Rewriting History

Last Saturday marked the inaugural LSE Malaya-Singapore Merger Simulation/ Crisis Cabinet organised by the LSESU UN Society, Singapore Society and Malaysia Club.

It was a successful event giving insights into Malaya-Singapore history and the circumstances behind our common histories. We had a distinguished speaker, Dr. Thum Ping Tjin who is a visiting fellow in South East Asian history and coordinator of Project Southeast Asia at the University of Oxford who offered new perspectives on the history of pre- and post-merger Malaysia and Singapore. You can read up on his profile and research here.

Over 30 delegates from the LSESU Malaysia Club and Singapore Society participated in a real-time simulation of events in 1960-1963 Malaya and Singapore. Delegates were engaged in political cabinets as in real life, and dealt with issues ranging from communist uprisings, assassination attempts on cabinet members, riots, bombing incidents and negotiation on terms of a merger between Malaya and Singapore. Overall, delegates had a great experience which placed them in the shoes of political leaders - one which many of us are not able to experience. In the end however, the merger had failed and Indonesia took over Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Johor by force in an invasion on a larger scale than the historical ‘Konfrontasi’. Regardless of the outcome, the simulation process was a success in giving delegates a taste of political proceedings as well as the history and tensions which made Malayan-Singaporean history what it is. Stay tuned for more events such as this, courtesy of the LSESU Malaysia Club, Singapore Society and UN Society!