The Road to Independence
Lesson Objective:
Singapore had her first democratic election in 1948, although the number of voters was only 13,800, it was a big step towards independence. It was in 1959 when all elections were made compulsory to citizens above the age of 21. The British were reluctant to give up Singapore as a colony because Singapore was useful as a free port, it was their military base and Singapore was still facing threats from Communists. Many local politicians at that time like David Marshall, Lee Kuan Yew and Lim Yew Hock were keen on achieving independent. Therefore, they dispatched a troop led by David Marshall in 1956 to London for the first Merdeka talk, where they fought for Singapore's freedom. They failed and returned to Singapore, because the British feels that the communists problem needed to be solved. Then, Lim Yew Hock successfully pinned down the communists and solved the problem. Therefore, he led a team to London for the Second Merdeka talk in 1957 and finally, Singapore was grant full self government, where the local ministers took care of internal affairs. Singapore would have her own state flag, national anthem and state of Head.
After Singapore achieved full self-government, she looked forward to achieving her independence. To do this, politicians believed the only way was to for an alliance with Malaya. After proposing to Malaya about merger, Singapore, Sarawak, Malaya and Sabah joined to become Malaysia in 1963. However, when these four states signed the treaty, some terms were unresolved. Due to conflicts of the treaty and political conflict, Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, on the 9th of August.
The 9th of August is Singapore's National Day, the day we gain our own independence. However, the road is not as smooth as we thought it would be. Singapore had no natural resources and Singapore had a stagnant economy that focused on entrepot trade. The post-war problem of high unemployment still existed and on top of that, there was an increasing population.
Politicians had a hard time overcoming these problems and finally, after the employment of Dr. Albert Winsemius and other economic advisors, the economy in Singapore was revived by having diversities in industrilisation and creating labour-intensive jobs which employed many workers, to solve the problem of unemployment.
- The Founding of Singapore
- The 20th Century
- The Road to Independence