Singapore "...make a present of it to the wrong people".

Official Histories – Second World War - Volume IV – The Japanese Thrust
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Japanese Dilemma - awm.gov.au
Prophetic comment, from a strategic point of view, came from General Sir Ian Hamilton, leader of the Allied land forces during the Gallipoli campaign of 1915. He did not doubt that Singapore could be held, he said, unless "we ourselves put a half-way house and then - half-garrisoning it, as is our wont - make a present of it to the wrong people". 8
8 The Times, London, 24 Mar 1924.