Malaysia-Singapore Merger Timeline (1957-1965) PDF

following from attainment of full internal self-government in 1959, the new PAP government successfully ursula a merger of singapore with malaya, sabah and sarawak, forming the federation of malaysia timeline year event 1957 malaya gains independence from britain...

following from attainment of full internal self-government in 1959, the new PAP government successfully ursula a merger of singapore with malaya, sabah and sarawak, forming the federation of malaysia timeline year event 1957 malaya gains independence from britain 1959 PAP wins 1959 election 1961 tunku abdul rahman announces proposals for a merger of malaya, singapore, north borneo, brunei and sarawak the barisan socialist (socialist front) is established and opposes the proposed merger the hong lim by-election is held 1962 the cobbold commission finds that two-thirds of the people in north borneo and sarawak are in favour of the merger a referendum (vote) is held on the proposed merger 1963 kontanfrasi (confrontation) begins when indonesia opposes the ofrmation of the federation of malaysia operation coldstore is launched by the internal security council the federation of malaysia is formed the PAP emerges victorious in the 1963 1964 the PAP takes part in the 1964 federal election but only wins one seat clashes on prophet muhammad’s birthday spark riots across singapore 1965 singapore attains independence the malaysian solidarity convention is formed to push for a ’malaysian malaysia’ why was the merger pursued by the PAP government? PAPs 1959 election promis included achieving independence for singapore through merger with malaya merger with malaya was deemed necessary for singapore to achieve political independence as it was the only way the british would let go of control over singapore during the cold war, britain feared that southeast asia would fall under communist control, to safeguard singapore and borneo territories, the british sought to provide greater political stability through the formation of a new federation (ehich turned out to be the malaysia federation) economic survival singapore did not appear to have a promising economic future if left on its own ○ lacked natural resources ○ had rapidly growing population in need of jobs ○ faced a declining entrepôt trade if a common market could be established through the merger, trade would increase and more jobs could be created for the people malaya’s initial response  initial hesitation however, it eventually turned around and accepted the possibility of merger despite the doubts there was concern that the predominantly chinese population in singapore might be reluctant to accept a malay sultan as their head of state, use malay as the national language or accept islam as their state religion there was also concern about changes to the racial makeup in a new federation, as a merger with singapore alone meant that combined chinese population would outnumber the malays the tunku also suspected that many chinese in singapore had sympathies for the communists, given that many of them had led and supported the strikes of 1950s (he was worried that such attitudes would spread to the rest of the new federation fear of an independent, communist-inspired singapore malaya had a representative on singapore’s internal security council the tunku was concerned that is singapore became in independent state, malaya would no longer have that representative and thus lose influence over security mattered in singapore that, together with the absence of a colonial government could make the threat of communism in singapore harder to contain the tunku was also concerned that the PAP might be taken over by members who were sympathetic towards communism the tunku also realised that singapore would probably be less dangerous once it became part of malaysia as the communist elements in singapore could be controlled by the government in malaysia the tunku feared that it singapore became in independent country that turned communist, it could influence others to consider a communist government as an alternative hong lim by-election held in april 1961 further fuelled the tunku’s fears and led him to support the idea of a merger the hong lim area was represented by PAPs ong eng huan who served a mayor of singapore city council. after winning a seat in the legislative assembly in the 1959 election, he was appointed minister for national development, but by 1960, ong had started to fall out of favour within the PAP because his actions as minister were not in line with the partys directions in june 1960, when ong openly challenged the PAP leadership at one of its party conferences, he was suspended as minister. he was later expelled from the party and made to resin his seat in the legislative assembly ○ this triggered the hong lim by-election ○ ong contested as an independent candidate and defeated the PAPs candidate with 73.3% of the vote the by-election worried the tunku as it pointed to the increasing divide within the PAP ○ one group had moderate views and wanted to bring about political change gradually through elections while the other (including ong) had radical views and pushed for drastic changes (willing to take more forceful measures to achieve their aim) ○ to the tunku, the moderate group was losing its influence in the PAP, increasing his fear that the radical group