The first`Mexicans' of SAF, SAF formative years

Very interesting read, about the formative years of SAF from the perspectives of an Israeli advisor in the early years of SAF.
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A deep, dark, secret love affair

By Amnon Barzilai

A team of IDF officers, known as the `Mexicans,' helped Singapore establish an army. It was the start of a very special relationship.

Christmas Eve, 1965, is the unofficial date of the start of the great and continuing love story between Israel and Singapore, a love affair that was kept a deep, dark secret. The international press, like the Israeli media, tried to bring the tale to light. Occasionally, scraps of information leaked out; some were published, some were denied, many were disregarded. The Israelis, as usual, wanted to rush to tell all their friends, but managed to overcome that desire. The fear that the thies would be terminated if they became public knowledge had its effect. Israel imposed a total blackout on the story and the secret was preserved. Until the other side could no longer contain itself.

In his book, "From Third World to First: The Singapore Story 1965-2000," published in 2000, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father and its first prime minister, disclosed the secret that had been kept for almost 40 years: It was the Israel Defense Forces that established the Singaporean army. The Israeli military mission was headed by Yaakov (Jack) Elazari, then a colonel, who was later promoted to brigadier general. After leaving the army, he became a consultant to the Singaporean army. Hedied 15 years ago. "To disguise their presence, we called them `Mexicans.' They looked swarthy enough," Lee wrote.

Singapore's army is today considered the strongest and most advanced of the military forces in Southeast Asia. The alliance between the Israeli and Singaporean defense establishments intensified and expanded, and it now encompasses cooperation between the two countries' military industries, as well. The scope of the deals, according to foreign sources, indicates that the Singaporean army is one of the major clients of Israeli combat means and military technology. Singapore's aircraft industry is cooperating with its Israeli counterpart and with Elbit Systems in upgrading the F-5 warplanes of the Turkish Air Force. A few years ago, Singapore's defense minister revealed that the Gil antitank missile, which is manufactured by Raphael (Israel Armaments Development Authority), was developed in cooperation between the two countries.

Surrounded by Muslims

Lee explained the need to maintain secrecy to his close friend in the leadership, and the first defense minister in his government, Dr. Goh Keng Swee. "We have to ensure, as far as possible, that the arrival of the Israelis will not become public knowledge, in order not to arouse opposition among the Malay Muslims who live in Malaysia and Singapore," the prime minister summed up. That, in essence, is Singapore's problem. The residents of the small island, which has an area of about 670 square kilometers (Israel is 30 times as large), are mainly Chinese, and they live between the two Muslim countries of Malaysia and Indonesia. Life in the shadow of the large Muslim majority and fear of a Malaysian incursion are an integral part of the history of the two countries. Until 1965, Singapore was part of Malaysia. In that year, the British government decided to withdraw from all its colonies east of the Suez Canal. In a rapid process it was decided to sever Singapore from Malaysia and to establish it as a new and separate country.

Singapore declared its independence on August 9, 1965. At the time of its creation, it had only two infantry regiments, which had been established and were commanded by British officers. Two-thirds of the soldiers were not residents of Singapore, and in any event the leaders of the nascent state had no faith in the strength of the minuscule army. The defense minister, Goh, contacted Mordechai Kidron, the former Israeli ambassador to Thailand, and asked for assistance. Kidron arrived in Singapore within days, along with Hezi Carmel of the Mossad. "Goh told us that they think that only Israel, a small country surrounded by Muslim countries, with a strong army, could help them build a small, dynamic army," Carmel says. The two Israelis met with Lee, who writes that he "told Keng Swee to put it on hold until Lal Bahadur Shastri, the prime minister of India, and President Nasser of Egypt replied to my letters seeking their urgent help to build up our armed forces."

It's not clear whether Lee, in fact, believed India and Egypt were capable of, or interested in, building up Singapore's army. Many Israelis believe the two leaders were approached only for appearance's sake. After a few weeks of waiting, India and Egypt congratulated Singapore on its independence but did not offer military aid. Lee ordered Goh to push ahead in contacts with the Israelis.

