Separation of Singapore and Malaysia due to racial problems

The reasons of the separation of Singapore and Malaysia:

There were disagreements over the treatment of the Malays the pap did not support the policy of the central government which gave special privileges the Malays in the Malaysian states. Singapore joined Malaysia hoping to enjoy the economical benefits after the set up of the common market. The delay in setting up the common market was partly due the fact that Singapore was seen as an economic rival even though it was a part of Malaysia. The central government in Kuala Lumpur expected Singapore to adjust to the system that was already in place in Malaya where the number of political parties where formed along the racial lines. Parties such as UMNO, MCA, and MIC were formed. Even though the three parties got together during the elections, the main goal of each party was to look after the interests of their own community, when there was the federal election in1964 took place.

During the elections, the pap declared that one of its goals was to help build Malaysia that would not think along the racial lines. Even though pap attracted large crowds, the alliance party won only 89 seats out of 104 seat parliament.After the victory of the alliance party, UMNO felt that it was time to win back the votes of the Malays in Singapore. Some UMNO leaders began to criticize he pap government for not looking after the interests of the Malays in Singapore. Then the anti-pap campaign began. In order to get to get the project started, some 2,500 families had to be settled. Of these were 200 Malays. The Malays claimed that 3,000 Malays were affected by the resettlement project. On 12th July 1964, the secretary- general of UMNO made an anti-pap speech. He complained that the pap government had neglected the Malays in Singapore. This led to racial tensions. On 21st July 1964, 25,000 Malays gathered at the Padang to celebrate prophet Mohammed’s birthday. However, the celebrations soon turned into a racial riot. 23 people died and 454 people got injured. After the riots, Toh Chin Chye also announced publicity that the alliance and the pap had agreed not to challenge each other politically for the next 2 years. In may 1965, the pap brought together four other Malaysian opposition parties to form the Malaysian solidarity party convection. The UMNO were very angry with pap that they even wanted to arrest Lee Kuan Yew. By mid 1965, the Tunku was afraid that the racial clashes were likely to happen again if the differences between the alliance and the pap were not resolved. He realized that the disagreements could not be settled. Therefore, Tunku thought it was best for Singapore to leave Malaysia.