Malaysia and RI could have been one state

Malaysia and RI could have been one state

JAKARTA (JP): The fraternal affection shared by the Indonesian
and Malaysian people at one point in history very nearly resulted
in mutual statehood.

Two social scientists at an international conference titled
"50 Years of National Revolution: Examination, Remembrance and
Reflection" noted yesterday that some of Indonesia's founding
fathers included the Malaysian peninsula as part of Indonesia's
territory.

"During certain periods between the First and Second World
Wars, the feeling of solidarity and camaraderie (between the two
peoples) envisioned the possibility of the Indonesian and
Malaysian territory now as one state or an integrated single
political unit," said Malaysian academic Firdaus Hj. Abdullah.

As one of the speakers at the opening day of the three-day
conference, Firdaus explained the strong feeling of mutual stock,
or serumpun, that Malaysians share with Indonesia.

The feeling was forged by various ethnic, language and
religious similarities and further reinforced by a political
commonality of breaking free from the colonial bondage which both
nations endured -- the British ruling Malaysia and the Dutch in
Indonesia.

Common struggle

"The fight against the British and Dutch colonial powers in
both territories was regarded as a common struggle for the
independence of the same country which would be called Indonesia
Raya or Melayu Raya," said the professor from the University of
Malaya in Kuala Lumpur.

Firdaus added: "Between the early 1930s and the end of the
1940s the term Greater Indonesia was understood and acknowledged
as having the same meaning as Greater Melayu."

Apparently a similar perception also prevailed among several
of Indonesia's founding fathers.

Independence figures like Muhammad Yamin, Tan Malaka and
Indonesia's first president Sukarno were among those susceptible
to the idea.

Aiko Kurasawa-Inomata, a professor at Nagoya University in
Japan, pointed out that the Committee for the Investigation of
Indonesian Independence (BPUPKI) actually voted to include
Malaysia, then called Malaya, as part of Indonesia.

During their occupation of Indonesia in World War II, the
Japanese formed the BPUPKI as a means of satisfying the
independence demands of Indonesian nationalists.

Created in May 1945, the BPUPKI was comprised of 63
Indonesians and seven non-voting Japanese. It was established to
set up the rudiments of the Indonesian state including the basic
form of the country and the territorial map.

Kurasawa explained that the BPUPKI drew up three territorial
definitions: the first comprised of just the former Dutch East
Indies -- Indonesia's colonial name; the second incorporated the
Dutch East Indies and Malaya but not Irian Jaya; the third option
included all the above and Irian Jaya plus North Borneo, East
Timor and the adjacent islands.

Vote

According to Kurasawa, during the vote, 39 Indonesian BPUPKI
members voted for the third option with Muhammad Yamin being the
main advocator.

"Looking at the record of discussions carefully, many of the
members who were for inclusion of Malaya accepted it on the
condition that 'if Malayan people want it, we won't refuse'," she
said.

Both she and Firdaus noted that three Malaysian leaders were
sent to Jakarta to attend the BPUPKI meeting to express the
Malayan desire to be included in the soon to be formed Indonesian
state.

Firdaus explained that the three Malayans were sent as
representatives of an organization called the Kesatuan Rakyat
Indonesia Semenanjung (KRIS).

"KRIS sent three youths to meet Sukarno in Jakarta in order to
make sure that Malaya was included in that territory," Firdaus
said.

However by some quirk of history these aspirations never came
to fruition because the BPUPKI vote was overturned by the
Japanese high command.

In a meeting with Japanese commander Marshal Terauchi in
Vietnam on Aug. 11, 1945, Sukarno was told that the Indonesian
state would comply with option number one.

As Kurasawa described: "The territory of independent Indonesia
was clearly defined as the entire former East Indies which, until
then, was not sure." (mds)