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DISCUSS OBJECTIVELY AND IN A MATURED MANNER THE SCENARIO IN

SINGAPORE AFTER THE COUNTRY BECAME A MEMBER

OF MALAYSIA UP TO THE TIME IT SEPARATED FROM MALAYSIA.

Singapore was a British Colony. It achieved full self-government from the British on

3 June 1959. However, the Defence and Internal Security was still under the control of the

British. The People’s Action Party (PAP) was then the newly elected government and their

next constitutional step was independence. The British were reluctant at that time to grant

independence to Singapore. The main reason being the poor military support of the country.

Singapore being majority Chinese populated were facing major threat from the Communists.

The British were concerned about communist influence and labour strikes which were

undermining Singapore's economic stability, and felt that the local government was

ineffective in handling earlier riots. At that time the issue of independency of Singapore was

closely associated with merger with the Federation of Malaya which is now Malaysia.

Despite their successes in governing Singapore, the PAP leaders, including Mr. Lee

Kwan Yew and Dr. Goh Keng Swee, believed that Singapore's future lay with Malaya. On

the other hand, the sizeable pro-communist wing of the PAP were strongly opposed to the

merger, fearing a loss of influence as the ruling party of Malaya, United Malays National

Organisation (UMNO) was staunchly anti-communist and would support the non-communist

faction of PAP against them. The UMNO leaders were also skeptical of the merger idea due

to their distrust of the PAP government and concerns that the large Chinese population in

Singapore would alter the racial balance on which their political power base depended. The

issue came to a head in 1961 when pro-communist PAP minister Ong Eng Guan defected

from the party and beat a PAP candidate in a subsequent by-election, a move that

threatened to bring down Lee's government. Faced with the prospect of a takeover by the

pro-communists, UMNO did an about-face on the merger. If the radicals captured power

from the PAP, they would form a Communist government in Singapore and use Singapore

as a base to spread Communism in Malaya.

On 27 May 1961, Malaya's Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, mooted the idea of

a Federation of Malaysia, comprising existing Federation of Malaya, Singapore, Brunei and

the British Borneo territories of Sabah and Sarawak. The Tunku felt the inclusion of these

colonies would overcome the fear of possible Chinese dominance in the new Federation.

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To convince the people that a merger with Malaya was necessary for Singapore’s

stability and survival, the PAP government mounted a year-long campaign to build up

support for the proposal. A Referendum was conducted on 1 September 1962 to find out

which type of merger the people wanted. From the start, the negotiations over economic

issues proved difficult. Firstly Singapore wanted inclusion of Common Market terms in the

Malaysia Agreement, Secondly, Singapore wanted to provide a loan of $150 million for the

development of Sabah and Sarawak instead of giving a grant. Thirdly, Singapore wanted to

collect its own revenue and then send an agreed sum of money each year to Kuala Lumpur

as taxes. Malaya on the other hand wanted details of the Common Market to be worked out

after the signing of the Malaysia Agreement. Malaya also wanted a $50 million grant from

Singapore for the development of Sabah and Sarawak and finally Malaya wanted to collect

revenue in Singapore and then give Singapore what it needed to run the state.

Frustrated by the disagreements over the economic terms of merger, the Tunku

threatened to call off the negotiations, and to proceed with the idea of forming Malaysia

without Singapore in June 1963. Eventually, both sides agreed that the Common Market

would be established in stages, Secondly, Singapore would provide a $150 million loan for

the development of Sabah and Sarawak and lastly, Singapore would collect its own revenue

and pay Kuala Lumpur an agreed sum of money.

It was against this backdrop of tension that the merger was finalised and on 16

September 1963, Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak were formally merged and

Malaysia was formed. The formation of the Federation of Malaya with Singapore was rocky

from the beginning. Both parties had different goals, reasons and expectations of the

Merger. From the onset the goals were vague and ambiguous. Both parties saw the Merger

as a mean to satisfy its own individual needs – ie. Singapore for independence and

economical stability and Malaysia for its fear of Communists. This point is supported by

Tunku’s speech reported in the The Straits Times, 25 September 1962 stating that “it is

impossible to grant independence to Singapore because of the danger of it going

Communist. It would with the help of the Communist powers, try to overrun the whole of

Malaya. We can fight them with the help of our British and American friends but the end

result will be suffering, misery and distress. Therefore to prevent this most unhappy state of

affairs, the only course open to us would be to accept Singapore as a member of the

Federation of Malaya”.

