KUALA LUMPUR: Singapore’s Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong recalled a pivotal moment in 1965 when his father, the late Lee Kuan Yew, received confirmation that Singapore would part ways with Malaysia, a decision that would ultimately chart the nation’s future.
Lee recounted how his family were on holiday in Cameron Highlands on Aug 3, 1965, when Dr Goh Keng Swee, Singapore’s principal negotiator, called to report that “separation was on”.
He said the call had to be routed through operators who mostly did not speak Chinese, prompting Goh and Lee Kuan Yew to converse in Mandarin, a language in which Goh was not fluent.
[[nid:1332271]]
“I was in the room at Clooney Lodge when my father received the call that afternoon,” he said in a video shared by the Straits Times on Facebook during the launch of the book The Albatross File: Inside Separation in Singapore today.
He recalled hearing his father tell Goh in Mandarin: “This is a huge decision. Let me think about it”.
The then 13-year-old Lee said he did not understand the meaning of the conversation at the time, but “it became plain soon enough” as Singapore moved toward separation less than a week later on Aug 9, 1965.
Lee said that within a few years, the founding leaders, including S Rajaratnam, Dr Toh Chin Chye and Ong Pang Boon, concluded that separation, which most of them had signed “most reluctantly”, turned out to be the best outcome for Singapore.
“In this SG60 year, we are very glad that Goh did what he did,” he said, adding that Singapore has thrived and progressed far beyond anything the founding fathers imagined.
However, he added that the separation was far from inevitable.
Lee said that without the historic break, a split between Singapore and Malaysia would have happened anyway, but likely “not as peacefully” due to “profound” contradictions between the two societies.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd