Sometime in 1964, Dr Goh Keng Swee created a file code-namedAlbatross on Singapores increasingly fraught relations with Kuala Lumpur.

In that file, he collected Cabinet papers as well as his ownhandwritten notes of his conversations with Malaysian leaders, leading toSingapores separation from the federation.

Almost all the material in the Albatross file is beingpublished here for the first

time, together with the oral history recollections of Singaporesfounding leaders.

Singaporeans can read the thoughts, fears and hopes of MrLee Kuan Yew and his comrades as they led the island-city to unexpectedindependence on 9 August

1965.

Refusing to be intimidated and heedless of the personalrisks they faced, they insisted on either a Malaysian Malaysia or negotiatedconstitutional rearrangements.

As unexpected as it was and for many of Singapores leadersthen, an outcome they did not wish Separation turned out to be the bestthing that ever happened to Singapore.