Was Singapore’s exit from Malaysia in 1965 a “coup” by Singapore leaders, or an eviction imposed on it by Malaysian leaders? Records show it was Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who made the tough decision that the two go their separate ways.

Did Singapore ask to leave Malaysia of its own accord or was it forced out against its will? Fifty years after Singapore’s separation from Malaysia the question is still moot. A review of the events leading to the separation seeks to throw more light on the conundrum.

Singapore separated from Malaysia on 9 August 1965 by a constitutional fiat that formalised an agreed settlement between the state of Singapore and the federal government. The act of separation was effected by the Malaysian Parliament adopting an Amendment to the Malaysian Constitution and ratifying an Agreement on Separation signed by the governments of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. It was put into action by a Proclamation of Independence of Singapore by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew that was read over Radio Singapore.

… The writer, a Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, was a reporter with Radio Television Singapore from 1963 to 1966 and later with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1970 to 2001. This appeared earlier in The Straits Times.