This Day in History | 1957 – Britain agrees to Singapore self-rule

The British government is to allow the island colony of Singapore to govern itself under a new constitution agreed in London.

The Singapore Constitutional Conference ended today after four weeks of talks when Chief Minister of Singapore Lim Yew Hock and Alan Lennox-Boyd, secretary of state for the Colonies, signed an agreement.

The constitution comes into effect some time after 1 January 1958 when the colony will become known as the State of Singapore.

Britain will remain in charge of external affairs and defence.

There was, however, one major pre-condition that the Singapore delegation would not agree to – that “persons known to have been engaged in subversive activity” would be barred from standing for the Legislative Assembly.

This demand is aimed at excluding extremist left-wing activists in the People’s Action Party (PAP), some of whom have been detained for inciting anti-British riots last year.

At the signing ceremony at Lancaster House, Mr Lim rejected this demand as “a departure from normal democratic practice” but agreed to put it before the Legislative Assembly.

Under self-government, the office of Governor will be abolished and replaced with a Malayan-born representative of the Queen known as the Yang di-Pertuan Negara.

An internal security council preventing subversion is to be set up under the chairmanship of the UK Commissioner charged with safeguarding British affairs in the territory.

Last April, David Marshall, first Chief Minister of Singapore, led a delegation to London to ask for internal self-government with the aim of achieving independence or “merdeka” in Malay.

The talks failed, and as a result Mr Marshall resigned as Chief Minister last June. He was succeeded by Lim Yew Hock. 

Courtesy BBC News

In context

A few days later former Chief Minister David Marshall resigned from the governing Labour Front in protest at the agreement which he felt did not go far enough. He called it “a pock-marked beauty shrouded in chloroform”.

The Constitutional Agreement was finally signed in London on 28 May 1958 and self-government achieved after Singapore held general elections in 1959.

The first government of the State of Singapore was sworn in on 5 June with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister.

It joined the Federation of Malaysia in 1963 and became totally independent in 1965, nearly 20 years after it was made a British crown colony.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) has been the dominant political force since independence.