Written by Imran bin Tajudeen
This article is the second of a three-part series on “Merdeka! and Majulah Singapura! Three early symbols of Singapore’s road to independence”
In the previous article, on the Merdeka Bridge and its Lions of 1956, we learn that a bridge was built to commemorate the 2 April 1955 elections as a significant step towards realising the aspiration of the people of Singapore for Merdeka, or Independence. Merdeka was in fact a term that enjoyed wide currency and in this article we will look at two important instances of its use: the Merdeka Talks under the Labour Front Government of David Marshall and Lim Yew Hock, and the Merdeka declamations by Lee Kuan Yew after the PAP came into power following the general election of 30 May 1959.
Merdeka rally at Farrer Park in Singapore, 17 Aug 1955. This particular rally was by PAP, when it was an Opposition party to the then ruling Labour Front government of Chief Minister David Marshall.
Image from Wikipedia. Photo by Chew Boon Chin, according to this website.
But first, how did the term Merdeka become potent as a shared slogan that people identified with?
Merdeka as a unifying rallying call – Yusof Ishak and Utusan Melayu’s role in the 1950s
Merdeka means Independence in Malay. How did this slogan become important as the rallying call in late colonial Singapore?
In discussing the rise of the slogan ‘Merdeka’ as an effective rallying call, the role of Yusof Ishak and the paper he ran, Utusan Melayu, has to be discussed. Yusof Ishak was the founder and editor of Singapore’s independent Malay daily Utusan Melayu, which was set up through much struggle to serve as a paper for Malays run by Malays.
(Yusof Ishak later became Singapore’s first President – and before that he had been Singapore’s second Yang di-Pertuan Negara or Head of State, having been invited to the post by Lee Kuan Yew in 1959)
According to one account, it was Utusan Melayu that popularised ‘Merdeka!’ as a neutral slogan for independence. In a television interview recently, a former reporter for Utusan Melayu, Othman Wok, who later became Minister of Social Affairs from October 1963 to June 1977 in Lee Kuan Yew’s government, attributed the widespread adoption of ‘Merdeka!’ as a rallying call to Utusan Melayu’s editor Yusof Ishak’s decision to use this slogan in place of communal ones, because it could be shared across ethnic groups in the common desire to bring Singapore out of its continued colonial subjugation under Great Britain in the 1950s. [Utusan Melayu was later taken over by UMNO and Yusof Ishak resigned in protest]
The office of Utusan Melayu at no.185 Cecil Street during the crucial post-war years of 1945 to 1958.
Image from the website of Utusan Melayu now based in Kuala Lumpur and taken over by UMNO.
Utusan Melayu was very influential in the 1950s, as its team of able reporters followed the vibrant political developments in Singapore and Malaya very closely. The Malay paper, which was written in Jawi script, had a strong voice and influence in public opinion and set the trend not only for the Malay-speaking population in Singapore but also in Malaya. Its messages also reached across the language barrier, as Malay was at that time a lingua franca – a shared common language – understood by all and sundry.
Three rounds of Merdeka Talks: 1956, 1957, 1958
The Merdeka Talks were instrumental in bringing Singapore towards internal self-government, the necessary first step towards eventual independence. These talks were initiated by the Labour Front Government, led by Chief Minister David Marshall, who came into power following their victory in the Singapore general elections of 1955.
Here is an SBC (Singapore Broadcasting Corporation) documentary from 1988 – Diary Of A Nation, Episode 8 – The 1955 Election.
Singapore’s 1955 General Elections – a documentary from 1988 by SBC
The first round of Merdeka Talks:
In April 1956, Marshall led a 13-member delegation that included 6 representatives of ‘the Opposition’, ie. the other political parties in Singapore, to London to speak to the Secretary of State for the Colonies to negotiate the terms for “complete internal self-government”, as Marshall puts it, and in particular the constitutional reforms for Singapore on its way to Merdeka.
MERDEKA TALKS ROUND 1, 1956 – CHIEF MINISTER DAVID MARSHALL WITH MEMBERS OF THE MERDEKA MISSION AT SINGAPORE PAYA LEBAR AIRPORT BEFORE THEIR DEPARTURE FOR UNITED KINGDOM. Image from SPH in NAS.
Watch this video, which shows David Marshall and the members of the Singapore delegation in London during a press conference there. Singapore Special – David Marshall Arrives (1955)
David Marshal arrives in London
Unfortunately, David Marshall could not achieve what he promised from the Merdeka Talks in London, and resigned as a matter of honour. He had important demands which the British were not yet willing to accede to. It fell upon Lim Yew Hock to assume the position of Chief Minister of Singapore, and to lead the Labour Front government.
The second round of Merdeka Talks:
In 1957, Lim Yew Hock led the second Singapore delegation to London for a second round of Merdeka Talks. Like the delegation led by Marshall in 1956, this was also an all-party delegation – meaning it also included the Opposition parties of Singapore. This time an agreement was reached that was agreeable to both parties. However this agreement still did not grant full internal self-government to Singapore.
2nd Merdeka Talks – Preparations by Members of the All-Party Committee before leaving for London. Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock (Centre), PAP Sec-Gen Lee Kuan Yew (extreme left) and Toh Chin Chye (next to Lee) meeting in Assembly House, Singapore. Image from SPH in NAS.
