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CHAPTER 10! I love Joellyn :D

How did Singapore tackle its challenges in its early years of independence?

Singapore became a sovereign and independent nation after its seperation from Malaysia in 1965. As a new nation, it was vulnerable and had to overcome many challenges in order to succeed.

Challenges:

- Weak industry base
- Limited land space
- Lack of natural resources [ After the separation, Singapore lost Malaysia as its potential hinterland. ]
- Growing population [ Pressure on the government to create more jobs, improve living conditions and provide education for the young. ]
- Fall in trade
- British withdrawing its military forces by the end of 1971.
At that time, British military expenditure amounted to 12.7% of Singapore's Gross National Product. - A country's Gross National Product refers to the total market value of all the goods and services produced within the borders of a nation during a specified period.
30 000 civilian workers who worked in the military bases faced the possibility of losing their jobs and hundreds more would be affeced as their livelihood and business depended on supplying goods and services to the British servicemen in Singapore.

Other than the economic impact, the withdrawal also meant that Singapore now had to build up its own defence to protect the nation from both internal and external threats.

Without social and political stability, the economic development would not be able to take off.

ECONOMY AND JOBS

Challenges with economy and jobs:
1) We lacked natural resources such as rubber, tin, palm oil, gold
2) Our economy was not well diversified (A diversified economy is one that consists of economic activities such as manufacturing, banking and finance.)
We depended solely on entrepot trade which was no longer sufficient to ensure the government's continued growth as other neighbouring countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia were setting up their own ports. (competition. oooh)
3) High unemployment due to high population growth

Solution: Government

1) Provide incentives to Multinational Cerporations ( Companies that have businesses in more than one country ) from Japan, Western Europe and USA to set up factories in Singapore.
- This, in turn created more jobs for the unemployed.

2) Putting in place high standars of public services such as in security, health, education, telecommunications and transportation. This is to transform Singapore into a more efficient an organised country.

Setting itself apart from other countries in the region was important so that it would be able to attract foreign investors and professionals to invest and work in Singapore.

Solution: Dr Albert Winsemius

Studying history.

Chapter 9

So Singapore achieved full self-government from the British on 3 June 1959. (The whole Lim Yew Hock story, Merdeka Talks 1957, attained full self-government, 1959 elections, PAP won and formed a government and Singapore was renamed as the State of Singapore with a Yang di-Pertuan Negara/Head of State replacing the governor. Singapore also had a National Anthem, State of Crest and Singapore Flag. Wipee!

Ok, that was a brief summary of Chapter 8.

Now, although we have attained full self-government, we are not independent yet. Areas like defence and internal security were still under the control of the British. They were concerned about the Communist threat in Singapore.

For the newly-elected PAP government, the next constitutional step would be independence. At that time, the issue of independence was closely associated with the idea of merger with the Federation of Malaya.Federation is a group of states united with one central government. Hoeverver, each state has its own state government to deal with local matters.

Why did Singapore wanted to merge with Malaya?

1) For more trade and more jobs
2) For independence
3) Malaya as our hinterland

Not all goods produced in Singapore could be sold in the local market. A bigger market was needed. Malaya could be that market.
Malaya had also introduced an import and export tariffs on good traded between the two countries.
Within the Common Market, Singapore will not be taxed for the goods bought or sold. This would lead to an increase in trade, expand in industries and this would in turn create more jobs.

Singapore had a growing population that required jobs. Unemployment was a big problem in Singapore.

Another problem was that we lacked natural resources. Malaya on the other hand, was rich with natural resources such as rubber and tin. Malaya could be our potential hinterland that would keep our economy going.

Singapore also hoped that through merger, it would be able to gain independence from the British government. The British were not willing to give up control over Singapore mainly because of the Communist problem.

Britain would be more comfortable to grant independence to Singapore after merger with anti-communist Malaya.

Besically, with merger, Singapore would have rapid economic growth.

Before 1961, the PAP government tried with little success to persuade he Malayan government to agree to merger. Why was Malaya not interested with the idea?

- It would upset the racial balance in Malayasia
- Singapore had too many pro-communists that were supported by the Chinese in Singapore

Before merger
Malays in Malaya: 3.1 million
Chinese in Malaya: 2.3 million

After merger
Malays in Malaya: 3.4 million
Chinese in Malaya: 3.6 million

This will upset the racial balance of power in the Federation.

However, by early 1961, the Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman felt the need to reconsider the idea of merger.

Ong Eng Guan, the then Minister of National Development challenged the PAP leadership and resigned from the party. At the Hong-lim by-election in April 1961, he defeated the PAP candidate. The Tunku was concerned that the spilt would weaken the moderates within the PAP and allow the radicals to gain control of the party. If the radicals captured power from the PAP, they would form a Communist government in Singapore and use Singapore as a base to spread Communism in Malaya.

Tunku Abdul Rahman felt that even if they could fight communism with the help of their British and American friends, the end result will be suffering misery and distress. Therefore, to prevent this most unhappy state of affairs, the Federation of Malaya would just have to accept Singapore as its member.

On 27 May 1961, the Tunku made a speech suggesting the possibility of merger including other British colonies such as Brunei, Sabah and Sarawak. With the inclusion of these colonies, the fear of possible Chinese dominance in the new federatioin would be overcome.

Malays: 4 Million
Chinese: 3.7 Million

Lee Kuan Yew and most of the PAP leaders welcomed the Tunku's proposal and held talks to discuss the general terms for Singapore's entry into Malaysia.

[ The new federation was called Malaysia. Before the 14 states became one, it is known as Malaya. ]

However, the radicals within the PAP opposed the idea. The issue of merger this led to a split between the moderates and radicals.

The radicals withdrew their support from the PAP during the Anson By-election. As a result, PAP lost the election.
During a Legislative Assembly session, the radicals managed to win over 13 PAP Legislative Assembly members to their side. With their support, the radicals tried to challenge LKY's leadership and tried to overthrow him but to no avail. In the end, the 13 PAP Assemblymen who sided with the pro-Communists were expelled from the PAP.

Together with the expelled Assemblymen, radicals who decided to leave the PAP formed another party called the Barisan Sosialis or the Socialist Front.
Chairman of party: Lee Siew Choh
Secretary-general: Lim Chin Siong

They tried to oppose the government's plan for merger. They organised labour strikes and student's demonstrations to show their opposition.

To convince that merger with Malaya was necessary for Singapore's stability and survival, the PAP government had a year-long campaign to build up support for the proposal.

A referendum was also conducted.
A referendum is a direct vote by the people of the country to decide on a particular issue, instead of having the government make the decision.
The referendum was held on 1 Sep 1962 to find out which type of merger the people wanted.

Turned out that majority of the people supported the PAP's idea and position.

There were more problems. This time between Singapore and Malaya. Though they have agreed on general terms, negotiations over economic isssues proved difficult.

They wanted different things.

Which I shall talk about later.
Ok, that's all for now. To be added on later. Bye.