At the same time, in the wake of reports sent by Kidron and Carmel, the Israeli defense establishment deployed to supply military aid to Singapore. In discussions conducted by the chief of staff, Yitzhak Rabin, with the participation of the deputy chief of staff and head of the Operations Branch, Ezer Weizmann, it was decided to make Major General Rehavam Ze'evi, who was then deputy head of the Operations Branch, responsible for building the Singaporean army. Ze'evi (nicknamed "Gandhi" ) paid a secret visit to Singapore and the preparatory work began on his return. "Gandhi said he wanted to create an ideal army for Singapore, something we hadn't built here," Carmel says. "Instead of setting up a Defense Ministry and a General Staff, Gandhi suggested an integrated organization, a more economical structure. So there wouldn't be too many generals and too few soldiers."

Ze'evi appointed Elazari, who worked under him in the Operations Branch, as head of the team he established. Lieutenant Colonel Yehuda Golan, then-commander of an armored division (he retired from the IDF with the rank of brigadier general), was subsequently added to the team. Some members of the team "concentrated on writing the chapters that dealt with building army bases. I wrote the chapters dealing with the establishment of an infantry," Golan says. Initially they produced the "Brown Book," dealing with combat doctrine, followed by the "Blue Book," dealing with the creation of the Defense Ministry and intelligence bodies. The Brown Book was translated into English and sent to Singapore's government for its perusal. In October 1965, a military delegation from Singapore arrived in Israel.

"The delegation arrived in order to tell us: `Well done, but to implement the book, you are invited to come to Singapore,'" Golan recalls. Prior to setting out, the members of the military mission were invited to the chief of staff's bureau. "Dear friends," Rabin said, "I want you to remember several things. One, we are not going to turn Singapore into an Israeli colony. Your task is to teach them the military profession, to put them on their legs so they can run their own army. Your success will be if at a certain stage they will be able to take the wheel and run the army by themselves. Second, you are not going there in order to command them but to advise them. And third, you are not arms merchants. When you recommend items to procure, use the purest professional military judgment. I want total disregard of their decision as to whether to buy here or elsewhere."

Wake-up at 5:30

On December 24, 1965, about five months after Singapore became an independent state, six IDF officers and their families set out on an unknown mission. "Elazari and two other officers dealt with the establishment of the Defense Ministry," Golan relates. "My task, along with three other officers, was to establish the army."

Elazari operated according to a number of basic principles, from which the original Israeli team and those who followed did not deviate. The first was to build up a cadre of local commanders and instructors. The second was that the instructional material would be written by the cadets who would be trained as officers. And the third was that practical training would be conducted by Singaporean instructors.

"We wanted to recruit a group of 40-50 people who had some sort of military experience and would be ready to serve in a career army," Golan explains. "We organized things so that they would appoint one of their number to serve as commander. As head of the group, the cadets chose someone of Indian origin named Kirpa Ram Vij, who would eventually become chief of staff of the Singapore Armed Forces. For three months we gave an intensified officers course."

The first course had an IDF format: wake-up at 5:30 A.M., calisthenics, personal arrangements, parade. Training began at 7:30 A.M. and went until 1 A.M. "After a few days of training a group of cadets showed up and said, `Colonel Golan, the Arabs aren't sitting on our heads here. What do we need this madness for?' I called Elazari and explained the situation. He arrived a few days later with Defense Minister Dr. Goh, who told the cadets, `Do what Colonel Golan tells you to do, otherwise you will do double.'"

Parallel to conducting the course, the Israeli team supervised the establishment of the first military base, based on plans of the Israeli Engineering Corps. Construction of the base was completed in three months.

In under a year, the Israeli team conducted a course for new recruits, a platoon commanders course and an officers course, on the basis of plans that were sent from Israel. All told, about 200 commanders were trained.

Jobless instead of soldiers

Once the staff of commanders was ready, it was possible to start creating the standing army on the basis of conscription. The Israelis prepared to establish two more infantry regiments, according to the IDF model, with each regiment consisting of three companies of riflemen, an auxiliary company and an administrative company - a total of 600 soldiers. Lieutenant Colonel Moshe Shefi, who was an instructor in a company commanders course, was sent as an adviser. "We discovered that there was psychological resistance to conscription in Singapore," he relates. "Of 10 professions, that of soldier was ranked last. In first place was the artist, followed by the philosopher, the teacher and the merchant, and the thief was in ninth place. Soldiering was considered a contemptible profession. In Singapore, conscription was considered a means to overcome unemployment."

