Singapore stays in Malaysia

[Omi]

I was doing some reading and wondered if it was possible for Singapore to stay in the Malaysian federation and what the effects would be

 

[Jackson Lennock]

I was doing some reading and wondered if it was possible for Singapore to stay in the Malaysian federation and what the effects would be

It would likely remain as "Malaya" and not become Malaysia. Singapore was kicked out because of a Malay desire to secure a Malay majority. Malaya would be only plurality Malay if Singapore was part of Malaya. Malaya proceeded to try to absorb North Borneo out of a desire to further secure a muslim majority - but if Singapore is part of Malaya still, they might not get to do that because the non-Malays wouldn't be super interested in that.

 

[Conster]

Very difficult without early PODs that make Singapore less populous/Chinese-dominant, or that Malay nationalism isn't as much of a driving force (no Japanese occupation?). Maybe something like "Communists take over Singapore and Malaya invades it" but that's kinda cheating.

It is also worth noting that OTL the 1948-1963 Federation of Malaya did not include Singapore, and Tunku Abdul Rahman only agreed to absorb Singapore along with Sarawak and Sabah, with what we now know as Eastern Malaysia obviously intended as a counterweight to maintain a Malay majority. If Sarawak/Sabah had refused for some reason or another, they wouldn't have taken in Singapore in the first place.

 

[Time Enough]

I feel like @Tom Colton can weigh in very well on this.

 

[Tom Colton]

I’ll give more thoughts when I can but an entity with Malaysia’s natural resources and Singapore’s trade volume would be a force to be reckoned with.

 

[Jackson Lennock]

As a separate matter - has anybody ever posted about a Chinese-majority (or plurality) Malaya?

 

[Ricardolindo]

As a separate matter - has anybody ever posted about a Chinese-majority (or plurality) Malaya?

I did back in 2020, https://forum.sealionpress.co.uk/in...se-majority-at-the-time-of-independence.2435/.

 

[Simon]

Singapore was kicked out because of a Malay desire to secure a Malay majority.

IIRC the Kingdom of Sarawak didn't become majority Malay until well after WWII, I was going to suggest it remaining independent as a way of tilting the demographics but the thread linked to suggests that could make things worse.

 

[fluttersky]

I would imagine that eventually TTL Malaysia would pretty much become a mega-Singapore, with ethnic-Malay nationalism slowly fading away.

Sarawak and Sabah probably get absorbed into Indonesia.