Correcting Errors in Understanding

1. Correcting Errors in Understanding Economic Reason Singapore could no longer depend on her entrepot because it was shrinking Population was rising – so unemployment was evident Needed foreign investment for growth If British naval, military and air forces were withdrawn, unemployment would soar

2. Communist Problem Wrong Focus David Marshall government could not control the communists so this caused Tunku to be concerned Hock Lee riots in 1955 were a cause for concern too Enlistment to national service

3. Correct Answer Communist activities were rising since 1950s In 1959, in the General Elections PAP won and LKY became first PM PAP had moderates and communist supporters pro-Communist supporters were against merger so formed the BarisanSocialis when they broke away This caused Tunku to be concerned because he feared that the communists may control Singapore Through merger, Malaya can help because they had superior forces with experience

4. By-election Wrong Answer Linking the by-election to communist problem totally

5. Correct Answer Ong Eng Guan – yes showed that possibility that the communists may gain control Reflected that PAP was not internally strong David Marshall win – showed that PAP may not have much support so may not be able to control communists By merging, PAP can work with the Malayan government and win majority votes

6. Gaining Independence Wrong Answer That the British wanted to control Singapore because she brought profits

7. Correct Answer The British were not confident that Singapore could be independent because the communist problem existed They feared that Singapore would become a communist stronghold in SEA And if the communist controlled Singapore, they could spread communism to SEA So if Singapore merged with Malaya, British would agree to grant independence to Singapore because Malaya had superior forces, experience and successfully put down the communists

8. LORMS Level 1 – Describe the issue in focus (1-2) Level 2 – Agree and explain the issue in focus OR Disagree and explain (3-5) Level 3 – Both elements of L2 explained (6-8) (state that the issue in focus is important but not the sole reason) Level 4 – Explain roles of other issues based on L3 (9-10)

9. Level 5 – Explicit consideration of main question (11-12) How important ? How significant? Is the key factor?

10. Q : The fear that a communist take-over of Singapore was the crucial reason for the merger. To what extent do you agree with this statement? Fear felt by Singapore Fear felt by the British Fear felt by Malaya (Level 3)

11. Explain other factors Economic Reason Inclusion of Borneo territories

12. Level 5 My opinion : Everything played an equal role To gain independence we needed to be strong economically so a merger would solve our problems To gain political strength, we needed to put suppress the communist threat And the inclusion of Borneo territories was the deciding factor for Malaya