Ongzi's Stamps: Singapore 1959-1963 ( Self Government State )

Saturday, 1 June 2019

Singapore 1959-1963 ( Self Government State )

In 1955 at the Legislative Assembly General Election, the Labour Front Party emerged as the most number of candidates elected. Its leader David Marshall became the First Chief Minister of Singapore. He led a delegation to London in 1956 to negotiate for independence of Singapore but failed. The reason was he was too soft with the communists. In 1954, the labour unrests led by the communists were so many that it was dubbed as ‘The Year of the Strikes’. The British government wanted him to deal with the communists first before granting independence for Singapore. He resigned upon returning to Singapore. Lim Yew Hock then the Minister for Labour and Welfare took over as Second Chief Minister. He began a series of suppression against the communists. The British government then had more confidence in granting independence. From 1956 to 1968, there were a series of ‘Merdeka Talks’ for Singapore. The British finally agreed to grant self-government to Singapore in 1959 under the New Constitution. The People’s Action Party had just won the 30 May election and Lee Kuan Yew became the Prime Minister. On 1 June 1959, the General Post Office issued this set of ‘The New Constitution’ stamps. Each stamp has the Golden Lion to represent the state of Singapore with government administrative buildings in the background. Queen Elizabeth II was still the sovereign head as defence and foreign affairs were still under her control.

The Malayan Federation came into being in 1957 but Singapore remained a separate state. The stamps of the Malayan Federation were interchangeable with the current stamps of Singapore. Singapore became self governing as the State of Singapore on 3 June 1959 and commemorated the event with a special stamp issue. These were the first stamps where the Singapore Lion dominated the design. The Singapore Lion did of course appear as part of the state crest on the $5 value definitive issued in 1955. With this New Constitution issue, the stamps of Singapore no longer bore the word "Malaya".

Stamps were issued to commemorate the new constitution that saw Singapore turning from a British colony to that of a state. Design showing Singapore Lion and Administrative Centre.

1/6/1959

Internal Self-Government : New Constitution

Singapore celebrated its first national day as a self-governing state on 3rd June 1960. The occasion was commemorated aptly with two stamps featuring the new state flag.

The words ‘State of’ were in cursive and SINGAPORE was in bold. June 3 1960 were printed on the left of the landscape format of the stamp. In this issue there were only two stamps – the 4 cent denomination and the 10 cent denomination. At that time 4 cent postage was used for posting an unsealed standard envelope, whereas a 10 cent postage was used for a sealed standard envelope.

3/6/1960