International Law, History & Policy - Centre for International Law

Singapore in the Early Years 35
1962, 71 which had been passed to bring about the break-up of the
West Indies Federation. 72 As Barker himself recalled:
Our legal documents had provided for us joining the Federation,
but not for secession. I made sure I stuck in a provision to
allow the state to get out … I went to the University of Singapore
Law Library and looked at the Separation Agreements of the
state components of the West Indies. At the time, they had a
federation that split up. So I used their model and modified it
to fit Singapore’s situation. 73
The preamble of this Agreement – which the parties referred to
as the Singapore Independence Agreement 1965 74 signed on 7
August 1965 – reads:
AND WHEREAS it has been agreed by the parties hereto that
fresh arrangements should be made for the order and good
government of the territories comprised in Malaysia by the
separation of Singapore from Malaysia upon which Singapore
shall become an independent and sovereign state and nation
separate from and independent of Malaysia and so recognised
by the Government of Malaysia
71 10 & 11 Elizabeth 2, c 19.
72 The West Indies Federation, which comprised the former British
colonies of Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada,
Jamaica, Montserrat, St Christopher-Nevis-Anguilla, St Lucia, St
Vincent & the Grenadines; and Trinidad and Tobago. It lasted from
1958 to 1962. See generally, Gordon Lewis, ‘The British Caribbean
Federation: The West Indian Background’ (1957) 28(1) Political
Quarterly 49–63.
73 Quoted in Kevin YL Tan, ‘The Legalists’ in Lam Peng Er & Kevin YL
Tan (eds), Lee’s Lieutenants: Singapore’s Old Guard (Sydney: Allen &
Unwin, 1999) 70–95, at 87.
74 Singapore Government Extraordinary Gazette No 66 of 1965. This
Agreement was registered with the United Nations Secretariat by
Singapore on 1 June 1966. See (1966) UN Treaty Series 89–102.