Riots on Prophet Mohammed's Birthday

In July 1964, the whole of Singapore was talking about the relationship between Malaysia and Singapore. After Singapore had merged with Malaysia to form the federation of Malaysia, there had been much upset over this matter. Some felt that this merger was just not right. Although Singapore leaders were given a very warm welcome at Malaysia just about a year ago, the situation had changed drastically. 

The papers accuse the Malay Communist parties and UMNO of being unhappy over the fact that the Sinagpore government, PAP, won them over by many seats in the September 1963 general elections. This was held just five days after Singapore had merged with Malaysia. 

Later, on 12 July 1964, Umno Singapore held its convention with 123 Malay and Muslim organisations including UMNO's traditional opposition Malay parties. They met at the New Star Cinema in Pasir Panjang to express their displeasure over the fate of the Malays in Singapore. Here, main speaker Syed Ja'afar Albar gave inflammatory remarks about Lee Kuan Yew, which fanned the flames of the riot which took place on 21 July. 

On that day, about 25,000 Malays gathered for a procession to mark Prophet Mohammed's birthday. Somewhere near the Kallang Gas Works, trouble broke out, sparking off clashes between Malays and Chinese. The condition was so serious that the whole island of Singapore was placed under curfew and the curfew was only lifted for a few hours every day to allow people to buy food. Even so, violence continued to rage through Singapore, and after a week, the death toll was 23 and 454 people were injured. 

Later in September more riots broke out, leaving 13 dead and 106 people injured.