• ARTICLE
MALAYA,
MALAYSIA
IN ‘THE
ECONOMIST’
By Datuk Dr A Murad Merican
On Sept 21, 1963, the London-based
weekly The Economist heralded the
birth of “…the brave new state, born
on Monday”. The periodical had
anticipated that “the most serious threat
to Malaysia will, of course, come from
within — from internal jealousies, racial
suspicions and mistrust, and from
“political and economic tension”. If
there is any consolation, the writer of
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PERDANA MAGAZINE 2017
“Malaysia: Brave New State” concluded
that all federations were a gamble and
Malaysia was no exception.
The article further argued that
“Singapore would otherwise have
succumbed to communism, and that
the Borneo territories could not have
survived independently and separately,
still seems valid to east Asia”. The
Economist was largely favourable in
their coverage of events leading to
independent Malaya and towards the
formation of Malaysia.
It has been said that the journalist is a
contemporary historian. On Aug 31,
1957, an article in the periodical began
as such: “Malaya’s sovereignty is thus
a milestone both on its own road and