25 days to a ‘bloodless coup’: The most complete account yet of S’pore’s independence in The Albatross File

SINGAPORE – On Sept 16, 1963, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia. Less than two years later, on Aug 9, 1965, it left to become an independent nation. 

The

Albatross File: Inside Separation

, edited by Susan Sim and published by Straits Times Press and National Archives of Singapore, sheds new light on this brief, turbulent period. 

The book, which was

launched by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong

on Dec 7, draws on papers that then Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee kept in a file he code-named “Albatross”, as well as oral history interviews with Singapore’s founding leaders. 

Dr Goh saw Malaysia as an “albatross” because the hoped-for prosperity and partnership of merger quickly gave way to tensions over race and competing visions of Malaysia’s future. These strains deepened after two racial riots in Singapore in 1964. 

From mid-1964, negotiations between Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Dr Goh and Malaysian leaders – including Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Razak – swung between proposals for cooperation and attempts at constitutional rearrangements. 

The Tunku signalled a desire to “hive off” Singapore, while disputes over parliamentary representation, taxation, internal security and the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) role in Malaysia stalled progress. 

British pressure further complicated the talks, as did Indonesia’s Konfrontasi campaign against the Federation. 

This timeline, based on the chronology detailed in the book, zooms in on the critical three weeks leading up to Aug 9, 1965.

July 15

Dr Goh meets Tun Razak, Minister of Home Affairs Ismail Abdul Rahman, and Umno secretary-general Syed Jaffar Albar in Kuala Lumpur. 

Asked by Tun Razak for ideas to tackle the strained relationship, Dr Goh suggests going “our separate ways … we leave Malaysia, become an independent state, and you’ll be relieved of all these troubles and we would have also been relieved of troubles from you... We’re on our own, you’re on your own”.

Tun Razak asks Dr Goh to talk to Mr Lee to see if he is “willing to go along with” this proposal. 

Mr Lee, briefed by Dr Goh on his meeting, tells Dr Goh that anything is worth trying to avoid a racial collision and to try “all the possible alternatives”. 

By late October or by November 1964, Mr Lee had already come to the conclusion that “we just could not carry on”, he said in his oral history.

“I had come to the conclusion that if we wanted to avoid further riots, further irritations, friction between them and us at the top, and then their subordinates or their henchmen … working up Malay extremists and causing riots here, and we spreading the discontent and the sense of outrage and injustice up to Malaya, there must be some disengagement, a toning down of tempers and a diminution of the areas of friction and conflict”. 

Mr Lee also asks Law Minister E. W. Barker to begin drafting the Separation documents. Mr Barker goes to the Law Library of the University of Singapore to look for precedents. 

“I found one – that was the break-up of the Federation of the West Indies,” Mr Barker said in his oral history. 

There were three documents to be drafted – an Agreement to Separate; an amendment to the Malaysian Constitution to allow Singapore to separate, as the Constitution only provided for states to join Malaysia but not to leave; and a Proclamation of Independence. 

Those in the know about this were kept to a bare minimum.

July 20 

Dr Goh meets Tun Razak and Tun Dr Ismail in Kuala Lumpur and confirms Mr Lee is agreeable to Singapore seceding. 

Dr Goh secures their agreement on three issues: It must be done very quickly, and very quietly, and “presented as a fait accompli to the British”; the constitutional amendments should be passed no later than Aug 9, when the Federal Parliament reconvenes; and Mr Barker will draft the legal documents and show them to Malaysia’s ministers in a week to 10 days. 

Dr Goh says that on the Singapore side, only he, Mr Lee, Mr Barker and National Development Minister Lim Kim San – whom the Tunku had confided in June 1965 about his growing desire to remove Singapore from Malaysia – are privy to this proposal.

July 21 

Mr Ghazali Shafie, secretary-general of Malaysia’s Ministry of External Affairs, gives Dr Goh a message from the Tunku The Malaysian Solidarity Convention is held at the National Theatre. The grouping of six political parties from Singapore, Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak, led by the PAP, endorses the idea of a “Malaysian Malaysia” where all citizens are equal.

