hahaha...the starting point was that Singapore unilaterally declared her independence (UDI) on 31 Aug 1963.
the dispute was whether a UDI actually took place....
From the title and contents of the Press Statement, it is very clear that a UDI did not took place....lky was a smart alec who knew exactly what he was doing and appeared to have fooled many "naive" people...he steered clear of the key words like "sovereign/independent" from his speech which would have forced the Brits to take action against him....
Edwin Lee name was mentioned as a well regarded Historian....can u hep me to get his email address as I would like to learn from him how he interpreted the speech as a UDI.
i read through this thread very quickly. the rest of forummers opinions about this ambiguous de facto independence (UDI) issue are somewhat acceptable to me. it matters shit anyway but i would interpret the press statement and lky 3 shouts of merdeka as singapore being independent spiritually, not actuality or officially... hahaha...