Wong Pow Nee should be  posthumously conferred a “Tun” as one of the architects of Malaysia, not only as the first Penang Chief Minister but also as a member of Cobbold Commission which paved the way for the establishment of Malaysia with  the entry of Sabah and Sarawak

(Penang, Monday):  Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee should be posthumously conferred a “Tun” as one of the architects of Malaysia, not only as the first Penang Chief Minister but also as a member of Cobbold Commission 1962 which paved the way for the establishment of Malaysia with the entry of Sabah and Sarawak into the new federation. 

Penang Chief Minister, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon  and the Penang State Government should make immediate  representation to the Prime Minister and the Yang di Pertuan Agong for the special  posthumous conferment  of the nation’s  highest award to Wong in conjunction with  the state funeral on Wednesday  in full recognition of his contributions and services to the attainment of Independence of  Malaya and the establishment of  Malaysia. 

Wong was one of the five members of the Cobbold Commission formed jointly by the British and Malayan governments in 1962 to  ascertain the views of the people of Sabah and Sarawak as well as to make recommendations on the proposal to establish Malaysia, comprising Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak.

The Cobbold Commission was headed by Lord Cobbold, a former Governor of the Bank of England, and comprised  Dato Wong Pow Nee, the Chief Minister of Penang, Mohd. Ghazali Shafie, Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sir Anthony Abell, the former Governor of Sarawak and Sir David Watherston, the former Chief Secretary of Malaya.

Between the 19th of February and 17th April 1962, the members made visits throughout Sabah and Sarawak reviewing opinions of individuals and religious, social and political organizations, and in August 1962, the Cobbold Commission announced its assessment of the degree of support for the Malaysia Plan, viz:  

• About one third of the population in each territory strongly favours early realization of Malaysia without too much concern about terms and conditions. 
• Another third, many of them favourable to the Malaysia project, ask, with varying degrees of emphasis, for conditions and safeguards varying in nature and extent.  
• The remaining third is divided between those who insist on independence before Malaysia is considered and those who would strongly prefer to see British rule continue for some years to come, including “a hard core, vocal and politically active” amounting to near 20 per cent of the population of Sarawak and somewhat less in Sabah “which will oppose Malaysia on any terms unless it is preceded by independence and self-government”.  

As against  the recommendations of the two British members, Sir Anthony Abell and Sir David Watherston, recommending a transitional period of from three to seven years for the formation of Malaysia, Wong  and Ghazalie Shafie strongly proposed that the transitional period should not be no longer than 12 months to prevent “dangerous disruptive influences”. In the event, Malaysia was formally brought into being on September 16, 1963.  

The chairman and the British members of the Cobbold Commission recommended complete religious freedom and not to  make Islam the national religion for Sabah and Sarawak, but Wong and Ghazalie Shafie recommended that the Malaysian Constitution be based on the 1957 Merdeka Constitution declaring  that the position of Islam being the religion of the Federation “in no way jeopardizes freedom of religion in the Federation which in effect would be secular”.  In other words, Malaysia is to be a secular state.  

The death of  Wong will be sorely missed in this critical period of Malaysian nationhood as it marks the passing of another political giant in the ranks of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn who share a common core of fundamental beliefs  about the basic principles of Malayan and Malaysian nationhood and  nation-building – that Malaysia is a democratic, secular, multi-religious, tolerant and progressive nation with Islam as the official religion but Malaysia is not an Islamic state, whether PAS Islamic State or UMNO Islamic State.

(2/9/2002)