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.
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