SINGAPORE, Dec. 8 -- Singapore's split from Malaysia in August 1965 was set in motion by an off-the-cuff suggestion from Goh Keng Swee, then Singapore's finance minister, on July 15 that both sides should part ways, a new book reveals.

According to The Straits Times, this remark triggered a sequence of negotiations that culminated in Singapore proclaiming independence on August 9.

The Albatross File: Inside Separation, edited by Susan Sim and published by The Straits Times Press alongside the National Archives of Singapore, draws on Goh's confidential Cabinet papers, memorandums, and handwritten notes, as well as oral history interviews with the island's founding leaders.

The book shows that Goh acted decisively in discussions with Mal...