Talk:Singapore in Malaysia

Lee Kuan Yew's birthday
"On 16 September 1963, which was also Lee Kuan Yew's 40th birthday, Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaya". What is the relevance of Lee Kuan Yew's birthday here? Seems superfluous to me, especially in the lead. - ryan  d  22:46, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

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Recent changes to the article
Hi, 103.227.140.22. I refer to the recent edits I made to the article, your reversion of them, and my restoration of the changes. I am not trying to "hide the real fact [sic]" as you claimed in your edit summary. The original sentence just doesn't make sense. Here is what it said:

"The union, however, was unstable due to distrust and ideological differences between leaders of the State of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia. Such issues resulted in frequent disagreement within politics, economic, financial, social policies and socioeconomic system that was Communism[1] with majority were Singaporean Chinese. The conflict spread to the populace, resulting in major racial riots in 1964 in Singapore."

The sentence "Such issues resulted in frequent disagreement within politics, economic, financial, social policies and socioeconomic system that was Communism with majority were Singaporean Chinese" is not grammatical and simply does not make sense. Furthermore, it is not supported by the reference that was put in footnote 1. The reference notes that in the 1950s and 1960s the political loyalties of Singaporeans were based on ethnicity and, "fanned by the incendiary speeches of communalists aiming to stir up racial and religious feelings, gave rise to several major riots in which many people were killed and injured". In addition, "[i]n the 1950s, pro-communists and Chinese chauvinists enjoyed widespread support and loyalty within the Chinese community", and therefore "communism was another cause for anxiety for the newly formed government" (i.e., the government when Singapore became fully independent in 1965). The reference therefore:


 * does not say that disagreements between the leaders of the State of Singapore and the Federal Government of Malaysia led to frequent disagreements in politics, "economic, financial, social policies" and the socioeconomic system; and
 * does not say that the socioeconomic system of Singapore "was Communism".

The phrase "with majority were Singaporean Chinese" is not grammatical, and it is not clear how it connects with the rest of the sentence.

On the other hand, the text which I added is supported by the new reference (, also referred to elsewhere in the article). The fact that there were racial tensions is clearly reflected in the following sentence: "There were also major racial riots that year [1964] involving the majority Chinese community and the Malay community in Singapore." — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 15:03, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Singapore as the only modern country to become independent against its will
diff in question

If the claim is untrue, which other modern country became independent against its will? Banedon (talk) 19:18, 31 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Depends how you define modern I suppose, but most recently were the countries of Central Asia. CMD (talk) 01:41, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Does the source actually say the former USSR republics in Central Asia did not want to become independent? I can't find the sentence. The closest is footnote 1 which says "an overwhelming majority of the population in these republics voted to remain part of the Soviet Union", but the only such vote I can find is the 1991 Soviet Union referendum, and if one takes that result at face value then every non-boycotting Soviet republic didn't want to become independent, not just the Central Asian countries. Furthermore, the Soviet Union itself dissolved, which is not the same situation as Singapore since the rest of Malaysia remained a single country. Banedon (talk) 02:09, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
 * It is possibly more than just the Central Asian countries, I'm not saying they're the only ones. If you want more specific wording it's easy enough to find, eg. "Few peoples of the world have ever been forced to become independent nations. Yet that is precisely what happened to the five Central Asian republics...". Nothing will be exactly, like Singapore, as every situation is unique, but history is full of interesting cases. Anguilla revolted to return to British rule, Uruguay was given independence to be a buffer state, Luxembourg emerged out of a split inheritance, and probably more. CMD (talk) 02:39, 1 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Hmm, fair. Banedon (talk) 03:49, 1 September 2021 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:24, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
 * Negaraku instrumental.ogg