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Ideological differences and distrust between both countries resulted in frequent

disagreement in politics, economics, financial and social policies. The conflict subsequently

spread to the populace. Generally, the political separation of the Merger arose from the

incompatibility of the political views of the Alliance which resulted in expulsion of Singapore

from the Federation and Singapore getting its independence on 9 August 1965.

At the beginning, Singapore thought the Merger with Malaysia was a solution to

many of its troubles. Singapore lacked natural resources and faced a declining entrepot

trade. Its population was growing resulting in demands for jobs. Besides that the Malaysian

government also imposed tariffs on goods traded between Singapore and Malaysia. The

PAP government thought that without the Merger, the problems faced by them will result in

the country being passed to the radicals thus leading to a Communist base in the centre of

Southeast Asia. The fear in such a state of affairs made the PAP look at the Merger as a

solution to resolve a stagnating economy, unemployment and security threats posed by the

revolutionary elements. Therefore, it was thought by the PAP government that the formation

of a new Alliance will eliminate trade taxes and allow a common free market, solving

economics and unemployment problems and that Singapore’s security would be safe-

guarded by Malaysia. But none of these came out of the Merger except disagreements,

differences, mistrusts among the leaders of both countries and tension among the populace.

Five days after the Merger, state elections were held on 21 September 1963. The

UMNO branch took part in the Singapore election as part of the Singapore Alliance Party

and they lost all their bids. The Peoples Action Party (PAP) was re-elected as the majority

party in the Legislative Assembly. This may be the beginning of disappointment of Federal

government resulting in the mistrust against the Singapore leaders.

After the Merger, Singapore had many political ideas which were not acceptable by

the Federal government. Conflicts over finances, revenues, a common market and politics

caused rifts in the relationship. Disagreements over the economic matters further strained

the relation between the Federal Government and Singapore. Singapore hoped to benefit

economically after the setting up of the Common-Market. This did not happen after the

Merger. Tarrifs were still imposed on Singapore-produced goods exported to the other states

in Malaysia. Malaysia delayed setting up a Common Market mainly because Singapore was

seen as an economical rival even though Singapore at that time was part of Malaysia. In the

book “Singapore: Struggle for Success” by John Dysdale, Goh Keng Swee made this point

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when he gave the example i.e. “when an electrical bulb factory was about to start production

in Singapore, the Central Government imposed taxes on electrical bulbs, including those in

Singapore. Its purpose was to protect a proposed electrical bulb factory to be started in

Malaya itself”. To make the situation worse, the Central Government made decisions to

introduce new taxes in Singapore and increase Singapore’s contribution of its revenue to the

Central Government from 40% to 60%. These decisions were seen as unfair by

Singaporeans.

The state and federal governments also had conflicts on the economic front. Despite

earlier agreement to establish a common market, Singapore continued to face restrictions

when trading with the rest of Malaysia. In retaliation, Singapore refused to provide Sabah

and Sarawak the full extent of the loans previously agreed to for the economic development

of the two eastern states. The Bank of China branch of Singapore was closed by the Central

Government in Kuala Lumpur as it was suspected to fund the communists in China. The

Bank of China had played an important role in Singapore’s trade with China. The situation

escalated to such intensity that talks soon broke down and abusive speeches and writings

became rife on both sides.

In December 1963, Lee Kuan Yew argued that the Malaysia budget created an

unequal distribution of wealth instead of improving social conditions. The merger did not

result in increased trade as anticipated by the PAP government. Instead, Indonesia’s boycott

cut off trade ties with Singapore. In December 1964, the Central Government demanded a

larger portion of Singapore’s revenues to meet increased defence expenditure which

resulted in further disagreements and confrontation on economic matters.

Singapore and Malaysia also had differences over political matters. UMNO leaders

feared that the economic dominance of Singapore would inevitably shift political power away

from Kuala Lumpur. After the Merger and with the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the Central

Government expected Singapore to adjust to the system that was already in place in Malaya

where many of the political parties were formed along racial lines. The ruling party in Kuala

Lumpur, The Alliance Party was formed by three communal parties. There were the United

Malayan Union Organisation (UMNO), Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan

Indian Congress (MCA). The main goal of each party was to look after the interests of their

own community even though the three parties formed The Alliance Party. However in

Singapore, the major political parties were multi-racial in outlook.

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In September 1963, a State election was held in Singapore. The Alliance leaders in

Kuala Lumpur wanted the Singapore Alliance (made up of Singapore branches of UMNO,

MCA and MIC) to win more seats in the Singapore Legislative Assembly. However, the PAP

won 37 out of 51 seats contested. UMNO had expected its candidates to retain their seats in

Geylang Serai, Kampong Kembangan and the Southern Islands, all of which had a Malay

majority. Nevertheless the Singapore Alliance lost all three seats to the PAP. This would

have been a major disappointment to UMNO.

