The state of the federation

ONE of founding principles of our country is federalism. As observed by former Sarawak Attorney General Datuk JC Fong in his book ‘Constitutional Federalism in Malaysia’, the idea of federation in Malaysia could be traced to Negeri Sembilan, originally comprising nine states based around its unique adat, which governed its socio-political institutions.

Although its component units ( luak) had been in existence for centuries, populated by Minangkabau migration and developing its own institutions through intercourse (in both the literal and metaphorical sense) with the local people, it was only by 1773 that they came together under one ruler, Raja Melewar, who was invited from Pagar Ruyong to reign over a united Negeri Sembilan.

By 1896, Negeri Sembilan joined Selangor, Perak and Pahang to form the Federated Malay States. In 1948 (after the failure of the over- centralised Malayan Union), the Federation of Malaya Agreement was signed, bringing together these four states together with the Unfederated Malay States of Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Perlis and Johor and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Melaka. This Federation of Malaya comprising 11 states became independent in 1957. In 1963, the Federation of Malaya joined North Borneo ( Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore to create Malaysia.

In each of these instances when multiple units came together, it was agreed that a central, or federal, government would be formed and certain powers assigned to it. In 1773 Negeri Sembilan, this decentralisation of powers was managed by understandings of the perbilangan adat, or customary sayings. But in post-1963 Malaysia this decentralisation has been governed by Schedule Nine of the Federal Constitution.

However, in Malaysia, unlike the earlier entities, the federal government has in turn created territories to administer directly. This is common to other countries practising federalism, particularly for the capital city: the District of Columbia in the United States of America was originally carved out of Maryland and Virginia for Washington; the Australian Capital Territory was taken out of New South Wales to house Canberra; and the Nigerian capital Abuja sits in a Federal Capital Territory created from three states. Some federations, such as Russia, India and Pakistan have more than one territory directly administered by the central or federal government.

Malaysia’s first federal territory was created out of Selangor for Kuala Lumpur on Feb 1, 1974 (a move that has been characterised as politically motivated since its voters were inclined to the opposition), followed by Labuan from Sabah on April 16, 1984 and Putrajaya from Selangor on Feb 1, 2001. Marking Federal Territories Day this year, the Federal Territories Minister said in a radio interview that he wanted to ‘ take Langkawi as another Federal Territory, even Penang for that matter, and certain parts of Melaka as well’. ( Later he added Pulau Tioman to the list.) He said ‘with the involvement of the federal government, these places will get more funding, attention’. In later news reports it was suggested that there was a racial dimension to the proposal (‘to help the Malays’).

Whatever the intended rationale may have been, the response was furious, not just from political foes but also allies in the states mentioned. There was sarcasm from the Penang BN chairman, who said, “I suggest that he turn the whole of Malaysia into a federal territory so everyone in the whole country can get more funding.” The Kedah state government rejected the Langkawi proposal and furthermore suggested that they could take Penang back, presumably based on a certain reading of the 1786 agreement between the Sultan of Kedah and the British East India Company. ( That could set off a chain reaction of similar ambitions, such as Selangor wanting Lukut back from Negeri Sembilan, or Negeri Sembilan wanting Naning back from Melaka, or Melaka wanting swathes of Johor, Pahang and Terengganu based on 15th century frontiers.)

Of course lawyers got into the fray, pointing out the unconstitutionality of turning an entire state into a federal territory. But that response was a bit tepid. One basic principle of a federation is that the federal government receives its authority from the sovereignty of the states. To suggest that an entire state should be annexed is like turning a parent into its own child.

But perhaps all this is a bit academic. As far as the government is concerned, the National Security Council Bill is already in force. Passed without the approval of the sovereigns of the states in the Conference of Rulers, it enables the Prime Minister to declare any area of Malaysia, including an entire state, into a ‘security area’ in which vast special powers would apply for endlessly renewable periods of six months.

Such is the state of our federation.

Tunku Zain Al-Abidin founding president of Ideas. is