KEMPEN DAN PROPAGANDA AKHBAR TEMPATAN FILIPINA TERHADAP ISU TUNTUTAN KE ATAS BORNEO UTARA, 1961-1963

Abstract

On 30 December 1961, the governments of Britain, North Borneo and the Federation of Malaya were shocked by the provocative article published by the Philippine Free Press. The article entitled "North Borneo is Ours" written by Napoleon G. Rama, a prominent journalist in the Philippines, created tension and dissatisfaction among the leaders of Malaya, North Borneo and the British Government. Leaders and media practitioners in Malaya condemned the Philippine media as not being professional and believed such actions was a ploy to delay the creation of Malaysia which was announced by Tunku Abdul Rahman on 27 May 1961. Other Philippine’s newspapers such as Manila Times, Philippine Herald, Manila Chronicle, Daily Mirror, The Evening News and the Manila Daily Bulletin also published provocative articles on the North Borneo claim. The propaganda by the Philippine’s newspapers pertaining to the North Borneo issue succeeded in influencing the decision of Republic of the Philippines to take an effective step by sending an aide-memoire to the British in order to challenge British sovereignty over North Borneo. This article examines selected Philippine newspapers to show how their rigorous campaign and propaganda on the North Borneo issue shaped Philippine foreign policy on the dispute.