This was barely a year after Singapore had merged with Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak to form a united Malaysia, and this profoundly troubled the UMNO leadership.
In 1960, Lee served on a three-man panel that evaluated Gordon Paul Means' PhD thesis, entitled "Malayan Government and Politics in Transition".
Othman Wok, a senior Malay PAP politician, later insinuated Syed Jaafar's rhetoric had set the stage for the 1964 Race riots in Singapore.
[3] Syed Nasir Ismail had insisted on closing down all Chinese schools in Malaysia as soon as possible, making Malay the sole official language.
Then Home Minister Ismail Abdul Rahman would issue an explanation of the decision where he stated: "These ultras believe in the wild and fantastic theory of absolute dominion by one race over the other communities, regardless of the Constitution.