The transferred of Administering Power

Declassified documents (Malaysia) page 47

47 CO 1030/980 no. 324A 

27 June 1961

[The 'Grand Design']: despatch from Lord Selkirk to Mr Macleod reporting recent developments and urging a decision on policy

Correspondents:

Lord Selkirk

Selkirk, George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton (Lord Selkirk), (4 January 1906 – 24 November 1994) was a Scottish nobleman and Conservative politician. He was UK High Commissioner for Singapore and Commissioner General for South-East Asia from 1959–63, and UK Council Representative to Southeast Asia Treaty Organization from 1960-63.1. Selkirk, George Nigel Douglas-Hamilton (Lord Selldrk), (4 January 1906 – 24 November 1994) was a Scottish nobleman and Conservative politician. He was UK High Commissioner for Singapore and Commissioner General for South-East Asia from 1959–63, and UK Council Representative to Southeast Asia Treaty Organization from 1960-63.

Iain Norman MacLeod

Iain Norman Macleod (11 November 1913 – 20 July 1970), United Kingdom; born 1913 was a British Conservative Party politician and government minister. He became the Secretary of State for the Colonies in 1959-61. Here he presided over considerable decolonisation, seeing Nigeria, British Somaliland, Tanganyika, Sierra Leone, Kuwait and British Cameroon become independent, and in Kenya ending the state of emergency and freeing Kenyatta. His work in promoting decolonisation, though it enjoyed Macmillan's personal support, was resisted by the Conservative Right.


In 1945, under Chapter XII of the Charter, the United Nations established the International Trusteeship System for the supervision of Trust Territories placed under it by individual agreements with the States administering them.

The British Government is the Administering Power/Authority of the Borneo States, Sarawak and Sabah in 1946-1963. From the declassified documents as been seen above, in 1961, the British was under the impression that the Federation of Malaya recognise that the Borneo territories are in a very early stage of political and educational development but are prepared to take over the United Kingdom responsibility for administering them.

Here, the British Government admitted that their "final responsibility" towards the Borneo States was still an unfinished business especially in term of political and educational development (among other responsibilities) of the States concerned. This unfinished "final responsibility" was transferred to the Federation of Malaya on 16th September 1963 through United Nation Resolution 1541.

This declassified documents expose that the British know that they will need to transferred the responsibility as an Administering Power to the Federation of Malaya through the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. This mean, the Borneo States of Sarawak and Sabah is actually a Trust Territories within the International Trusteeship System based on United Nations Resolution 1541 which has a new Administering Power when the British Government transferred the responsibility on 16th September 1963 to the Federation of Malaya.

Thus, it was a well understood situation way back in 1961 before the formation of the Federation of Malaysia that the Federation of Malaysia will be created upon the foundation of International Trusteeship System, a decolonization process, where The British Government transferred their responsibility as Administering Power to the Federation of Malaya where the Borneo States of Sarawak and Sabah remain a Trust Territories with the new Administering Power.

What lots of people failed to grasp here is that, the Federation of Malaysia is a timeless decolonization process of the Borneo States, Sarawak and Sabah based upon the United Nation Resolution 1541.

*New information will be continue to be added in this article at a regular basis as per requirement.

Author: Zulfaqar bin Sa'adi. Information Chief of State Reform Party (STAR).