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©The Star (Used by permission)
by Prabhakaran S. Nair

Prominent foreign guests added to the large number of local dignitaries who attended our Merdeka celebrations in 1957

ON the morning Aug 31, 1957, the great and the ordinary converged at the newly built Stadium Merdeka to witness the birth of our nation. Foreign guests included those who just arrived and officials already in the country.

The most honoured among them was the 57-year-old Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, who brought with him a personal message from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. “I have entrusted to my uncle the duty of acting as my representative at the celebrations of the Independence of your country,” the message begins.

The duke had arrived before Merdeka Day, and left after an eventful one-week stay in Malaya, accompanied by Princess Alice, the Duchess of Gloucester, and their 16-year-old son Prince William.

This was not the duke’s first visit to the country. Says D.C. Alfred, who studies interesting historical facts: “The duke’s visits to Malaya spanned three reigns. He first came to Malaya in 1929 during the reign of his father King George V. In 1947, he visited Singapore when his brother was King (George VI). And in 1957, he visited the country for the last time.”

Tunku fondly remembered his meeting with the duke when he visited Commonwealth troops stationed in the country.

Prince William died tragically some years later at the age of 30. In 1972, the plane he was piloting crashed during an air race.

The duke himself died two years later. Prince Richard, the younger son, has succeeded his father as Duke of Gloucester.

The other important guest was Viscount Kilmuir, representative of the British government. As Lord Chancellor (1954 -1962), he ranked next to the Royal Family and higher than the Prime Minister. In 1962, Prime Minister Macmillan ended Kilmuir’s term of office in what has been described as the “night of the long knives”.

Among the dignitaries from Commonwealth and foreign countries were the Sultan of Brunei, the father of the present Sultan, and Lim Yew Hock, Chief Minister of Singapore.

Lim had succeeded David Marshall, and was in turn succeeded in 1959 by Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore. Some years later, Lim ended his career as Malaysia’s High Commissioner to Australia under a cloud.

Also present were Solomon Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister of Ceylon, accompanied by his wife, Sirimavo. Two years and a month later, he was shot dead by a monk who also had the same first name as him, Solomon. In the following year, Mrs Bandaranaike the first woman Prime Minister in the world.

The representatives of Ghana, resplendent in their orange attire, were also present. Ghana, earlier known as Gold Coast, had been the first black British colony to gain independence on March 6 that year.

The Netherlands was represented by Count W.F.L. van Bylandt, the Dutch Ambassador in Malaya, who had served earlier in Jakarta.

“The Netherlands was one of the first countries to recognize Malaya,” says Luc Schillings of the Dutch Embassy in Malaysia.

Prominent among the Commonwealth guests was Sir Gerald Templer, the former High Commissioner in Malaya (1952-1954).

He had come to Malaya armed with a directive to assist in the advance of Malaya to full self-governing status.

He succeeded in winning the hearts and minds of the people in the fight against communist terrorism, and set Malaya securely on the road to independence. Templer died in 1979 at the age of 81.

Those already in the country on official business were at that stadium. Seated beside the duke was Sir Donald MacGillivray, the last High Commissioner to Malaya, who went on to live in Kenya where he died in 1966, aged 60.

Lord Reid was already in the country, having completed his duty as Chairman of the Commission appointed to draw up the Malayan Constitution. In subsequent years he would grow in stature, presiding over the House of Lords (the highest Court of Appeal in the UK) from 1962 to 1975.

Present at an Alliance function at the Selangor Club Padang the night before was Richard Hickling, who drafted the Proclamation of Independence together with Mr Brodie, the Attorney-General. Hickling died only this year at the age of 87.

Prominent among private citizens who guests at the stadium on Aug 31 was Ms Nancy Simmons, a plump and friendly 40-year-old Londoner affectionately known as Bunny. She arrived in Malaya on the special invitation of Tunku himself. In fact, she was the first registered guest of Federal Hotel which had been declared open by Tunku three days before Merdeka.

Tunku first met Bunny in January 1956 when he went to London for the Merdeka Talks. She had then been working for the Colonial Office for more than a decade, and was appointed to drive Tunku to conferences and receptions in London. The success of the talks led him to believe she brought him luck.

When Tunku returned to London for further talks in 1957, he asked for Bunny to be his driver again. As he was being driven to the airport on the last day, Tunku asked his woman chauffeur if she would like to go to Malaya.

“I would love it,” replied Ms Simmons. “Then you shall go as a state guest,” said Tunku.

Bunny claimed to represent the British working class at the celebrations. To her surprise, a chauffeur-driven car was provided for this woman who for 18 years had driven countless VIPs in London. Bunny kept in touch with Tunku’s family until her last days.

Together, the foreign guests symbolised the rich and varied tapestry of personalities who added to the largeness and significance of Merdeka. Their presence on that august occasion is credit to Tunku’s vision, character, sense of gratitude and all-encompassing love of people.

It can be said that on that auspicious day, Malaya was the cynosure of all eyes in the world. – Merdeka Press Secretariat

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