Lee Kuan Yew, Forever a Singaporean, Once a Malaysian – Fikri Fisal - The Malays

Lee Kuan Yew, forever a Singaporean, once a Malaysian – Fikri Fisal - The Malaysian Insider

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/lee-kuan-yew-forever-a-singaporean-once-a-malaysian-fikri-fisal[2015-03-30 23:53:29]

Lee Kuan Yew, forever a Singaporean, once aMalaysian – Fikri Fisal

Published: 28 March 2015 8:06 PM

When an emotional Singapore prime minister Lee Hsien Loong announcedthe death of former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in several languages,including Malay, it reminded listeners of an overshadowed point.

The founding father of modern Singapore was also a Malaysian once. In fact, the creationof Malaysia owed much to him, and the separation of Singapore too.

The brief history of the Malaysian Lee Kuan Yew was a bitter yet significant moment in thehistory of the region.

The struggle to survive: calls for merger

While the current People's Action Party (PAP) government has created a reputation ofauthoritarianism, the PAP of 1961's history definitely told otherwise.

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Singapore in 1961 was a thriving free port but the island was not as economicallyimpressive as it is today. Virtually everyone recognises the necessity of a "natural" mergerwith Malaya for the island's survival.

Politically too, the island's strong leaning towards communism encouraged the British toensure that Singapore be absorbed into Malaya in an attempt to drown the forces of theLeft.

The Hong Lim by-election defeat on April 29, 1961 previewed the weakening of themoderate PAP leadership against the party's radical left.

Even worse was the Anson by-election debacle on July 15, where the party's left-wingfaction, led by the "Big Six" declared withdrawal of support to the PAP leadership a fewdays before the vote. With popular votes dropping to 36.7% instead of 60.7% in theprevious election, PAP lost Anson.

Lee Kuan Yew acted fast. Fearing a coup in the upcoming PAP conference, Lee went on theoffensive by calling a motion of confidence in the Legislative Assembly. Twenty-seven PAPmembers voted for, while 13 abstained.

Lee then sacked and suspended PAP figures that failed to show strong loyalty to hisleadership. The sacked members would form the base of PAP's opposition, Barisan Sosialiswhich was led by David Marshall.

Barisan Sosialis opposed merger, although they would change their mind realising thepopularity of merger within the public, while PAP advocated for it. Hence, the battlebetween the moderate leadership vs. radical leftists would be transformed to the battle foror against merger.

Across the straits however, Malaya's first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman was not tookeen with the idea of a Malaya-Singapore merger.

Convincing the Tunku: merger became Malaysia

The founding father of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman, was reluctant to openly support themerger because it would enfranchise enough Singaporean Chinese to disrupt the twothings that the Alliance leadership valued: Malay political dominance and interracialharmony.

Lee Kuan Yew shrewdly associated Barisan Sosialis with communism and told Tunku thatthere was no guarantee that the PAP government could stay in power.

A communist Singapore, Tunku feared, would be the base for ideological spreading intoconservative Malaya. It was also a nightmare in terms of national security as the islandcould potentially serve as a safe haven for communist militants.



Needless to say, Lee's communist scare tactic worked. But the Tunku would not accept amerger which would hurt Malay political dominance in Malaya.

Tunku's alternative was for a federation that would include the Borneo territories and thekingdom of Brunei. This would be called Malaysia.

The political leaders of these territories, A.M. Azahari of Brunei, Donald Stephens of northBorneo, and Ong Kee Hui of Sarawak, however, resisted this "colonisation" by Malaya.

It was only Lee Kuan Yew, besides the Alliance leaders, who openly supported Tunku'sMalaysian concept in its early stages. Against the British government who was unsure ofthe suitability of the Malaysian concept, Lee threatened, "If the British refused to budge,we can generate heat against them."

To increase pressure for immediate merger, Lee needed to prove that the merger was the"collective will" of the Singaporean people.

Lee would not risk exposing the weakness of the PAP by calling for a general electionespecially after the Hong Lim and Anson debacles. So, "collective will" in support of themerger was proven through the Singapore Referendum instead.

While the communist scare convinced Tunku of the necessity of a merger, the proof of"collective will" successfully pressured Tunku to increase his commitment for the merger.

Three days after the Singapore Referendum, Lee announced on radio that the battle for themerger is over. Malaysia was inevitable.

Two prime ministers, one country... a fragile trust

Cracks appeared even before the formation of Malaysia. Lee convinced the Borneoterritories to declare their de facto independence together with him on August 31 againstTunku's direct and open advice.

After Tunku condemned his unilateral action, Lee responded by saying that unlike Malaya,Singapore had to fight for independence while some people received power that had been"handed over on a silver platter with red ribbons by British Royalty in uniform," which hecalled as naïve.

