There were unforeseen factors which were not taken into consideration. Many problems between the Singapore Government and the Central Government cropped up. The result was in the two years that Singapore was in Malaysia some people in Singapore began to ask, “Was it worthwhile? What were the people of Singapore getting out of Malaysia? How much can we contribute towards the progress of Malaysia when it is represented all the time that Singapore was, as it were, an indigestible element in Malaysia?”
We are not going to cry because we have been thrown out. We have shown that we have already survived one year of independence. We all can survive not just for one year but for five years, twenty years – as long as the people of Singapore want to be independent. But if the people do not want to be independent then, of course, we will become once more either a state or somebody’s colony. And we are not going to become somebody’s colony; not in our lifetime.
It is true that we cannot predict what the future holds for Singapore and for that matter, for the whole of Southeast Asia. The trouble in Vietnam, will it be solved? Will the trouble in Vietnam spread down to Malaysia and Singapore? These are uncertain times, and there are forces which must be taken into our calculations when we talk of independence and how to preserve our independence.
Therefore, all of us must change our attitudes. All of you who live in the Base must begin to start adapting yourselves to changing conditions. We cannot be living here within the Base for ever and ever and ever.
Yes, we will allow the Base to remain as long as there is a possibility that political forces will allow the Base to remain – political forces inside and outside.
As far as the Singapore Government is concerned, you need not have any fear that your future will be jeopardised because we have asked the British Naval Base to dissolve. But you must think further than five years’ times; what are the outside pressures that will be brought to bear upon Singapore? Can we as a little Republic withstand the pressures from outside? Obviously we must begin to build our strength so that we can withstand these pressures.
There are school children studying in this Base. How many of you – 2,000, 3,000 or more? I think it is very necessary that the school children in the Base should be brought more and more into contact with life outside the Base. It is so easy for school children who live inside the Base to go to school within the Base so that their attitudes and thinking are adapted to life in the Base. And that is no good for our school children. Your children must be taken out of the Base so that they learn more about what the other parts of Singapore are doing; so that they know where is Jurong; what is it we have done in Jurong; what are the factories we have built in Jurong. Your children, in time to come, will depend less and less upon the Base for a living. Therefore, they must look to the factories in Jurong, and in order to do that, they must begin to acquire skills.
It is very necessary that our workers begin to orientate their attitudes. We cannot always preserve a “base” thinking. It is very easy to just walk out of the Base to go to the village in Chong Pang, or go to Nee Soon, to buy your groceries, come back and to forget about Singapore. The Base is not Singapore. The Base is part of Singapore.
So, it is my hope that parents who work here will make an effort to take their children out and acquaint themselves with the ways of life and the progress we are making outside this area.
Notwithstanding that Singapore is independent, we must all remember that Singapore, in order to survive, must have good relations with our neighbours, in particular with Malaysia. And that is why we want to keep the Causeway open. There are some workers who come from Johor Baru to work in Singapore just as much as our traders and merchants cross the Causeway from Singapore to Johor. It is 20,000 each way; altogether 40,000 a day.
And it is not our idea that Identity Cards must be checked at the Causeway. Such restrictions can only estrange the people of our two territories. People who live in Johor, in Malaysia, are as much your same skin, your same flesh, your same blood – Malays, Chinese, Indians, people who speak the same language as you do.
So, there is no reason why although Singapore is independent, we should believe that Singapore is now a castle, that all we have to do is to lock up the gates in Singapore, prevent anybody from coming in or going out, and thereby believe that Singapore is going to be protected. That is a wrong idea.
Singapore can survive only if our relations, our intentional relations, our foreign relations with other countries are harmonious. We want to have good relations with all our neighbours, and we will work for regional co-operation.
On the one hand, we will strive to build factories, urge our people to work hard so that their efforts are in proportion to production. And, on the other hand, we will try to sell what we have made. It is no use opening a factory and asking your workers to make radios, to make pyjamas or to make other goods if you cannot sell them. And that is why good foreign relations are essential.
So next week on Tuesday, August the 9th, we celebrate our first Independence Day. United, we survived. And I am very pleased indeed that tonight I see Chinese, Malay, Indian workers living peacefully together and not affected by the racial disturbances which took place in 1964. So long as our three major races live in peace and harmony and co-exist together, the security of this Base, of course, is assured. The moment there is racial disturbance in this Base, then, of course, the value of the Base no longer exists. But that is not so important as peace and harmony between the different communities throughout Singapore. It is not the security of the Base alone that we are concerned with. We are concerned with the security of the whole of Singapore. If there is no peace outside the Base, naturally the security of this Base must also be endangered.
Therefore, although we are a population with 75 per cent Chinese, nevertheless, we will maintain a multi-racial policy. Chinese, Indians, Malays will be regarded as equals. In Parliament you can use any language you wish, be it Chinese, Malay, Tamil or English. Opportunities for employment will not be calculated in terms of race, but on your ability and qualifications for the job. The qualification is not because you are a majority race or because you are a minority race. That is not the consideration. And this policy and attitude is important not only for Singapore but also for the rest of Southeast Asia. We must be a model for the success of a multi-racial society.
So on the eve of this first anniversary of our independence, let us all resolve to unite together, strive our best to make our independence a success so that we will remain independent not just this year or next year or just for the next five years, but for so long as you want to be independent.
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