Raja had barely recovered from jetlag, having just returned from Germany, when he entered the gladiator's ring that was the federal parliament in KL. It quickly became clear to him that the session was a blood sport, and the quarry was Lee Kuan Yew.

The scent was strong in the speech of UMNO backbencher Mahathir Mohamad, who opened the debate on the address of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the King) on 26 May 1965. A star on the rise, Mahathir lunged into the familiar UMNO denunciation of the PAP as “pro-Chinese” and “anti-Malay”, but with a twist: Lee was an example of the “insular, selfish, and arrogant” type of Chinese in Singapore who, he said, “have never known Malay rule and could not bear the idea that the people that they have so long kept under their heels should now be in a position to rule them”.

It was the kind of comment that led Raja to conclude scathingly that Mahathir's speech was one of an “ultra”. He was aghast at the suggestion that the non-Malays in Singapore must accept Malay rule in Malaysia. As he would point out at the next opportunity, they did not enter Malaysia on the basis that it was out to establish Malay rule. It was for Malaysian rule.

Then, on 27 May, Lee spoke. Raja felt the atmosphere in the House change dramatically. The Singapore premier challenged the House to state its stand on Malaysian Malaysia. He made clear that he was not asking for the removal of Malay special rights. But they benefitted only a special few, and were inadequate to uplift the lot of the Malay masses, he argued. Rebutting the charge that he was pro-Chinese, he set out his political calculus: any party or person championing a Chinese Malaysia could not attract majority support, as the Chinese made up only 42 per cent of Malaysians.

Then, switching to Malay, he called on UMNO to show that it cared for the people's welfare by letting the PAP compete with it on which had the better programmes to improve the standard of living of the Malays. The PAP, he said, had an alternative that would, in 10 years, “breed a generation of Malays with educated minds” filled with an understanding of “the techniques of science and modern industrial management” and who were “capable, competent”.