The early Buddhist Malay kingdom of Srivijaya?, based at what is now Palembang?, Sumatra, dominated much of the Malay Peninsula from the 9th to the 13th centuries AD. The powerful Hindu kingdom of Majapahit?, based on Java, gained control of the Malay Peninsula in the 14th century. Conversion of the Malays to Islam, beginning in the early 14th century, accelerated with the rise of the state of Malacca? under the rule of a Muslim prince in the 15th century.
Malacca was a major regional entrepot, where Chinese, Arab, Malay, and Indian merchants traded precious goods. Drawn by this rich trade, a Portuguese fleet conquered Malacca in 1511?, marking the beginning of European expansion in Southeast Asia. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese from Malacca in 1641 and, in 1795, were themselves replaced by the British, who had occupied Penang in 1786.
In 1826, the British settlements of Malacca, Penang, and Singapore were combined to form the Colony of the [Straits Settlements]?. From these strong points, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the British established protectorates over the Malay sultanates on the peninsula. Four of these states were consolidated in 1895 as the [Federated Malay States]?.
During British control, a well-ordered system of public administration was established, public services were extended, and largescale rubber and tin production was developed. This control was interrupted by the Japanese invasion and occupation from 1942 to 1945 during World War II.
Popular sentiment for independence swelled during and after the war and, in 1957, the Federation of Malaysia, established from the British-ruled territories of Peninsular Malaysia in 1948, negotiated independence from the United Kingdom under the leadership of [Tunku Abdul Rahman]?, who became the first prime minister. The British colonies of Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah (called North Borneo) joined the Federation to form Malaysia on September 16, 1963. Singapore withdrew from the Federation on August 9, 1965, and became an independent republic.
The reason behind the formation of the Malaysian federation was to combat the communist expansion, creating a "bulwark" against any expansion from China or a possibly communist Indonesia in the future. Singapore withdrew from Malaysia due to tensions, mostly between ethnic Chinese and Malayan ethnic groups. The new state's formation was highly controversial, and both the Phillippines and Indonesia made claims to parts of the new state's territory. Internal rebellions supporting these claims or regional independence were brutally suppressed by Commonwealth forces, and three years of semi-war on the borders to Indonesia ensued, fronted by an Indonesian policy of "confrontation". This peculiar semi-war is known as the "Konfrontasi", and the actual reasons and ploys behind Indonesia's policy are still unclear. As a concession to the widespread internal and external opposition to its formation, Brunei was kept outside the Malaysian Federation, but remained under British military protection. The United States decisively agreed to support the formation of Malaysia after a 1964 secret diplomatic deal with the United Kingdom, in return for British support in Vietnam.
Following World War II, local communists, nearly all Chinese, launched a long, bitter insurgency, prompting the imposition of a state of emergency in 1948 (later lifted in 1960). Small bands of guerrillas remained in bases along the rugged border with southern Thailand, occasionally entering northern Malaysia. These guerrillas finally signed a peace accord with the Malaysian government in December 1989. A separate small-scale communist insurgency that began in the mid-1960s in Sarawak also ended with the signing of a peace accord in October 1990.
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