The Israelis faced a problem. To evade service, most of the young men of draft age (18-24) who were of Chinese origin furnished proof that they were employed. Some 70 percent of the inductees were unemployed and of Malaysian origin - the opposite of their proportion within the population. Elazari and Golan complained to Lee and Goh, but the prime minister was undeterred. "I want you to recruit the most primitive people in the country, the uneducated and the jobless," he told them. Stunned, the Israelis tried to persuade him to reconsider, but he was adamant: "In the Second World War, I saw the Japanese and the British. All the British soldiers were intelligent and educated. But as soldiers they were worthless. The most primitive Japanese soldier gets an order and executes it, and they were extraordinary soldiers. The fact is that the Japanese army defeated the British army."

Golan says, "Yaakov and I tried to explain to him that it's not a question of education but of motivation. The Japanese soldier was motivated because he was fighting for his emperor, who for him was God. For him, he was ready to sacrifice his life. What motivation did the British soldier have, who fought thousands of kilometers from his home?" The explanations about the spirit of combat and about how to generate motivation persuaded Lee.

Along with the two tracks of compulsory service and career army, Singapore also adopted the IDF's model of reserve service. Every soldier who completed his regular service was obligated to serve another 13 years, until the age of 33. A system to mobilize the reserves was established and the Defense Ministry carried out surprise call-up exercises. Because of its small size and its lack of areas for live-fire training, Singapore had to establish training bases in friendly neighboring countries.

Surprise tanks

The unquiet in Singapore, and above all the fear of an invasion by Malay forces, together with the rapid development of the Singaporean army, generated additional needs. With the creation of the infantry, the Israeli team made an in-depth study of the battles fought by the Japanese in Southeast Asia during World War II and of how they succeeded in invading Malaysia and Singapore. Shefi was given the task of delivering a talk on the subject to Singapore's government.

On the basis of the lessons the Israelis drew from the engagements fought by Japan and Britain, they created a naval force based on sampans. "The boats were made of wood and could carry 10 to 15 soldiers, and they were appropriate for the conditions of the sea and for the jungle rivers," Golan says. "On a stormy sea they can be operated with oars or a motor. We asked the Singaporeans to purchase 20 boats and we set up a small base where infantry companies trained in raids and navigation."

Retired Colonel Asher Dar says, "The second team that arrived in Singapore applied what Yehuda Golan did in the form of combat doctrine. We trained in flanking maneuvers with small boats and in live fire using artillery. When the head of the training department, Yitzhak Hofi, visited Singapore, we carried out a model landing of an infantry brigade that set sail in boats at night at a distance of 12 kilometers with the aid of shore navigation only."

The waiting period in Israel on the eve of the 1967 Six-Day War was a rough time for the Israeli team in Singapore. "We were relieved the Israelis were not defeated or our SAF [Singapore Armed Forces] would have lost confidence" in the Israeli instructors, Lee writes. In January 1968, Singapore decided to create an armored corps. In great secrecy, an agreement was signed for the purchase of 72 AMX-13 light tanks from IDF surplus. It was a bold decision: Malaysia, the country's large neighbor, didn't have tanks.

On Independence Day, August 9, 1969, a major surprise awaited the invited guests, including the defense minister of Malaysia: 30 tanks rolled past the reviewing stand. "It had a dramatic effect," Lee writes. Malaysia had cause for concern. Its defense minister recommended to his guests that they take steps to persuade the Malaysian government that its intentions were not hostile.

In the wake of the Israeli victory in 1967, the veil of secrecy over the ties between the two countries was lifted a bit. The Singapore delegate at the United Nations abstained in a vote on a resolution condemning Israel that was sponsored by the Arab states. Contacts began to establish full diplomatic relations. In October 1968, Lee permitted Israel to establish a trade mission and in May 1969 authorization was given for the establishment of an Israeli embassy in Singapore. The status of the Israeli military mission to Singapore was also strengthened, and the mission heads who followed held brigadier general rank. The first Israeli military delegation laid the foundations for an extensive network of relations between Israel and Singapore.

Foundations of the air force

The small Israeli team in Singapore was augmented by professional military advisers for the various corps. The chief armored corps officer, Major General Avraham Adan, arrived to give advice on procuring armored vehicles. In 1968, Adam Tzivoni, a retired colonel who had been head of the planning and weapons branch in the air force, was appointed adviser to the Singapore Armed Forces in regard to the creation of an air force.

"As compensation for the hasty departure of the British army, the British government gave Singapore a grant of 50 million pounds to acquire British-made aerial systems: planes, helicopters and surface-to-air missiles," Tzivoni relates. "The British didn't like me at all. My first task was to approve the deals. It turned out that the English tried to sell Singapore junk. Apart from a deal for Hunters, I vetoed all the deals."

