British Malaya power of the Colonial Office in London and was declared a crown colony. The declaration gave it considerable independence and power within the British Empire. In 1946, after the Second World War, the colony was dissolved. Malacca and Penang were absorbed into the Malayan Union, while Singapore was separated from the Union and made into a new crown colony on its own. The Malayan Union was later replaced with the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and in 1963, together with North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore, formed an enlarged federation called Malaysia. Prior to the late 19th century, the British East
Federation independence from the sovereign state, which only takes care of their foreign relations and defence. However, they are neither considered to be part of it, nor recognised as sovereign or associated states. The distinction between a federation and a unitary state is often quite ambiguous. A unitary state may closely resemble a federation in structure and, while a central government may possess the theoretical right to revoke the autonomy of a self-governing region, it may be politically difficult for it to do so in practice. The self-governing regions of some unitary states also often enjoy greater autonomy than those of