"SINGAPORE LUCKY NOT TO BE IN MALAYSIA"
This statement by a Singapore Government Minister Lim Swee Say on the 50 anniversary of Singapore independence from "Malaysia" caused a storm among Malayan politicians.
The state of being "lucky" or in a colloquial Singaporean dialect "heng" can be traced back to 1965 when another S'pore Minister Mr. Lee Kuan Yew (deceased) made an even more earth shaking speech on "equal treatment" in the Malayan Parliament which enraged UMNO front and backbench members leading to S'pore breakaway and independence.
LKY's speech in English and Malay challenged the UMNO supremacist agenda communal politics and asserted that "Malaysia" was formed on basis of equality.
"A Difficult Union
Even before the proclamation of the formation of the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, Singapore and Malayan leaders were mindful that the differences in the political approach and economic conditions between the two countries “cannot be wiped out overnight”.[10] This, however, did not prevent sharp exchanges between the leaders of both countries throughout the period of the union.
The slow progress of the creation of a common market and the difficulty in getting pioneer status from Kuala Lumpur for Singapore industries frustrated Singapore leaders, while Kuala Lumpur was dissatisfied with Singapore's dogged response to the federal government’s clamour for increased revenue contribution to combat the Indonesian Confrontation, and for an agreed loan to develop Sabah and Sarawak.[11]
At the political front, the grossly imbalanced Malay-Chinese population in both countries made each vulnerable to communal prejudices which were played up by political leaders. The two major political parties in Malaysia, the People’s Action Party (PAP) and the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), were soon accusing one another of communalism. The accusations escalated into tensions until they erupted into racial violence in Singapore on 21 July and 2 September 1964.[12]
Despite agreeing to a two-year truce in September 1964, the acrimony between UMNO and PAP soon flared up again. At the heart of the rift was Lee’s multi-racial slogan, “Malaysian Malaysia”, which sowed deep distrust among UMNO leaders, especially the “ultras”, who viewed his vision of a non-communal Malaysia as a challenge to their party’s raison d'être of undisputed Malay dominance.[13]"
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/…/dc1efe7a-8159-40b2-9244-cdb0…
The communal issues raised by Lee and driven by UMNO's supremacist agenda has remain a focal point of today's politics serving to deeply divide Malayan society.
The independence of Singapore served as a great exposition of the false arguments used to justify the formation of Malaysia.
These turned on 2 main arguments that the formation was (1) the only way to protect S'pore Brunei North Borneo (Sabah) and Sarawak from foreign invasion and (2) essential for these countries to achieved prosperity and "independence".
Since Singapore independence in 1965 it has proven all its detractors wrong.
It was never invaded by anyone and it survived very well by "standing alone"
S'pore being outside Malaysia developed into a world class performer and achieved the status of a top high income country.
Furthermore, this state of affairs is reinforced by Brunei which also demonstrated (without going the S'pore path), it could still survive and become a high income country if it controlled its oil resources (like Norway).
Sabah & Sarawak in Malaysia became poorer than they were before 1963 because their wealth has been stolen to develop Malaya and enrich Malaya's power elites. Their current status exposes the big lie used in the British euphemism that Sabah and Sarawak achieved "independence" by becoming states of Malaya.
Source: Borneo Wiki
Source: Borneo Wiki
