1. Separation of Singapore and
Malaysia due to racial problems
The reasons of the separation of Singapore and
Malaysia:
There were disagreements over the treatment of the Malays the pap did not
support the policy of the central government which gave special privileges the
Malays in the Malaysian states. Singapore joined Malaysia hoping to enjoy the
economical benefits after the set up of the common market. The delay in setting
up the common market was partly due the fact that Singapore was seen as an
economic rival even though it was a part of Malaysia. The central government in
Kuala Lumpur expected Singapore to adjust to the system that was already in
place in Malaya where the number of political parties where formed along the
racial lines. Parties such as UMNO, MCA, and MIC were formed. Even though
the three parties got together during the elections, the main goal of each party
was to look after the interests of their own community, when there was the
federal election in1964 took place.
During the elections, the pap declared that one of its goals was to help build
Malaysia that would not think along the racial lines. Even though pap attracted
large crowds, the alliance party won only 89 seats out of 104 seat parliament.
After the victory of the alliance party, UMNO felt that it was time to win back the
votes of the Malays in Singapore. Some UMNO leaders began to criticize he pap
government for not looking after the interests of the Malays in Singapore. Then
the anti-pap campaign began. In order to get to get the project started, some
2,500 families had to be settled. Of these were 200 Malays. The Malays claimed
that 3,000 Malays were affected by the resettlement project. On 12th July 1964,
the secretary- general of UMNO made an anti-pap speech. He complained that
the pap government had neglected the Malays in Singapore. This led to racial
tensions. On 21st July 1964, 25,000 Malays gathered at the Padang to celebrate
prophet Mohammed’s birthday. However, the celebrations soon turned into a
racial riot. 23 people died and 454 people got injured. After the riots, Toh Chin
Chye also announced publicity that the alliance and the pap had agreed not to
challenge each other politically for the next 2 years. In may 1965, the pap
brought together four other Malaysian opposition parties to form the Malaysian
solidarity party convection. The UMNO were very angry with pap that they even
wanted to arrest Lee Kuan Yew. By mid 1965, the Tunku was afraid that the
racial clashes were likely to happen again if the differences between the alliance
and the pap were not resolved. He realized that the disagreements could not be
settled. Therefore, Tunku thought it was best for Singapore to leave Malaysia.