 In less than a month , the Japanese repaired the causeway and invaded the Singapore island easily . Soon after the war ended in 1946 , the town became the main hotspot for Malay nationalism in Malaya . Onn Jaafar , a local Malay politician who later became the Menteri Besar of Johor , formed the United Malay National Organisation party on 11 May 1946 when the Malays expressed their widespread disenchantment over the British government 's action for granting citizenship laws to non @-@ Malays in the proposed states of the Malayan Union . An agreement over the policy was then reached in the town with Malays agreeing with the dominance of economy by the non @-@ Malays and the Malays ' dominance in political matters being agreed upon by non @-@ Malays . Racial conflict between the Malay and non @-@ Malays , especially the Chinese , is being provoked continuously since the Malayan Emergency . 
