Page:Report of the Commission of Enquiry North Borneo & Sarawak.pdf/70

 in the position analogous to the Malays in the Federation of Malaya. This demand springs from their feeling that they should be able to enjoy the concommitant privileges and opportunities which the Federal Constitution affords to the Malays, and that any treatment of them different from the Malays would be anomalous.

The great majority were emphatic that this position should be written into the Constitution. The Chinese, with equal unanimity, have opposed the suggestion that this privileged position should be written into the Constitution, though the great majority have agreed that in practice the native races should be given, at least for a period of years until they reach a more competitive level, the favoured treatment which they have in fact enjoyed under the colonial governments.

We have found this an exacting problem. We have given the matter our serious attention and we are agreed that the native races in the Borneo territories cannot be placed in a position any other than analogous to that of the Malays in the Constitution of the Federation of Malaya as both are generally regarded as the native groups in their respective countries. On this basis, it would be inconsistent and anomalous that the special position of the native races in Borneo should not likewise be written into the Constitution or once written that it should be subject to review separately from any review of the position of the Malays as a whole. This provision does not imply, of course, that the constitutional definition of a Malay in the present Malayan Constitution should apply to the native races of the Borneo territories.

We recognise that the subject would be more complicated in a new Federation than in the existing Federation of Malaya. In the new Federation it would not only be necessary to consider relations between the natives and the non-natives but also to hold a balance between the different native races in the Borneo territories, and at the same time between the native races as a whole in the Borneo territories and the Malays in Malaya.

This special position of the native races, more particularly as it relates to special treatment in the matter of permits and licences in trade and business, would need very careful handling. We recommend that an Advisory Board, including representatives of the principal races, should be appointed in each territory, to advise on its interpretation and administration.

We recommend that the provisions should apply to those citizens who are regarded as natives within the meaning of the Interpretation (Definition or Native) Ordinance of North Borneo (see Appendix D), and in the case of Sarawak those citizens who are regarded as natives within the meaning of section 3 of the Interpretation Ordinance, 1953 (see Appendix D.) We recommend for consideration that the Ordinance in the two territories should be reviewed with the object of bringing them into line for this purpose and we suggest that it might be advantageous to widen slightly the application so as to include certain other categories.