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This article is taken from a book which use by civil servants for their exam. The content is exactly came as from the book, no alteration.
"The movement was taken up by the Straits Chinese and merchant community. The former, a predominantly Chinese group, was made up of the English-educated Chinese who played an important part in the administrative, commercial and professional sections of Penang society. This group wielded a good deal of power when Penang was a part of the Straits Settlements.
They were afraid that they would lose this position in a Federation which would be dominated by the Malay States. They wanted to return to their status as British subjects and were prepared to rejoin Singapore in a separate political set-up, directly under the British Government. The business community stressed that Penang had been a free port since 1826. This would be lost if the Settlement joined the Federation. Already export duties had been imposed on coprs, coconut oil and palm oil and their fears were that the list would grow and ultimately put an end to the free-port status. Opposition to the secessionist movement came from 2 sources : -
Government :
It was involved in a life and death struggle with the Communists and firstly did not have the time to worry about secessionist movement.
Secondly, the Government had just finished the political crisis which was connected with the Malayan Union in which it had lost a good deal of face. It did not want to get involved in another political struggle with the Malays. The Government knew that the help of the latter and cordial relations with them were most necessary to break the back of the communist movement. Thus from the beginning the Government looked upon the secessionist movement as more of a nuisance, whose problems could be solved once the Emergency was over.
The Malays
Almost all the Malays from Dato Onn bin Jaafar to man in the street were dead against any further vivisection of their homeland which was already very small. They were prepared to share the political, economic and social benefits of the country but not to dismember it. If there was no way out. the Malays demanded that Penang be returned to its original owner, Kedah.
Failure of the movement
The movement failed because it was not able to martial enough support from the population. This was illustrated when only 216 people turned up for the "most momentous(meeting) within living memory in Penang", which secessionist had organized. The final say was with the British Government which was determined to keep the Federation intact and not let it erode like the Malayan Union."
Many of us may not aware of this event especially those live in Penang. Share your feeling about this history through your comments.
Source : Peperiksaan Am Kerajaan(Buku Bahagian Satu) 1981 by Joginder Singh Jessy & Harcharan Singh Khera, Page 228 - 229
"The movement was taken up by the Straits Chinese and merchant community. The former, a predominantly Chinese group, was made up of the English-educated Chinese who played an important part in the administrative, commercial and professional sections of Penang society. This group wielded a good deal of power when Penang was a part of the Straits Settlements.
They were afraid that they would lose this position in a Federation which would be dominated by the Malay States. They wanted to return to their status as British subjects and were prepared to rejoin Singapore in a separate political set-up, directly under the British Government. The business community stressed that Penang had been a free port since 1826. This would be lost if the Settlement joined the Federation. Already export duties had been imposed on coprs, coconut oil and palm oil and their fears were that the list would grow and ultimately put an end to the free-port status. Opposition to the secessionist movement came from 2 sources : -
Government :
It was involved in a life and death struggle with the Communists and firstly did not have the time to worry about secessionist movement.
Secondly, the Government had just finished the political crisis which was connected with the Malayan Union in which it had lost a good deal of face. It did not want to get involved in another political struggle with the Malays. The Government knew that the help of the latter and cordial relations with them were most necessary to break the back of the communist movement. Thus from the beginning the Government looked upon the secessionist movement as more of a nuisance, whose problems could be solved once the Emergency was over.
The Malays
Almost all the Malays from Dato Onn bin Jaafar to man in the street were dead against any further vivisection of their homeland which was already very small. They were prepared to share the political, economic and social benefits of the country but not to dismember it. If there was no way out. the Malays demanded that Penang be returned to its original owner, Kedah.
Failure of the movement
The movement failed because it was not able to martial enough support from the population. This was illustrated when only 216 people turned up for the "most momentous(meeting) within living memory in Penang", which secessionist had organized. The final say was with the British Government which was determined to keep the Federation intact and not let it erode like the Malayan Union."
Many of us may not aware of this event especially those live in Penang. Share your feeling about this history through your comments.
Source : Peperiksaan Am Kerajaan(Buku Bahagian Satu) 1981 by Joginder Singh Jessy & Harcharan Singh Khera, Page 228 - 229
