11 - Into the Deep End: The Struggle for Survival

Summary

CRAFTING A COALITION

Most newly elected political leaders can expect their first few months in office to be smooth, even uneventful — the proverbial honeymoon period. David and his Labour Front team had no such luxury. From the outset, they were beset by one crisis after another. In retrospect, it is amazing that David was Singapore's chief minister for only fourteen months, for he lived those months with an intensity that is simply awe-inspiring.

After the cheering hordes had gone to bed, David and the members of the Labour Front and the UMNO-MCA Malay Union Alliance adjourned to his nearby flat in Meyer Mansions. No party had sufficient votes to command a majority in the assembly. Even though the Front had 10 out of the 25 seats, there was no way it could form the government without seeking a coalition with the other parties. David had several choices. All he needed was three more seats to command a majority of the house. The Progressives held 4 seats, the UMNO-MCA Malay Union Alliance (Alliance) 3, and the PAP another 3. It was not likely that Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP would work with him to form the government. That left the Progressives and the Alliance. David decided to work on the Alliance, whose leader was Abdul Hamid bin Haji Jumat, leader of UMNO in Singapore. Years later, David explained his decision:

I felt that the Malays have at all times been the Cinderella in Singapore … and that it was vital, absolutely, symbolically, vital that the Malay people should understand they are part and parcel of Singapore as much as the rest of us, and they should take their place now, in common with the others, as fellow citizens of Singapore and no longer as Cinderella, sweeping the cinders out of the fireplace — gardeners, drivers, small engine repairers — that they were an integral part of Singapore.

Therefore I bashed into UMNO … Oh, I remember working till about 3 o'clock in the morning, screaming and shouting and bashing into them to try to understand that they'd got to get out of personal interests and recognise that I wanted them in — I don't know whether they believed me — not because I wanted the majority, but because I wanted the Malays in Government.