Ever heard of the Dawn Raid or 'Dawn Raid' which is one of Malaysia's proud history?
On September 7, 1981, a history was made for the country.
The Dawn Raid or Serangan Subuh was a Malaysian attack on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) aimed at the acquisition of Guthrie, the largest British plantation company in 1981.
Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) held 25% of the shares in Guthrie's company, but had no power and the British often rejected Malaysia's proposals, leading to plans to seize back national ownership.
This seizure was led by Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who had only served for a few months became the 4th Prime Minister of Malaysia at that time.
This attack became a history for the country of Malaysia where it was carried out in just 4 hours.
The Malaysian Factor Seized Guthrie from the British
Agricultural Land Issues
This issue started when there were some proposals from the Malaysian government that were rejected by the British, particularly regarding the replanting of rubber trees which became a source of income for farmers and rubber tappers. The British also several times avoided meeting to deal with the problem.
However, after receiving various pressures from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the British side had to give in by establishing its subsidiary Guthrie-Ropel which has 17% land shares in Malaysia out of the total land it owns.
As a result, Malaysians are allowed to buy Guthrie's land through the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). However, it was just Guthrie's evil agenda because the lands sold could not actually be used for cultivation activities in addition to their non-strategic location.
Education Issues
The British 'racist' attitude towards Malaysian students became more serious following the termination of subsidies and the increase in tuition fees. As a result, 17,000 Malaysian students in the UK were burdened with a 3-fold increase in fees from before.
Tun Dr Mahathir, who was Minister of Finance at the time, once threatened the British, saying the action would cause losses in the future. Even so, his warning was only looked at quietly.
The Issue of Rejecting Landing Rights Proposals
Not only an education issue, the British side also rejected Malaysia's proposal to obtain additional landing rights at Heathrow Airport for Malaysia Airlines (MAS). In fact, the international airspace in Subang was invaded by the British supersonic ship Concorde on its way to Singapore.
Guthrie Sells Assets To Other Companies Without Negotiations
Guthrie's act of selling his assets to MPH, a company owned by a Malaysian billionaire, was also a factor in this movement. The decision was made without any knowledge of the government agency Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) which holds 25% of shares in Guthrie.
Because of these factors, Tun Dr Mahathir and also his brother-in-law Tun Ismail Ali who was the Governor of Bank Negara at that time were not satisfied with the actions of the British.
After his appointment as Governor, Tun Ismail Ali has shown an unfriendly attitude towards the British side by 'snapping' the Chairman of Guthrie, Mark Gent for almost half an hour outside the office every time before the meeting starts.
He also ordered the transfer of national money to local banks from British-owned banks such as HSBC and Chartered. Not only that, British banks are no longer given the opportunity to open branches in Malaysia.
As additional info. He was also the individual responsible for pushing Guthrie to establish Guthrie-Ropel.
How did Guthrie's takeover plan begin? Follow the next sharing in part II.
