Page:Report of the Commission of Enquiry North Borneo & Sarawak.pdf/48

 Federation of Malaya and drawing up an entirely new Federal Constitution are such as to make this proposal impraticable. We have examined the Federation of Malaya Constitution and have concluded that it could be taken as a basis for the purpose of the creation of Malaysia. With the necessary amendments to the Constitution, we envisage the entry of the two Borneo territories as States within the Federation With their admission, the Federation of Malaya would cease to exist as a political entity, and would be succeeded by the Federation of Malaysia. There would continue to be a strong Central Government, with the states enjoying a measure of autonomy and retaining their individual identity. In view of the special circumstances which apply to the Borneo territories, autonomy and safeguards should be given in certain matters which are not enjoyed by the other states. We are anxious in this connexion that some form or guarantee should be provided whereby no amendment, modiﬁcation or withdrawal of whatever special powers of safeguards may be given can be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State concerned. We feel strongly that appropriate provisions should be made in the Constitution to ensure that the special safeguards for the interests of Sarawak and North Borneo, as territories in the new Federation, are maintained. We would, at the same time, wish to reiterate the principle that the power of amending the Constitution of each State belongs exclusively to the people in the State.

We therefore recommend that the existing Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should be taken as the basis of the Constitution of the new Federation with such amendments and safeguards as may be necessary. We also recommend that no amendment, modiﬁcation or withdrawal or any special safeguard granted should be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State concerned.

(c) Head of the Federation

We encountered strong feelings among some communities that the Heads of Sarawak and North Borneo States should be eligible for appointment as Head of the Federation, Whilst we sympathise with this feeling we see no way of meeting it without undue disturbance to the existing arrangements in Malaya. we therefore limit ourselves to recording the point.

(d) Name of the Federation

We encountered some opposition to the name "Malaysia", particularly from a number of non-Muslim elements of the population in Sarawak. This opposition stems from the same cause as the anxieties about Religion, Language and the Head of Federation, with which we deal elsewhere in this Section. They all reflect the fears held by the non-Malays and non-Muslims that the effect of Malaysia will be to put them in a position inferior to that of the Malays and Muslims. We cannot see, however, that any other name would be appropriate in view of the geographical historical relevance or the name of Malaysia and its