Why did Singapore separate from Malaysia?
Singapore was expelled from the federation two years later after heated ideological conflict between the state’s PAP government and the federal Kuala Lumpur government. Initially all appeared well. However, both nations developed different ideological lines on racial issues, especially concerning the Chinese race and the Malay race, mainly marked by UMNO’s belief in the bumiputra policy of positive racial discrimination. UMNO saw this as much needed affirmative action for Malays, who had supposedly been put at a disadvantage due to the heavy presence of immigrants that had entered the Malay Archipelago during colonial rule. The PAP staunchly opposed this as unjustified and racist. The PAP, along with several other Malaysian minority parties, epitomised this view with the cry of a “Malaysian Malaysia!”, a policy to serve the entire Malaysian nationality, which Singapore at that time was included in, as opposed to just the Malay race. This was driven by the fact that Singaporean Chinese
