Malayan Union
| Malayan Union | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ملايان اونياون | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| British colony | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Capital | Kuala Lumpur | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Languages |
Malay English |
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| Political structure | Colony | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Governor | Edward Gent | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Decolonisation | |||||||||||||||||||||
| • | Established | 1 April 1946 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| • | Disestablished | 31 January 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Area | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| • | 1948 | 132,364 km² (51,106 sq mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Malayan dollar | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Malaysia
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The Malayan Union was a union of the Malay states and the Straits Settlements of Penang and Malacca. It was the successor to British Malaya and was conceived to unify the Malay Peninsula under a single government to simplify administration. Following opposition by the ethnic Malays, the union was reorganized as the Federation of Malaya in 1948.
Prior to World War II, British Malaya consisted of three groups of polities: the protectorate of the Federated Malay States, five protected Unfederated Malay States and the crown colony of the Strait Settlements.
On 1 April 1946, the Malayan Union officially came into existence with Sir Edward Gent as its governor, combining the Federated Malay States, Unfederated Malay States and the Strait Settlements of Penang and Malacca under one administration. The capital of the Union was Kuala Lumpur. The former Strait Settlement of Singapore was administered as a separate crown colony.
The idea of the Union was first expressed by the British on October 1945 (plans had been presented to the War Cabinet as early as May 1944) in the aftermath of the Second World War by the British Military Administration. Sir Harold MacMichael was assigned the task of gathering the Malay state rulers' approval for the Malayan Union in the same month. In a short period of time, he managed to obtain all the Malay rulers’ approval. The reasons for their agreement, despite the loss of political power that it entailed for the Malay rulers, has been much debated; the consensus appears to be that the main reasons were that as the Malay rulers were of course resident during the Japanese occupation, they were open to the accusation of collaboration, and that they were threatened with dethronement. Hence the approval was given, though it was with utmost reluctance.
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Wikipedia