Revision Structured Essay Questions:

The answers below covers the main questions in each chapter, but cannot be a list of
all the possible questions.

Remember what you are tested on:

Part (a) questions
- You are likely to be given 1 main factor. Explain this plus one more factor that
you can come up with
- Make sure you do not write down more than 3 factors
- Paragraph each factor/point
- Make sure you write your effect line

Part (a) questions

- You are likely to be given all the factors you need to explain. Make sure you
explain all the factors given
- Paragraph each factor/point
- Make sure you write your effect line

In both questions, you will be asked to weigh the importance of the different factors –
This would be your level 5.
If you are aiming for this level, make sure you state your stand right from the
beginning, but do remember go maintain at least 2 sides in your argument.
In the last paragraph, weigh the factors together using either a common criteria or
just based on importance/severity. This cannot be just a few words. Examiners would
like to see you deliberate clearly in this paragraph.

Additional pointers:
- Remember to answer to the question using the PEEE format, especially the
last E(ffect). You can use the “therefore” word to conclude.
- Remember to use a full stop at the end of every one idea for part (a) and part
(b) questions.
- Use “however” at the start of your 2nd side argument

Book 3-2
1. What is the difference between communalism and non-communalism?
a. Communalism is the practice where political parties are divided along
racial lines e.g. UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) in Malaya.
b. These communal parties represent and protect the interest of the race
they belong to e.g. MCA is for the Chinese and MIC is for the Indians.
c. In Malaya, the 3 main races, Malay, Chinese and Indian are represented
by the 3 different political parties. Together, they form the AP or Alliance
Party.
d. Non-communalism is the opposite of communalism. In Singapore, non-
communalism is practiced. The PAP is a non-communal party as it
represents all different races, religion and languages.
e. This is why, Singapore and Malaya faced problems, our political beliefs
(ideology) were totally opposite.

2. Why did Singapore want merger?

a. Singapore realized that merger with Malaya was the only way she would
gain independence from the British.
b. With merger, Malaya would help Singapore defeat the communist
problem.

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 c. It would also continue to allow the British to keep their naval base
because Malaya was friendly to the British.
d. Economically, merger would also help Singapore grow. Malaya would
become the hinterland for Singapore’s industries to grow. It can also be
the market where Singaporean goods could be sold – thus improving
Singapore’s economy.
e. Thus, merger was important for Singapore to gain independence (political)
and improve her economy (economic).
f. To prove her sincerity, Singapore adopted Malay as the national language
and even appointed a Malay, Yusof Ishak as the 1st President in
Singapore. But sadly, this was not enough to convince the Tunku.

3. Why did Tunku Abdul Rahman refuse merger before 1961?

a. Tunku was afraid that merger with the largely Chinese population in
Singapore (about 1 million) would outnumber all the Malays in Malaysia.
This would make the Malays a minority and erode Malay power and
position in their own country.
b. Tunku was wary of the communist problem in Singapore. Having
successfully defeated the communist after 12 years of war in the Malayan
jungles, the Tunku did not want another communist problem.
c. Tunku also did not trust the Chinese in Singapore as many were still loyal
to China, who was also communist.
d. Thus for all the above reasons, Tunku did not want merger with
Singapore.

4. What made Tunku Abdul Rahman change his mind over merger in 1961?
a. Events in Singapore convinced the Tunku to merge or face bigger
problems later.
b. In 1961, the PAP lost 2 by-elections to the socialist. This suggested that
Singapore’s PAP government could be overtaken by the socialist, whom
Tunku saw as friends of the communist. If the PAP lost, Singapore could
become communist, not something Tunku wanted.
c. If Singapore came under the control of Malaya, it could directly fight the
communist threat in Singapore. This would help keep communism away
from Malaya.
d. Moreover, the proposed inclusion of Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei, all more
“Malay” would help restore the balance of Malays against the 1 million
Chinese in Singapore. This would help keep Malay power in Malaysia.
e. From all the above reasons, Tunku decided that merger now was a good
option.

5. How did Singapore deal with opposition to merger?

a. When merger was proposed, there was unhappiness in Singapore
because the socialist feared that they would be defeated by a strongly
non-communist Malayan government. So they decided to break away
from the PAP and form their own party, the Barisan Socialis.
b. The Barisan Socialis were determined to oppose merger and rallied the
people against merger.
c. But the PAP was ready and used the radios, newspapers and met the
people to explain the benefits of merger (see why Singapore wanted
merger).
d. The PAP eventually called for a referendum in which over 70% agreed to
merger under the PAP.
e. This helped overcome the opposition to merger.

