What if the Konfrontasi resulted in a unified Indonesian/Melayu Raya?

[Azoresh]

The idea of a unified Malaysia/Indonesia originated in the colonial era, with the idea being proposed with the intent of unifying the "Malay" race, constituted of the Dutch East Indies and British Malaysia. Popular among educated pribumi, it was given credit via reference to the historical concept of Alam Melayu, which dictated that the two nations had been unified prior in native kingdoms such as the Srivijaya.

In 1928, Indonesian nationalists declared the youth pledge which they perceived to bind Malaysia and Indonesia together, however following this due to WW2 the idea was temporarily abandoned.

However, even under Japanese rule, Sukarno, Hatta and Yacoob allegedly discussed unifying their singular motherland.

Regardless, the idea never reached fruition. In the 1950s, Britain formed the Federation of Malaysia which immensely angered the Indonesian government, who declared the new Malaysian Federation little more than a British puppet, and antagonistic towards the concept of Indonesian dominance in SEA. This resulted in Konfrontasi, an unofficial war between Britain, Malaysia and Indonesia, which in turn ended with Indonesia recognising Malaysian independence. How would history be different if Indonesia had won the unofficial war?

 

[Seandineen]

Sukarno would have had resistance that makes Vietnam look like Canada. The Tunku, razak senior and lee kew all fighting look out.

 

[inawarminister]

if, if, if Sukarno's PNI didn't riot in Eastern Sumatra (Malay homeland*) seaboard against the "collaborating" sultans, Malaysia won't have any issue joining Indonesia. Put every monarchies as provinces ala Yogyakarta and there won't be any issue. Javanese and Malay identity will synthetise like it is now in modern Indonesia.

Chinese issue would be a pretty big question though. But there is no way Jakarta would allow Singapura to be independent. And a power that controls both side of the straits can just blockade SG if it wants to do anything rash.

*

The distinction between the Malays and the Other Malaysians is not very great and is, indeed, ignored in the compilation of Malayan vital statistics; for the Malays themselves are, to a large extent, descended from the Malays of the east Coast of Sumatra from whom they…are ethnographically indistinguishable. For that matter, on the occasion of the 1921 census when the classification employed was based on ethnographical rather than social consideration, all Sumatran Malays exception the Achinese, Korinchi, and Mendeling were actually included with the Malays proper in the specific race tables; while through the remainder of the tabulation all Malaysians were lumped together under the head “Malays.”

Also I've heard that one of the reason early Malaysian independence leaders refuse to anschluss with Indonesia was Sukarno hostility towards Malay sultans and traditional cultures. In this regard, there would need a POD by 1946 at the latest. Again, before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Sumatra_revolution


(Also funnily enough, in British Malaya the only communists were mostly Chinese, while in Dutch Indonesia nearly every ethnic have their own communists before the purge of 1965...)

 

[MildSeven]

Also I've heard that one of the reason early Malaysian independence leaders refuse to anschluss with Indonesia was Sukarno hostility towards Malay sultans and traditional cultures. In this regard, there would need a POD by 1946 at the latest. Again, before https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Sumatra_revolution

Totally agree with this. A merger between Indonesia and Malaysia, while very plausible back then, seems so unlikely today due to the political developments of those 2 countries. Indonesia’s Pancasila emphasized a secular, multi-cultural state (ostensibly) while the Ketuanan Melayu enshrined the supremacy of the Malay race and its sultans. I wonder what path a unified Nusantara would take…

 

[Cook]

I wonder what path a unified Nusantara would take…

It would take the path of that Indonesia has; Malaysia, which in this scenario would just be the northernmost two or three provinces of Greater Indonesia, has a population of just over 31 million; by comparison, the island of Sumatra has 50 million, and the total Indonesian population is more than 260 million - the Malays would be swallowed like a drop of rain in a pond, with hardly a ripple.

 

[inawarminister]

with hardly a ripple

Oh I disagree!
There's no way for OTL Javanese cultural domination to exist, with pan-Malays and Sundanese populations dwarfing them by nearly half when combined together.
Also, Malaccan Straits is now controlled by one power.,,,

 

[Johari Abdul Patah]

The idea of a unified Malaysia/Indonesia originated in the colonial era, with the idea being proposed with the intent of unifying the "Malay" race, constituted of the Dutch East Indies and British Malaysia. Popular among educated pribumi, it was given credit via reference to the historical concept of Alam Melayu, which dictated that the two nations had been unified prior in native kingdoms such as the Srivijaya.

In 1928, Indonesian nationalists declared the youth pledge which they perceived to bind Malaysia and Indonesia together, however following this due to WW2 the idea was temporarily abandoned.

However, even under Japanese rule, Sukarno, Hatta and Yacoob allegedly discussed unifying their singular motherland.

