Y2 History Unit 3

When did Malaya gain independence from Britain?

1957

When did PAP win the election and propose merger to Tunku?

1959

When did Tunku announce proposals for a merger?

1961

What 5 places were included in the merger?

• Malaya

• Singapore

• North Borneo

• Brunei

  • Sarawak

What did the Hong Lim by-election cause? (And who won)

Ong Eng Guan (independent candidate) won

Seemed that moderate group was losing influence on PAP

instead PAP was being influenced by radical group (including Ong) that pushed fro drastic changes and forceful measures

What were the two sides to merger and how were they promoted?

Opposition - Barisan Sosialis

Support - Lee Kuan Yew (radio talks called The Battle for Merger)

when did the referendum happen and what is it about?

it happened in 1962

Voting on which type of merger people want

Barisan Sosialis did not like cause ALL options say yes to merger, so they told people to cast blank votes

PAP preferred for people to vote option A

But in the end PAP won so merger happened

Why did PAP pursue a merger with Malaya? (Political independence)

• British would only grant Singapore independence if it merged with Malaya

• British did not want to let Singapore gain communist control

  • Therefore British were pushing to form a federation comprising Malaya, Singapore and North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Brunei

Why did the PAP pursue a merger with Malaya? (Economic survival)

• Singapore would not survive economically on its own

  • it lacked natural resources

  • had a rapidly growing population in need of jobs

• Neighbours were becoming independent and wanted to direct their exports through their own ports, SG was less significant as a port

• There were also tariffs between trade from Malaya and Singapore, making it undesirable to trade

  • Merger was IMPORTANT to increase trade and open more job opportunities

1. Why was Malaya not interested in the idea of Merger before 1961?

1. the issue of racial imbalance

   1. Singapore has about 1 million Chinese, inclusion of this 1 million into the Federation would upset the racial balance of power in the Federation

      1. Singapore has too many pro-communists who are supported by the Chinese in Singapore

Why did Malaya/Tunku change his mind about merger?

• Fear of an independent, communist-influenced Singapore

  • Malaya had a representative on the Internal Security Council

    • scared that they would no longer have a representative and lose influence over security matters in SG

    • would make the threat of communism harder to maintain

  • PAP might be taken over by members who were sympathetic towards communism

    • would result in a SG government less willing to consider a merger on terms acceptable to Malaya

  • SG would be less dangerous once it became part of Malaya

    • the communist elements in SG could be controlled by government in Malaya

    • feared that if SG became in independent country that turned communist, it could influence others to consider a communist government as an alternative

what was operation coldstore about

It was about arresting the members of Barisan Sosialis to weaken them

What were the agreed terms of merger?

• Common Market established in Singapore

• Singapore to provide $150 million loan

• Singapore to collect its own revenue and pay Federal Government an agreed amount as taxes

Singapore to relinquish control over foreign affairs, defence and internal security to Federal Government

• Singapore given autonomy over labour and education 

• Singapore may administer own finances, but Federal Government policies may intervene

• Singapore to be allocated only 15 seats in Federal Parliament (not proportional to population)

• Singapore retained its own civil service separate from Federal civil service 

• Singapore to contribute 40% of its income from revenue to Federal Government as taxes

What were some economic reasons for separations?

• The Central Government delayed the setting up of the Common Market

  • federal government continued imposing tariffs on Singapore-made goods to protect Malay’s industries

    • meant Singapore’s products became more expensive and could not compete with the locally made goods in the federation

Also

1. Disagreement over Singapore’s contribution to the federal government

• Singapore felt that this was an unfair decision since its original contribution was already a larger proportion of the revenue.

Singapore’s expectations	What actually happened
Common market would be set up for its long term economic survival Tariffs on Singapore-made goods would be removed	There was a delay in setting up the common market Tariffs continued to be imposed on Singapore-made goods to protect some of Malaya’s industries
Singapore would contribute 40% of its revenue to the federal government	The federal government increased Singapore’s contribution to 60% Singapore felt that the decision was unfair and that its original contribution was sufficient
Singapore’s major political parties, such as PAP, were multiracial and sought to represent the interests of all communities	The federal government was formed by the Alliance Party, which comprised of three communal based (race based) parties, UMNO, MCA and MIC These parties sought to look after the interests of their respective ethnic communities.
Singapore’s government felt that everyone regardless of race, should be given an equal opportunity to succeed It believed that the best way of enabling Malays to gain better employment opportunities was by providing free education	Special privileges in employment, business and education were given to the Malays with the aim of improving their economic and social position For example, a certain number of jobs in the government were reserved for Malays

• Singapore was seen as an economic rival for Malaya

  • Malaysia federal budget on Nov 194 aimed to raise $147 million for Konfrontasi through taxes that hit businesses quite hard

  • was calculated that SG tax payers would end up contributing nearly 40% of this even though it made up 17% of the population

What were political reasons for separation?

Background:

Singapore -> non communal ideals based on multiracialism

Malaya -> communal ideals based on special right and priviledges for Malays

This resulted in a formation of the Alliance Party along racial lines:

• UMNO (United Malays National Organisation)

• MCA (Malayan Chinese Association)

• MIC (Malayan Indian Congress)

1. Communism vs Multiracialism

• Tensions from conflicting political approaches by UMNO on one hand and PAP on the other hand

  • PAP adopted a non-communal political approach based on multiracialism. PAP wanted to represent the interests of all racial communities

  • But UMNO was a communal approach, pro-Malay. UMNO sought to protect Malay interests and believed that political parties should protect the interests of their respective ethnic communities.

• UMNO and PAP competed against each other, creating tensions and viewing each other as political rivals.

  • But then in the 1963 elections, UMNO thought they would win Malay majority areas in SG. BUT NO they lost all their seats in SG so basically no one in SG supported them not even Malays (too bad) 

  • the end UMNO was like ugh i give up on Singapore PAP is too annoyingly powerful

  • UMNO started making anti-PAP newspaper (Utusan Melayu) with fake news that PAP is not taking care of the Malays