Revisiting Lee Kuan Yew’s 1965–66 Anti-Americanism

Abstract:

The first Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, set for the fledgling state a non-aligned foreign policy, and amplified Singapore’s non-alignment by making harsh anti-American comments in the media from late 1965 to early 1966. Lee’s vitriol against the US administration was interpreted as an attempt to gain the acceptance of the non-aligned Afro-Asian camp, and also as calibrated to cause Whitehall to think twice before planning a military withdrawal from British bases in Singapore. Beyond these two reasons, which are part of standard analysis, Lee’s understanding – derived from the Malaysian Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman – that US President Johnson had pledged to support Malays against Chinese in the event of a communal conflict in Malaysia and Singapore also drove Lee to project a hostile attitude towards the US in August 1965. After meeting US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, William Bundy, in March 1966, Lee accepted that the Johnson-Tunku agreement did not exist and US-Singapore relations then improved significantly. Based largely on archival sources from the US and the UK, this article revisits the period of Lee’s anti-American press campaign and draws new conclusions about the factors contributing to Lee’s strong criticisms of the US.

Keywords:

• Singapore
• Malaysia
• United States of America
• decolonisation
• Non-Aligned Movement
• United Nations
• Lee Kuan Yew

Acknowledgments

For their support, comments and suggestions, I am grateful to Robert Cribb, and the editor and anonymous reviewers of Asian Studies Review. Field research conducted for this paper was made possible by generous support from the School of Culture, History and Language, ANU College of Asia and the Pacific.