MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE | What Really Happened?
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Published 2022-02-11
Hello and welcome! My name is James Ker-Lindsay. Here I take an informed look at International Relations with a focus on territorial conflicts, secession, independence movements and new countries. If you like what you see, please do subscribe. If you want more, including exclusive content and benefits, consider becoming a channel member. Many thanks!
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It is generally accepted that most countries will do everything possible to retain control of territory, even in the face of considerable resistance from the area in question. Few states willingly give up land. However, the general view in international relations is that there is one notable exception in modern international politics: Singapore's apparent expulsion from Malaysia, in 1965. Coming just two years after Singapore had joined neighbouring Sabah and Sarawak as the new entrants to the Federation of Malaysia, it was widely seen as an important step towards regional security and political stability. However, tensions soon emerged between the two entities. Led by the two prime ministers, Tunku Abdul Rahman and Lee Kuan Yew, this eventually led to the decision that Singapore would have to leave the Federation. But rather than a unilateral move to expel Singapore, as many often believe, the story is in fact a little more complex. More to the point, at the time many saw Singapore's separation from Malaysia and independence as a temporary move. Both sides held open the door for eventual reunification.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction and Titles
0:42 Singapore and State Expulsion
1:26 Singapore: Location and Demographics
2:07 Origins and Growth of Singapore and Malaysia
5:09 Singapore’s Union with Malaysia
6:46 Singapore’s Independence from Malaysia
9:56 Singapore-Malaysia Reunification?
11:15 Was Singapore Expelled by Malaysia?
RELATED PLAYLISTS
Secession and Independence in Asia and Oceania • ASIA AND OCEANIA
Secession and Independence in History • CONFLICT AND STATEHOOD IN HISTORY
The Origins of Countries • THE ORIGINS OF COUNTRIES
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FURTHER READING & USEFUL SOURCES
Singapore HistorySG eresources.nlb.gov.sg/history
1963 Agreement Relating to Malaysia treaties.un.org/doc/publication/unts/volume%20750/…
Independence of Singapore Agreement sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/ISA1965
Population Trends in Singapore, 1819-1967 www.jstor.org/stable/20067730
Singapore: A Modern History amzn.to/3oJUfJ7
Singapore: Unlikely Power amzn.to/3BgbeaL
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KEYWORDS
#Singapore #Malaysia #Independence
#InternationalPolitics #InternationalRelations
#Secession #Statehood #InternationalLaw #InternationalHistory
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All Comments (21)
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Singapore’s independence from Malaysia in 1965 is one of the most interesting cases of state creation in modern international relations. But it wasn’t quite as it seems. In retrospect, was the separation inevitable? And was reunification ever a realistic prospect - as suggested at the time?
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Sometimes it's better to be good neighbours than bad flatmates. Perhaps the best way is for Singapore and Malaysia (as well as Indonesia and Brunai) to collaborate economically and culturally, without entering into unstable political unions.
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Prof, I'm a Sarawakian. The split between Malaya and Singapore also had huge impacts to Sabah and Sarawak leaving us stranded in this political mess. The narrative and perspective of the two Bornean states in the formation of the Malaysia confederation have often been neglected in the mainstream history. Would you please consider do an episode about this? Thank you in advance.
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As someone with roots in Southeast Asia, I've always found the history behind Singapore's independence particularly fascinating. Great video as always Professor Ker-Lindsay!
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7:10 It wasn't a one-sided affair and UMNO kind of fired the first shot here. UMNO competed in the 1963 state elections in Singapore and failed to win any seats, even in Malay-dominant constituencies. PAP then contested in the 1964 federal elections and won one seat. The separation then happened in 1965.
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Singaporean here. 🇸🇬 Malaysian leaders wanted a Malaysia for Malays whereas the People's Action Party wanted a Malaysia for all races. As a Singaporean I'm only glad that the separation was peaceful and relations with Malaysia remain cordial to this date.
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Malaysia's decision to expel singapore is due almost entirely to the then ruling party's propensity to create a country utterly dominated by one race, and the late lky's propensity to multi racial inclusions.
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I’m a Malaysian and although I’ve learnt about this at school, I did it for exam so nothing really got into my head. Listening to this as an adult feels so much more interesting—especially it is informative and neutral. It feels like listening to a proper lecture and make me wanna learn more about my country and how it stands, politically and economically, around the region. Thank you for this video ❤️ Take care and stay safe
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What a lovely and clear introduction. Thanks so much. I’ve been through Singapore in transit about 30 times, but know shamefully little about it.
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I was aware of this story, but I didn't really know the details. Thank you for another great video. The series on the origin of countries is very interesting, you should do more videos of this genre!
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As a Singaporean, I found this video informative and accurate, yet concise and succinctly interesting for me. It helped me with my history homework today. Subscribed and liked your video! :D
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Outstanding Video, thank you very much for all the details, really appreciated
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Kudos to all the leaders on both sides who made this happen peacefully. If they were stupid people they would have tried to force what they want through military bloodshed. They really deserve a Noble prize for this & what they did should be taught in schools from kindergarten to university level in all countries
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Great video as always Prof. As a 🇲🇾 who grew up in Singapore/has family there, thought this was a very fascinating take on this.
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Your speech is very clear and very understandable even for non native English speaker like me. This really helps me in understanding my country political situations back then and comparing it to present. Thanks for this valuable in depth research, Prof James
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It’s understandable that you didn’t cover the Sharia law issues and “special rights for the Malays” that also led to the break up.
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it’s really good video for me to understand more about my country’s history mostly because your video gave me more information from what i already learnt
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Very interesting. Great content as always.
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This was really interesting to learn about! Thanks Professor
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Also, the split of Czechoslovakia isn’t too dissimilar from this, in that the Czechs were indeed the dominant force in that Federation, and that the split itself wasn’t even wished for by a majority of the population, and, yet, it was still a peaceful affair.
