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    Why would they want to keep their richest and most developed province? Are they stupid?

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    14 Comments

    2. biglyorbigleague on

      Lee Kuan Yew is represented as a baby here for all the crying he did

    3. Umak30 on

      Basically because of racism.

      Malaysia was a deeply racist country ruled by the nationalist party. It created special priviliges for ethnic Malays ( *Bumiputera* priviliges ). Affirmative action for the ethnic Malays, giving advantages in economic, social and political sectors. This was done to appease the Majority Malay population ( Malaysia had a significant Indian and Chinese minority ).

      The State of Singapore, led by the future president of the independent Singapore Lee Kuan Yew and his party the People’s Action Party ( PAP ) had a different ideas. That Malaysian citizenship is equal to all, regardless of ethnicity.
      Singapore was the largest state, with a huge Chinese population ( majority Chinese ) at the time, and already quite rich due to the geographic location. In the 1960s many racial riots broke out between the Chinese and Malay population. The push for equal federalization between all states, was a direct threat to the nationalist ideal of Malay supremacy. So Malaysia expelt Singapore. It was purely political born out of racism. If the Chinese continued to demand equal rights, it would continue to destabilize Malaysia. So expelling the tiny state of Singapore was a short-term solution which worked well to end the political and constitutional crisis. Malaysia got their ethnic priviliges.

      Mind you Lee Kuan Yew was very sad when Singapore was expelt and was in tears ( [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idd8BK0MamA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idd8BK0MamA) ). Independence in that location was scary and it was not guaranteed Singapore would continue to flourish, as Singapore was entirely dependent on trade.

      So it was just the racist philosophy of the Malaysian government. They were pragmatic and believed expelling Singapore would be better than to try and suppress the Chinese population there. All because they wanted priviliges for the ethnic majority.

    4. Martim102001 on

      Because having their flagship region be a heavily internationalized one would be a detriment to a nationalistic country’s national identity. Malaysia, like basically all recently independent countries had militant aspirations towards the perceived uplifting of its own ethnic peoples. This is a case, like many other such nations, of shooting itself in the foot because of these aspirations

    6. Zkang123 on

      Besides racial issues, its also simply because Singapore itself held a lot of political weight which often brought it in collision course with Kuala Lumpur

      Like Lee Kuan Yew himself was also Prime Minister of Singapore. The Tunku didnt like force him to change the title (unlike for Sabah and Sarawak where they became “Chief Minister”). Partly also this is on the basis that Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak joined with Malaya to form Malaysia as equal partners.

      As Kuala Lumpur tries to assert its own political weight, Singapore refuses to merely kowtow to its racial policies. The PAP even tried to hit back by launching the Malaysian Solidarity Convention and partnered with many opposition parties to contest UMNO and the Alliance.

    8. sw337 on

      Fun fact: Singapore has a higher GDP than Malaysia, Brunei, and Myanmar combined.

      All four were part of the British empire and gained independence in the past 80 years.

    9. ancientestKnollys on

      I have sometimes thought, why don’t Malaysia just annex Singapore. They might be able to get away with it these days. But they probably still have the same attitude.

    10. kugelamarant on

      Malaysia practically avoided civil war. Also the seperation was somewhat planned according to Albatross Papers.

    11. Maximum-Flat on

      Because Singapore had a lot of Chinese and Muslim in Malaysia were fucking racists.

    13. djzeor on

      Is all because of Racism, whenever other ethnicities voice the problem immediately they said you are insulting. So been minorities race in Malaysia, you just need to keep you head down and keep quiet although you knew that shit gonna screw up. They don’t want talent they want slave who work only. That explains the modern Malaysia still suffer or brain drain and lost of talent.

    14. Playful_Landscape884 on

      Ironically, this would be the best outcome for both.

      At formation, both leaders are at loggerheads. Best course of action is each do their own thing and solve their own problems.

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