July 26 

At Dr Goh’s request, Mr Lee gives him a letter authorising him to discuss with Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail and federal ministers of comparable authority “any proposal for any constitutional rearrangements of Malaysia”. 

Mr Lee adds in the letter: ”In the event of a leakage taking place, he (Dr Goh) is to deny any allegation of any agreement on his part. 

In the event of the federal ministers concerned agreeing to passing the constitutional amendments in Parliament to give effect to such rearrangements, Singapore’s approval is conditional only if the processes are such as to carry this out in the shortest possible time with the minimum risk of leakage.”

Dr Goh meets Tun Razak in Singapore to formalise the Separation process. 

Although Tun Razak appears to doubt that the Independence Bill can be presented to the Federal Parliament on Aug 9 as he does not expect the Tunku to “rush matters” after the Tunku’s return to Kuala Lumpur from London, scheduled for Aug 4, Tun Razak wants Mr Barker to complete the draft documents as none of his confidants can do the job.

Aug 1 

Mr Lee attends a PAP rally in Kuala Lumpur, meets High Commissioner to Malaysia Antony Head, and finds Mr Head has not gotten “a whiff” of the Separation talks.

Aug 3 

Dr Goh meets Tun Razak, with Tun Dr Ismail present, and is told the Tunku agrees to Separation on two conditions: Singapore is to make a military contribution to Malaysia’s defence and enter into a defence agreement with Malaysia, and Singapore must not enter into any treaty that counters the proposed defence agreement. 

He returns to Singapore and calls Mr Lee, who is on his annual holiday with his family in Cameron Highlands, to update him. 

Dr Goh also discusses with Mr Barker the new points to include in the Separation documents.

In his oral history, Dr Goh said: “Once the meeting of Aug 3 had been concluded, I knew that Separation was on. In chess, there’s a term called, you know, a won game. So and so had a won game; the rest is a matter of technique.

“In other words, you just play carefully and you’ll win. So far as I was concerned, my contribution ended with the last meeting with Razak. And the rest was a matter of technique — that is, to polish up the draft Bill, to sign the Agreement.”

Aug 5 

The Tunku returns from Europe, his flight arriving 12 hours late because of plane engine trouble.

Aug 6

The Tunku meets his senior ministers in Kuala Lumpur and agrees on Separation. Mr Lee arrives in Kuala Lumpur from Cameron Highlands. 

He meets Dr Goh and Mr Barker at Temasek House – the Singapore state guest house – to sign off on Mr Barker’s latest drafts. 

They agree that they would hide Mr Lee’s presence in Kuala Lumpur from the Malaysians and maintain the ruse that he was still on holiday in Cameron Highlands. Dr Goh and Mr Barker go to Tun Razak’s office at 4pm, where the drafts are studied and approved by Tun Razak, Tun Dr Ismail and Malaysian Attorney-General Kadir Yusof. 

In his oral history, Mr Barker said: “We showed them the drafts. After perusal, they were satisfied. Razak asked who the draughtsman was and on being told, paid me a compliment by saying that he would offer me a legal job in Malaysia anytime I wanted it.”

The documents had to be printed during the weekend and the Bill taken through Parliament and the Senate in one day, namely Aug 9, 1965. “We advised them to call their printers to work in the Government Printing Office on Sunday, lock them in until Monday morning and cut off all means of communication. 

Incidentally, this was what we also did in Singapore on Sunday, August 8,” Mr Barker said.

Later, they go to Tun Razak’s home, where Malaysian Finance Minister Tan Siew Sin and V.T. Sambanthan, the Malaysian Minister of Works, Posts and Telecommunications, join them. 

Tun Tan insists on a clause to release Malaysia from liabilities and obligations entered into by Singapore while in Malaysia, and Dr Goh asks for another clause to provide for both countries to cooperate in economic matters. 

After Mr Lee’s agreement is secured by phone, Mr Barker drafts both clauses.

