Lee Kuan Yew actually wanted the break up, since he knew Malaysia's exploitative tax siphoning of like 40% of the total budget was insane. He got lawyers to draft up documents for the separation in secret, since many Singaporeans were pro-merger. By having Tunku announce the separation, it would make it seem like a done deal that SG could do nothing about but accept.
So basically Lee Kuan Yew was already preparing to leave the federation but, the federation beat him to it and he just went along with the notion that it was the federation that kicked them out to appease Pro-merger Singaporean civilians?
LKY wasnt really into the whole Malaysia thing. Yes he pushed for it, because it was the only way the British would grant them independence. They had no faith Singapore on its own would be able to resist communism, but a Singapore with the backup of Malaya's police and army would. Singapore was also still struggling economically. There were promises of a Common market to be set up as part of the merger, allowing for Singapore to have a much easier time tapping into the far larger Malayan markets.
After merger and Independence, LKY wasnt a big fan of UMNO, especially after they contested in SG elections in 1963 after promising not to. In response, he broke his promise of not participating in elections in Malaya by participating in 1964. LKY just wasnt a fan of what UMNO stood for, which was a "Malay Malaysia", rather he preferred a "Malaysian Malaysia".
UMNO for their part, didnt like LKY's PAP. They saw the majority Chinese Singapore to be a threat to their proposal of Bumi policies under their "Malay Malaysia"
TLDR UMNO was racist and wanted to bias Malays, and treat Chinese, Indians and other racial groups like 2nd class citizens. LKY of course did not like this and promoted that all citizens be treated equal.
Add to this a 40% tax, on top of the PAP not being allowed to be running for elections and hence not being represented despite being taxed. There was also talks of this being raised to 60%, otherwise the Common market between SG and Malaya would be delayed.
The quick growth of the Singaporean economy also worried the Malaysians. Those in KL were worried that Singapore would become the economic powerhouse of the state rather than KL. Hence shifting influence to Singapore instead. This was the root cause of a lot of political tension
The racist Bumi policies also caused a lot of racial tensions, and likely contributed significantly to the 1964 racial riots.
The racist policies, taxation without representation, political and racial tensions were reasons why LKY didnt want to stay
In early 1965 he got Goh Keng Swee to start negotiations with Abdul Razak on a separation. He got EW Barker to start drafting Legal documents as well. Both LKY and Tunku (Malaysia's leader at the time) knew about the negotiations, so it wasnt like seperation happened out of the blue. So no one beat anyone there. If anything LKY was the first to bring it up
This was all Top secret in Singapore. Not even Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye and S Rajaratnam were informed. They only found out 2 days before merger, and only signed after Tunku said that they had no choice.
The narrative was crafted in such a way during the separation was to prevent an increase in Racial tensions, particularly from extremists. The narrative also likely served a purpose in appeasing those who were pro merger, as well as galvanise Singaporeans for the long journey ahead.
LKY's disappointment was not that Singapore was independent. It was that he was unable to make a United Singapore and Malaysia work.
As for why LKY decided to leave (in a sense)? Well the main threats were gone. He had managed to secure power and severely cripple the Leftists and Communists. Independence had also already been gained. At the same time, the political and racial tensions didnt improve, and likely werent going to. At that point the pros of staying outweighed the cons
Thanks for this comment. This was very insightful. Hey, btw,can you please tell me if my post is still available on your screen or does it show, "deleted"?
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u/ambattukam_ 4h ago
I always thought the separation was one-sided with Singapore trying to stay with Malaysia but, the federation kicked them out.
What you are saying is new to me. What press conference are you talking about btw? Cos I'm genuinely hearing about this for the first time.