1. SINGAPORE From Crown Colony to Independent Nation

2. 1. Post-War Political Changes. in Singapore 2
1. Post-War Political Changes in Singapore 2. Post-War Political Changes in Malaysia 3. Malaysia 4. The Road to Merger 5. Negotiations and Points of Agreement 6. External Pressures 7. Formation of Malaysia 8. Trouble in Malaysia 9. Separation 10. Facing the Future

4. SINGAPORE SINGAPORE SINGAPORE SINGAPORE
1. Post-War Political Changes in Singapore
British Reluctance to Grant Independence
Communist Threat
Defence of British Interest
Economy
A Non-Communal Party
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE
SINGAPORE

5. 1954 ANTI-NATIONAL SERVICE RIOT
COMMUNIST THREAT

6. COMMUNIST THREAT 1955 HOCK LEE BUS RIOTS 1955 : 275 strikes in all
One strike that turned violent was the Hock Lee Bus strike
COMMUNIST THREAT

7. 1955 HOCK LEE BUS RIOTS
COMMUNIST THREAT

8. 1956 SINGAPORE CHINESE MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS’ UNION RIOTS
COMMUNIST THREAT

9. The Singapore Naval Base
British Interests

10. 2. POST-WAR POLITICAL CHANGES IN
Malaysia
The Malayan Union Scheme
The Federation of Malaya
Communal Based Political Parties

11. 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

12. 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

13. THE MALAYAN UNION Features of the MU 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. THE MALAYAN UNION Formation of UMNO Led to abolishment of the MU
Formed in 1946 to oppose the MU scheme
Led to abolishment of the MU

18. Establishment of the Federation of Malaya
What event started
in 1948 ?
Establishment of the Federation of Malaya
Feb 1948
British promised to prepare Malaya for self-govt and eventual independence
Formation of UMNO

19. Dato Onn bin Jaafar

20. First President of UMNO
Dato Onn’s Proposals
common citizenship for Chinese and Indians
UMNO membership for non-Malays
Dato Onn bin Jaafar
First President of UMNO

21. 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

22. P
OLITICAL PARTIES

23. 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

24. 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

26. Tan Cheng Lock

27. 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

29. the malayan indian congress Formed in 1946
Aim to protect the rights and interests of the Indians in Malaya

30. First Federal Elections 1955
UMNO-MCA-MIC Alliance Party
27 Jul 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

31. Merdeka
1957

32. INDEPENDENCE 1957 Federation of Malaya Agreement
whereby Malaya would become an independent nation
signed in KL on 5 Aug 1957
31 Aug Malaya was proclaimed independent at a ceremony held in the Merdeka Stadium in KL

35. Merdeka Day

36. Monument of Independence

37. PRIME MINISTER
Tengku Abdul Rahman

38. 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

39. 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

40. Communal-based political parties
British policies in the post-war 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

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. Some Chinese in Singapore still loyal to the PRC
However, the Tunku was to change his mind on merger in 1961

45. a christ church history production
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