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SINGAPORE \u2013 Values such as clear-eyed leadership, courage, and an unwavering focus on our national interest must continue to guide Singapore, so that the country can continue to thrive, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.<\/p>\n
In a Facebook post about <\/p>\n The Albatross File: Singapore\u2019s Independence Declassified exhibition<\/p>\n <\/a> on Dec 10, PM Wong said: \u201cToday, as we commemorate SG60, we stand tall and proud. Yet we should remember how easily things could have taken a very different turn.<\/p>\n \u201cAll this reaffirms a deeper truth: Singapore\u2019s survival and success were never guaranteed. They were hard-won \u2013 through clear-eyed leadership, courage, and an unwavering focus on our national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n The free exhibition is based on a collection of previously classified Cabinet papers and documents kept by then Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee from 1964, including handwritten notes about his negotiations with federal leaders to take Singapore out of Malaysia.<\/p>\n The Albatross File is also featured in a new book <\/p>\n The Albatross File: Inside Separation<\/p>\n <\/a> which shows how an off-the-cuff remark by Dr Goh on July 15, 1965, set off a chain of moves that led to the proclamation, at 10am on Aug 9, that \u201cSingapore shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation\u201d.<\/p>\n