Chapter 8 Flashcards
What does a merger mean?
A merger between countries involves one country becoming part of another, sharing their resources.
Describe the merger with Malaysia and what the new country is called as?
A group of smaller countries (Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah) agreed to become part of a lager one: Malaya. This new country was to be called the Federation of Malaya.
What is a federation and who is in charged of what aspect?
A federation is a group of states with a central government, but each state still has control of some of its internal affairs.
So each state had its own local state government which took care of education, housing, public works, agriculture and the environment.
The Federal government in Kuala Lumpur decided on key issues such as how much funding each state received. It also controlled the armed forces for the whole country.
Both the Federal and State Government(s) continue to hold their own elections, with citizens allowed to vote and participate in both.
Singaporean citizens were recognised as “Malaysian Nationals” and could not vote in the Federal elections.
When did Malaysia gain independence?
1957
On 30 May 1959, how many seats did PAP win?
PAP wins 43 of 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
What five events occurred in 1961?
On April 1961, Popular PAP MP Ong Eng Guan and 2 other PAP MPs RESIGN from the party to form a new political party.
27 May 1961
Tunku announced closer political and economical cooperation
29 July 1961
13 PAP Left-wingers leave the PAP to form the Barisan Sosialis, leaving the PAP with only 26 seats.
July 1961
Death of a PAP candidate leads to a by-election, which is won by David Marshall.
13 September 1961
Lee Kuan Yew begins a series of RADIO TALKS arguing for merger and exposing the intentions of the communists.
What was the event that occured in 1962?
Lee Kuan Yew explained to the people using 3 languages and 36 radio talks on the issues behind Singapore’s battle for Merger with Malaya as well as Singapore’s objective to gain full independence.
There are many different reasons for merger. Explain the economic benefits for Singapore if there was a merger for Singapore with Malaysia. Hint: there are three solutions and three problems
Benefits and Problems
Problems: High tariffs imposed by Malaysia. Lack of natural resources. Increasing unemployment due to increase in growing population. The high tariffs led to the decline in entrepôt since countries were recovering from war and the countries would export goods themselves, this led to a slow economic growth for Singapore as the other countries were relying less on Singapore, hence leading to decline in entrepôt trade.
Solutions and benefits:
1. Establishment of a common market.
By having a common market, it means that they’re would no longer be any import/export taxes on goods flowing between Singapore and Malaysia— allowing businesses in Singapore to sell to more customers as there is a larger market and total population size and would therefore make more profit, aiding in Singapore’s economic growth. Singapore can also import raw materials cheaply.
(Solve the problem on high tariffs imposed by Malaysia and also the decline in entrepôt trade and slow economic growth)
- Provision of materials allows more raw materials to be exported from Malaya to Singapore. Malaya would also become Singapore’s hinterland and “backyard” and supply Singapore with raw materials.and create factories. (Solves the problem on the lack of natural resources).
- Industrialise
Manufacture goods: less reliance on entrepôt trade
Create new factories which requires manpower and therefore create more jobs for unemployed people. (Solves the problem on the increasing unemployment and increase in growing population)
What are the political benefits for Singapore and the PAP if there was a merger?
Political benefits for Singapore:
A merger allows Singapore to gain independence from British. Based on the federation of Malaysia, Singapore can still take control of education and labour, while Federal government would control security and defence
Political Benefits for the PAP:
Threat of Communist +opposition from Barisan Sosialis (pro-communist) would be contained and suppressed by federal Government as Tunku Abdul Rahman was staunchly anti-communist and acted against the communist threat during the Malayan emergency. PAP could rule without challenge as the internal split within PAP would be contained by the Federal Government Tunku Abdul Rahman.
What were the potential benefits that Tunku Abdul Rahman would receive?
Tunku thought that Singapore would probably be less dangerous once it became part of Malaysia as communist elements could be controlled in Malaysia as Tunku would have control over Singapore’s internal security and it will allow him to send in military to arrest suspected communist threats in Singapore.
What were the lingering concerns that Tunku Abdul Rahman faced and how did he intend to solve it?
Tunku was concerned that the predominantly Chinese population in Singapore might be reluctant to accept Malay Sultan as their head of state, use Malay as the national language or accept Islam as the state religion.
Concerns 1: racial imbalance
He was also concerned about the racial imbalance between Chinese and Malays in Malaysia as the merger of Singapore with Malaysia makes the population of the federation mostly Chinese. Therefore this might result in racial tension.
Concerns 2: Communist threat
Tunku believed that the Chinese would sympathise with the communist and it seems like he is opening door for the communist.
Solution1 :
However, the problem would be controlled by the inclusion of Sabah and Sarawak which would balance the racial composition. Furthermore, Sabah and Sarawak is also a country that is rich in oil which promote the economy growth.
Solution 2: Tunku would have control over Singapore’s Internal security and allow him to send in military to arrest suspected communist threat in Singapore and this reduces the spread of communist threat.
Singapore’s benefit from a common market with Malaysia is that our people would have more markets to buy daily necessities. True or false?
False. common market means one shared market it doesn’t mean by more markets so it is inaccurate
What were PAP actions and argument for the merger with Malaysia?
PAP launched exhibitions and publications to convince Singaporeans of the benefits of merger.There is also a “Battle for merger” radio talks—series of 12 speeches by Lee Kuan Yew.
What were Barisan Sosialis actions and arguments for the merger with Malaysia?
Barisan Sosialis organised labour strikes and student demonstrations against proposed terms of merger.
Why would a common market increase employment opportunities for Singaporeans? Explain.
A common market would increase employment opportunities as there is a larger market, population and consumer after the merger. This would increase the demand of goods and therefore more factories need to be build to meet the demand of the larger population in Malaysia. This would require more manpower to run the factories and hence creates more jobs for unemployed people.
What were the two political concerns for the Barisan Sosialis for the event on merger with Malaysia?
State briefly.
Point1: Issue of citizenship
Point2: Allocation of seats in the federal government.
Explain the first political concerns— issue of citizenship for the Barisan Sosialis regarding the merger with Malaysia.
Issue of citizenship
—afraid that Singaporeans would be 2nd class citizens also known as “nationals” and would have lesser rights compared to Malaysians. Therefore, Singaporeans could not vote in Federal elections, while Malaysian citizens could.
