A political philosopher has
affirmed that in a population of mixed
communities if the Government assigns no privilege to any one of them
and chooses its instruments indifferently from all; in the course of a
few generations, identity of situation often produces harmony of
feeling and the different races come to feel towards each other as
fellow countrymen; particularly if they are dispersed over the same
tract of country.
So Malaya can become one country and one nation if the right principles
and policy are followed, and the three principles by which we stand may
be condensed in the motto ‘Unity, Liberty and Equality.'
In concrete form the three fundamental principles resolve themselves
into, firstly
(a) a United Front of Malayan peoples based on inter-communal concord
and joint action; and
(b) the political unification of the whole of Malaya, inclusive of
Singapore, as a unitary state in all essential respects under one
central government;
secondly, a measure of self-government, providing for
(a) a Central Legislature of a United Malaya with substantial elected
unofficial majority; and
(b) the exercise of the executive power by a Ministry responsible to
the Legislature and all matters of internal and civil administration;
and thirdly, the equality of status and rights for all those who regard
Malaya as their real homeland and the object of their single-minded
devotion and loyalty.
Responsibility to the governed is the greatest of all securities for
good Government.
Malayans of all races! Unite to achieve "Merdeka" or freedom – for only
in unity lies our salvation.
from The Malaya Tribune, 16
Dicember 1946
Research by Fahmi Reza
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