When speaking to a Singapore luncheon gathering of the Foreign Correspondents Association of South East Asia on 27 May 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Prime Minister of Malaya, made a seemingly casual reference to the need for a ‘closer understanding’ between the peoples of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, Brunei and Sarawak. The Tunku went on to say, ‘… it is inevitable that we should look ahead to this objective and think of a plan whereby these territories could be brought closer together in political and economic cooperation’. The Malayan Prime Minister had carefully considered his remarks before delivering them, though even he could have had little realization that his speech would trigger a series of events that had such a profound effect on the future development of South East Asia. Taken at face value it seemed a modest enough proposal, but the Tunku's views represented a stark contrast with his earlier adamant and very public opposition to any closer association between Malaya and Singapore, and served to galvanize the political leaders and groups who saw the creation of a Greater Malaysia as satisfying their varying needs. Over the next eighteen months the plans and arrangements for a new federation would march on in a steady and seemingly inexorable fashion, though behind the scenes players from Britain, Malaya, Singapore and the Borneo territories engaged in a complex set of bargains and manoeuvres, as they sought to secure their essential interests in the new arrangements that would accompany the demise of formal colonial rule.