2 February – Operation Coldstore was mounted to stop communist influence, resulting in 113 people being arrested.[3]
15 February – At 18:00 SST, Channel 5 was launched as its first pilot television service as "TV Singapura". The channel operated 1 hour and 40 minutes monochrome service on black and white during its daily test transmissions from 18:00 to 19:40 SGT. After the image of the state flag and the playing of the national anthem, Majulah Singapura, Minister for Culture, S. Rajaratnam, became the first person to appear on Singapore TV, announcing that "Tonight might well mark the start of a social and cultural revolution in our lives." Following his speech, the first television programme in Singapore was a 15-minute documentary produced by TV Singapura called TV Looks at Singapore. It was followed by two cartoons, a news report and newsreel, a comedy show and a local variety show. At the time, it was estimated that only one in 58 persons in Singapore owned a TV set, and the pilot service offered only 1-hour and 40-minutes of broadcasting per day on Channel 5.[4]
9 July – The 20-point agreement, submitted by North Borneo, was signed by the UK government and representatives of Malaya, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore in the run-up to the creation of the Federation of Malaysia.[11][12]
28 August – A report to improve education was released.[16]
31 August – Singapore declared its independence from the United Kingdom, with Yusof bin Ishak as the head of state (Yang di-Pertuan Negara) and Lee Kuan Yew as prime minister; sixteen days later, Singapore would join the Federation of Malaysia, but would declare independence again on 9 August 1965. On the same day, the 1963 State Constitution is adopted.[17][18][19]
13 November – The Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU) is refused registration for being prejudicial to Singapore's national security, leading to its eventual dissolution.[25][26]
23 November – TV Singapura Channel 8 was officially formal full launched at 19:40 SGT as Singapore's second television channel with 1 hour and 25 minute daily broadcasts from 19:40 until 22:05 SGT.[27]
