<\/p>\nlaunched by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong<\/p>\n
<\/a> on Dec 7, draws on papers that then Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee kept in a file he code-named \u201cAlbatross\u201d, as well as oral history interviews with Singapore\u2019s founding leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Goh saw Malaysia as an \u201calbatross\u201d because the hoped-for prosperity and partnership of merger quickly gave way to tensions over race and competing visions of Malaysia\u2019s future. These strains deepened after two racial riots in Singapore in 1964.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From mid-1964, negotiations between Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Goh and Malaysian leaders \u2013 including Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Razak \u2013 swung between proposals for cooperation and attempts at constitutional rearrangements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tunku signalled a desire to \u201chive off\u201d Singapore, while disputes over parliamentary representation, taxation, internal security and the People\u2019s Action Party\u2019s (PAP) role in Malaysia stalled progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n
British pressure further complicated the talks, as did Indonesia\u2019s Konfrontasi campaign against the Federation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This timeline, based on the chronology detailed in the book, zooms in on the critical three weeks leading up to Aug 9, 1965.<\/p>\n
Dr Goh meets Tun Razak, Minister of Home Affairs Ismail Abdul Rahman, and Umno secretary-general Syed Jaffar Albar in Kuala Lumpur.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Asked by Tun Razak for ideas to tackle the strained relationship, Dr Goh suggests going \u201cour separate ways \u2026 we leave Malaysia, become an independent state, and you\u2019ll be relieved of all these troubles and we would have also been relieved of troubles from you… We\u2019re on our own, you\u2019re on your own\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tun Razak asks Dr Goh to talk to Mr Lee to see if he is \u201cwilling to go along with\u201d this proposal.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee, briefed by Dr Goh on his meeting, tells Dr Goh that anything is worth trying to avoid a racial collision and to try \u201call the possible alternatives\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\nMalaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Razak (second from left) and Malaysian federal ministers V. T. Sambanthan and Tan Siew Sin (flanking Mr Lee Kuan Yew) visited Kampong Chai Chee and Paya Lebar on July 25, 1964 \u2013 four days after racial riots erupted in Singapore.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
By late October or by November 1964, Mr Lee had already come to the conclusion that \u201cwe just could not carry on\u201d, he said in his oral history.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had come to the conclusion that if we wanted to avoid further riots, further irritations, friction between them and us at the top, and then their subordinates or their henchmen \u2026 working up Malay extremists and causing riots here, and we spreading the discontent and the sense of outrage and injustice up to Malaya, there must be some disengagement, a toning down of tempers and a diminution of the areas of friction and conflict\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee also asks Law Minister E. W. Barker to begin drafting the Separation documents. Mr Barker goes to the Law Library of the University of Singapore to look for precedents.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI found one \u2013 that was the break-up of the Federation of the West Indies,\u201d Mr Barker said in his oral history.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were three documents to be drafted \u2013 an Agreement to Separate; an amendment to the Malaysian Constitution to allow Singapore to separate, as the Constitution only provided for states to join Malaysia but not to leave; and a Proclamation of Independence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Those in the know about this were kept to a bare minimum.<\/p>\n
Dr Goh meets Tun Razak and Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur and confirms Mr Lee is agreeable to Singapore seceding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Goh secures their agreement on three issues: It must be done very quickly, and very quietly, and \u201cpresented as a fait accompli to the British\u201d; the constitutional amendments should be passed no later than Aug 9, when the Federal Parliament reconvenes; and Mr Barker will draft the legal documents and show them to Malaysia\u2019s ministers in a week to 10 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Goh says that on the Singapore side, only he, Mr Lee, Mr Barker and National Development Minister Lim Kim San \u2013 whom the Tunku had confided in June 1965 about his growing desire to remove Singapore from Malaysia \u2013 are privy to this proposal.<\/p>\n\n\nMalaysia Acting Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak during a visit to Singapore, on July 24, 1965.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Mr Ghazali Shafie, secretary-general of Malaysia\u2019s Ministry of External Affairs, gives Dr Goh a message from the Tunku The Malaysian Solidarity Convention is held at the National Theatre. The grouping of six political parties from Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, led by the PAP, endorses the idea of a \u201cMalaysian Malaysia\u201d where all citizens are equal.<\/p>\n
