History of Malaysia

The articles History of Malaysia and Malaysia #History overlap thematically. Help me to better differentiate or merge the articles (→  instructions ) . To do this, take part in the relevant redundancy discussion . Please remove this module only after the redundancy has been completely processed and do not forget to include the relevant entry on the redundancy discussion page{{ Done | 1 = ~~~~}}to mark. Der-Wir-Ing ("DWI") 17:33, Jan. 9, 2019 (CET)

The history of Malaysia encompasses the history of what is now the state of Malaysia .

From the early days to 1500

Muslim Malay provinces in southern Thailand and once Siamese sultanates in northern Malaysia

Since 500, the Malacca Strait and its ports have grown in importance for Europe-India-China overseas trade. At the height of the Buddhist Srivijaya dynasty, around 800, Buddhism and Hinduism spread to the Malay Peninsula. In 1400 the first Malay kingdom of Malacca was established , which was still dependent on Siam (today: Thailand ). Arab, Persian and Indian traders introduced Islam to the Malay Peninsula in 1414 . Buddhism and Hinduism were largely pushed back.

European influence and colonial conquest

In 1511 Malacca was conquered by the Portuguese. These were expelled from Malacca in 1641 by the Dutch, who had formed an alliance with the Sultan of Johore . In 1786 the British acquired the island of Penang . In 1795 the British expelled the Dutch for good. Malaysia became a British colony and part of the Straits Settlements . In 1895 Perak , Selangor , Negri Sembilan and Pahang merged to form a federation, the Federated Malay States .

From the Japanese occupation to independence

Japanese troops in Kuala Lumpur

During World War II , Japanese troops invaded Malaysia and occupied it a few hours before the attack on Pearl Harbor . In 1945, Allied troops recaptured parts of Kalimantan from the Japanese army , while Malaya remained under Japanese rule until the end of the war.

In March 1946, Malay nationalism was organized in the Alliance, the successor organization of which is today's Barisan Nasional coalition . The Malaya Federation was founded on February 1, 1948. The All-Malaya Council of Joint Action was also founded .

A law restricting the trade unions provoked communist resistance in 1948. From 1949 to 1960, came to political, ethnic and economic unrest as well as local guerrilla activities of Darurat Malaya in the north of the country. Active women's suffrage was introduced in 1955 under the colonial administration .

On August 31, 1957, the Malaya Federation was finally granted independence (→ Hari Merdeka ; see also Decolonization # Asia ). The active and passive right to vote for women were now incorporated into the constitution on August 31, 1957.

Consolidation of the national territory

There were plans to expand the federation to include the British-ruled areas of Singapore , Sarawak , Brunei and Sabah , which the Cobbold Commission investigated. These were rejected by Brunei on December 7, 1962. When the Philippines made legal claims on Sabah on August 5, 1963, they turned against the planned confederation and filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice . On September 16, 1963, Indonesia also opposed the incorporation of the states of Sarawak and Sabah on the island of Borneo into the proposed federation, supported the Philippines in their claims and began the Konfrontasi . The Malaya Federation was expanded to include Sarawak and Sabah and Singapore. The new confederation was named the Federation of Malaysia . Brunei remained a British protectorate and became independent on January 1, 1984.

After no agreement could be reached on the distribution of state income and on adequate representation of the Chinese in the government, Singapore left the federation on August 9, 1965 and declared its independence. Indonesia ended the Konfrontasi in 1966.

Development since the 1960s

On May 13, 1969, ethnic conflicts between the dominant Malays and the Chinese minority rocked the capital Kuala Lumpur . The government declared a state of emergency.

On July 16, 1981, Mahathir bin Mohamad (* 1925) became Prime Minister. In February 1986, religious unrest between Muslims and Christians broke out again in Sabah state.

In 1990 Tunku Abdul Rahman (* 1903), the first prime minister and "father" of the Malaysian Federation, died. In 1992, the power of the sultans in the states led to a conflict with the government. The parliament decided on January 19, 1993 to abolish the privileges of the sultans. The severe economic and financial crisis in Asia in 1997 caused the Malaysian currency ringgit to fall .

On October 31, 2003, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became the new head of government.

Ten million eligible voters elected a new parliament on March 21, 2004. The ruling coalition Barisan Nasional by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi went as expected again emerged victorious. At the same time, state parliament elections were held in twelve states, in which the radical Islamic Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS for short) suffered a defeat and lost one of its two states.

On March 8, 2008, parliamentary elections again took place in Malaysia , in which the Barisan Nasional was again the strongest force, while the opposition parties joined forces in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition .

On April 3, 2009, Najib Razak took over the post of Prime Minister.

The strengthened opposition in Malaysia believed that there was a good chance that the parliamentary elections on May 5, 2013 would bring about a change of government for the first time in Malaysia's history; in the end, however, it did not succeed in breaking the absolute majority of the coalition government of Najib Razak, despite considerable votes.

Malaysia is characterized by population growth. This growth was 2.01% in 2000; since then it has fallen (2010: 1.61%; 2012: 1.54%). From 2000 (21,793,290) to 2012 (29,179,950) the population grew by 33.9 percent (7,386,660 people). The population density in 2012 was 88.47 inhabitants / square kilometer.

Web links

Commons : History of Malaysia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz, Christof Hartmann (eds.): South East Asia, East Asia and the South Pacific. (= Elections in Asia and the Pacific. A Data Handbook. Volume 2). Oxford University Press, New York 2002, ISBN 978-0-19-924959-6 , p. 146
2. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 179.
3. ^ Mart Martin: The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics. Westview Press Boulder, Colorado, 2000, p. 245.
4. ↑ spiegel.de May 5, 2013: Elections in Malaysia: Revolution in the Empire of the Sultans
5. ↑ data
6. ↑ data
7. ↑ data