At about 8 am on 31 January, Maurice Baker, a fellow student from Pahang, and I were sitting on the parapet of the Administrative Block at Raffles College, on standby MAS duty, when suddenly there was an earthshaking explosion. We were both stunned, and I said spontaneously, “That’s the end of the British Empire!” Professor Dyer, the principal of Raffles College who was just passing by on his way to his office, heard me, looked away, and walked on. That same morning all British forces withdrew to the island from Johor. Next day, the papers carried photos of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the last to march across the Causeway, to the sound of “Highland Laddie” played on their bagpipes, although there were only two pipers remaining. It left me with a life-long impression of British coolness in the face of impending defeat.
— The Singapore Story (Lee Kuan Yew), Loc. 664–70