1960

The State of Emergency was lifted throughout the country although the threat from the Communist Party of Malaya still existed.

Education Minister Abdul Talib released the “Talib Educations Report” which shocked the whole Chinese community. They described it as a knife hanging over Chinese education.

1961

Tunku Abdul Rahman proposed the plan for a greater Malaysia at a luncheon talk in Singapore on May 27. MCA gave its full support for the plan.
Parliament passed the 1961 Education Act which provides power for the Education Minister to convert national-type primary school (either Chinese or Tamil ) to national primary school (Malay medium school).
Dr. Cheah Toon Lock declined to re-contest for the post of party President at the MCA assembly held on November 10. Tan Siew Sin, the son of Tun Tan Cheng Lock was unanimously elected as the new President.

1962

Indonesian President Sukarno launched the “Crush Malaysia Movement” and diplomatic relation between the two nations was severed.

1963

Malaysia was formed on September 16 comprising the states in the Malay Peninsula, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak. Indonesia intensified its confrontation against Malaysia.

1964

The second general elections took place on April 25. Alliance secured a landslide victory. The MCA won 27 out of the 33 seats contested dealing a crushing defeat on Singapore’s People’s Action Party which tried hard to unseat the MCA. The PAP then urged the Tunku to allow it to join the central government and replace MCA as the party representing Chinese interests. The Tunku rejected the demand and said that UMNO would not accept the PAP.

1965

The Central Committee decided in June that, due to the Constitutional restrictions, the Party was in no position to support the demand of the Chinese community to have Chinese as an official language.
On August 9, Singapore left Malaysia to become an independent nation. In his speech during the debate in Parliament, Party President Tan Siew Sin hoped that there would come a day when the two nations would re-merge. After the separation, the PAP in Malaysia changed its name to the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and continued to split the support of of the Chinese and sabotage the political objective of the MCA to unify the Chinese.

The National Language Action Front raised the issue of language in Chinese signboards. MCA and its Youth wing took up the issue with the Front. The Alliance formed an Action Committee to study and suggest a compromising solution.

1966

MCA Selangor and MCA Youth wing passed resolutions to urge the government to put into practice the promise to have Chinese language for official usage. The resolutions received support of all levels of the community.
On October 14, Tunku Abdul Rahman said that the younger members in the MCA were using the language issue to fight against the veteran members within the Party.

The Central Committee decided on October 19 not to support the suggestion to have Chinese language for official usage but would instead call for wider usage of the language in government notices and circulars so that policies and directives could be easily understood and implemented. The Chinese and Malay communities gave sharply contrasting responses to the decision. The Chinese accused the MCA for being too soft while the Malays described the decision as a manifestation of Chinese chauvinism.

The MCA expelled the deputy chief of its Youth wing, Mr. Sim Mow yu on grounds of party indiscipline.

1967

MCA Youth decided to form a cooperative society which was later named the Koperasi Serbaguna Malaysia (KSM) or Malaysia Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society.

The National Language Act was passed in Parliament on September 1 which designates Malay as the national language and sole official language. The Act also provides that no one shall stop anyone from teaching or using any other languages except for official purposes. Party President Tan Siew Sin described the provisions as a compromise fair to all communities.

1968

Party Central Committee decided on February 3 that the Party would support the proposed Merdeka University suggested by Chinese groups.

On March 23, in the Party Delegates’ Conference, a resolution was passed urging the government to speedily set up higher colleges so that graduates from secondary schools could be enrolled into these colleges.

The Malaysia Purpose Cooperative Society was officially launched on June 16 with MCA Youth Head Mr. Lee San Choon as its Chairman and Mr Choo Cheng Wah as its secretary and Oon Seng Lee as Treasurer.
Party Deputy President Tan Sri Khaw Kai Boh submitted a plan to form a higher learning college to Education Minister Khir Johari. The college was later known as the “Tunku Abdul Rahman College”. The college was registered on July 14.

1969

Party President Tan Siew Sin said on April 15 that it was difficult for the Party to render support for the setting up of the Merdeka University under the prevailing circumstances. His statement angered the Chinese community as a whole.

The government approved the registration of the Merdeka University as a non-profit company on May 9. (The University and University College Act was not in existence then and one needed only to register as a company in order to set up a higher learning institution). MCA Central Education Committee Chairman Khaw Kai Boh and a few educationists met with the governors of the Merdeka University and decided that both institutions should cooperate closely.

The third general elections were held on May 10. Of the 33 Parliamentary seats contested, MCA only managed to retain 13. MCA also lost control of the Penang State government. This was the most severe setback for the Party since its inception. Two of the MCA cabinet ministers namely Commerce and Industry Minister Dr. Lim Swee Aun and Health Minister Dr. Ng Kam Poh also lost in the elections. The Party Central Committee decided on May 12 that as the Party was rejected in the elections, it declined to join the government but remained in the Alliance.

The following day, racial riots broke out in Kuala Lumpur. The incident was later termed as the May-13 tragedy. The government placed the whole nation under a state of emergency and a National Operations Council (NOC) was formed on May 17 with Tun Razak as its Chairman.

In response to numerous appeals and calls from the Chinese guilds, associations and other representative bodies, MCA reconsidered its earlier decision and rejoined the government on May 20.