Abdul Razak Hussein
Lee's perceptions that merger was becoming infeasible was also due to the federal government's obstruction of his industrialisation program and its imposition of new taxes on Singapore in November 1964. He authorised Goh Keng Swee to renegotiate with Deputy Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein on Singapore's place in the federation in early 1965. Seeking to provide an alternative to the Alliance Party government, Lee and his colleagues formed the Malaysian Solidarity Convention (MSC) with the Malayan and Sarawakian opposition on 9 May, with its goals for a Malaysian Malaysia and race-blind society. The MSC was seen by UMNO as a threat to the Malay monopoly of power and special rights granted to Malays under Article 153. UMNO supreme council member and future prime minister Mahathir Mohamad called the PAP “pro-Chinese, communist-oriented and positively anti-Malay”, while others called for Lee's arrest under the Internal Security Act for trying to split the federation.