After the 1963 state election, the Alliance leaders in Kuala Lumpur vowed to

reorganise the Singapore Alliance so as to defeat the PAP in the next election. Such

comments further affected the relationship between the PAP and the Alliance. This

relationship was further strained when the PAP decided to participate in the 1964 Federal

Election.

The breaking point was the PAP’s participation in the 1964 Malaysia elections. PAP

argued that it would be a more effective partner of UMNO within the Alliance instead of

MCA, as it would gain the support of the Chinese community. UMNO viewed this move as a

challenge to its Malay-based political system. MCA, on the other hand, felt that this was a

threat to their position in the Alliance. The PAP propaganda was to build a Malaysia that

would not think along the racial lines. Although PAP won only one seat in the elections, it

added to the number of Singapore representatives in the federal legislature, making PAP the

leading opposition party. Despite its victory, the alliance leaders were still upset with the PAP

for participating in the 1964 election. Thus the issue of PAP not looking after the interests of

the Malays in Singapore was raised which later resulted in racial tensions.

Racial tensions increased as the Chinese in Singapore disdained being discriminated

against by the federal policies of affirmative action, which granted special privileges to the

Malays guaranteed under Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia. There were also other

financial and economic benefits that were preferentially given to the Malays. The PAP and

other political leaders began advocating for the fair and equal treatment of all races in

Malaysia, with a rallying cry of "Malaysian Malaysia!".

Meanwhile, the Malays in Singapore were being increasingly incited by the federal

government's accusations that the PAP was mistreating the Malays. The external political

situation was also tense when Indonesian President Sukarno declared a state of Konfrontasi

(Confrontation) against Malaysia and initiated military and other actions against the new

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nation, including the bombing of MacDonald House in Singapore on 10 March 1965 by

Indonesian commandos, killing three people. Indonesia also conducted sedition activities to

provoke the Malays against the Chinese. Numerous racial riots resulted and curfews were

frequently imposed to restore order. The most notorious riots were the 1964 Race Riots that

first took place on Prophet Muhammad's birthday on 21 July with twenty three people killed

and hundreds injured. During the unrest, the price of food skyrocketed when transport

system was disrupted, causing further hardship for the people.

The PAP formed a Malaysia Solidarity Convention in May 1965 which combined

various opposition parties in Malaysia. It called for a democratic Malaysian Malaysia that

would be for all Malaysians and not one community. Members of UMNO’s right wing viewed

the Convention as a plot against Kuala Lumpur. Lee Kuan Yew’s open attacks against the

Central government sparked accusations that he was trying to seize power for himself. The

rifts between the Alliance and PAP worsened when UMNO openly supported the Barisan

Sosialis candidate in the Hong Lim by-election in Singapore.

On 7 August 1965, the two prime ministers met. Singapore was told to leave

Malaysia immediately. Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Toh Chin Chye and S Rajaratnam tried

unsuccessfully to persuade the Tunku to change his decision. The Tunku, saw the situation

as hopeless -- as soon as one issue was resolved, another cropped up. After much thought,

the Tunku was convinced that separation was the only way to settle their differences without

bloodshed. On 9 August 1965, Tunku Abdul Rahman issued a proclamation that Singapore

would cease to be a part of Malaysia and would become independent and separate. On that

day, a tearful Lee Kuan Yew announced on a televised press conference that Singapore was

a sovereign, independent nation. In a widely remembered quote, he uttered that: "For me, it

is a moment of anguish. All my life, my whole adult life, I have believed in merger and unity

of the two territories." The new state became the Republic of Singapore and Yusof bin

Ishak was appointed the first President

It was inevitable that Singapore’s interests did not coincide with the interests of the

Malaysian government. This divergence of interests finally led to the separation of Singapore

from Malaysia. They could not agree on a common economic free market, could not agree to

the taxes to be contributed by Singapore to the Federal Government and most importantly

they could not agree on whether all races are to be treated equally without any special

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privileges for the Malays. All these together with fact that in Malaysia including Singapore,

there were more Chinese than Malays made any compromise or agreement between the

Federal government in Kuala Lumpur and the Singapore government difficult to achieve.

THE END

By: ANUSHKA BALASKANDA

Reference: 1. Singapore From Settlement To Nation Pre 1819-1971

2. Straits Times – 1962, 1963, 1965 Edition

3. Singapore: “Struggle for Success” by John Dysdale

4. Internet Resource – Wikipedia – The Free Encyclopaedia.