The Singapore Story review

While it’s still fresh in my mind, here’s a few things I learned from this memoirs:

• LKY feared separation from Malaysia at first because Singapore were without much resources and communist threat is still clear and common
• The Tunku and UMNO wanted to remove LKY and control Singapore ala Malaya with an iron grip. LKY would have none of that
• UMNO ultras especially Syed Ja’afar Albar (father of Hamid Albar) stoked racial sentiments by flamming anti-chinese and anti-Singapore sentiments and were responsible for communal unrests in Singapore
• Alliance ministers tried their best to sabotage economic and trade of Singapore with unfair measures
• Alliance component parties had no problem spreading their influence in Singapore but when PAP tried to achieve the same in Malaya (with some success) they opposed
• PAP were promoting the Malaysian Malaysia agenda, equal rights and opportunities for all. UMNO with its malay special rights policy will have none of it
• Singapore were kicked out of Malaya when the Tunku felt he failed to control their politics and removing LKY by force would cause major uprising in the tiny island state
• Racism is well and alive in UMNO from the beginning and they gain political mileage by scaring the malays into submission out of fear of threats from other races
• The Tunku is a very liberal with his drinks and women, not unsurprising given his autocratic upbringing
• The Tunku is a superstitious lot, strong believer in omens and lucky numbers. We got our independence on the 31st of August mainly because they were his lucky numbers
• That UMNO, MIC, MCA and pretty much all of Alliance(BN) is corrupt is a well established fact and common knowledge