Here is Lee Kuan Yew jubilantly declaiming Merdeka! at the steps of the City Hall upon his return from the second Merdeka Talks in London.
Lee Kuan Yew shouting Merdeka! after returning to Singapore from the Second Merdeka Talks in London led by the Labour Front Government under the leadership of Lim Yew Hock, then Chief Minister of Singapore. Source: NAS
The third round of Merdeka Talks:
In April 1958, Lim Yew Hock again led an all-party mission to London. This time, the Merdeka Talks succeeded in reaching an agreement which provided Singapore with full powers of internal self-government. This was an achievement that David Marshall had set out to attain.
The important agreement was signed on May 28, 1958.
3rd Merdeka Talks – meeting of All-Party Representatives, in Chief Minister Lim Yew Hock’s office at Assemby House before departing for London for the final round of talks. Photo from SPH in NAS.
PAP Government comes into power, 1959
In the 30 May 1959 general elections, the People’s Action Party or PAP won a landslide victory.
Lee Kuan Yew became the Prime Minister of a fully internal self-governing Singapore, an important set-up which had been achieved on the back of the efforts led by the previous Labour Front Government under the leadership of David Marshall and Lim Yew Hock.
Merdeka Declamations by Lee Kuan Yew
Merdeka was used in public declamations frequently by Lee Kuan Yew. Besides the declamation of 1957 shown above (which took place after the Merdeka Talks initiated by the Labour Front government), here are three other important instances:
First, in 1959, when Lee Kuan Yew declaims “Merdeka!” a number of times, leading a crowd that had gathered at the Padang to celebrate Singapore’s attaining self-government. In that year’s elections the PAP had won a landslide victory in the legislative assembly general election. And the secretary-general of the PAP, Lee Kuan Yew, was sworn in as Prime Minister
Lee Kuan Yew declaims “Merdeka!” a few times leading a crowd that had gathered at the Padang to celebrate Singapore’s attaining self-government. Image source
Lee Kuan Yew explains: “Once in a long while in the story of a people, there comes a great moment of change. Tonight is such a moment in our lives. We begin a new chapter in the history of Singapore.”
Second, in 1962 in support of joining Malaysia: Lee Kuan Yew declaims “Merdeka Malaysia!” during the rally at the Padang and City Hall in celebration of the second anniversary of self-government.
Watch Lee Kuan Yew declaim “Merdeka Malaysia!” here.
Lee Kuan Yew declaims “Merdeka Malaysia!” during the rally at the Padang and City Hall in celebration of the second anniversary of self-government. Image from NAS
The full phrase that Lee Kuan Yew uttered, “Merdeka Malaysia”, is omitted in the National Archives record of the event.
The National Archives displays the above image of this event but captions it as “Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew leading the crowd in shouts of ‘Merdeka’ during National Day rally in celebration of the second anniversary of self-government at City Hall.”
Curiously, the term “National Day” is used for an event in 1962, three years before 1965. See the National Archives image and record here.
Third, Lee Kuan Yew proclaims “Merdeka!” in 1963 when Singapore “joined Malaysia”, or, more accurately, attained full independence from Britain via merger with the Federation of Malaya and the Borneo territories to form Malaysia.
Watch the video of the 1963 Merdeka proclamation here.
1963, Singapore joins Malaysia: Lee Kuan Yew proclaims Merdeka! from the steps of the City Hall, echoed by a large assembled crowd at the Padang.
Comparison with Merdeka proclamation of the Federation of Malaya, 1957
The famous image of the Declaration of Independence by the Federation of Malaya in 1957, with seven shouts of Merdeka! led by Tunku Abdul Rahman (standing with raised right arm, extreme left), the first Prime Minister of Malaya (and Malaysia).
The Federation of Malaya had already attained independence in 1957 when Tunku Abdul Rahman famously proclaimed the emotive call of “Merdeka!” or Independence seven times at Stadium Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.
Unlike Malaysia, which would proudly display and recall this evocative episode every year as a symbol of its independence in 1957 (prior to the formation of Malaysia in 1963), Singapore does not have a tradition of celebrating the declamations of ‘Merdeka!’ that took place on several momentous occasions before 1965.
Merdeka – an ignored legacy of Singapore
Merdeka, in the sense of full internal self-government for Singapore without British interference in domestic affairs, had been achieved through the efforts of the Labour Front government era of Singapore from 1955 to 1959 – particularly through the strong push by David Marshall against the conservative elite opinions (and the condescension and derision of the British authorities) of the mid-1950s.
This important achievement was inherited by the PAP government, which assumed power in 1959. The role of the Labour Front government before 1959 should not be overlooked.
Merdeka remains today an uncelebrated, largely forgotten, but very important slogan in a crucial episode of the story of the people of Singapore.
Articles in the Series “MERDEKA! DAN MAJULAH SINGAPURA!” by Imran bin Tajudeen
Merdeka Bridge – Singapore’s Independence Bridge and its Lions of 1956
MERDEKA!!! Singapore’s Merdeka Talks and Merdeka proclamations before 1965
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