The speech by Lee Kuan Yew in the Malaysian parliament in 1965, questioning the Malay government in Malaysia, was the last straw that broke the camel’s back for Tunku Abdul Rahman to secede Singapore from Malaysia.
After the session, Tunku flew off to London for a medical treatment after suffering from Herpes Zoster.
He wrote in his book Looking Back: “The more pain I suffered, the more I directed my growing anger at him pitying Singapore for all its self impose problems. Whichever way my restless mind turned, I could not help but come to one conclusion – and that was to cut Singapore adrift from the rest of Malaysia.”
Tunku was also angered by Kuan Yew’s speech at the Singapore Delta Community hall where he proposed “Alternative Arrangements” with Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, Malacca and Penang, unite to form Malaysian Malaysia.
Said Kuan Yew; “Singapore never agreed to the Malay government when it joined Malaysia but what I agreed was the Malaysians government. A person must have created a big mistake in his decision when he thought that the people agreed to the Malay government in joining Malaysia.”
Kuan Yew’s assumption that he represented the Chinese with his idea on behalf of four other States was disputed by Tunku in his interview with The London Times.
He said that Kuan Yew quarreled with the Singapore Socialist Front, MCA and also the Malayan Communist Party, which represented the bigger Chinese population.
I presented this historical fact to remind us that in celebrating 52 years of independence, we are able to be in a situation we are now because of the courage of the Father of Independence in removing the thorn from the flesh.
Questioning the special rights of the Malays, Islam and other sensitive issues that run counter to the settlement principle of communal conflict germinated by Kuan Yew, that sparked the bloody May 13 incident, is now resurfacing on a worrying scale.
Professor Dr Dzulkifli Abdul Razak wrote in the New Sunday Times (Aug 30), on the 52nd independence day, that events that bring us to this annual celebration must be revisited.
“They say, history is a great teacher. But unless this is done in earnest, Merdeka tends to have a repititive dampening effect in which the context is largely lost. It will reduce to a once – time cyclical happening, devoid of any meaning.”
Actually this is the feeling of those who witnessed for themselves the making of the nation’s history since the beginning and the idea that history is a good teacher had been lost in the last 2008 general elections.
If the 50 years of independence had given that seed of better understanding than the poison being spilled by Kuan Yew more than 40 years ago, this will not happen.
The 2008 general election had seen the undying anger and outpouring that had been buried for far too long, is waiting for its time to explode.
When Musa Hitam, former Prime Minister described the freedom of expression given by Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, as something which is unavoidable, he had forgotten that Kuan Yew had been able to make the escape and yet he was leading the tiny island nation far ahead of Malaysia in globalization.
Singapore is still practicing the Third World democracy but with a world class mentality but Malaysia is still dogged by Third World mentality with developed world democracy.
*The writer is former Information Minister.
