Jose Eduardo S.

Llanes POS 139 Section A Midterm Exam January 10, 13 Maphilindo: A Case Study In 1961, the Association of Southeast Asia (ASA), the first locally made regional organization was established. This association included the territory of Malaya, nations of Indonesia and the Philippines. In 1963, the ASA became very problematic due to the disputes of the three over the formation of Malaysia. These disputes led to the Manila Summit in 1963, which led to the creation of a new group called the Maphilindo, (Malay, Philippines and Indonesia). First, we must understand the events happened prior to the creation of Maphilindo. On the 27th of May 1961, Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman announced his intention to form Malaysia. According to Tunku, Malaya today as a nation realizes that she cannot stand alone in isolation. ...Sooner or later she should have an understanding with Britain and the peoples of the territories of Singapore, North Borneo [Sabah], Brunei and Sarawak. Singapore at this time had a communist majority. The complication erupted among neighboring states fearing that the Communist influence would surge when the regional map has been redrawn. Indonesia was the forefront challenger. Mohammed Hatta, the Vice-President of Indonesia held a discussion in Singapore with Malcolm MacDonald, the British Commissioner-General in Southeast Asia. Hatta argued that combining the 5 British colonies would increase Communism and would be dangerous to the Indonesians. But behind that, Hatta just did not want a creation of a pro-British country adjacent to Indonesia. Hatta insisted that the North Borneo territories, Malaya and Singapore should be each granted independence. This tension continued until the 1960s and into the Maphilindo. (Shimada) Second, on the 24th of April 1962, the Philippine House of Representatives unanimously approved the bill claiming Sabah as their own. The very next day, the British Ambassador in Manila handed a formal diplomatic note to the Philippine government stating that this claim would create more disputes and retard healthy development of politics in the region and could create claims from other nations resulting in regional disturbances. Despite the British warning, Diosdado Macapagal sealed the bill on June 22, 1962 and formally and legally claimed Sabah. This claim was the pinnacle of the Macapagal foreign policy as it criticized the former administration for the lack of initiatives to create an Asian identity away from the colonial identity. The claim over Sabah by the Philippines sparked outrage in the Malay territories and Indonesia. Tensions escalated further when A.M. Azhari bin Sheikh Mahmud directed the Brunei rebellion.. Azhari directed the North Borneo National Army to rebel against its incorporation into Malaysia and declared itself the independent Unitary State of North Borneo. Rebellions began occurring all throughout Brunei and in the regions of Sarawak. The British forces immediately suppressed these rebellions. Within a couple of days, an Indonesian political party, Partindo, sent a supportive message to the Brunei Party, Rakyat, which supported these rebellions. The Indonesian President Sukarno did not provide or revoke the supportive message, rather, in his speech at a State banquet, he referred to the Brunei rebellion as a, ...movement [that] will change the world and make the people live in happiness. This

heightened the verbal war between Indonesia and Malaya. Macapagal tried to ease the tension between Indonesia and Malaya by opening the possibility of holding a tripartite conference. Tensions then started to decrease as the Malaya Prime Minister came to Manila in March 1963 to attend the meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE). The two nations talked about common interests and left territorial issues between the Philippines and the British. On the other hand, Malaya did not attempt to ease tension with Indonesia. (Shimada) On March 11, 1963, President Macapagal announced that the Philippines would organize the tripartite exploratory conference and the proposal was approved by both Indonesia and Malaysia. Tensions continued to increase when Indonesia and Malaya both ignored each other despite official statements of friendship. More talks and conferences were held in a span of a couple of months in Tokyo and in Manila. The period between April and August 1963 was characterized by formulas to ease tensions between Malay and Indonesia. The desire to settle dispute was most noticeable during the Tokyo talks and the Manila Summit. The Manila Summit produced the Manila Accord which then led to Macapagals proposal to establish a regional cooperation organization, Maphilindo. Maphilindo had two aspects. First it was a prototype for a regional cooperation organization, facilitating communication, and shelving problems arising between the three countries concern. Second, it was a form of short-lived diplomatic machinery. The Maphilindo focused on frequent consultations and directed towards lasting peace, progress and prosperity for themselves and for their neighbors. (The Manila Accord, pp.140-142) Unfortunately, the Maphilindo collapsed after a few months due to Malayas declaration for the establishment of Malaysia. No consultations with Indonesia or the Philippines were made which angered both nations. Maphilindo paved the way for the creation of the ASEAN or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1967. The concept of regional primary responsibility, which was apparent during the Manila agreements, was brought into the ASEAN declaration, the foundational document of the ASEAN. Macapagals Maphilindo indeed increase the regional ties and connection between the nations, apparent in the creation of the ASEAN.

References Colvert, Evelyn, Southeast Asia in International Politics, 1941-1956 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1977). Corpuz, Onofre D., Realities of Philippine Foreign Policy, in Frank H. Golay (ed.), The United States and the Philippines (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966), pp. 50-66. Relations (Quezon City: NSDB-UP Integrated Research Program, 1977). Fifield, Russell H., The Diplomacy of Southeast Asia: 1945-1958 (New York: Harper and December 1993), pp. 75-85. Funston, John, ASEAN: Out of Its Depth?, Contemporary Southeast Asia, 20/1 (April Haacke, Jurgen, ASEANs Diplomatic and Security Culture: Origins, Development and Prospects (London and New York: Routledge Curzon, 2003). Hau, Caroline S., Rethinking History and Nation-Building in the Philippines, in Wang Gungwu (ed.), Nation-Building: Five Southeast Asian Histories (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005), pp. 39-67. Noble, Lela Garner, Philippine Policy toward Sabah: A Claim to Independence (Tucson, AZ: The University of Arizona Press, 1977). Pluvier, Jan, South-East Asia from Colonialism to Independence (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1974). Pollard, Vincent K., ASA and ASEAN, 1961-1967: Southeast Asian Regionalism, Asian Survey, 10/3 (March 1970), pp. 244-255. Polomka, Peter, Indonesia Since Sukarno (Ringwood, Vic: Penguin Books Australia, 1971). Poulgrain, Greg, The Genesis of Konfrontasi: Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia, 1945-1965 Shimada, Kazuhida, Working Together for Peace and Prosperity of Southeast Asia,! <http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/> University of Adelaide, January 2010. Sudarsono, Yuwono, Problems of Internal Stability in the ASEAN Countries, in Hedley Bull (ed.), Asia and the Western Pacific: Towards a New International Order (West Melbourne, VIC: Thomas Nelson, 1975), pp. 77-86. Yahuda, Michael, The International Politics of the Asia-Pacific (2nd and revised edn., Oxford: Routledge Curzon, 2004). Yamakage, Susumu, ASEAN: Shinboru kara Shisutemu he [ASEAN: From Symbol to System] (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Syuppan [University of Tokyo Press], 1991).

*All speeches and documents used are from the Diosdado Macapagal Library and Museum, San Nicholas II, Lubao, Pampanga