all sections of the people for the building of a Malayan nation Merger issue While the Barisan didn't oppose the merger with Malaya, the party campaigned vigorously against the PAP government's merger terms with the Federation of Malaya. According to the merger terms agreed by the PAP government, Singapore would retain its autonomy in education and labour at the expense of the rights of Singapore citizens and seats in the new Federal Parliament. The Barisan Socialis wanted the Singapore citizens to automatically become Malayan citizens with proportional representation in the Federal Parliament. At the end, the PAP government advocated that a referendum should be held to test popular support for the merger. The Referendum Bill on the merger incorporated proposals and amendments from the Barisan, David Marshall, Ong Eng Guan and SPA-UMNO. Three offered options A, B, C respectively proposed by the PAP, David Marshall and the SPA-UMNO. However, the Barisan appealed to voters to cast blank votes on the referendum stating that no option correctly expressed Barisan's thoughts and the three options would "sell out Singapore". This move had been anticipated by the PAP government; a clause had been inserted within the Referendum Ordinance stating that voters who cast blank votes were unable to make a decision themselves and they must necessarily follow the majority. That is, the blank votes would be automatically counted together with whichever of the options that won the majority. The Referendum on Merger was held on 1 September 1962, and the results were: Option (A): 397,626 votes (71%) Option (B): 9,422 votes (1.7%) Option (C): 7,911 votes (1.4%) Blank votes: 144,077 votes (25%) Option A won the majority, with the Barisan defeated. Reasons for decline Operation Coldstore Tunku Abdul Rahman was worried about the impact of Singapore's leftist influence in a unified Malaysia. He demanded that Singapore's political opposition be arrested as a condition of merger. The PAP was hesitant about the arrests as they could damage the PAP's popularity in Singapore. However, the Brunei Revolt of 8 December 1962 gave the PAP a 'heaven sent opportunity' to justify the arrests. The Barisan's open support of the Brunei revolt gave the PAP an excuse that the arrests were to prevent possible communist subversion and safeguard the security and safety in Singapore. On 2 February 1963, the ISC launched a crackdown against leftists and their supports. Under the action, code-named Operation Coldstore, 107 people including