North Borneo Federation

The territory of the proposed federation







The flag of the North Borneo Federation
The North Borneo Federation, also known as Kalimantan Utara or North Kalimantan was a proposed political entity which would have comprised the British Colonies of Sarawak, British North Borneo (now known as the Malaysian state of Sabah) and the protectorate of Brunei.

The proposed federation was originally proposed by A. M. Azahari and was particularly favoured by the Brunei People's Party, which he led. This was seen as an alternative to joining the Federation of Malaysia; which was seen as an unnatural and unfavorable union by some. Joining to form Malaysia was seen as a new form of colonialism under Malaya.

The basic concept behind the formation of a union of British Borneo was partly based upon the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland in Southern Africa. After the defeat of the pro-democracy revolutionaries in the Brunei Revolt, the idea was put to rest. Had the federation been formed, the capital city would probably have been Kuching, Kota Kinabalu or Bandar Seri Begawan (the historical capital of the region).

Currently, there still remains a small group of people who favor the creation of such a state and desire separation from the rest of Malaysia. These groups see current state of affairs as being unfair to the people of North Borneo, particularly Sabah, as the majority of the region's wealth goes to the federal government; only about 5% of the region's oil revenue goes to the state governments of Sabah and Sarawak.

Furthermore, Malaysian politics have usually been West Malaysia-centred and seen as neglecting the needs of East Malaysians. However, this changed following the Malaysian general election, 2008 which saw both the East Malaysian states keeping the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in power. Since then, much development and importance has been given to the two states.

Prior to that, some opposition parties in the Sarawak State Assembly have tried to evolve such a federation. The matter was refused to be debated in the Assembly due to its sensitivity, by the coalition of governing parties in Sarawak, namely the Barisan Nasional lead by Pehin Seri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud.

The sultanate of Brunei has traditionally opposed such a federation. When it was first proposed during the 1960s the Sultan of Brunei favoured joining Malaysia, though, in the end, disagreement of the nature of such a federation and disagreement on oil royalties stopped this from happening.