Remembrance our roots on Malaysia Day

Today is 16th September and it the first time it's was officially been approved as public holiday. Today is the day when Malaya was joined by Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak to form a new country called Malaysia. Some of us the young generation of Sarawakian nowadays we just know our history from the text book we read during our schooling days. I just wrote this post as i read few info after googling in the internet. So if my info are wrong, please let me know. 

Our current state flag which was introduced on 31st August 1988 and been used ever since.

From the history, during the Brunei Sultanate in the 16th century, Sarawak was divided into districts governed by Pangerans which is representatives of the Sultan. There was some dissatisfaction with the tax system and administration resulted in an insurgency in the 17th century from the people of Sarawak that time. As for the thing were out of control, the Sultan of Brunei had to enlist the help of Pangeran Muda Hashim who in turn sought the assistance of James Brooke.

This flag was use during James Brooke Era

James Brooke’s does not fail the sultan wish and he success in thwarting the insurgency. later he was appointed as the Governor of Sarawak on 24 September 1841. He then became the Sarawak’s first “White Rajah” from 1846 to 1868 when Sarawak gained independence from Brunei. A British-style administration was introduced and local chieftains were appointed as his advisers.

Charles Brooke, who succeeded James Brooke in 1868 divided Sarawak into five divisions. Sarawak came under British rule and a British adviser was appointed in 1888.

In 1917, Charles Vyner Brooke succeeded Charles Brooke. The implementation of a written constitution drawn up in 1941 was precluded by the Japanese invasion in the same year.

With the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, Sarawak was placed under the British Military Administration till 1946 when it became a British Crown Colony. Sir Charles Arden was appointed as the first British Governor.

 Our state flag during British Crown Colony

The formation of the Federation of Malaysia comprising the Malay Federated States, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei was proposed in 1961. Initially, this was met with resistance from the political leaders of Sarawak. Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-haj led missions to Sabah and Sarawak to detail the proposal and assure the leaders as well as the people. The leaders of Sarawak were also invited to join the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Singapore. Subsequent to this, The Cobbold Commission was set up to seek the views of the people regarding the proposal.

The Sarawak New Flag Also known as Trisakti which adapted from Brunei Rebellion flag after entering Malaysia which was used from 1973-1988. 

The findings revealed that 70% favoured the formation of Malaysia. This prompted Britain to announce the formation of Malaysia on 31 Aug 1963 in spite of strong opposition from Indonesia and the Philippines. Due to the opposition, another inquiry was commissioned. The second inquiry also reported that the people generally favoured the formation of Malaysia. This led to the official declaration of the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Sarawak has been a part of Malaysia ever since. Happy Malaysia Day to all Malaysian.

There is a very detailed posting our Sarawak flags available in the internet and it's well written, you may go to Kuching Berjanggut post, Sarawakiana post and Flagpost.