The Hyphenated Singaporean

• Published in: Singapore pp. 597 - 632
• Main Author: Lee, Edwin Siew Cheng
• Format: Book Chapter Reference
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Institute of Southeast Asian Studies 24.07.2008
• Subjects: History (general), world history; History - other areas; Chinese education; Clammer, John; Lee San Choon; Eurasian Association (EA); Indian community; national identity; Chinese-educated; Head, Anthony; Tan Siew Sin; Tan Koon Swan; Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall; Islamic resurgence; Sikh Advisory Board; Singapore nationalism; Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA); Malay community; Wilson, Dick surmises Chinese-educated leadership after Lee; mosques; Malayalees; Ong Teng Cheong; Borthwick, Sally; Chinese cultural shrine; Nanyang University; Rajaratnam, Sinnathamby; Wang Gungwu; Lian Kwen Fee; minority ethnic groups; Umar Pulavar Tamil Language Centre; Brown, David; Lingle, Christopher; class disadvantage redressing; Singapore Khalsa Association; Yeo Boon Yong, George; Anglicization; Benjamin, Geoffrey; Malayan nationalism; Tay, Simon; Islam; Jemaah Islamiyah (JI); Kenley, David; arrest of executives; linguistic competence importance of; Chinese Heritage Centre Nanyang Techonological University; Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS); English-medium schools; Singapore Char Yong Association; National University of Singapore; Hong Lysa; Lee Kuan Yew; Sikhs; English-educated; Goh Keng Swee; Malay nationalism; Chinese clans; Menzies, Robert; counter culture; Speak Mandarin Campaign; Confucian ethics; Tamil Language Centres; Jamiyah Singapore missionary society; Eurasian Community; Malayan culture; Eurasians; Goh Chok Tong; Punjabis; globalization; Yaacob Ibrahim; Huang Jianli; Chew Sock Foon; Tamils majority of Indian community; Chinese schools; hyphenated Singaporean; meritocracy; Singapore Kerala Association; Yang Razali Kassim; Muslims national pride; Hill, Michael; Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs); May Fourth Movement; Chinese-medium schools

We are not just another country. We are a very unlikely country,” Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in 1987, with reference to the danger of politicizing religion in Singapore. In 1989, when Lee was asked in a Newsweek interview: “What have been your biggest frustrations?”, he replied:First and foremost, the fact that we failed in getting Malaysia to succeed with us as one nation. We didn't want an independent Singapore — it went against our reason and our logic on how to build a stable long-term future as a multiracial community. We considered Singapore not viable. But we were forced to make it viable.The British had also badly wanted Malaysia to succeed. Post-war, the British had tried to broker a multiracial political fusion in Malaya, but had had to grant Malaya independence in 1957 without achieving it. Malaysia seemed to be a second chance for the British to try again. Lord Head, the British high commissioner in Malaysia, the relevant and anxious British Government offices, and Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian prime minister, all urged the same course: that pressure be put on the Tunku “for a more inclusive national government”, one that would have leaders from Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak. But British and Commonwealth pressure could not prevail over the internal pressure the Tunku faced from Malay nationalism. The power of Malay nationalism: it was the same story as before, but this time, Lee Kuan Yew shared the melancholy of the British failure. For it prognosticated the expulsion of Singapore, which Lee said he would look back on each time as “a moment of anguish”.However, looking on the bright side, he did not have to worry anymore about the Tunku or the ultra Malay nationalists. The threat of being displaced or detained no longer hung over him. He was free from all that now. He had, in fact, come out of Malaysia stronger than when he entered it. Merger, as he had correctly judged, was the perfect issue on which to defeat the communists.