Thinking of himself as the man with the mission of "educating Malaya", Lee's political styleand statements often antagonised the Malay community, who saw his party's actions as aChinese party attacking Malay communalism. His egalitarian call of "more equal society"was seen by Umno as communal politicking with the aim of attacking Malay privileges.

Lee also made no secret of his desire to supplant the MCA and be the Chineserepresentative party in the Alliance government as it realised that no party could rule



Malaysia without the support of the Malay mass base.

The PAP, said Lee, was the true urban defender as the Alliance led by Umno only defendedrural interests and MCA was only a party submissive to Umno.

He said: "The Chinese leadership in the Alliance as represented by the MCA isreplaceable."

Tunku chose to stand by the MCA.

On March 28, 1963, Lee began to hurl personal attacks on Tunku himself saying that thelatter was not of the right caliber to lead the nation. Tunku resented Lee's patronisingremarks about him such as "we have to save the Tunku from his so-called 'friends'."

But the serious breach of trust between the PAP and the Alliance occurred in 1964 whenLee broke his promise of goodwill to Tunku: the promise of staying out of Malayanelections. Lee made shameless attempts to split the Alliance, such as calling the MCA the"Money Collecting Association".

Confident with winning all the nine seats it was contesting, the PAP won only one, with amajority of a mere 808 votes in Malaysia's biggest constituency. The MCA, pronounceddead by the PAP, won 27 seats, 9 more than the 1959 elections.

Lee came out of the 1964 elections as the Alliance's political enemy. Tunku feared that thispolitical instability would eventually lead to a communal conflict.

The fear materialised on July 21, 1964, when communal riots broke out in Singapore.

In September, a two-year Alliance-PAP truce was made in which the PAP would stopraising sensitive Malay issues in public. However, rumours of secession had already begunto spread.

Separation: Singapore's only solution

Even with the political truce, economic arguments such as the portion of Singapore'scontribution to the Federal budget, the Federation's decision to boycott South Africanimports, and the closure of the Bank of China in Singapore, deteriorated cooperationbetween the two governments.

On December 1964, Tunku told a Singapore audience "If the politicians of various coloursand tinges in Singapore disagree with me, the only solution is a breakaway, but what acalamity that would be for Singapore and Malaysia."

Lee, realising now that the PAP's hopes of being part of the Alliance coalition hadevaporated, began plans to create an anti-Alliance coalition, which would be called



Malaysia Solidarity Convention (MSC).

While Lee's strategy in 1964 was to focus attacks on the MCA and accept Malay politicaldominance, Lee now through the MSC openly challenged Malay political dominance. Itwas on March 5, 1965 that the nation heard for the first time Lee's slogan of "MalaysianMalaysia".

Ironically, the MSC was no less communal in appearing to unite the non-Malays againstthe Malays. In fact, Lee's most racialist moment came on May 24, 1965 when he said "Letus be quite frank. Why should we go back to old Singapore and once again reduce the non-Malays in Malaya to a minority?"

On this moment, Lee was as much an "ultra" as those that he branded so, such as SyedJaafar Albar and Senu Abdul Rahman.

In Parliament two days later, after a heated argument between the Alliance and the PAP,Tun Tan Siew Sin said "So long as Mr Lee Kuan Yew is Prime Minister of Singapore... itwould be far easier for the camel to pass through the eye of the proverbial needle than forthe central government to cooperate with the government of Singapore."

Tunku did not say a word during the bitter exchanges.

Things zoomed so quickly after that. On July 22, 1965, then deputy prime minister TunAbdul Razak, Tun Dr Ismail, Tun Tan Siew Sin, and Tun V.T. Sambathan agreed that noagreement with Singapore could be reached and separation was the best option.

On August 7, Lee met Tunku at the latter's residence. The meeting was short. As he wasleaving, Lee told Tan Siew Sin, "Today is the day of your victory, the day of my defeat; butfive or 10 years later, you certainly will feel sad about it."

Two days later, all Alliance MPs were instructed to be present in Parliament for a "specialannouncement". Tunku told them of the break decision and appealed to the Sabah andSarawak MPs that their votes were necessary, as the Separation Bill required a two-thirdsmajority of the House. The bill passed 126 votes to nil. A few hours later, the Senate passedthe bill unanimously.

It will forever be debated whether the Separation was a planned breakaway, or an act ofexpulsion. Whatever the case, the author believes that Lee Kuan Yew was too smart to notrealise what the consequences of his actions would be.

As Dr Lim Chong Eu said, "When Tunku Abdul Rahman makes a mistake, people say it'simpossible; but when Lee Kuan Yew makes a mistake, people say it is impossible." – March28, 2015.

* Fikri Fisal is an amateur historian and currently a History senior at the University of



Michigan.

* Source used for this article is Nordin Sopiee's doctoral thesis at the University ofLondon, "From Malayan Union to Singapore Separation".

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarilyrepresent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

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Lee Kuan Yew, Forever a Singaporean, Once a Malaysian – Fikri Fisal - The Malays

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