The next day, Aug 8, was a Sunday. But there was no rest for the Singapore team. Several of them - Dr Toh, Mr Rajaratnam and Mr Ong - felt they had to visit various states in Malaysia to explain to PAP grassroots leaders and supporters why separation could not be avoided.
Others, including Mr Lee, wanted to go back to Singapore, where there was much to put in motion. Mr Othman, who turned 41 that day, remembers the Prime Minister offering him a seat on a special Royal Malaysian Air Force flight laid on for the Singapore leaders.
He declined, explaining that as he had driven up, he needed to take his car back to Singapore. Mr Lee then asked him to break the news to Mr Rahim Ishak, another of the PAP's top Malay leaders. After that, Mr Othman was to visit the PAP's Malacca branches to help explain matters. And so he set out.
Sometime that morning, Mr Lee managed to see the Tunku again in a bid to save the situation. But the latter remained unpersuaded that a looser federation was a better option. So Mr Lee flew home and upon arrival in Singapore, called all available ministers to a meeting to discuss and decide what to do next. The remaining leaders who had not signed - National Development Minister Lim Kim San, Labour Minister Jek Yeun Thong and Health Minister Yong Nyuk Lin - also put their signatures to the separation agreement.
Among the selected few officials who needed to know and therefore attended the meeting was Police Commissioner John Le Cain. His task was to make preparations to ensure law and order - without alarming the public. There were a thousand and one details to take care of - from the creation of new ministries to printing the necessary Gazette notices - and all had to be done quickly, quietly.
In KL, Malaysian leaders also took follow-up action. In anticipation of the separation to come, Tun Razak had, by late July, given notice of the Federal Government's intention to convene a sitting of Parliament on Aug 9.
This was to enable the Tunku to move a bill, on a certificate of urgency, to amend the Constitution and so provide for Singapore's separation and independence. So there was much to coordinate and finalise.
In the course of the day, a special RMAF aircraft sent to Singapore to pick up the agreement bearing the signatures of the entire Singapore Cabinet returned. The fact that all signed enabled Tun Razak to say later, in response to a suggestion that Singapore had been "ejected", that the Singapore ministers had agreed unanimously to the separation. Only when the signed agreement was back in KL were all the Chief Ministers and Mentri Besars told of the purpose of the parliamentary session. By 4 pm, all Rulers of States in the Federation were also informed. Amid all this, something unexpected happened. Lord Head, the British High Commissioner in KL, who was not to have been given any prior warning, stumbled on the secret over lunch with a Sabah dignitary. Startled, he went all over KL looking for the Tunku, not realising that the latter wanted precisely to avoid him. Finally, Lord Head had to gatecrash the Tunku's birthday party late in the night before he got to talk to the Malaysian Prime Minister.
The Tunku later said he had not wanted to tell the British in advance as he feared they would try to prevent the breakaway. The British Government's assessment then was that Singapore on its own could never survive, which was why it had endorsed the concept of Malaysia in the first place.
Next: Midnight rendevous at the beach
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