Self Governance In Singapore

The British felt that Singapore as a new-born nation then was lacking in capable leaders, thus the only way British was willing to relinquish self-governance to Singapore was through the merger with Malaya. Malaya would be able to provide strong leadership to lead Singapore in times of danger or crisis like communists’ threats of attack. Besides that, a defenceless red dot surrounded by larger countries are prone to invasion, thus the merger allowed deterrence against potential invaders on the authority of Singapore’s national security. With that, Singapore’s full self-governance was gained.
Since Singapore being one of the largest seaport in the world, she could sell goods at a competitive price via a common market with the Malaya. This had

As mentioned that Singapore was economically thriving, it was a rival by Malaysia because no progress was made for her from the common market. This led to raising the taxation bar by 20%, from 1/5 to 2/3 of profits earned from Singapore. Despite the agreement signed in July 1963 that Singapore would contribute 40%, Malaysia argued to impose new taxes on Singapore to protect its industries. Likewise, Singapore did not want to be economically crippled thus rejected the proposal of tax hike, else it would lead to internal unrest and civil

Moreover, the Singapore alliance which made up of United Malays National Organization (UMNO), Malayan Chinese Association (MCA) and Malayan Indian Congress (MIC) did not win any seat. This had caused an uproar and deep disappointment to the Alliance leaders in Kuala Lumpur. The incident had proven that the PAP was able to convince the Malay majority areas while facing intensive challenges. Over time, PAP leaders had the intention to build racial harmony among the Chinese and Malay and thus took part in the 1964 Federal Election in Malaysia. The Alliance leaders felt that PAP was trying to take the identify and rights of Malays away. Tensions between PAP and Malaysia party grew thick such that the UMNO did an anti-PAP campaign criticising PAP neglecting the well-being such as employment, education and housing for Malay race in Singapore. All these factors had caused a handful racial riots but what fearful the most was the external threat from Indonesia – The Indonesian