Singapore Separates from Malaysia
Singapore had joined Malaysia in 1963 precisely because independence alone was thought unviable: the island needed the federation's market and its security guarantee. The union failed within two years over the question of whether the new state would be organised around Malay primacy or the PAP's platform of a 'Malaysian Malaysia' in which no community held constitutional precedence. Communal riots in Singapore in 1964 and escalating confrontation between the PAP and UMNO convinced Tunku Abdul Rahman that separation was preferable to civil conflict, and the expulsion was agreed in secret and presented as accomplished. Lee Kuan Yew announced it in tears at a televised press conference. The new state's response was to convert its liabilities into a strategy: with no hinterland to serve, it courted multinational manufacturers directly; with no assured market, it made itself the region's port and financial entrepot; with no assured water, it made supply a permanent national-security question. Conscription was introduced within two years with Israeli assistance.
- Year: 1965 CE
- Category: Political
