KUALA LUMPUR: It was a historic moment, one that was ingrained in the minds of Singaporeans and Malaysians alike.
At a press conference in 1965, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew broke down in tears after Singapore was 'expelled' from Malaysia.
But it turns out, Lee was involved in engineering the separation all along, even writing that 'a prosperous and flourishing Singapore doing better than the rest of Malaysia is most attractive'.
The revelations are part of a new exhibit at the National Museum of Singapore that has thrown new light on to events leading to the separation of Singapore from Malaysia.
The exhibit, titled 'We Built A Nation', housed in the Stamford Gallery contains previously secret documents from the 'Albatross' file, which had been in the safekeeping of Dr Goh Keng Swee, one of the founding fathers of Singapore, and a man who played a leading role in the separation negotiations.
In an opinion piece published by the Straits Times, Edmund Lim, a PhD student at Nanyang Technological University wrote that the Albatross name was a reference to Malaysia, and how the merger with Malaysia had become an 'Albatross round our necks', a metaphor for a burden.
"This formerly top secret file contains highly confidential documents kept by Dr Goh, who was one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore. He was a trusted right-hand man of Mr Lee and served as Finance Minister, Minister for Defence, Minister for Education and Deputy Prime Minister. He played a leading role in the negotiation for the separation of Singapore from Malaysia," wrote Lim.
Dr Goh had kept the Albatross file safe for decades, claimed Lim.
Lim highlighted three important documents in the exhibit.
The first was a handwritten letter from Lee, which stated:
"I authorise Goh Keng Swee to discuss with Tun Razak, Dato Ismail and such other Federal Ministers of comparable authority concerned in these matters in the Central Govt any proposal for rearrangements of Malaysia."
The second item of importance was a memorandum from Lee in 1965. It read:
"When the Tunku first informed Keng Swee in December last year (1964) of his desire to have Singapore "hive off" from Malaya, it generated considerable excitement amongst us first because this showed their realisation that we cannot be fixed in Malaysia and the supremacy of Malay communalists assured forever. Next, it gave us an escape, if there is to be trouble in Malaya with communal clashes over language and other issues. We might in such a rearrangement insulate ourselves from communal conflict which is building up in Malaya."
Lim added that Lee had wrote that the "greatest attraction of this rearrangement is our hope to get the benefits of all worlds - the common market, political stability with economic expansion, and autonomy in Singapore without interference from KL. The picture of a prosperous and flourishing Singapore doing better than the rest of Malaysia is most attractive"
The final document consisted of handwritten notes by Dr Goh during a meeting on July 20, 1965 in Tun Razak's office.
According to Dr Goh's notes, he persuaded his Malaysian counterparts that the only way out "was for Singapore to secede, completely", and "it must be done very quickly, and very quietly, and presented as a fait accompli".