I refer to the report How our independence came two years early . If Tunku Abdul Rahman had indeed set a time-frame of four years for Malaya to gain independence, this is totally out of tune and inconsistent with other pieces of evidence that can be found elsewhere.

As we know, the first election for the Federal Legislative Assembly in July 1955 was won by the Alliance, a coalition comprising Umno, MCA and MIC which won 51 out of the 52 seats. The first meeting of this historic Federal Legislative Assembly (beginning of limited self-rule) was held on Aug 31, 1955.

At the following Umno general assembly held in December 1955, a resolution was passed calling for Umno representatives taking part in the Merdeka Mission in January 1956 to demand political independence from the British within two years of limited self-rule or 'by the end of August 1957'.

According to The Straits Times' account of the meeting, one delegate was reported to have said that the resolution was 'arrogant' and 'uncharacteristic' of the gentle nature of the Malays, and he proposed the addition of the phrase 'if possible'.

To the delight of the assembly, this amendment was unanimously accepted. (It was later ventured that the unknown delegate had used the Islamic term 'Insyallah, or 'God Willing' which the then Straits Times translated as 'if possible' in its report).

Thus, it is evident that the Merdeka Mission that sailed to London on the ship 'Asia' went with an Umno mandate to obtain independence by Aug 31, 1957 (Insyallah) and not according to Tunku's private time-frame.

In the event, the effete British lion, debilitated by the WWII, was quite happy to hand over the protectorate (the Straits Settlements of Melaka and Penang and the nine Malay States) to be formed into a constitutional monarchy. The rest, as they say, is history.