The Road to Nationhood

Posted by DottSG under Blogging, Heritage Sites and Trails, News, Reflections, Traditions
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Ask just about any Singaporean when this nation was born and the answer you will probably get is August 9 1965 - the day when Singapore separated from Malaysia and became a fully independent country. But the seeds of independence were actually sown six years earlier in 1959. yesterday.sg is proud to be appointed as one of the official sites to commemorate, in a series of blog posts over the next six months, the 50th anniversary of Singapore’s journey to nationhood.

In elections for a new Legislative Assembly held in May 1959, the People’s Action Party (PAP) won a landslide mandate from the people

Victory salute from members of the People's Action Party on the steps of City Hall (Singapore Press Holdings collection, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore)

taking 43 of the 51 seats. Fifty years ago today, June 3 1959, PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew was installed as the country’s first Prime Minister while colonial governor Sir William Goode became the first Yang Di-Pertuan Negara.

While Singapore was granted in principle full internal self-government, the colonial administration still controlled external relations and shared control of several key internal policies such as internal security.

Swearing-in of the first locally-born Yang Di-Pertuan Negara of Singapore Yusof Bin Ishak at City Hall (MICA collection, Courtesy of National of Archives of Singapore)

On December 3 1959, Singapore’s state flag, National Anthem and State Crest was unveiled to this new nation. With the departure of Sir William, Yusof bin Ishak was installed as the country’s first local Yang Di-Pertuan Negara (left). Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English were made the four official languages.

But the problems faced by Singapore were many and in the minds of the people, their future standing alone, was far from certain.

Singapore’s long history of colonial rule, had indoctrinated in its people, a mindset of subservience and dependence on its colonial shepherds to keep the country on its feet. Many locals at that time, cocooned within their different ethnic groups, did not feel a sense of belonging to Singapore or their fellow newly-minted citizens.

The English-educated which had benefited more than others under colonial rule, had to be persuaded to share their rights and privileges with the others. It was crucial that the Chinese-educated which still had strong and passionate links to the motherland, be won over for their sheer numbers and economic clout, would determine the fate of Singapore.

Loyalty Week was introduced here in December 1959 with some 25,000 attending the launch at the Padang. With self-government, it was necessary to develop quickly, a sense of belonging to Singapore among a people of diverse races and cultures.

But the hurdles were far from psychological. On Singapore’s economic and social fronts, there were serious problems ranging from high unemployment to an acute housing shortage. After many years of work stoppages, riots and strikes - many of which were instigated by the communist – discipline, hard work and law and order were urgently needed to counter the ominous threat posed by the communists and seed a spirit of hope.

The newly-installed government tackled the problems quickly on various fronts. Dealing with a multi-racial and multi-religious society, a policy of equal treatment and opportunity was laid out. A Ministry of Culture was set up for the three main ethnic groups to intermingle and develop and understanding and appreciation of their others roots and beliefs.

To help the Malays – the largest and poorest of the minority races here – the government set up the Malay Education Advisory in 1959 and opened the first Malay secondary school the following year providing free education up to tertiary level for all Singapore Malays.

Realising that education for all was key to economic survival and social cohesion, the government began a crash programme of building schools and training hundreds of new teachers.

Building skyward and quickly was the only way to solve Singapore's early housing shortage (NAS collection, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore)

With a population hitting 1.6 million in 1960, the housing shortage needed to be addressed urgently.

The Housing and Development Board was set up in that year to transform Singapore residential landscape. The Board’s first five-year building programme aimed to target over 51,000 housing units.

To tackle the high unemployment rate as well as to raise individual incomes, the country need large-scale industralisation.

The PAP’s victory of 1959, was viewed with dismay by many foreign and local business leaders. Although Lee Kuan Yew and the other leaders of the PAP hailed from the “moderate” wing of the party, many of the other members were staunchly pro-communist. Many businesses promptly shifted their headquarters from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur.

Jurong was transformed from a backwater swamp into a bustling industrial hub - Pictures courtesy of the National Archives of Singapore (Source: David Ng, Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore)

The Economic Development Board was formed in August 1961 and Finance Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee pointed to the swamps of Jurong as the site for Singapore’s first industry hub.

Tax and other business incentives were offered to attract foreign investors.

The miracle of Singapore was no overnight success story. It would take many decades of hard work and self-belief to transform the country.

And it all began on that day - June 3, 1959 when Singapore took its first tentative steps on the long road towards truly becoming a nation of one united people …

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