Barisan Nasional inherited a trust and tradition that was initiated by the Alliance, a formation of the Confederated Malay States people’s political party to acquire Independence from the British colonial rule. This concept was initiated by the Malays who were united under the UMNO President, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra for one main reason; to claim independence for the Confederated Malay States. The Chinese and Indians, who set aside racial belief, later joined this movement for the majority objective in the local political current. They united with the Malays under the Alliance banner, using the 'kapal layar' symbol. This party succeeded in freeing Malaya from the British colonial and ruled the Independent Malaya until today. It was also able to free Sabah and Sarawak from the British through Malaysia. The Alliance and later Barisan Nasional is a unique political formula for Malaysia. This formula has succeeded in uniting Malaysia from various different religions, cultures and ethnic groups to become a race that is strong, successful and has vision

THE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE

Malaysians are lucky compared to the people of other countries because the struggle for independence didn't cause blood spills, loss of lives or went through the arms revolution. Malaysia's struggle for Independence is based on the courageous unity of the Malays that has become the main strength. This strength has become the base for the Malays to proceed with the discussion with the British to claim Malaya's Independence. Spearheading the struggle was Dato' Onn Jaafar and was later handed down to Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra until the people's objective was reached on the night of 30th August 1957 at the field of Selangor Club where the flag of Union Jack was lowered for the last time and Jalur Gemilang was raised proudly - a new symbol for independent Malayans. The following day a new independent nation was born with Tunku Abdul Rahman declaring the Malayan Independence at the Merdeka Stadium.

However the Malays were not alone in the struggle. Malaya or Confederated Malay States were made up of diverse community with various religions, races and ethnic groups. Although the Malay Leaders were controlling the political leadership, they accepted the structure of the Malayan people and realize that  a struggle without the participation of the other races would not succeed. Thus the cooperation of other races such as the Chinese and Indians were vital  and proved convincingly to the people that the struggle for Independence is really a struggle of all the Malayan people.

The Malay Leaders thought that a long-term objective was more important after realizing that being independent, Malaya must be governed under a self-ruling system where all races unite under  a single strong, firm political banner. The vision of the political leaders at that time was an Independent Malaya which is ruled by a government that is supported by the people.
 
The reason that cooperation among races became the base of the independence struggle was because the world community and even the Malayan community were not convinced with Malaya's ability to remain peaceful with a community structure that is of different religion, race and background. They were some people who questioned whether the stability of an independent nation can be sustained with a diverse community. They felt the struggle to gain independence would be full of efforts to solve the conflict of races, cultures and religion.

This assumption was based by the fact that the world at that time could not solve the ethnic problems. Critics agreed that if the world could not solve this problem, it would quite impossible that Malaya could. The Malayan Leaders realized that the people of a new nation would be a little behind in education, experience and ability. These were the factors that cast some doubt in the other communities towards the Malayan Leadership.

This factor was also influenced by the mentality of some of the Malayan communities who felt that they were more comfortable and better off remaining under the colonial rule for their future's sake. This factor was influenced by the colonial's philosophy of divide and rule, which they had practiced for a very long time. By inculcating this philosophy in the people, they hope the struggle to claim the independence would not materialize.

FORMATION OF THE ALLIANCE, ITS OBJECTIVE IS TO SHARE POWER

After realizing the difficult challenges they would be facing in the struggle for independence, the Malay Leadership later brought in the non-Malays into the mainstream struggle. This was to ensure that the claim for independence would reflect more of a total move. With intelligence and vision which emphasized long-term objectives, a new political recipe to initiate the cooperation of all races in the local political arena must quickly be formulated.  

The Malays realized they must have a political party as a vehicle for their struggle and the birth of UMNO on 11th May 1946 was a result of this. Thus, other races felt that they too needed political parties, for them to be heard. As a result, a political movement of races in Malaya spearheaded by Tunku and Tun Tan Cheng Lock founded the Alliance (PERIKATAN), the merge of UMNO and MCA. The Alliance's first test was the Kuala Lumpur Municipal Council's election in 1952 which the Alliance won convincingly.    ...(continued next page)