Before he was President of Singapore, Yusof Ishak was the Yang di-Pertuan Negara which directly translates to “He Who is Made Lord”. Singaporeans generally know little about this role, other than it was the predecessor of the current presidency and a symbol of self-government. But in fact, the British, Federation of Malaya, and Singapore leaders all actively struggled to define the Yang di-Pertuan Negara’s powers and symbolism so that the office would align with their political vision for the island. Today, we speak to Muhammad Suhail, a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge, who has authored a new book on the Yang di-Pertuan Negara. We discuss the intense debate over Singapore’s future constitutional arrangements in the 1950s, the British desire to keep effective control over Singapore, Malaya’s fears of communist influence, and Singapore’s demand for a public symbol of true autonomy.

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