At Dr Goh\u2019s request, Mr Lee gives him a letter authorising him to discuss with Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail and federal ministers of comparable authority \u201cany proposal for any constitutional rearrangements of Malaysia\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee adds in the letter: \u201dIn the event of a leakage taking place, he (Dr Goh) is to deny any allegation of any agreement on his part.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the event of the federal ministers concerned agreeing to passing the constitutional amendments in Parliament to give effect to such rearrangements, Singapore\u2019s approval is conditional only if the processes are such as to carry this out in the shortest possible time with the minimum risk of leakage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Goh meets Tun Razak in Singapore to formalise the Separation process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Although Tun Razak appears to doubt that the Independence Bill can be presented to the Federal Parliament on Aug 9 as he does not expect the Tunku to \u201crush matters\u201d after the Tunku\u2019s return to Kuala Lumpur from London, scheduled for Aug 4, Tun Razak wants Mr Barker to complete the draft documents as none of his confidants can do the job.<\/p>\n\n\nIn April 1965, Mr Lee Kuan Yew returned to Singapore after a three-week official visit to Australia and New Zealand, and was welcomed by PAP members and supporters, including Dr Goh Keng Swee and Dr Toh Chin Chye.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Mr Lee attends a PAP rally in Kuala Lumpur, meets High Commissioner to Malaysia Antony Head, and finds Mr Head has not gotten \u201ca whiff\u201d of the Separation talks.<\/p>\n
Dr Goh meets Tun Razak, with Tun Dr Ismail present, and is told the Tunku agrees to Separation on two conditions: Singapore is to make a military contribution to Malaysia\u2019s defence and enter into a defence agreement with Malaysia, and Singapore must not enter into any treaty that counters the proposed defence agreement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He returns to Singapore and calls Mr Lee, who is on his annual holiday with his family in Cameron Highlands, to update him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dr Goh also discusses with Mr Barker the new points to include in the Separation documents.<\/p>\n
In his oral history, Dr Goh said: \u201cOnce the meeting of Aug 3 had been concluded, I knew that Separation was on. In chess, there\u2019s a term called, you know, a won game. So and so had a won game; the rest is a matter of technique. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words, you just play carefully and you\u2019ll win. So far as I was concerned, my contribution ended with the last meeting with Razak. And the rest was a matter of technique \u2014 that is, to polish up the draft Bill, to sign the Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Tunku returns from Europe, his flight arriving 12 hours late because of plane engine trouble.<\/p>\n\n\nTunku Abdul Rahman.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The Tunku meets his senior ministers in Kuala Lumpur and agrees on Separation. Mr Lee arrives in Kuala Lumpur from Cameron Highlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He meets Dr Goh and Mr Barker at Temasek House \u2013 the Singapore state guest house \u2013 to sign off on Mr Barker\u2019s latest drafts.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They agree that they would hide Mr Lee\u2019s presence in Kuala Lumpur from the Malaysians and maintain the ruse that he was still on holiday in Cameron Highlands. Dr Goh and Mr Barker go to Tun Razak\u2019s office at 4pm, where the drafts are studied and approved by Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail and Malaysian Attorney-General Kadir Yusof.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his oral history, Mr Barker said: \u201cWe showed them the drafts. After perusal, they were satisfied. Razak asked who the draughtsman was and on being told, paid me a compliment by saying that he would offer me a legal job in Malaysia anytime I wanted it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\nMr E.W Barker.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
The documents had to be printed during the weekend and the Bill taken through Parliament and the Senate in one day, namely Aug 9, 1965. \u201cWe advised them to call their printers to work in the Government Printing Office on Sunday, lock them in until Monday morning and cut off all means of communication.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Incidentally, this was what we also did in Singapore on Sunday, August 8,\u201d Mr Barker said.<\/p>\n
Later, they go to Tun Razak\u2019s home, where Malaysian Finance Minister Tan Siew Sin and V.T. Sambanthan, the Malaysian Minister of Works, Posts and Telecommunications, join them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tun Tan insists on a clause to release Malaysia from liabilities and obligations entered into by Singapore while in Malaysia, and Dr Goh asks for another clause to provide for both countries to cooperate in economic matters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Mr Lee\u2019s agreement is secured by phone, Mr Barker drafts both clauses.<\/p>\n