Under Tzivoni's supervision, a flight school was established in Singapore, as well as a technical school, a squadron of Alouette 3 helicopters was purchased and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns were acquired.

Uzis and Israeli marching songs

After the creation of the Singaporean army's infantry regiments, the question arose of what weapons the nascent armed forces would use. The commanding officers wanted the Uzi, the Israeli submachine gun. The Israeli team took an objective view and rejected the idea. True, the Uzi was considered a superb weapon in the 1960s, but only for short ranges. A regular army needs an assault rifle, the Israeli team asserted. Representatives of Israel Military Industries exerted pressure on the Defense Ministry to sell the new Galil assault rifle. However, the team decided that the rifle wasn't yet full ready and recommended the American M-16.

Another major headache for the Israelis concerned the decision about which mortars to procure for the new army. Infantry regiments are equipped with 60 - 52 mm and 18 mm mortars. The weapons, which were developed and manufactured by the Soltam company, based in the town of Yokne'am, were sold to the Israel Defense Forces and exported worldwide. "Even though we thought these were the best mortars, we decided not to recommend them but to make use of an independent source in order to reach a decision," says Yehuda Golan, a member of the team sent to Singapore.

The Israeli team asked a British firm that dealt in organization and consultation on military subjects to examine a series of mortars and recommend the best one. The report stated that the best of the lot was an 18 mm mortar manufactured in Britain. However, considering the price, the recommendation was to buy the Soltam product. The Singapore Armed Forces acquired the Israeli mortar.

"The Israelis emphasized military skills and high motivation. Smartness on parade and military tattoo, the SAF [Singapore Armed Forces] never learned from the `Mexicans.' Whatever smartness the SAF had" derived from the British officers who commanded the army's first two regiments, Lee writes.

"Our motto was that we would not stick our nose into what the Singaporeans could do themselves," Golan notes. "They wanted us to organize the Independence Day parade for them. We argued that a state military parade reflects the country's mentality and its history." The Singaporeans didn't make an issue of it. However, they had a problem that demanded an immediate solution - which marches to play as the soldiers marched in unison. The head of the Israeli mission, Yaakov Elazari, brought notes from Israel and the Singapore army strode to Israeli marching songs.

The jungle combat manual

The Singaporeans took the Israelis by surprise when they insisted on getting a course on jungle combat. Singapore has a tiny natural jungle of no more than five or six square kilometers, but the neighboring states have larger jungles. Yehuda Golan: "I told them they were right but that I wasn't the right guy, because I knew nothing about jungles." Nevertheless, the Israeli team began to find out how to cope with the subject. It was decided to send two Singapore officers as guests of the Malaysian army for a course on jungle combat.

"Three months later, the two officers returned with the knowledge they acquired in Malaysia, and we decided to conduct a course in jungle combat," Golan continues. "Out of curiosity, I decided to join. It looked very bad - it was clear that they had taught them British methods from the Second World War period. I decided to take a group of 10 officers. We entered the jungle and started to engage in war games. We trained in navigation, deploying forces, search and assault. We went through the American training manuals on combat in Vietnam. We developed methods of night navigation. We learned how to function with a fighting company in the dense undergrowth. After a few weeks of training, I wrote the training manual of the Singapore Armed Forces for jungle combat."


Head of the delegation Yaakov Elazari (second from right), Yehuda Golan (left), and Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin (second from left) in Singapore, 1967. Before the trip Rabin clarified: "We are not going to make Singapore an Israeli colony."
(Haaretz Archive )

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/452157.html
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Lol.. i read this somewhere..

This post has been edited by Faz on Jul 16 2004, 08:52 PM

Yup, from APF that you have posted there, I tot of sharing it with rest of the guys here.

I have no problem with that or any such posts for that matter..Cheers Gary

I was impressed by Yitzhak Rabin's orders to the Israeli contigent. The "dear friends" part was great.

Singaporeans must appreciate the fact that despite what ulterior motives the Israelis had for helping us then and now, they have always been consistent and clear in protocol unlike the Americans who swing from left to right depending on the administration in the white house and which party dominates the congress and senate.

Speaking of Americans and military relationships, is it just me or does Singapore on the whole find more common ground with the republicans compared to the democrats?

