AMKSS Chpt 8 (sec 2 hist)

A NG M O K IO S ECONDARY S CHOOL S ECONDARY 2 H ISTORY C HAPTER 8 (P ART I) – S INGAPORE ’ S R OAD TO M ERGER (1959-1963) Name: _____________________________ ( ) Class: _______ Date: __________ Why did the PAP government pursue a merger with Malaya? S TEP - BY -S TEP G UIDE TO T ACKLING “E XPLAIN ” Q UESTIONS Step 1: Read the question and identify what the question is asking for Highlight/Underline/Annotate accordingly Explain why Singapore wanted merger with Malaya. Step 2: Plan out your answer • Identify the (two) main points that you will address in the question • Provide details/examples to help your reader understand what the points are about • Explain, in a step-by-step manner, how the point is relevant to the question focus (i.e. how the point leads to the outcome) □ 1 Singapore wanted merger to be able to survive economically. [Sample] (Description) What is this about? (Explanation) How will merger allow this? Singapore is a small country with no Through merger with Malaya, Singapore natural resources. It relied on trade to would be able to enjoy a common create jobs for the people and support its market with Malaya and there will no economy. However, in the 1950s, longer be tariffs on trade. This would Malaya introduced tariffs on trade with increase the amount of trade and create Singapore, which made Singapore’s more jobs in Singapore to allow goods more expensive and reduced the Singapore to survive . volume of trade. This made it hard for Singapore to survive economically. □ 2 Singapore wanted merger to gain political independence from the British. (Description) What is this about? (Explanation) How will merger allow this?

After World War II (WWII) and during the Through merger with Malaya, Singapore Cold War, Britain feared that Southeast would be part of a bigger country and Asia would fall to communism. They there will be more resources to fight were not willing to let Singapore become against the communist . This makes the British feel more assured to let go of independent unless they were sure that Singapore , allowing Singapore to Singapore would not turn communist. become independent from the British. Page |1 What was Malaya’s response towards merger? • Before 1961, Malaya did not want merger. Number of Malays Number of Chinese Malaya 3.1 million 2.3 million Malaya + Singapore 3.4 million 3.6 million • Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Raman was afraid that the large Chinese population in Singapore would upset the racial balance of the Federation. o He was concerned that a predominantly Chinese population would not accept a Malay Sultan as their leader , or Malay as the national language • He also saw many of the Chinese in Singapore as pro-communists and was afraid they may spread communist ideas in Malaya if they merged. • By 1961, Tunku Abdul Rahman became more concerned about the split in the PAP between the moderates and the radicals. o In April 1961, then-Minister for National Development Ong Eng Guan resigned from the PAP. He then defeated the PAP as an independent candidate in the Hong Lim by election . o Tunku saw the PAP loss in the Hong Lim by-election as a sign of PAP losing power in Singapore and became more fearful of the communists seizing power in Singapore and using it as a base to spread Communism to Malaya . • On 27 May 1961, Tunku suggested the creation of a new federation through merger with Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo (Sabah) and Brunei. The inclusion of these colonies would ensure that the racial balance would not be upset , and that Tunku would have greater control in preventing communism from spreading from Singapore into Malaya . Number of Malays Number of Chinese Malaya 3.1 million 2.3 million

Malaya + Singapore 3.4 million 3.6 million Malaya + Singapore + Sabah + Sarawak + Brunei 4 million 3.7 million What were some responses towards the proposal for merger? • Brunei did not join the new Federation as the Sultan could not come to an agreement with the Malayan government over the economic terms of merger. • The Philippines laid claim on both North Borneo and Sarawak and objected merger. The Philippines eventually broke off relations with Malaysia in 1963. • Indonesia wanted North Borneo and Sarawak to come under its influence and opposed merger. o In January 1963, Indonesia launched Konfrontasi , a policy of confrontation involving armed raids in Sabah and Sarawak and bombings in Singapore. o Indonesia refused to recognise Malaysia and broke off all diplomatic and trade relations with Malaysia in 1963. • In Singapore, many of the pro-communist members within the People’s Action Party (PAP) objected merger. o The pro-communist (radicals) knew that merger meant communist activity would be monitored and contained, and they may be arrested and put away. o Some of them challenged Lee Kuan Yew’s leadership and were later expelled. o Some assemblymen who had been expelled from the PAP joined other radicals to form a new party: Barisan Sosialis Singapura (Socialist Front of Singapore) ▪ Lim Chin Siong (Secretary-General of Barisan Sosialis) ▪ Fong Swee Suan ▪ Lee Siew Choh (Chairman of Barisan Sosialis) Page |2 o The Barisan Sosialis actively campaigned against merger by arguing that Singapore would be treated as ‘second-class’ in the new Malaysia as under the proposed terms of merger: ▪ Singapore would be known as ‘federal nationals’ instead of ‘federal citizens’ ▪ Singapore could only vote in Singapore elections ▪ Singapore would be given 15 seats in the federal government but smaller states like North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak were given more seats despite their smaller population o In response, the PAP embarked on a campaign called ‘The Battle for Merger’ to convince people of the need for merger. o To safeguard the democratic process, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew called for a referendum to gauge the type of merger the people wanted

• On 16 September 1963, with 71% of the people supporting the PAP’s proposal for merger, the new nation of Malaysia came into existence. o It was made up of 14 states, including Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak, each with their own state government. What did merger mean for Singapore? ● Singapore merged with Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak to form the Federation of Malaysia on 16 Septembe