I am skeptical. See, the term the Malayan Malay nationalists used for this hypothetical nation was "Melayu Raya" while the Indonesian nationalist used "Indonesia Raya". The Malayan Malays viewed all indigenous people in Nusantara as Malays. This is a view propagated by the British colonials since Raffles and found its believers in some nationalists such as Jose Rizal in the Philippines. Unfortunately, this view is viewed as baseless in Indonesia, which viewed "Malay" as a purely ethnic group category which mainly reside in Sumatra, Malaya and some parts of Borneo. This clash of worldview will be fatal if they were put in a same nation. I foresee only a bloodbath solution for this. Probably will end with Suharto or a Suharto-like figure using a strong repressive measure to deal with the Malay faction.

Also , the problem in OTL is Malaya achieved independence under a right wing government while Indonesia under a left wing one. Either you have to had left wing government in Malaya or right wing government in Indonesia so that both nations feel more secure for a merger. The former is hard to achieve because larger number of Chinese in Malaya.The larger number of Chinese made the unity of the left harder because the very different orientation between Malay and Chinese leftists. By contrast the Malay & Chinese rightists were quite united by their common English education & general Britishness. In Indonesia this was never a problem with the leftists because of small number of Indonesian Chinese so the left were mainly made of indigenous people and could be more easily united. To achieve the latter (a right wing Indonesia independence government) is also a bit hard since it is doubtful that in Indonesian context any right wing independence movement would be able to unite the population against the Dutch. In Malaya the rightists were united by them being British-trained English gentlemen & thus have similar worldview. In Indonesia, the Dutch refrained from propagating their language and "Dutchness" to the elites unlike in Malaya. So there were never any pseudo-Dutch Indonesian elites (or if they were only in small number) unlike the many pseudo-English gentlemen among the elites in Malaya. As a result, the rightist in Indonesia were a disparate groups who mostly concerned with provincial interest and therefore not well-footed to lead a nationwide independence movement unlike the leftists.

(Also funnily enough, in British Malaya the only communists were mostly Chinese, while in Dutch Indonesia nearly every ethnic have their own communists before the purge of 1965...)

Depended on your definition of "communists". Malayan has large number of leftist Malays who avoided the term communists because of the crackdown by first British colonial authority and later the independent government of Malaya. On the other hand, there were large number of Indonesian leftists who were not necessarily communists but labelled as such by the Suharto regime to justify their genocide against the left. And the stigma of "Chinese=Communists" definitely more deeply rooted in Indonesia than in Malaysia, despite (or perhaps because of) the larger gap of wealth between Indonesian Chinese with the indigenous population.

Indonesia’s Pancasila emphasized a secular, multi-cultural state (ostensibly)

Fix that for you. No way Pancasila is a secular ideology. In fact, non-Muslims in Indonesia are less secularised than non-Muslims in other South East Asia countries precisely because Pancasila provided for a multi-cultural state in which every religion (at least the state-sanctioned ones, which leave out illegal beliefs such as paganism, atheism or agnosticism) will play a role in citizens' life. For instance, there is no civil marriage in Indonesia as every wedding must be officiated through their respective religious body. In fact, the believe in (one) God is the first principle of Pancasila (which mean even the Buddhists have to pretend that they believe in one supreme God in order to qualify as a legal religion).

 

[MildSeven]

Fix that for you. No way Pancasila is a secular ideology. In fact, non-Muslims in Indonesia are less secularised than non-Muslims in other South East Asia countries precisely because Pancasila provided for a multi-cultural state in which every religion (at least the state-sanctioned ones, which leave out illegal beliefs such as paganism, atheism or agnosticism) will play a role in citizens' life. For instance, there is no civil marriage in Indonesia as every wedding must be officiated through their respective religious body. In fact, the believe in (one) God is the first principle of Pancasila (which mean even the Buddhists have to pretend that they believe in one supreme God in order to qualify as a legal religion).

Thanks for clarifying Pancasila for me. I also found your analysis of Melayu Raya vs Indonesia Raya to be really interesting. I had previously assumed that the Indonesian nationalists also adhered to the same Malay ethnic identity as the Malayan Malays.

 

[guineapony]

Fix that for you. No way Pancasila is a secular ideology. In fact, non-Muslims in Indonesia are less secularised than non-Muslims in other South East Asia countries precisely because Pancasila provided for a multi-cultural state in which every religion (at least the state-sanctioned ones, which leave out illegal beliefs such as paganism, atheism or agnosticism) will play a role in citizens' life. For instance, there is no civil marriage in Indonesia as every wedding must be officiated through their respective religious body. In fact, the believe in (one) God is the first principle of Pancasila (which mean even the Buddhists have to pretend that they believe in one supreme God in order to qualify as a legal religion).

The strict enforcement of first Sila (belief in one God) and state approval of religions began with Suharto's Orde Baru, which purged adherents of native beliefs, Confucians, & other unapproved religions as "godless Communists".