Superb article - thanks

Very good article. Interesting as well. Any more of this stuff?

yea the "Mexicans" were tough during training.....my dad and uncles went though them

Good article....

yes yes, from carryng cupboards in camps to lugging 106mm and 120mm on foot!!!

Great article btw, very insightful!!!

This post has been edited by southpark on Jul 17 2004, 12:40 PM

yes yes, from carryng cupboards in camps to lugging 106mm and 120mm on foot!!!

Great article btw, very insightful!!!

My uncle was one of the early batch of officer who were trained under the Israeli.

He told me that the training was very tough, the Israeli drill instructor actually asked them to lay flat on the ground and walked on their tummy. If it happened today, all the mummies will be complaining to their respectivitely MPs about cruelity in NS !!!

Great article! Anyway, the original is from the Isreali paper Haaretz. Link: here. AFP also picked up on it with a short notice here.

A curious article about military cooperation between Israel & Singapore, as seen by the Russkies. Featuring never before seen photos of IDF officers in Singapore (circa 60s)

(The google translator can only translate half, i'm afraid)


http://translate.google.com/translate?u=ht...Flanguage_tools

Original site: www.waronline.org/IDF/Articles/tango_magnolia.htm - 84k

Tks, bro.

This is a Russian site, I will try to use Babal translator and post the article here.

This post has been edited by gary1910 on Mar 30 2007, 12:51 AM

TANGO "MAGNOLIA"
The history of military cooperation between Israel and Singapore
Author : David Gendelman
Date of first publication : 11/03/2005
Last update : 1/08/2006

The author is grateful to Dr. Yakovisu (ASA Vadim) for providing technical assistance.


Photograph : Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and <otetz-osnovatel> Singapore Lee Kuan Yew during Rabin visit in Singapore, 16 October 1993.

<<You it seems then loved Portugese, and it can be, you left the Malay>>
Prologue

6 February 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles signed a contract with the Sultan of Johor and founded the port and the trading of British East India Company on the island of Singapore, the southern tip of Peninsular Malaysia. At that time, there were about two hundred Malay fishermen. The zone immediately drew merchants and leading business, and the population grew rapidly at the expense of mass immigration, mostly Chinese and the Malays, Indians and Europeans. Over the decades, Singapore has become a flourishing port city in South-East Asia. The 1867th it had been a colony of the British crown in the Poseleni Straits (Straits Settlements), and the outbreak of the Second World has been a bastion of Empire <gibraltarom Vostoka>. But bastion fell to the ravages of the Japanese army at the beginning of the war, and the British returned to Singapore only in the 1945th.

For Empire nastavali new times, a gradual transition of former colonies to self-rule. The 1948th was elected the first Legislative Council, in the 1955th adoption of the Constitution and the holding of elections for the Legislative Assembly. Those elections brought to power the party leader <trudova front> David Marshall, successful lawyer in the family of Iraqi Jews. He was the first <glave ministrom> (Chief Minister), and continued to fight for Singapore to a full measure of self-government. The Singapore contacts with Israel began in May 1956, with interviews with Marshall adviser to the Israeli embassy in London Gershon Avnerom to open in Singapore Israeli Consulate. In a few months, the trip to Asian countries visited Singapore, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, Moshe Charette. Action on opening consulates were not taken, but it was a step towards cooperation in other areas. Moshe Charette also emphasized in his travel notes back star local policy, a young lawyer Lee Kuan Yew, in particular his wide knowledge and interest in what is happening in Israel.

Unable to obtain from the British administration a full measure of self-government, David Marshall, in June 1956, in protest, resigned. By 1959 (self)government has been received, the British were only defence and foreign affairs. In the same year, in the elections won by nine-<partia's actia> (People's Action Party-PAP), under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew, assume the post of Prime Minister. At the same time, on a visit to Israel, the Minister of Finance of the government of Dr. Goh Keng Swee. Guest particularly interested in the training and development of the cooperative sector, and Israel sent experts to learn from those in these areas. A cooperation in the field of medicine : Singapore went Israeli doctors for a variety of health services and education.


The Minister of Education's Abba Even (right) and the Singapore delegates at the conference <nauka in developing new gosudarstv> in Rehovot, 14 August 1960.

The leaders of the ruling party saw Singapore's future is inextricably connected to the Malaya gain independence in the 1957, as dictated natural historical and economic ties, and therefore the 1961 they all supported the idea of the Prime Minister of Malaya Tunku Abdul Rahman, a federation Malaysia, which should have Malaya, Singapore and the British territory on the island of Borneo : Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah. In 1963, after a referendum among the local population, Britain agreed to Singapore, Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysia (Brunei as a result of abandoned this option), and Singapore became an autonomous state in the new federation, announced Sept. 16 1963.