In his oral history, Mr Barker said: \u201cAll this while, the Malaysians thought that our Prime Minister was in Cameron Highlands. I remember Razak turning to me and asking: \u2018Eddie, as an old friend, can you assure me that Harry will sign?\u2019 I said that he would. And (I) further said that our Prime Minister was leaving that night by car from Cameron Highlands and would be in Kuala Lumpur the next morning. Sambanthan then said sarcastically, \u2018I thought you chaps said in Parliament that our roads were bad?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ate and we drank till past midnight. The documents were ready soon thereafter, and hence, the agreement was dated the 7th day of August 1965. Not one of them read the document. Razak was the first to sign, followed by Ismail, Siew Sin and Sambanthan. Goh also signed without reading the document. I was a little tipsy but decided to read the agreement, lest there were mistakes. Razak asked me what I was afraid of as it was my typist who typed the documents. I stopped reading and signed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In his oral history, Dr Goh said: \u201cAt the end of the meeting on 6 August when I knew that the thing had been buttoned up, I was so relieved that I was sweating profusely although we were in an air-conditioned room. Razak was greatly relieved and, you know, passed round drinks to celebrate the occasion. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo when he found me sweating, he said: \u2018Well, I\u2019ll give you a shirt.\u2019 A sports shirt, which I still keep with me today \u2013 very high quality, British-made sports shirt\u2026 I changed there and then. Felt like a prisoner condemned to death and had a last-minute reprieve. Such were my feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Separation Agreement is signed by the negotiating ministers from both sides at Tun Razak\u2019s home in Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Goh and Mr Barker return to Temasek House and hand the documents to Mr Lee, who says: \u201cThank you Eddie. This is a bloodless coup.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\nThe Proclamation of Singapore was drafted by then Minister for Law E.W. Barker. Singapore, on Aug 9, 1965, separated from Malaysia following an amendment to the Constitution approved unanimously by both Houses of Parliament under a certificate of urgency.<\/p>\n
ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
In his oral history, Mr Lee said: \u201cWe did something quite remarkable \u2013 a constitutional coup right under the noses of the British, the Australians and New Zealanders who were defending Malaysia with their blood and treasure. I did not want to do it. The Tunku forced us into a position where we either acquiesced in his policies, or we took a stand. We took a stand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee summons Dr Toh Chin Chye and Mr S. Rajaratnam to travel separately to Temasek House in Kuala Lumpur, and breaks the news of Separation to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They take a few hours to contemplate as they do not wish to sign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At noon, Mr Lee goes to Tunku\u2019s Residency to see if the Tunku might be prepared to accept a looser federation or confederation, but is told by the Malaysian Prime Minister: \u201cThere is no other way now. I have made up my mind, you go your way, we go our own way.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee then secures the Tunku\u2019s agreement on several points, namely no leakage to the British, and PAP members to be absent from Parliament on Aug 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As Dr Toh and Mr Rajaratnam still do not wish to sign, Mr Lee returns to the Residency to ask the Tunku to see them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Tunku instead writes a letter to Dr Toh, saying that Separation cannot be delayed as the Tunku himself is not strong enough \u201cto exercise complete control of the situation\u201d and \u201cthe amicable settlement of our differences in this way is the only possible way out\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Mr Lee, handing the Tunku\u2019s letter to Dr Toh, says that he will not proceed with Separation if Dr Toh does not accept it, but both Dr Toh and Mr Rajaratnam must take responsibility if racial clashes break out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After Dr Toh signs, Mr Rajaratnam signs. Mr Ong Pang Boon and Mr Othman Wok, who are also in Kuala Lumpur, sign the agreement in Temasek House as well. Dr Toh writes to the Tunku, accepting \u201cthe expulsion of Singapore from the Federation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Lee meets the Tunku early in the morning to sign a document Mr Lee prepared, summarising the points agreed between them during their meetings on Aug 7, to ensure the parliamentary process does not get \u201cjammed up\u201d and that in the event of trouble in Singapore, the Malaysian Government will respond immediately with multiracial troops like the Reconnaissance Regiment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n At his own press conference in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew called on his people to remain firm and calm.<\/p>\n
PHOTO: ST FILE<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Mr Lee flies home to Singapore to secure the signatures of the remaining Cabinet ministers on two sets of the Separation Agreement, one of which he sends back to Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
The independence of Singapore is proclaimed over radio at 10am.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE \u2013 On Sept 16, 1963, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia. Less than two years later, on Aug 9, 1965, it left to become…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}