SINGAPORE
From Crown Colony to
Independent Nation
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10.
Post-War Political Changes
in Singapore
Post-War Political Changes
in Malaysia
Malaysia
The Road to Merger
Negotiations and Points of
Agreement
External Pressures
Formation of Malaysia
Trouble in Malaysia
Separation
Facing the Future
1.
Post-War Political
Changes in Singapore
 British Reluctance to Grant
Independence
 Communist Threat
 Defence of British Interest
 Economy
 A Non-Communal Party
1954 ANTI-NATIONAL SERVICE RIOT
1955 HOCK LEE BUS RIOTS
 1955 : 275 strikes in all
 One strike that turned violent was the Hock Lee Bus
strike
1955 HOCK LEE BUS RIOTS
1956 SINGAPORE CHINESE MIDDLE
SCHOOL STUDENTS’ UNION RIOTS
The Singapore Naval Base
2. POST-WAR POLITICAL CHANGES IN
• The Malayan Union Scheme
• The Federation of Malaya
• Communal Based Political Parties
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Why a Malayan Union?
 Before WWII : British divided Malaya into the
Federated and Unfederated Malay States, and the
Straits Settlements
 Different degrees of British control
 MU a British initiative in Apr 1946
 Remove the different degrees of control
 Create a united Malaya out of 9 states, Penang
and Malacca
 Singapore was not included
 Creating a new united Malaya also meant
transferring powers of Sultans to a new central
authority, the British Governor
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Why a Malayan Union?
 Scheme also granted Malayan citizenship to a
large number of non-Malays
 Previously, they were not given citizenship rights
 Allow Britain to recognise their contributions to
the Malayan economy and their support during
the war years
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Features of the MU
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9 + 1 + 1 = Malayan Union
Singapore was excluded. Why so special?
Governor of Union has full powers, including veto
Governor-General over Malaya, S’pore and Borneo
Sultans - become Advisors; sit on Council of Rulers
State Councils
Executive and Legislative Councils
Citizenship open to all races ie to large numbers of non-Malays
who were not given citizenship rights previously
• Equal rights
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Implications of the Plan
• British Government took over the government
• Sultans would become figure-heads without
any authority
• Citizenship would end the preferential status of
the Malays
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Malay Opposition to the MU
- Criticisms over Citizenship
non-Malays would enjoy
the same rights as Malays
- Right to vote for an independent Malaya
- Position of Sultans weakened/threatened
- Special position of Malays in Malaya would be
threatened if the Sultans’ powers were
transferred to the British Governor
- Fear of Losing Malay Rights and privileges
- British high-handedness
- Threat to Malay traditional rights, status and
position in Malaya
GUESS WHO?
• I was now in my early 20s and started what was to
become a lifelong involvement in politics. I got together
with my classmates and quietly we began agitating
against the Malayan Union proposal. We were not
allowed to be involved in political activity, so most of
our work took place at night. Immediately after the war,
the blackout of the town was still in effect, and we
moved around in the middle of the night putting up
posters with political messages. Our objectives were still
very limited; all we were trying to do was to put an end
to the Malayan Union and return to protectorate status.
We were very young and had a lot to learn about
organization, about campaigning and about how to rally
people for public meetings. We had to devise ways of
overcoming repression and a shortage of funds.
THE MALAYAN UNION
• Formation of UMNO
– Formed in 1946 to oppose the MU
scheme
• Led to abolishment of the MU
Establishment of the
Federation of Malaya
What event started
in 1948 ?
Feb 1948
British promised
to prepare
Malaya for selfgovt and eventual
independence
Formation
of UMNO
Dato Onn bin
Jaafar
• Dato Onn’s Proposals
– common citizenship
for Chinese and
Indians
– UMNO membership
for non-Malays
Dato Onn bin Jaafar
First President of
UMNO
THE FEDERATION
• To obtain the support of the people, the British replaced
the MU with the Federation of Malaya Agreement
• Restored some of the Sultans powers
• Introduced stricter conditions on citizenship, making it
more difficult for non-Malays to qualify for Malayan
citizenship
• Leaders of non-Malay communities were unhappy with
the new terms of citizenship
• But unsuccessful in getting the British to change their
plan
• UMNO’s success in getting the British to replace the MU
strengthened its political position
OLITICAL PARTIES
Communal-based
political parties
• Malays look upon UMNO
as the main political party
to protect their rights and
interests
• Dato Onn bin Jaafar tried
to admit non-Malays as
UMNO members
• The party did not support
him
• Showed that UMNO was a
communal party
Communal-based
political parties
• Other races formed their
own political parties along
racial lines
• Malayan Chinese
Association
• Malayan Indian Congress
• 1955 – these 3 parties
came together to form the
Alliance Party to contest
the 1955 Malayan General
Election
Tan Cheng Lock
• Formed on 27 Feb 1949
• Tan Cheng Lock - 1st President
• Aims :
• to protect Chinese rights and economic
and political interests in Malaya
• to unite the Chinese against the
communists
• to work with the govt and win its
confidence that the Chinese were loyal to
Malaya
the
malayan
indian
•Formed in 1946
•Aim to protect the rights
and interests of the Indians
in Malaya
congress
First Federal Elections
1955
• UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance
Party
• 27 Jul 1955 - First
Malayan National
Elections
• AP won 51 out of 52 seats
• When Malaya achieved
independence in 1957,
Tunku Abdul Rahman
(who replaced Dato Onn
bin Jaafar) became Prime
Minister of the Federation
of Malaya
INDEPENDENCE 1957
• Federation of Malaya Agreement
• whereby Malaya would become an
independent nation
• signed in KL on 5 Aug 1957
• 31 Aug 1957 - Malaya was
proclaimed independent at a
ceremony held in the Merdeka
Stadium in KL
Monument of Independence
Tengku Abdul Rahman
• Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Ruler of Negri
Sembilan
• Installed as the first Yang di-Pertuan Agong
• 2 Sep 1957
• Malaya became a member of the
Commonwealth
• Malaya became a member of the United
Nations Organization on 17 Sep 1957
Communal-based
political parties
• UMNO was the most
important partner of the
AP
• Before the 1959 GE, MCA
leaders had demanded a
greater number of seats in
the Malayan Parliament
• Tunku threatened to
contest the GE without
MCA
• MCA dropped their
demands
Communal-based
political parties
• British policies in the postwar period led to a change
in the political
development in Malaya
• MU united the Malays into
one strong political voice
• Made them aware of the
differences between
Malays and non-Malays
 By 1959, Malaya and Singapore
had different approaches to
politics
 Malaya became independent in
1957
 Singapore had self-government
in 1959
 The differences in approach to
politics would be a source of
future disagreements between
both countries
 This was especially so when
merger was considered by both
sides
 Merger with Malaya was one of
the goals of Singapore’s earlier
leaders, David Marshall and Lim
Yew Hock
 When PAP contested the 1959
GE, merger was also one of its
goals
 PAP even introduced policies to
give Singapore a Malayan
outlook
 Malay as national language
 Malay Singaporean, Yusof Ishak,
as Head of State
 Tunku did not welcome merger
 Regarded Singapore as a
Chinese colony because of its
large Chinese population
 Merger would pit 3.6m Chinese
against 3.4m Malays
 This would reduce Malay
political power and position in
Malaysia
 Tunku also uneasy with the
strong communist influence in
Singapore
 Malaya strongly anti-communist
because of Emergency
 Some Chinese in Singapore still
loyal to the PRC
 However, the Tunku was to
change his mind on merger in
1961
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