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)