 He was the first Iban to become a General in the Malaysian Army since Sarawak became independent on 22 July 1963 from the British and forming The Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963 along with North Borneo (Sabah now) and Singapore which was ceded later.If you want to look further; he was the first Iban General in the long history of the Malaysian Rangers when its predecessor the Sarawak Rangers was formed by Rajah Charles Brooke in 1862.With this promotion, inadvertently, "an Iban allocation" might have been created in the Malaysian Army.