Malaysia–United Kingdom relations
In 1824 British hegemony in Malaya was formalised by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty, which divided the Malay Archipelago between Britain and the Netherlands. The Dutch evacuated Malacca and renounced all interest in Malaya, while the British recognised Dutch rule over the rest of the East Indies. By 1826, the British controlled Penang, Malacca, Singapore and the island of Labuan, which they established as crown colonies of the Straits Settlements, administered first under the EIC until 1867, when they were transferred to the Colonial Office in London. On the other hand, White Rajahs (founded by British adventurer James Brooke) ruled the Kingdom of Sarawak from 1841 to 1946, while North Borneo was founded by the North Borneo Chartered Company. Both Sarawak and North Borneo subsequently became a British Protectorate, and a Crown colony in 1946. In 1944, the British drew up plans for a Malayan Union, which would unite the Federated and Unfederated Malay States (except for Singapore), into a single Crown colony, with a view towards independence. It was established in 1946, and was dissolved in 1948 to be replaced by the Federation of Malaya. The federation became independent from the United Kingdom on 31 August 1957, and joined North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore to form a new larger federation known as the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. However, in less than two years upon the founding of the federation, Singapore was expelled as a consequence of the 1964 race riots.
History of Malaysia
Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who left UMNO in 2016 and formed his own political party, which teamed up with three other political parties to form Pakatan Harapan, was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Malaysia after winning the election on the 10th of May, 2018. He defeated Najib Razak who led Barisan Nasional political party. Najib Razak was defeated by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad due to the factors such as the ongoing political scandal which is 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal that has arisen since 2015, the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (Malaysia) of 6% since 1 April 2015, high cost of living and openly extreme criticism against the Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.
The unpopular tax was reduced to 0% on 1 June 2018. Government of Malaysia under Tun Dr Mahathir tabled for first reading Bill to repeal GST in Parliament on 31 July 2018 (Dewan Rakyat). GST was successfully replaced with Sales Tax and Service Tax starting 1 September 2018.