Today in History: Singapore declared independence from Malaysia

It isn't called Independence Day, but rather, National Day and the original date of independence wasn't really that long ago.

It was today, in 1965.

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I don't mean this in any sort of negative way but just a statement of fact: Despite their economic prowess, I don't think the western world really thinks a great deal about Singapore in their day-to-day lives. However, for those of us that live over here, it is one of the nicest and consequently most expensive places in all of South East Asia. Everyone likes to travel there because it is VERY different from the rest of the area.

Singapore became part of Malaysia in 1963 in an effort to improve the economic and military strength of both nations. However, it was a marriage that didn't work out so well. While I don't know the specifics there were certain laws that were passed that gave special privileges to Malaysians that were not extended to citizens of Singapore... I mean, why would anyone have a problem with that, right?

The racial tensions between Malays and those with Chinese heritage in Singapore resulted in many riots, the worst of which occurred 1964 where 23 people were killed and nearly 500 severely injured. Singapore was also shifting political power away from Kuala Lumpur due primarily to their very strong economy. It was shortly later unanimously voted in Malaysian Parliament to expel Singapore from the Federation.

I don't claim to know everything, but I can't think of any other time that a nation was "kicked out." Do you know of any?

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Anyway, I am not trying to say anything bad about either nation. Stuff happens, and I think most people believe that agreeing to disagree and have crazy race riots stop is probably a better solution than continuing to try to work together in vain.

At the time of their independence in 1965, the British were still providing defense for Singapore but announced they would cease to do so by 1971. They imported military experts to help train their citizenry and dedicated a very large amount of their GDP for defense. To this day, they have one of the largest per-capita military expenditures in the world.

Singapore is one of my favorite places in the world, but it always makes me feel poor when i visit. They have one of the strongest economies in the world, and it definitely shows. The city is clean, modern, and extremely safe. They do have a whole lotta rules there though, some of which seem pretty silly such as chewing gum being illegal.

So to all my Singapore friends I say

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