Malaysia was formed on September, 1963, through a merging of the Federation of Malaya (a union of eleven states called "Persekutuan Tanah Melayu" which had earlier gained its independence from the British on 31st of August, 1957) and the former British colonies of Singapore (south of Penisular Malaysia) and two other states on the northern coast of Borneo called Sabah and Sarawak. The first several years of the country's history were marred by Indonesian efforts to form a union with Malaysia and the Philipines dubbed "Maphilindo", the Philippine's claims to Sabah, and Singapore's secession in 1965.