Why it was formed
After the Second World War, tension between the different communities and the communist threat made cooperation urgent. In 1949 the British Commissioner-General Malcolm MacDonald encouraged the setting up of the Communities Liaison Committee (CLC) — a forum where leaders of the different races could meet privately, discuss shared problems and reach compromises.
Who took part
The committee brought together respected community leaders, including Dato Onn Jaafar (Malay), Tan Cheng Lock (Chinese) and E.E.C. Thuraisingham (Indian), among others. For the first time, leaders of different backgrounds sat down together to bargain and to seek a fair balance between the communities.
What it discussed and achieved
The CLC tackled the most sensitive issues of the day:
- Citizenship — it supported easier terms so that more non-Malays could become citizens;
- Economic help for the Malays — leading to bodies like the Rural and Industrial Development Authority (RIDA) to improve Malay livelihoods;
- Political cooperation — building trust between communities.
The CLC set an important pattern: settling differences through negotiation and give-and-take rather than conflict. This spirit of compromise later shaped the Alliance and the bargains behind the Merdeka Constitution. In this quiet way the committee, though small and informal, built the trust between communities on which the whole independence process would come to depend.
Key idea
The Communities Liaison Committee (1949), encouraged by Malcolm MacDonald, was the first forum where community leaders bargained over citizenship and Malay economic aid, setting the pattern of compromise that shaped later cooperation.
Remember
- Formed 1949; encouraged by Malcolm MacDonald.
- Members: Dato Onn Jaafar, Tan Cheng Lock, Thuraisingham and others.
- Discussed citizenship and Malay economic aid (RIDA).
- Established the habit of inter-racial compromise.