An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:
During the merging with Malaysia, the Singapore society was filled with unstable racial, religious and political elements.
On 21 July 1964, tens of thousands of Malays gathered at Padang to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday. During their march to Geylang, the groups got into conflicts with the police, which worsened to riots by the evening. The government had to impose curfews, but 36 people died in the violent events. More than 3000 were arrested, while the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) of Malaysia and People’s Action Party (PAP) of Singapore pointed fingers at each other.
Another major riot happened again in September, when a Malay trishaw-driver was suspected to be murdered by a group of Chinese gangsters in Geylang Serai. The series of racial riots and violence played an important part for Singapore to withdraw from the merging of one Malaysia.
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