaysia project offers the best option when the special positions are given to the Borneo states due to their different racial compositions, a great distance from the Malaya, and their political immaturity when compared to Malaya and Singapore. Abell and Watherston also opined that the formation of Malaysia would stifle the Communist takeover of Singapore, which in case of a Communist takeover, would likely have Domino effect on Sarawak and North Borneo.{{Cite wikisource

Cobbold Commission also agreed that both Sarawak and North Borneo should keep their identity when entering the federation. This can be achieved by maintaining a high level of autonomy in local administration and allocating a certain quota of seats in the Malaysian parliament by taking into account the population and sizes of the Borneo states.

Lord Cobbold summarised the Commission's findings as follows:

Other recommendations of the Cobbold Commission Report include:

Head of federation

Cobbold Commission made no recommendation on whether the heads of state of Sabah and Sarawak are eligible to be elected as the heads of the Federation.{{Cite wikisource

Name of the Federation

The name of the Federation is "Malaysia".

Religion

Cobbold Commission agreed that Islam should be the religion of the federation but would not jeopardise the freedom of other religions in the country, "which in effect would be secular".

Language

Cobbold Commission agreed on the unrestricted use of Malay, English and other indigenous languages in the respective Borneo state assemblies for 10 years after the formation of Malaysia, until the federal government, with the consultation of the respective Borneo state governments, that only the national language (Malay) can be used.

Immigration

Cobbold Commission recommended that entry of people outside of the country should rest with the federal government, while the Borneo states control the entry of people from other states in Malaysia. People employed by the state government should have unrestricted entry to Peninsular Malaysia, guaranteed by the federal government. Meanwhile, there should be unrestricted entry of people employed by the federal government into Borneo states, guaranteed by the state government. There should be unrestricted entry of people from Borneo states into Peninsular Malaysia. Visitor's permit of 3 months is allowed for those from Peninsular Malaysia to enter the Borneo states.

Right to secede

Cobbold Commission did not recommend a clause on secession in the federal constitution because it may cause political and racial divisions in the country.

References

References

1. (26 September 2013). "Malaysia and the non-fulfilment of two agreements with Sabah and Sarawak - Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah". The Malaysian Insider.
2. (28 September 2013). "Call to raise it in p'ment". Daily Express.
3. (July 1963). "No.10760: Agreement relating to Malaysia". United Nations Treaty Collection.
4. (2004). "British documents on the end of empire - Series B Volume 8". The Stationery Office (TSO) for Institute of the Commonwealth Studies - University of London.