The National Library is hosting an exhibition in conjunction with a reprint of the book The Battle for Merger, About 100 guests including members of the pioneer generation and academics, as well as teachers and students, were present at the launch of the exhibition on Thursday (Oct 9). In 1961, the Malayan Communist Party had used violence and sought to prevent the merger of Singapore with Malaya. To counter the threat, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew took to the air waves to give a series of radio talks. He spoke about the importance of the merger and the threat the communists posed. Former Cabinet Minister Othman Wok, who was a reporter in the turbulent 1960s and had experienced the communist violence, said the exhibition brought back memories of difficult times. Things were never peaceful at that time. It was always demonstrations and strikes, he said. Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, who attended the launch with Guest of Honour DPM Teo Chee Hean and Mr S R Nathan, hopes the tumultuous years described will serve to remind the people today of the difficulties and challenges we encountered and overcame Channelnewsasia Article / MediaCorp Video: channelnewsasia/news/singapore/nlb-launches-battle-for/1406324.html Receive daily bite-size updates from our ministers, MPs and activists on bit.ly/PAP_Facebook_page
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 06:00:00 +0000
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