Major events of
this period
The Straits Times, Sept 15, 1963"It is my conclusion that the majority of the people of the two territories wish to engage, with the people of Federation of Malaya and Singapore, in an enlarged Federation of Malaysia -- U Thant, U.N. Secretary-General Principal findings of the Malaysia mission
- Both Sarawak and North Borneo have reached a state of self government that would enable their people to make a responsible choice of their future.
- Their decision to join Malaysia was the result of the freely expressed wishes of their people
- The "great majority of the people of North Borneo have strongly supported the Malaysia proposals from the time of the elections to the present.
- An analysis of Sarawak election returns showed 634,208 or 61% , in favour of Malaysia; 48,983 or 22.2% opposed, and 37,136 or 16.8%, neutral.
- Of the 183,191 Sarawak citizens who took a definite stand on Malaysia, 73.3% were in favour and 26.7% opposed.
- Sarawak's elected representatives stood in favour of Malaysia, 284 to 123, or 66.2% to 28.7%. The other 22, or 5.1% could not be classified in either group
- In North Borneo, doubts and reservations appeared to be limited to groups, largely in the interior, and may be attributed to "satisfaction with the status quo, lack of information or lack of clear understanding of the proposal or suspicion of unfamiliar ideas."
- Popular support for Malaysia in North Borneo has increased since the elections.
- Questioning of Sarawak's non-political groups, including commercial, trade union, ethnic, religious and social organisations, showed that the Malaysia question was widely discussed among the people and that the majority favoured the merger.
- Malaysia was a major issue in the recent elections in both territories and the "vast majority" of the electorate understood the proposal to join Malaysia
- Electoral registers were in good order "even by standards of countries with larger experience with the procedures and technical problems of voters' registration."
- The elections were freely and impartially conducted with active and vigorous campaigning by groups advocating divergent courses of action.
- In North Borneo, almost no complaints of election irregularities were heard.
- In Sarawak, there were complaints of coercion and unfair election practices, but the mission was satisfied that nothing occurred that could have reversed the election result.
- Votes were properly polled and counted.
- An estimated 800 persons in Sarawak fled to Indonesia but this number was insufficient to affect the election outcome.
- The number of persons detained in Sarawak under the Security Regulations was 62 at the end of May and 103 at the end of June. Of these, 75 to 80% were of voting age (21) and all opposed the Malaysia plan but the number involved was not sufficient to have affected the total result.
- The actions of Sarawak's Council Negri or legislative body, in welcoming the establishment of Malaysia "may be regarded as the expression of the wish of the people through the established legislative institutions.
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