In his oral history, Mr Barker said: “All this while, the Malaysians thought that our Prime Minister was in Cameron Highlands. I remember Razak turning to me and asking: ‘Eddie, as an old friend, can you assure me that Harry will sign?’ I said that he would. And (I) further said that our Prime Minister was leaving that night by car from Cameron Highlands and would be in Kuala Lumpur the next morning. Sambanthan then said sarcastically, ‘I thought you chaps said in Parliament that our roads were bad?’

“We ate and we drank till past midnight. The documents were ready soon thereafter, and hence, the agreement was dated the 7th day of August 1965. Not one of them read the document. Razak was the first to sign, followed by Ismail, Siew Sin and Sambanthan. Goh also signed without reading the document. I was a little tipsy but decided to read the agreement, lest there were mistakes. Razak asked me what I was afraid of as it was my typist who typed the documents. I stopped reading and signed.” 

In his oral history, Dr Goh said: “At the end of the meeting on 6 August when I knew that the thing had been buttoned up, I was so relieved that I was sweating profusely although we were in an air-conditioned room. Razak was greatly relieved and, you know, passed round drinks to celebrate the occasion.

“So when he found me sweating, he said: ‘Well, I’ll give you a shirt.’ A sports shirt, which I still keep with me today – very high quality, British-made sports shirt… I changed there and then. Felt like a prisoner condemned to death and had a last-minute reprieve. Such were my feelings.”

Aug 7 

The Separation Agreement is signed by the negotiating ministers from both sides at Tun Razak’s home in Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight. 

Mr Goh and Mr Barker return to Temasek House and hand the documents to Mr Lee, who says: “Thank you Eddie. This is a bloodless coup.” 

In his oral history, Mr Lee said: “We did something quite remarkable – a constitutional coup right under the noses of the British, the Australians and New Zealanders who were defending Malaysia with their blood and treasure. I did not want to do it. The Tunku forced us into a position where we either acquiesced in his policies, or we took a stand. We took a stand.” 

Mr Lee summons Dr Toh Chin Chye and Mr S. Rajaratnam to travel separately to Temasek House in Kuala Lumpur, and breaks the news of Separation to them. 

They take a few hours to contemplate as they do not wish to sign. 

At noon, Mr Lee goes to Tunku’s Residency to see if the Tunku might be prepared to accept a looser federation or confederation, but is told by the Malaysian Prime Minister: “There is no other way now. I have made up my mind, you go your way, we go our own way.” 

Mr Lee then secures the Tunku’s agreement on several points, namely no leakage to the British, and PAP members to be absent from Parliament on Aug 9. 

As Dr Toh and Mr Rajaratnam still do not wish to sign, Mr Lee returns to the Residency to ask the Tunku to see them. 

The Tunku instead writes a letter to Dr Toh, saying that Separation cannot be delayed as the Tunku himself is not strong enough “to exercise complete control of the situation” and “the amicable settlement of our differences in this way is the only possible way out”. 

Mr Lee, handing the Tunku’s letter to Dr Toh, says that he will not proceed with Separation if Dr Toh does not accept it, but both Dr Toh and Mr Rajaratnam must take responsibility if racial clashes break out. 

After Dr Toh signs, Mr Rajaratnam signs. Mr Ong Pang Boon and Mr Othman Wok, who are also in Kuala Lumpur, sign the agreement in Temasek House as well. Dr Toh writes to the Tunku, accepting “the expulsion of Singapore from the Federation”.

Aug 8 

Mr Lee meets the Tunku early in the morning to sign a document Mr Lee prepared, summarising the points agreed between them during their meetings on Aug 7, to ensure the parliamentary process does not get “jammed up” and that in the event of trouble in Singapore, the Malaysian Government will respond immediately with multiracial troops like the Reconnaissance Regiment. 

Mr Lee flies home to Singapore to secure the signatures of the remaining Cabinet ministers on two sets of the Separation Agreement, one of which he sends back to Kuala Lumpur.

Aug 9 

The independence of Singapore is proclaimed over radio at 10am.