OUSTED - An Insider's Story of the Ties That Failed to Bind

AUTHOR: Patrick Keith
PUBLISHERS: Media Masters


THE history of Malaya and Singapore has been intertwined for centuries. People from both lands criss-crossed the border from the days of the beginning of the Malacca Sultanate and they regarded both lands as one.
In the later half of the 1950s, both Malaya and Singapore were pushing forward their national agendas after emerging victorious from bruising battles with the Communists. History has revealed that the leaders during that time perceived that a merger of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, would be a win-win solution for all concerned, though Brunei opted out at the 11th hour.
For Singapore, merger topped its agenda. Lee Kuan Yew of the People's Action Party was confi dent such a merger would be a political marriage with grand possibilities.
And so it came to pass in 1963, Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak merged into one nation called Malaysia. However, in a short span of two years, unresolved differences of opinion between political leaders from both sides of the Causeway cast asunder the two key players.
Lee and his PAP colleagues who fought long and hard in that battle for merger, was aghast at Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman's decision. The acrimony between the Alliance of Malaya and PAP of Singapore, which began acrimoniously almost immediately after Malaysia was formed, escalated until the separation in 1965.
Much has been written about the split, which shook Singapore more than it did Malaya. Now 40 years on, a journalist who worked for The Malay Mail and later The Straits Times, has written the story as he saw it back in those tumultuous days.
Ousted consists of three sections. The fi rst is Tunku Abdul Rahman's view of the separation. Singapore's perspective is discussed at length in the second section, and the third section presents Tan Siew Sin's side of the story. Tan was the president of the Malayan Chinese Association. The separation continues to be a touchy subject between the two countries and Ousted gives it an impartial treatment.
In his foreward, Patrick Keith says: "The time had come to attempt a different way of approaching the separation story". On that score, he is right. Forty years is far too long for such an important story to lie dormant. Ousted will serve as an interesting appendix to the study of regional politics by academics and political scientists from both sides of the border. Keith takes no sides in this political skirmish that left both nations with memories that have seldom been discussed, and definitely not fondly remembered.
The author has deliberately given no inkling of his personal opinion of the separation issue. All the key players in the Malaya-Singapore separation have had their say.
One is tempted to draw one's own conclusions after reading Ousted, but the story of Singapore and Malaysia continues to play on even today. Albeit without the angst and acrimony of the past.
The future of this region is deeply rooted in its history. Therefore, to acquire a deeper understanding of the political developments of Malaysia and Singapore, Ousted must be read objectively.






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