Editing Foreign relations of Malaysia (section)

==Foreign Policy 1957–1969==

[[Malaysia]] has been a member of the Commonwealth since independence in 1957, when it entered into the [[Anglo-Malayan Defence Agreement]] (AMDA) with the United Kingdom whereby Britain guaranteed the defence of [[Federation of Malaya|Malaya]] (and later Malaysia). The presence of British and other Commonwealth troops were crucial to Malaysia's security during the [[Malayan Emergency]] (1948–1960) and the [[Indonesian Confrontation]] (1962–1966), which was sparked by Malaya's merger with the British colonies of Singapore, [[Crown Colony of Sarawak|Sarawak]] and [[Crown Colony of North Borneo|North Borneo]] to form Malaysia in 1963.

The British defence guarantee ended following Britain's decision in 1967 to withdraw its forces east of [[Suez]], and was replaced in 1971 with the [[Five Power Defence Arrangements]] (FPDA) by which Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to co-operate in the area of defence, and to "consult" in the event of external aggression or the threat of attack on Malaysia or Singapore. The FPDA continues to operate, and the Five Powers have a permanent Integrated Area Defence System based at [[Royal Malaysian Air Force|RMAF]] [[Butterworth, Malaysia|Butterworth]], and organise annual naval and air exercises.

Under the leadership of Prime Minister [[Tunku Abdul Rahman]] (up to 1970), Malaysia pursued a strongly pro-Commonwealth anti-communist foreign policy. Nonetheless, Malaysia was active in the opposition to [[apartheid]] that saw South Africa quit the Commonwealth in 1961, and was a founding member of the [[Association of Southeast Asian Nations]] (ASEAN) in 1967 and the [[Organisation of Islamic Cooperation|Organisation of the Islamic Conference]] (OIC) in 1969, with the Tunku as its first Secretary-General in 1971.