Singapore's independence
Written by : Chatchaya (3) 2 Sapphire
-OPinions-
Politicians
Singapore became independent on 9th August 1965. Politicians of PAP (People's action Party) were disappointed. That is because they strongly believed that merging with Malaysia will bring a lot of benefits towards their economics and defences. Although, deep inside all do expect the seperation to happen because of all the problems that occured during 1963-1965 such as the riot between chinese and malay community that 23 people died and 454 got injured.
Citizens
Citizens were shocked. Some felt that the seperation is an admission for PAP's failure. Some felt confused as they have to choose their citizenship if they want to be Malaysian or Singaporean. Although there are people who felt happy and even started celebrating. Most people,however, were worried about Singapore's economics as it is a small country with no econommic resources and low populated country.
Singapore's National day
credits: en.wikipedia.org
Singapore's flag
credits: nv.wikipedia.org
Newspapers reporting about Singapore's independence
credits: www.ipscommons.sg
-Problems-
Internal & External security
Singapore was lacking terribly of a strong defence force.This boils down to Singapore's military force being small.Their navy had two old gunboats, no air force and only about 5,000 police. In addition to the problem, British decided to withdraw their armed forces from Singapore by 1971. This increased Singapore's vulnerability to internal and external threats.
Economics
Singapore is a small country with no economic resources. To add to the problem, Malaysia's imposed a new policy to increase the taxes on goods manufactured in Singapore, this made it difficult for industries to develop. Futhermore, there were policies being implemented in other countries that restricted the imports of foreign-produces goods. Hence, Singapore, which mainly depends on entrepot trade, have to develop more diversified economy to ensure the increase in economic growth.
Citizenship & Sense of Belonging
Singapore was a new nation, therefore the trust between the people and the government or the country itself were still low. Hence, when the people have to choose their citizenship, they were likely to choose Malaysia's. This cause the government to step up and encouraged the people to appeal for Singapore's. In conclusion, it is compulsory to develop the sense of belonging in all Singaporeans.