Sarawak Day

[15] Although there have been persistent attempts to falsify the historical record for political purposes, it is incontrovertible that Sarawak as a British crown colony achieved independence on 16 September 1963 as a member state of the Malaysian Federation under the Malaysia legislation passed by the sovereign United Kingdom and Malayan Parliaments in July 1963.

[18] The transferring of the territory to colonial administration had led to major protests by Sarawakian citizens who wanted the independence of Sarawak to be restored.

This led to the assassination of Duncan Stewart, the second governor of the Colony, by Rosli Dhobi,[19] who was captured and subsequently hanged for murder.

[20] The position of the Governor was succeeded by Anthony Abell, who also became one of the members for the Cobbold Commission which brought Sarawak and North Borneo to the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

Sarawak was granted self-rule on 22 July 1963,[2] on the expectation that it would jointly form the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September the same year.