Pedra Branca dispute no title, historic or otherwise, to it. The Colony of Singapore became a self-governing state in 1959, and left the British Empire to join the Federation of Malaysia in 1963. Two years later, in 1965, Singapore became a fully independent republic. In 1959, in an official publication regarding meteorological information collected on Pedra Branca, Malaya listed Horsburgh Lighthouse as a "Singapore" station together with the Sultan Shoal and Raffles Lighthouses. The lighthouse on Pedra Branca was described in the same way in a joint Malaysian and Singaporean publication in 1966, the year after Singapore left the Federation. In 1967, when
Labor federation competition in the United States regularity" (Selig Perlman's words). Not only would the federation prevent rival unions (i.e., unions over which it could not exercise control) from joining, it would also deal ruthlessly with any subordinate body which lent support to any rival organization. The governing body of the American Federation of Labor was in essence a weak organization, allowing individual affiliates to make their own decisions on most matters, except in regard to the oversight for the protection and perpetuation of the federation itself. Thus, the federation generally cannot order affiliates to adopt a particular course of action, but it may appeal to them