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6. How did Malaysia deal with opposition to merger? (external threats)
a. When merger was proposed, the communist in Indonesia opposed it
because they saw a strong anti-communist Malaysia as a threat to their
power.
b. The PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia) then influenced Indonesian
President Sukarnoe to launch “Konfrontasi” (confrontation) against
Singapore and Malaya. This included sending terrorist into Singapore to
set off bombs in crowded places.
c. The Philippines was also unhappy as they claimed Sabah and Sarawak
belonged to them under the Sulu empire. But they did not resort to force.
d. Kuala Lumpur responded to their opposition and actions by breaking off
diplomatic and trade ties with Indonesia and the Philippines. But
confrontation ended only in 1966.
7. How important were negotiations between Singapore and Malaya before
merger?
a. Negotiations were important because 2 countries were now becoming one
and both needed to decide how the powers will be divided up.
b. Basically, Singapore will become a state under the control of the Federal
Government in Kuala Lumpur.
c. The 1st agreement was the establishment of a common market. Malaya
initially refused the common market. But when Singapore increased her
annual contribution to K.L. to 40%, Malaya agreed to a common market.
This was important because it would help improve trade and benefit both
countries.
d. The 2nd agreement was on the Borneo loan. Singapore had refused to
give away $50million as a gift, instead she offered K.L. a $150million loan
to repaid over 15 years with no interest payment on the $100million.
Malaya agreed and also granted Singapore 50% of the labour and work
contracts in Sabah and Sarawak. This benefited both sides as Malaya got
the money to develop Sabah and Sarawak while Singapore managed to
get work for her businesses and workers.
e. The 3rd agreement was on constitutional issues. Singapore was given
24 seats in the Federal Parliament (K.L.). But Singapore decided to give
up 9 seats so that she could retain control over education and labour
policies in Singapore. This was important because the majority Chinese
would not have agreed to Malayan education policies. Also, these 2 areas
were dominated by communist problems. And since K.L. was too far
away, Singapore would be better able to deal with the problems faster.
f. The 4th agreement on citizenship rights guaranteed that the Chinese in
Singapore would not upset Malay power in Malaya. This was done by
preventing Singaporeans from voting in Malaya. Similarly, Malaysians
were not allowed to vote in Singapore. However, political parties can be
set up e.g. SUMNO to try and win elections. But their members must be of
that nationality.
g. The last agreement was on Malay rights. This basically guaranteed that
the Malays in Singapore will have equal rights as with anyone else in
Singapore. Other than being recognized as the Orang Asli (natives) and
given free education up to university, the Malays in Singapore would not
enjoy the extra privileges that were given to Malays in Malaysia.
h. Therefore the above points are important as they decided on many
matters to prevent conflict.

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8. Why were there conflicts in Malaysia?
a. Merger was not peaceful as both governments in Singapore and Malaya
begun actions that destroyed merger.
b. Economically, Malaya had broken the promise of a common market by
refusing to set it up. Also, Singapore was given only 2 pioneer certificates
(tax-free incentives meant to attract investors into the country). K.L.
however argued that they needed to spread economic development
across Malaysia, not just in Singapore.
c. Malaya also begun to demand that Singapore give K.L. 60% of her annual
earnings (up from 40% previously). The reason given was that K.L.
needed the money to deal with the communist. This large increase was
probably too much for Singapore to accept.
d. Malaya also wanted Singapore to close down the Bank of China, whom
Malaya claims is helping the communist. But Singapore insisted that the
bank was helping Singaporeans by bringing in cheap goods, and that
there was no proof the BOC was helping the Chinese.
e. All the above made the Singapore government believe that Malaya had
one goal in mind; to weaken the PAP government and take over through
the Singapore Alliance (a party set up by Malaya’s Alliance Party).
f. This strained relations between the 2 governments.
g. Although Singapore was mainly the victim here, it did not ask for
separation.
h. But it did contribute to the tensions between the 2 countries.

i. Socially, the worst racial riots in 1964 were caused by the unfair and
deliberate attempts by SUMNO led by Syed Jaafar Albar to turn Malays
against the PAP.
j. 1 example of this was SUMNO’s accusations in the Jawi script newspaper
Utusan Melayu that the PAP had discriminated against the Malays in
Singapore in housing, education and even threatened Malay customs and
traditions.
k. In the end, during a procession for Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, a fight
broke out and eventually led to mass racial riots in Singapore. The riots
were only put down after Malaya sent in troops.
l. The main reason for this conflict was probably SUMNO’s desperate
attempts to try and weaken and replace the PAP government in
Singapore.
m. While Singapore suffered, this did not lead to separation, but it did
contribute to tensions between the 2 countries.

n. Politically, the main problem was the fight between communalism and
non-communalism.
o. Singapore’s PAP have always maintained that Malaysia should be a equal
and just country for all races; a Malaysian’s Malaysia (A country for all).
p. This made her challenge UMNO’s belief that the Malays should come first.
UMNO, together with the MCA and MIC formed the Alliance Party and in
this way practiced communal politics.
q. Things became serious when the PAP formed the MSC (Malaysian
Solidarity Convention) to challenge the AP for power.
r. The PAP had done this because the Tunku had gone back on his promise
not to make things worse after the racial riots. Tunku had ordered SUMNO
to be reorganized to defeat the PAP and take control of Singapore.
s. This led to calls for Lee Kuan Yew’s arrest and a lot of heated arguments.
t. The Tunku fearing more unrest, or even a civil war, decided that
separation was probably the best thing.

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u. Thus political factors led to separation.