The Adjustment Of British Decolonization Policy And The Economic,Social And Geopolitical Changes In Sarawak&North Borneo(1957-1961)

From the end of 1950 s to the beginning of 1960 s,a dominant trend of the British colonial policy making in Southeast Asia island region was to combine the originally dispersed colonies and entities together in order to maximize the imperial interests,the “Greater Malaysia” initiative is exactly the outcome of this arrangement.But in fact,before this initiative,the British government has been advocating the implementation of "North Borneo Federation" in the first place,and then discuss the further combination among different territories.However,the British government abandoned the “North Borneo Federation” scheme and turned to support the “Greater Malaysia” Initiative within a quite short time.The reasons why British government changed its attitude are as follows: Firstly,the export-oriented economic structure and the important role of Sarawak and North Borneo playing in regional and global commodity network allocation and trade supply chain made it difficult to allow the merger among the three territories and the possible loss of economic interests;Secondly,the unique population and ethnic structure,as well as the development of left-wing movements in Sarawak and North Borneo prompted British government to isolate rather than combine these three colonies;Thirdly,the geopolitical implications of these two colonies are closely related to the national security of Malaya and the defence interests of Commonwealth countries in SEA and even in the Asia-Pacific.Therefore,it can be found that although the "Greater Malaysia" initiative was put forward during the Cold War,Britain made colonial policies not only considering the ideological factor,but also taking multiple factors into account for imperial interests,such as economic development,social revolution and geopolitical implication.In brief,the decolonization does not absolutely belong to Cold War.