people of the Borneo states would enjoy special privileges in Malaysia similar to those extended to their fellow bumiputra (‘sons of the soil’), the ‘Malays’. Despite these conciliatory moves, however, the Borneo ‘Malays’ were nevertheless joining a ‘Malay’-dominated state in which their Malay language was the national language, Islam was the official religion, and the national government would almost certainly promote a ‘Malay’ agenda. Dealing with the non-Muslim population of Sabah, the government has often enmeshed development initiatives with a promotion of both Islam and ‘Malayness’ with ‘development’ is used as an “entry point into local villages”, with the idea of a superior ‘Malay’ civilization being projected in both subtle and not so subtle ways. Brunei should perhaps have been the most enthusiastic about joining the ‘Malaysia’ project but Brunei did not join there was anxiety that the sultan would lose powers in the Malaysian structure, and Brunei now also had a huge oil wealth it wanted to protect and was further complicated by Azahari’s short-lived Brunei revolt of 1962 who had acquired something of the pan-Archipelago vision held by Ibrahim Yaacob and his supporters. When the British returned to Singapore after the war they did not intend to include Singapore in the new Malaya, and the ‘Malay’ leadership on the Peninsula had itself been anxious about the impact that so large a ‘Chinese’ community could have on the ‘ethnic balance’ of the new state. But there was also concern about leaving Singapore independent (especially considering the largely ‘Chinese’ communist movement on the Peninsula), and, after all, the inclusion of the Borneo territories was expected to counter to some extent the ‘Singapore-Chinese’ impact. In Thailand the incorporation of the kerajaan polities, as we have seen, has been a long and sometimes unpleasant process – and, unlike the case of the British and Dutch, Thai colonial rule (as some in the ‘Malay’ community would describe it) has not been withdrawn. On the contrary, the Thais have at certain times engaged in a vigorous imposing of Thai culture. Opposition to Thai rule has not been unanimous. Also, there has been division among the groups that have campaigned against Thai rule – with one group seeking the restoration of the sultanates, a second stressing ‘Malayness’, and others again attempting to advance a more strongly religious agenda. In late 1965, the failed 30 September Movement coup attempt caused Sukarno to fall from power and