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B)Economic Survival
C) Citizenship and Sense of
Belonging
Establishment of Ministry of
the Interior and Defence
B4 independence, Singapore had small defence force made up of 2
*Why the
full-time
armyneed?
battalions- the 1st and 2nd Singapore Infantry
Regiments.
Each regiment had about 1000 soldiers, of which majority of them
were Malaysians supported by small number of army volunteers.
Equipment wise- Singapore had 2 old gunboats for the navy and no
aircrafts of its own to defend the air-space of the state.
Singapore could not depend on the British anymore as they had
announced in 1967 to withdraw all their troops by mid 70s.
It was challenging to replace the 26000 British troops stationed
here.
It was made worse subsequently that Britain decided to withdraw
by 1971, much earlier than announced.
The lack of defence and security would affect Singapores
economy-investors would not have the confidence to park their
money here!
*Key: Establishment
of MID
and NSand
Establishment
of the Ministry
of Interior
Defence(MID) in October 1965 with Dr Goh Keng
Swee being its first Minister.
MID in charge of the Armed Forces and the Police till
1970.
The strengthening of the armed forces must be done
urgently as many Malaysian soldiers from 1 st and 2nd
SIR to be transferred to their Malaysian counterpart
following the separation.
Police force had to be build up fast following the
withdrawal of Malaysian Riot Police from Singapore.
He introduced National Service, believing that every
man has a part to play in Singapores defence.
1n 1967, first batch of enlistees numbered 900 in
1967 and by 1976, the full time national servicemen
and reservists numbered about 140000.
To bring about understanding and cooperation, ASEAN was born with key
members like Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines
in August 1967.
This strategy of building up defence and establishing good relations
brought about peace and security, allowing investors to have the
confidence to invest here
2) Economic Survival
Singapore has no natural resources such as oil,
rubber or precious minerals- thus no exports in
these commodity nor jobs linked to this.
Situations more challenging after independence.
The challenging relations between Malaysia and
Singapore and Malaysia had been a major market
for Singapores goods.
Protectionist policy such as increasing taxes on
Singapore goods to protect their own local
industries, thus putting pressure on these
industries within Singapore instead.