CEREMONIES OF INDEPENDENCE

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28371, 2 September 1957, Page 11

CEREMONIES OF INDEPENDENCE

Malaya’s Monarch Takes Office (Nm2. Press Assoctation—Copyngnt) (Rec. 10 p.m.) KUALA LUMPUR, August 31. Malaya’s first constitutional monarch, Tuanku Sir Abdul Rahman, today took his oath of office an hour after his country’s independence was formally proclaimed. The brief religious ceremoMy was a contrast to the emotional scenes earlier when Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Prime Minister, proclaimed his nation’s freedom.

One Englishman, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Thomson, took an oath to serve Malaya faithfully.

Tuanku Sir Abdul Rahman, watched by less than 40 people, swore to serve his country well on the Koran. Dressed in the same golden robes of office he had worn earlier in the day, he formally chose Tunku Abdul Rahihan as Chief Minister. He also appointed the Governors for the former British settlements of Penang and Malacca. They are Raja Sir Puda, speaker in the pre-independence Legislative Council, and Leong Yew Koh, formerly Health Minister in the Cabinet A conference of rulers was officially convened by the Keeper of the Ruler’s Seal, Tuan Haji Mustapha Albakri, in the King's new palace. As the rulers stood with bowed heads, Tuan Mustapha handed the King a document containing the oath of office. The King read it aloud and then signed it. It was witnessed by two of his« fellow rulers, the Sultan of Kedah State and the Raja of Perlis. The only ruler not present was the Sultan of Johore who had said he could not come because of health reasons He is 84. He was represented by his eldest son, Tunku Mahk Ta. In a similar ceremony, the King’s deputy, the Sultan of Selangor, then took his oath of

office. Tunku Abdul Rahman followed. After that, the Chief Justice and Cabinet Ministers were sworn in and the Governors appointed. The leaders were blessed by a priest who prayed for the future of the country. . Later today, the Prime Minister will hold a farewell luncheon to the British High Commissioner, S’r Donald Macgillivray, who is to leave for Britain this evening. On the stroke of midnight, when Malaya independent of British rule, Ti>nku Rahman told his people: “A rwtr jjjar rises in the eastern sky—a of freedom for yet another Asian people.” The Tunku praised the British rule in Malaya, and said that the British legacy of good administration should not be allowed to suffer in. efficiency or integrity in the years ahead. And in the first few minutes of independent Malaya’s existence the Prime Minister called oh hit people to rid their country of the Communist terrorist menace. In the final two minutes, before independence and after the arrival of the first Prime Minister all the town square lights were extinguished. The lights came on again at midnight and the first of a week of ceremonies to welcome Malaya’s independence began.