Goh Keng Swee in secret talks with M’sia on S’pore separation

As National Day draws closer, follow along as Mothership takes you back, through the events which led to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia on Aug. 9, 1965.

JUL. 25, 1965: Ever since Singapore was taken in by Malaya on Sep. 16, 1963, we’ve been struggling to find common ground.

From verbal spats to race riots, turbulent moments followed the long-awaited birth of the new Malaysian Federation.

But this may soon come to an end, as Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee has reportedly tabled the issue of separation behind closed doors.

Secret rendezvous

Sources revealed that the minister paid a visit to Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein’s home in mid-July.

Also present were Malaysia’s Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, Home Minister Ismail Abdul Rahman, and United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Secretary-General Syed Jaafar Albar.

What ensued was reportedly a “belly-aching session” against People’s Action Party (PAP) leader Lee Kuan Yew, where things like his “alleged misdemeanours” and “character defects” were tossed about, insiders said.

At some point, Abdul Razak dropped an ultimatum of sorts: “We can’t go on like this.”

“We should go our separate ways,” Goh echoed.

And there it was. The S-word.

This was the first time the possibility of separation had been broached by a Singapore leader.

Leaving Malaysia, Goh continued, would spell the end of “communal tensions”.

“We're on our own, you're on your own.”

Not on the same page but on the same page

According to an insider, Goh’s suggestion seemed not to have unsettled the Tunku, who’d recently suffered a shingles attack.

“Cut out Singapore from Malaysia in order to save the rest of the body from gangrene,” he reportedly said.

So when Goh proposed separation, all that was left was for Abdul Razak to ask: “Will Kuan Yew agree to this?”

Kuan Yew’s ears are burning

Clandestine as Goh’s meeting may seem, documents have surfaced showing that PM Lee was not only in the know, but in fact played a hand in orchestrating it.

In a handwritten letter, PM Lee instructed Goh to carry out negotiations on Singapore’s independence.

It indicated that the merger’s days had been numbered as early as July 1964, when race riots — allegedly instigated by UMNO activists — struck Singapore.

A secret memo penned by PM Lee revealed similar sentiments.

In it, he voiced that he was "excited" about the separation, as it might secure an economic advantage for Singapore, whilst freeing it from Malaysia’s fraught communal politics.

"The picture of a prosperous and flourishing Singapore doing better than the rest of Malaysia is most attractive,” he remarked.

As for the people in Singapore, it appears the lines have been crossed and drawn.

And there can be no turning back.

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Top images from National Archives of Singapore and Wikipedia