would gain control of the party, raising the prospect that they wanted to free singapore from british colonial rule by establishing a communist government through forceful means ○ the tunku was also concerned that singapore would be used as a base to spread communist ideas in malaya agreement on proposed merger a month after the hong lim by-election, the tunku signaled his change of heart in a speech on 27 may 2961  ○ he highlighted the prospect of a merger between malaya and singapore as part of the formation of a new federation including brunei, north borneo and sarawak ○ bringing in these territories would help to offset singapore’s chinese majority shortly after, singapore’s prime minister LKY declared his support for the tunku’s suggestion ○ they began discussions ○ however, the radical group within the PAP objected to the merger as they felt that once singapore became independent through merger, they would be put down by the federal government in malay, who controlled internal security ○ the radical group decided to sabotage the PAP by asking voters to support the opposition candidates instead ○ this resulted in the PAP candidate losing the anson by-election on 15 july 1961, which sealed the tunku’s commitment to the formation of malaysia on 24 august 1961, LKY and the tunku came to an agreement on the broad terms of merger ○ according to it, singapore would have a special status in malaysia (see below) key points of merger 1. singapore would have its own head of state 2. singapore citizens would be given the title of ‘federal nationals’ instead of federal citizens 3. singapore could hold its own elections to choose its own state government (singapore citizens would only be able to vote in these elections) 4. singapore would collect its own revenue and pay kula lampur in an agreed-upon sum (to cover the cost of federal services such as telecommunications, defence and security) 5. singapore would have control over its education and labour matters, and its own civil service 6. the federal government, stationed in kuala lampur, would oversee singapore’s defence, internal security and dealings with foreign governments end result everyone agreed to broad terms of merger in the end !! (the tunku, PAP and the british) ○ however, it was still met with fierce opposition from some groups within singapore (including ong, lim chin siong and fong swee suan, in the radical group in PAP) ○ they felt that the terms were unfavourable to the people in singapore and tried to get support from other PAP members to challenge LKYs leadership ○ they did not succeed and were expelled from the group and established a new party - the barisan socialis singapura (socialist print of singapore) barisan socialis opposed the merger for several reasons the status of singapore population within the new federation citizenship would not automatically be granted to singapore citizens they would only be known as ‘federal nationals’ and could only vote in singapore elections location of seats in the federal parliament in exchange for having control over its education and labour, singapore would only have 15 seats the barisan socialis felt that the under-representation of singapore in the malaysian parliament was a sign of its second-class status in sept 1961, they started a campaign to oppose the proposed merger ○ student demonstrations and labour strikes were organised ○ several party leaders also participated in radio forums to debate issues surrounding the proposed merger PAPs campaign PAP embarked on a year-long campaign to convince the people of the need of their merger ○ from sept to oct 1961, LKY gave a series of radio talks called ‘the battle for merger’, these allowed him to reach people in singapore, brunei, malaya, north borneo and sarawak, becoming an important feature of a keenly contested battle for the hearts and minds of people ○ they also used exhibitions to highlight the benefits of a merger, aiming to showcase the close cultural and social ties among territories, exposing visitors to the lives and cultures of the people as well as the trade and commerce of the territories refenderum (direct vote on the issue of merger) held on sept 1 1962 following the end of these campaigns the purpose was to find out what type of merger the people in singapore wanted the three options given (shortened): 1. support merger giving singapore autonomy in labour, education and other agreed matters with singapore citizens automatically becoming citizens of malaysia 2. support the complete and unconditional merger for singapore as a state on an equal basis with the other eleven states 3. support singapore entering malaysia on terms no less favourable than those given to the borneo territories PAPs preferred option was the first one while the barisan socialis opposed all three and urged the people to cast blank votes ○ in the end, 70.8% of the people voted for the first one ○ the results were a clear indication of the peoples support for the governments position and most voters rejected the barisan sosialis’ call to cast blank votes weakening of barisan sosialis they were accused of attempting to sabotage the formation of malaysia, and planing to launch an uprising in singapore the series of arrests was code-named operation coldstore after the arrests of its leaders weakened the barisan sosialis, they suffered defeat in the 1963 election,only winning 13 seats