Malayan Union

The Malayan Union was a confederation of the Malay states and the Straits
Settlements excluding Singapore, which was placed as a crown colony under direct
British rule. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to simplify the
administration of British colonies in the Malay Peninsula. It was formed on April 1,
1946 by the British.

Few of the key details of the Union were:

• Malayan citizenship that would give equal rights to all would be citizens
regardless of race
• citizenship based on the jus soli principle
• the transformation of the title Sultan to President.

In a way, the Sultans, the traditional rulers of the Malay states, would concede all their
powers to the British Crown except in the matters of culture and religion. The Union
would be ultimately placed under the rule of a British Governor.

The idea of the Union was first expressed by the British on October 1945 in the aftermath
of the Second World War by the British Military Administration. Sir Harold
MacMichael was assigned the task of gathering the Malay state rulers' approval for the
Malayan Union in the same month. In a short period of time, he managed to obtain all the
Rulers’ signatures through intimidation.

On April 1, 1946, the Malayan Union officially came into existence with Sir Edward
Gent as its first governor. The capital of the Union was Kuala Lumpur.

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Dissolution and Malayan Federation

The Malays opposed the creation of the Union. The opposition was mainly due to the
way Sir Harold MacMichael acquired the Sultans’ signatures, the erosion of the Sultans’
powers and the offering of citizenship to recent immigrants mainly the ethnic Chinese
because their economic dominance was seen as a threat to the economic development of
the Malays. The United Malays National Organization, or UMNO, a Malay political
association formed by Dato’ Onn Jaafar on March 1, 1946, led the opposition against
the Malayan Union.

In the end, due to tremendous internal pressure inside the Malayan Union, the British
finally conceded to the local opposition. The Malayan Union ceased to exist on January
31, 1948. It was replaced by the Federation of Malaya (Persekutuan Tanah Melayu in
Malay) which recognised the position of the Malays as the definitive people of Malaya as
well as outlining stricter conditions on the granting of citizenship.

The Federation of Malaya would later become part of the Federation of Malaysia in
1963.

Flag
During the duration of the Union, the flag of the Federated Malay States were used as the
de facto national flag. The flag however was not used as the official flag of the Union.

Member states
Eleven states made up the Union. The states were:

• Perlis (Unfederated Malay States; UMS)

• Kedah (UMS)
• Penang (Straits Settlements)
• Perak (Federated Malay States; FMS)
• Selangor (FMS)
• Negeri Sembilan (FMS)
• Malacca (Straits Settlements)
• Johor (UMS)
• Pahang (FMS)
• Terengganu (UMS)
• Kelantan (UMS)