The Albatross File

I have now completed my reading of this book. I started with the oral interviews and then went back to the documents. I thought I should set out my immediate thoughts since they are still fresh in my mind.

1. Clearly the picture that now emerges is different from the narrative that has been told to Singaporeans till now. We were always told Malaysia decided to kick Singapore out of the Federation against our wishes and we had to suddenly learn to survive on our own. The truth is that from very early on Singapore wanted a looser coalition with Malaysia, which Malaysia was agreeable to, and discussions on how to implement this were at an advanced stage when they were stymied by the British and Australian leadership. Thereafter in July 1965, it was Goh, on behalf of Singapore, who suggested to Razak that the best way forward would be to have Singapore split from Malaysia. And so the idea to separate came from Singapore. Thereafter there were intense negotiations between both sides in utmost secrecy to give effect to this. Goh was the prime mover and negotiator of separation. Lee actually played did not play any role in the negotiations process. His role appears to have been limited to getting Barker to draft the separation agreements and persuading some of the reluctant Malaysian born Singapore ministers to sign the Agreement. Singapore was also the party which drafted the agreements. To their credit, the Malaysians trusted Singapore to draft these documents. So we were never thrown out. We wanted out.
2. No explanation has been offered as to why it has taken so long for the true story to be told. The existence and the contents of this file were known since the 1980s. Without that explanation, unfortunately one is therefore left to speculate.
3. Considering how vague the terms were on setting up the Federation of Malaysia, I am puzzled as why we would even have wanted to be a part of Malaysia. Singapore only controlled health and labour. The key matters of defence, internal security, finance, industrialization and taxation were all left to Malaysia. And this knowing that UMNO, which was the key member of the ruling party in Malaysia, firmly was of the view that Malaysia should be ruled by Malays. Why in the world did we even agree to such an arrangement?
4. Even after the racial riots in Singapore in 1964 and all the problems with the UMNO Ultras, Lee still never thought that Singapore could survive as an independent nation as it lacked a common market and a sizeable population and therefore had to be a part of Malaysia in some form.
5. The then Malaysian ministers were no fools. They were educated and politically savvy, perhaps not to the extent of the Singapore ministers, but they were no pushovers. And upon reading the interviews given by the Singapore ministers, it is clear that they had high regard for Tunku and some of his key ministers.
6. All the Malaysian ministers had a problem with Lee. They seemed to have been comfortable with all the other Singapore ministers.
7. When Lee’s wife said he almost had a nervous breakdown, it was not because of the worries about what would happen after separation. It was specifically because Lee was worried for Devan Nair, as he was the only PAP MP left behind in Malaysia to fend for himself.
8. It was quite clear to me, reading between the lines, that PAP saw itself as the alternative party for all the non Malays in Malaysia and wanted to replace the MCA and MIC. Which also explains why the Malaysian leadership was wary of PAP, as they could see that the PAP would be quite happy to be in a position to replace them.
9. The current DAP in Malaysia is the successor of the PAP in Malaysia. PAP had started setting up branches in Malaysia and contested the 1964 elections. After separation since the PAP could no longer operate in Malaysia, they were renamed DAP.
10. We owe a great deal to Goh. He took the lead in getting Singapore out of Malaysia. He also single handedly worked out the details of the separation with the Malaysians. They trusted him and could work with him.
11. One has to form their own conclusions as to what extent Lee and the PAP were responsible for the deterioration of relations between Singapore and Malaysia. But as the Tunku subsequently said of Lee..” the friend who had worked so hard to found Malaysia and even harder to break it up.”

A thoroughly interesting read. I do feel I learnt so much about what happened during that period but more importantly about all the people who were involved in that tumultuous 1964 to 1965 period.