Ong Kee Hui's Memoirs

After graduation in 1936, Ong Kee Hui served the Rajah Brooke government as an agricultural officer. His service continued during the Japanese occupation and the British direct colonial rule over the colony imposed in 1945 and ended when he joined the bank owned by his father-in-law, Wee Kheng Chiang, one of the early and successful pioneers of the country. He went on to found the Sarawak People's Party (SUPP) and ended his political career as a cabinet member of the newly formed Malaysian Government after he and the SUPP tried in vain to stop the British plan of submerging the territory in the new Malaysia.

Ong Kee Hui together with Donald Stephens (Sabah) and Azahari (Brunei) were leaders of powerful awakening movements for self government that blossomed in those territories in sympathy with the rise of the anti-colonial movement elsewhere. Together they planned a federation of the three territories, joining the newly thought up Malaysian federation only after they had achieved independence; and with the entrenched right of secession. But that was not to be. The powerful British Malaya Petroleum (BMP), which also ran the secret services, had no intention of surrendering their grip on oil production and effectively killed the idea. Donald Stevens and Ong Kee Hui were left only with two territories to federate. The subject is carefully discussed by Poulgrain in his penetrating book Konfrontasi, which has the added advantage of a viewpoint enhanced by  interviews and a study of released British documents from the Kew Public Records Office. 

Ong Kee Hui's version of the history tells us that the announcement by Tengku Abdul Rahman on 27 May 1961 proposing to merge Malaya, Singapore and the three Borneo territories into a federation to be known as Malaya Raya had taken everyone by surprise. Indeed, as far back as May 1948, Malcolm Macdonald, the commissioner-general for south east Asia,  had mooted the idea of a federation of SEA territories.  But in 1958 this was abandoned in favour of a closer association between North Borneo and Sarawak because of the "unwillingness" of Brunei to join in. Poulgrain says that the truth was that BMP preferred  the rule of a single sultan under British protection rather than an administration under a popular government led by Azahari. (In 1956 the Brunei government's revenue was S$118 million of which the sultan received S$150,000 as a set allowance.) 

What prompted Tengku's surprise announcement? According to Ong Kee Hui the British had sought a merger between the anti-communist federation of Malaya and PAP-controlled Singapore but the  Tengku did not want to see the racial balance upset by the large Chinese population from Singapore, so he had thought that the addition of the Borneo territories would maintain the non-Chinese majority. The plan had the full support of the PAP as one of the upper most considerations was control of the left wing elements

The SUPP and the other parties opposed the plan because they preferred that any decision on North Borneo and Sarawak becoming part of a larger federation should not be made until both states were independent and directly responsible for their own destiny. If  there was going to be a tie up, an entirely new constitution must be drawn up. Donald Stevens was opposed to making Sarawak and the 13th state and North Borneo the 14th state of Malaya. This coincided with the views of the colonial administration which had in early 1961 stated that the three Borneo territories should be more closely associated as a next step in their political development. 

However it became clear to Ong Kee Hui that the official policy of the SUPP  was being increasingly ignored. British policy had changed.  The pressure against the Borneo leaders was stepped up.  Top Malayan civil servants seconded to Brunei resigned, a move which infuriated Azahari who regarded this as an attempt to cripple the administration. A gradual erosion was made of the united front accelerating with the defection of Donald Stephens, who acted contrary to the joint declaration issued by him, Azahari and Ong Kee Hui in July 1961 on the pre-condition of elections in the three territories. 

  Kee Hui and Donald Stephens

Ong Kee Hui says that the defection of Stephens was due to the influence of Lee Kuan Yew and  the deference he was shown at a Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference. This story is credible because we now learn that in 1961 Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee were extremely worried about their political future. In DO 169/18 to the Colonial Secretary No 263 dated 17.7.61 Lord  Selkirk reported " Moore and I dined last night with Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Keng Swee and had a long discussion reviewing the immediate political situation. I found them pretty broken men, extremely jumpy and uncertain of their political future. Although the victory of Marshall at Anson was not as overwhelming as we had feared, it is probably sufficient for Lim Chin Siong's purposes when combined with the defection of the eight Assemblymen. Lee now considers that half of his constituency branches must be regarded as lost or shaky and he can only rely on 23 certain votes in the Assembly..." 

It was in the thoughts of all these men that achieving Malaysia would be "a big blow to the Communists" (CO 1030/998 page 177 28 April 1962 Letter from Lord Selkirk to the Colonial Secretary).  But Lord Selkirk warned that nothing be done to create the impression of repression  because  "the Singapore Special Branch have virtually failed to identify directly any communists during the last three years.   Evidence on which to base repressive action is therefore almost totally lacking."

Having chosen Lee Kuan Yew instead of Lim Chin Siong, the British went ahead with the Malaysia idea. They resorted to the well known eyewash of a commission of inquiry. An unknown, Lord Cobbold, was appointed to inquire into the views of the natives. In Sarawak, peaceful demonstrations to show popular opposition to the  plan were forbidden. A signature campaign which collected 112,000 signatures which was rejected "out of hand". The Cobbold Commission duly reported popular support for the new Federation

History illiterates, such as the Borneo bashing DAP, would profit much by a reading Ong Kee Hui's memoirs and Ong Kee Hui's last despairing proposals when he was faced with a fait accompli. This was at the second meeting of the MSCC (Malaysian Solidarity Consultative Committee) held in December 1961when he asked the following six questions which he thought had generated "positive responses from the representatives of the Malayan Government." They were

1 Weighted representation in the Federation Parliament to enable to the voice of the North Borneo states to be heard

2  Absolute control of immigration into the Borneo states to avoid an influx of migrants from the peninsula.

3  Reservation as far as possible of all civil service posts in the Borneo states for residents of those states

4  A need to amend the Malayan constitution to accommodate the Malaysia concept and the interests of the Borneo states

5 A need for increased local controlled development in the Borneo states undertaken and guaranteed by the Federal government

6  A guarantee of constitutional safeguards covering special rights for the Borneo states

Poulgrain has chilling words to write on the fate of small nations:  "Sarawak was well on the way to independence only to be sabotaged by the formation of Malaysia - a master stroke of British decolonisation." 

Tan Sri Ong was to have written a second volume but he died after he had completed the first volume
 

Footprints in Sarawak
Memoirs of Tan Sri Datuk (Dr) Ong Kee Hui
1914 to 1963 Volume 1
1998 Research & Resource Centre
SUPP Headquarters
Kuching
Sarawak