SINGAPORE, Dec 8 — Singapore’s split from Malaysia in August 1965 was set in motion by an off-the-cuff suggestion from Goh Keng Swee, then Singapore’s finance minister, on July 15 that both sides should part ways, a new book reveals.

According to The Straits Times, this remark triggered a sequence of negotiations that culminated in Singapore proclaiming independence on August 9.

The Albatross File: Inside Separation, edited by Susan Sim and published by The Straits Times Press alongside the National Archives of Singapore, draws on Goh’s confidential Cabinet papers, memorandums, and handwritten notes, as well as oral history interviews with the island’s founding leaders.

The book shows that Goh acted decisively in discussions with Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak, refusing proposals for a looser federation and agreeing to a swift, discreet separation. 

Legal instruments for the split — including an Agreement to Separate, amendments to the Malaysian Constitution, and a Proclamation of Independence — were drafted to ensure vital interests like water and defence ties remained intact.

Events following Merger, including race riots in 1964, had heightened tensions between leaders in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. 

The negotiations were largely conducted by Goh and Tun Razak, with Prime Ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Tunku Abdul Rahman stepping in to finalise the agreements just days before the proclamation.

By August 9, 1965, Singapore’s independence was formally announced over the radio, marking the culmination of a 25-day “bloodless coup” that redefined the island nation’s future.