The central authorities were sderjeanno-vrajdebno Israel, but continued to Singapore with him : Singapore interns attended Afro-aziatskom(Afro- Asian ) Institute, and other Israeli schools, the Israeli specialists in Singapore worked in the fields of horticulture, handicrafts, the sports societies and research. An important part is still ranked medicine : Israeli doctors working in hospitals of Singapore and taught at the local university, a few Singaporean doctors trained in Israel; Particularly notable project was transplantation bone marrow children suffering from cancer. Cooperation has been varied, so Smith Shalom Ronli-riklis adviser to the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra, and instructor Arye Levy in a 1964 with the ruling party HADEP Centre for the youth organizers.

Despite the close ties between Singapore and the rest of Malaysia existed serious antagonism. According to the Constitution of Malaya, Malays were given exclusive privileges in power, the army, the economy and education, as compared with the Chinese and Indian minorities, which was contrary to the requirements of Lee Kuan Yew on the equality of rights of all citizens of the federation. Malay nationalists feared large the Chinese population of Singapore, changed the demographic balance with the result that Tunku Abdul Rahman was of the enemy only with Singapore and twice rejected such proposals from David Marshall and his successor Lim Yew Hock. Populated mostly by Malays, Sarawak and Sabah as ethnic opposition and several equalized situation. In addition, there were justified fears of a suspected local Chinese communist ideas that emerged during the uprising in Malaya in the 1950s, brutally suppressed British. Most of the rioters were pro-communism minded Chinese and Artocarpus(the Malay) leadership did not want a repetition.

On the other hand, get rid of this potentially subversive element, excluding Singapore from the Federation meant a loss of control and a possible springboard of red China on the southern border of Malaysia and the Malaysian race Singapore minority of the total Malaysian homeland, and the discrimination against them in independent Singapore. Competing interests led to conflicts between the two peoples, not only at the political level but also at the domestic level, which often resulted in physical fights, and the government has been widely applied curfew and severe police action to restore order. A constant source of friction were also sharp differences on the allocation of the federal budget and the tax burden.

The already turbulent exacerbate relations with Indonesia. President Sukarno considered Malaysia, incorporated in the defense alliance with Britain and razmeshchavshuu on its territory British troops as <platzdarm imperialism and kolonializma>( bridgehead of imperialism and colonialism )and was against it with subversive activities with a goal of disintegration of the country and accession of Sabah and Sarawak to Indonesia or the creation of a independent state. The conflict officially named <konfrontasi> included raids of Indonesian commandos in Malaya and North Borneo, border skirmishes with the Malaysian and British troops, the organization of guerrilla groups, the attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure, and provoking clashes between the Malays and Chinese. <konfrontasi> ended in the 1966 after the military coup toppled Sukarno from power.

Despite active Lee Kuan Yew and the PAP leadership for the establishment and strengthening of a united Malaysia, the contradiction between installations <malaysia for malaytsev> and <malaysia for malaysiytsev> were too high. Personal ambition Lee Kuan Yew, his methods of suppressing local opposition to arrest activists desire for power at the federal level and <slishkom shumnaya>, in the words of Tunku Abdul Rahman, policies prevented any compromise on the issue. Since the establishment under the auspices of the UA Malaysian solidarity bloc of opposition parties, the situation threatened to erupt into civil war. The federal government openly called Lee Kuan Yew <naibolee destructive force gosudarstve> and stated impossibility of further cooperation <snaruji threatens us Indonesia, and from the inside, Mr Lee and his politika>. Right wing of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the ruling party of Malaysia, called for enforcement measures, the autonomous rights of Singapore and the arrest of Lee Kuan Yew.

In order to avoid bloodshed and not seeing another peaceful solution to the current situation, August 9 Lennon year Tunku Abdul Rahman announced in the Parliament of Malaysia to exclude Singapore from the Federation. On the same day, Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore proclaimed an independent state. <For me, it is painful moment. Throughout his life, I have been a believer in the unity of the two territories>, "he said at an emergency press conference.

This begins the history of the Republic of Singapore and one of its little page : military cooperation with Israel.

End of Part 1
To be cont'd.


This post has been edited by gary1910 on Mar 30 2007, 04:49 PM