Dr. Goh noted that Tun Razak and Dr. Ismail agreed with the separation. „In fact, they themselves had concluded that Singapore should withdraw. The question was how to get Singapore out,“ said Dr. Goh. In 1990, PUB and the Johor State Government signed an agreement to build the Linggiu Dam to increase the yield of the Johor River to allow a reliable abstraction of the full claim of PUB to 250 million gallons of water every day. This agreement completed the 1962 water agreement. In the memoirs of Tun Dr. Ismail, then Malaysian Minister of the Interior, who later became Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Ismail, as a first-hand witness and participant in these historical developments, noted that „despite what was supposed, Singapore`s separation from Malaysia was consensual.“ In the morning, Mr. Lee explained to the representatives of the British, Australian, Indian and New Zealand High Commission the reasons for the separation. Dr.

Ooi Kee Beng of the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies made an important point about separation in his biography on Dr. Ismail. From July to August 1965, the Minister of Justice prepared Singapore. In the oral history interview with the National Archives, Mr. Barker said: „In mid-July 1965, I was called to his post by the Prime Minister. He asked me if I thought we could ask our Attorney General to work out an agreement on Singapore`s separation from Malaysia and if we could keep it a secret. I replied that the Attorney General was the best man for the job, but I was afraid that others would be aware of the proposal. The Prime Minister then asked if I could draw up the agreement. I said I was going to try. On the eve of August 9, 1965, Lee Kuan Yew prepared the coded messages to be sent to three Commonwealth Prime Ministers to inform them of the separation. The first sentence of the message to the Australian head of state was: „If you have deciphered this message, you will know that the Tunku has announced, and I have accepted, while proclaiming Singapore as a distinct and sovereign nation.“ Other ministers, such as Dr. Toh Chin Chye and Mr. S.

Rajaratnam, were also persuaded to accept the separation decision. Amid the diversity within the Singapore cabinet, a consensus has been reached. The development of the agreement on the separation of Singapore from Malaysia began in July 1965, on the instruction of Mr. Lee.