HWA CHONG INSTITUTION (High School Section)
INTEGRATED HUMANITIES (HISTORY)
SECONDARY ONE
TOPIC : CHAPTER 9
NOTES
Name : _________________________( )/1___ Date : ___________
REASONS FOR MERGER
Common Market
Singapore lacked natural resources. Her entrepot trade was falling too. In addition,
population was growing and thus, there was unemployment. Although new industries
were started in Singapore, not all goods produced by these industries could be sold
in Singapore because it had a small market. It needed a bigger market like Malaya,
however, ever since Malaya became independent in 1957, it placed tariffs on goods
traded between the two countries. This made Singapore’s goods expensive and so
was unattractive to consumers. If Singapore merged with Malaya, a Common Market
could be set up. Within this Common Market, goods could be sold and bought
freely without being taxed. This would make the goods from Singapore
attractive and then would increase trade, expand industries and create more
jobs.
For Independence
The Singapore government wanted to be completely free of the British control. The
British still controlled defence and internal security. However, the British were
reluctant to grant full independence because they feared that the communists would
take over Singapore after independence was granted because the Singapore
government was young and inexperienced. If Singapore could merge with Malaya,
which was strongly anti-communist and had successfully managed to defeat
the communists, Britain would allow Singapore to gain independence.
For Security
On Malaya’s part, it was first reluctant to merge with Singapore because of the
Chinese majority in Singapore which would upset the racial balance and power in
Malaya. There was also too many pro-communists in Singapore. However, in 1961,
the Malayan Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, changed his mind. This was
because there were problems within the PAP. Ong Eng Guan, a member of PAP
resigned from the party and stood for by-election at Hong Lim. He won the election.
Tunku was afraid that the moderates in PAP would lose power to the radicals, who
were pro-communist. If that happened, they would form a Communist
government in Singapore and spread Communism to Malaya.
Inclusion of Borneo States
The problem of the Chinese majority still remained if Singapore joined Malaya. So
the Tunku proposed that the Borneo states of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei be
allowed to join a new federation. By including these states, the threat of the
Chinese majority and dominance would be overcome. The British were
agreeable to this proposal because they wanted to grant independence to these
colonies but were afraid that they would not survive on their own. They believed that
the stability of these colonies would be secured if they joined the Federation.