I used to dislike Lee Kuan Yew. Only him, nothing to do with Singapore. Why? Because he had used the independence of Malaysia to get his own (and left us behind. XD). Get what I mean? After these Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. T. Sambathan (I had tried so hard to remember his name…) gained the independence from the British and two years later, Lee tried to get his own for Singapore.
Just finished watching the documentary on Discovery Channel titled “History of Singapore: An Accidental Nation” and realised stories told by the elders are not necessary true and that includes our Sejarah textbook as well…
Tunku Abdul Rahman mooted the idea of forming “Malaysia” with a merger of Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo (Sabah) and Brunei. Somehow, I don’t understand why Indonesia and Philliphines were against the idea. None of their business. Anyway, Sultan of Brunei liked the idea but not his people who staged an armed revolt. On Singapore side, Lee Kuan Yew supported the merger too but his opponents (the Singaporean Socialist Front) strongly opposed it. Anyhow, Malaysia was formed on August 31, 1963 which consisted of Singapore, Sabah and SarawakNow, this is the interesting part. After the merger, Lee from being the first became second after Tunku (Prime Minister of Malaysia). Minor problem. Then one day, Tunku visited a tyre factory and saw how hardworking those Chinese workers were and started to worries about his people back in the Peninsular. Before Malaysia, 70% of the total Singapre’s population were Chinese. After the merger, Tunku started to worried that Malays will soon become a minority in the country. Then he proposed and drafted a constitution for Malaysia which included the privileges of the Malays or Bumiputras.
“At the time of independence in 1957, the Malays were 55% of the population, the Chinese 35% and the Indians 10%. This equation was upset by the inclusion of Singapore, which increased the Chinese proportion to close to 40%.“
After that, there was a race riot between the Chinese and the Malays which provoked Tunku to demand that Singapore to withdraw from Malaysia. Parties argued among parties, this party challenged that party and soon Tunku called for a vote to expel Singapore from Malaysia. Lee Kuan Yew tried many attempts to keep Singapore in the union but on August 9, 1965, the Parliament of Malaysia voted 126-0. On that day, a tearful Lee Kuan Yew, announced that Singapore was a sovereign, independent nation and assumed the role of prime minister of the new nation. In his speech, he also said:
“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.“
There was a few minutes of silence as he was trying to get hold of himself, wiping tears.
Anyway, Singaporeans are very fortunate that Lee Kuan Yew did not insist any more to stay in the union. Otherwise, Singapore will not be the Singapore as today.
*Notes*
Above entry does not carry any mean of racist elements or whatsoever. It’s a part of the history. XD
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