Singapore in Malaysia

Singapore, officially the State of Singapore, was one of the 14 states of Malaysia from 1963 to 1965. Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963 by the merger of the Federation of Malaya with the former British colonies of North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. This marked the complete end of 144 years of British rule in Singapore, which began with the founding of modern Singapore by Stamford Raffles in 1819. Prior to the merger, Singapore previously gained full internal self-governance in 1959, but the British had still controlled external relations.

The union was unstable due to distrust and ideological differences between the leaders of Singapore and the federal government of Malaysia. They often disagreed about finance, politics and racial policies. Singapore continued to face significant trade restrictions despite promises of a common market in return for a large proportion of its tax revenues, and retaliated by withholding loans to Sabah and Sarawak.

In the political arena, the Malaysia-based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and Singapore-based People's Action Party (PAP), entered each other's political arenas, despite previous agreements not to do so. These resulted in major race riots in Singapore in 1964, which were attributed at least in part to instigation by UMNO and its Malay-language newspaper Utusan Melayu for affirmative action for Malays in Singapore.

Taking into account of the volatile situation, Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman culminated in the decision to expel Singapore from the Federation, and on 9 August 1965, Singapore became an independent sovereign country – the union having only for lasted 1 year, 10 months and 24 days.