ABSTRACT
Amid the discussion on education and the 1997 change in political sovereignty in Hong Kong, it may be instructive to ask what lessons may be learned from the experience of other former British colonies. This chapter focuses on Singapore, which came under British control in 1819 and attained self-government in 1959. As in Hong Kong, the period of political transition from British colonial rule in Singapore, which lasted from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s, was fairly long. Neighbouring Malaya had become independent in 1957 and in 1963 Singapore merged with Malaya, North Borneo and Sarawak to form Malaysia. In 1965, Singapore abruptly left Malaysia to become an independent nation. Initially, therefore, Singapore’s transition was to integration with another state rather than to sovereign independence.
