By MIKOspace
Personal Perspectives on:
“Flesh and Bone Reunite as One Body”:
Singapore’s Chinese-speaking and their Perspectives on Merger
by
Dr Thum Ping Tjin ©2012
The
year 1962 was the worst of times, and the best had yet to herald. The Japanese
were long gone, but the British had returned. China became Communist. The age
of foolishness descended upon Singapore the Lion City. It was the epoch for
belief and incredulity. We were in a season of Darkness, holding out
desperately for the coming season of Light. Trapped in a never-ending Summer of
despair, awaiting signs of the hopeful Spring.
A very wet and warm Winter of gloom followed instead. We only had our everything
behind us, and nothing before us; some thought we were all going direct to our Heavens,
but we were all going directly every each way but upwards.
The
Proposed Singapore-Malaya Marriage through Merger was doomed from the get-go.
One party was eager, enthusiastic, and the other lukewarm and hesitant. One
demanded dominance and total subservience, the other hoping for equality and
justice. One racist and the other ethnocentric.
One for a “Malay Malaysia”, the other for a “Malaysian Malaysia”. Never in the History of Civilisation has a Political Marriage so
destined for failure from the Courting stage as our victorious Battle for
Merger. What hastened the
eventual Union was a Third Party so feared by both Malaya and Singapore. Communism....
“The idea of Merger
for a new Homeland,
however, was never far from the minds of Singapore’s Chinese. Malaya and Singapore
were always seen as “complete and indivisible as a family”. A major stumbling block to Merger is Chinese
fears about the dilution and destruction of their heritage.”
“By
1955, all major political parties in Singapore were committed to the
reunification of Singapore and the Federation. Among Chinese Singaporeans, support
for Merger was virtually unanimous.
Inside
Malaya however, “the Tunku and the UMNO leadership were opposed to Merger. The
single most important reason was “the fear that the incorporation of a million
Chinese would immediately threaten and ultimately abolish Malay political
dominance and power” in the Federation. UMNO instead equated Malayan culture
and identity with the Malay one, and demanded that the minority races should
assimilate to the Malay culture and accept the privileged position of Malays in
the Federation. They brought this same argument to the debate on merger.
For
the Tunku and his Malay Power Elites, the integration of Singapore’s Chinese
would threaten the special position of Malays in the Federation. They knew that the Chinese would never
assimilate and so never accept Malay predominance.
It is NOT and has NEVER been in the Chinese psychic to
assimilate other ethnic groups to Chinese Culture, and they therefore did not
expect to be assimilated to Malay society and culture. The Chinese had regarded
themselves as equal to the other races. They did not think it necessary or
relevant to accept the special status of Malays and their dominance in the New
Malaysia. Chinese Singaporeans envisioned the growth of a new, distinctive
Malayan or Malaysian culture that merged the best aspects of Chinese, Malay and
other cultures, and with equality for all.
“The Singapore Chinese had looked to Merger as confident,
equal partners, not for economic salvation. They saw themselves as the most
significant contributors to the Malayan economy and Malayan multiculturalism,
and were full of conviction that they had a rightful place on Malayan soil.”
They
had fought the British and Japanese for Malaya as their own country. By 1960, nearly
80% Singapore Chinese were born in Singapore. They possessed patriotism, cultural
pride and a deep conviction that their contribution to Malayan cultural,
economic and political life entitled them to an equal place in Malaya. Citizenship
and Nationality were important and crucial issues in any Merger agreement.”
Tunku
and his Malayan power elites feared the possible ascendency of mostly
Chinese-speaking Opposition leaders who may not be able to resist the increasing
Communist influence before the latter eventually won real political power
through the ballot box. At this time,
the PAP was already decimated by the expulsion of 13 PAP Assemblymen, with
their supporters of nearly two-third of the PAP membership, including 19 of its
key 23 Organising Secretaries.
“The basic Merger agreement was quickly negotiated by 24
August 1963 meeting all the conditions by giving Singapore autonomy on the
critical areas of commerce, labour, and education. Both territories would retain their
separate citizenships while enjoying equal rights as Federation Nationals
bearing the same passports. However, Singapore citizens could only vote in
Singapore, and Federation citizens could only vote in the Federation. Basically, a “One Country, Two Systems” type
of arrangement.
The
Marriage with Malaysia was never consummated. The constant acrimonious foreplay
over the conflicting visions of meritocratic, multicultural “Malaysian Malaysia” vs a Malay-dominant,
racist, ethnic supremacist “Malay
Malaysia” marred 2-years of love-hate, bittersweet honeymoon. With no
ethnic group then exceeding 50% in the population, a Malaysian Malaysia would
have made the most sensible choice, but not to the powerful Malay political elites
and their interest groups.....
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