Chapter 7 - Waves of unrest in the 1950s [ How did the people in Singapore respond to British rule after World War II?]

Question 1

State the external developments that influenced Singapore locals’ responses to British rule after WWII.

Answer 1

-Weakening of colonial rule
-Growing influence of communism

Question 2

State the countries who had broken free of colonial rule, which had an influence on Singapore locals. State the year in which they gained independence as well

Answer 2

-India gained independence from the British in 1947
-Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949
-Vietnam overthrew their French colonial masters in 1954

Question 3

Identify the conflict that emerged at the end of WWII. State the involved parties.

Answer 3

-The Cold War, which arose due to differences in ideology

-The United States (Democracy) & the Soviet Union (USSR) (Communism)

Question 4

Describe the 3 major differences between democratic/capitalist and communist ideals of the US and the USSR

Answer 4

Elections:
Democracy: Believed in free elections which could be contested by more than one party
Dictatorship: Only the Communist Party was allowed

How should wealth in the country be created and shared:
Democracy - Private Ownership:
Upheld private enterprise and property ownership: people could own businesses, and buy and sell goods
Communism - Government Ownership:
Believed goods should be allocated to people according to their needs. Thus, the government would control all the resources needed to produce these goods. Such as factories and farms. (“Equality”)

Democracy: Individual Before Community
Valued individual freedom
Communism: Community Before Individual
Regarded individual freedom as less important than the benefit to society.

Question 5

What is the Malayan Emergency? What caused it?

Answer 5

It was the conflict between the British and the MCP. It lasted from 1948 to 1960. The MCP were working to influence [trade unions] and [Chinese-medium schools] to stir up [anti-colonial feelings]. They sabotaged [rubber plantations and tin mines in Malaya which were managed by the British], which made the British scared. The breaking point was when the MCP murdered European rubber planters in Malaya, and the British took action against them.

Question 6

What other external communist events influenced communist ideals in Singapore?

Answer 6

The CPC’s victory in the Chinese Civil War (1949)

Question 7

How did the British attempt to win local support?

Answer 7

-Meeting housing challenges
-Addressing food shortages
-Managing Industrial unrest
-Rebuilding the economy

Question 8

What were some reasons for housing challenges?
How did the British attempt to resolve these challenges

Answer 8

-The baby boom (1940s to 1950s)

-The SIT attempted to build more housing and shop units, but failed to reach the required number of units, and many continued to live in cramped conditions.

Question 9

What did the British do to address the problem of food shortages?

Answer 9

They established People’s Restaurants to provide affordable meals.

Question 10

What led to the wave of strikes during the post-war period?
What year was known as the”The Year of Strikes”?
Many workers who participated in these strikes were _____

Answer 10

• Unsatisfactory conditions and housing and food shortages
  -1947
  -members of trade unions

Question 11

What did the British do to manage industrial unrest?

Answer 11

British officials suspected that communists working within the trade unions were stirring up anti-colonial feelings and instigating the strikes. Thus, laws were passed in an attempt to control the trade unions. From 1947, all unions had to register with the government. This enabled the government to monitor their membership. The unions were also no longer allowed to use their funds to organise strikes and protests against the government.
Nevertheless, trade unions continued to be active and industrial unrest remained an issue in the 1950s.

Question 12

What did the British do to rebuild Singapore’s economy?

Answer 12

The British thus repaired the ports that had been damaged during the war, restoring Singapore’s status as an important trading centre. This was a significant move as worldwide demand for tin and rubber was growing.
The volume of trade eventually surpassed pre-war levels. This expansion of trade, together with greater control of trade union activities and abundant food harvests in 1948, ended the worst shortages and hardships in Singapore.

Question 13

When were all the elections?

Answer 13

-1948
-1951
-1955
-1959

Question 14

Identify the riots in the 1950s and the year they took place.

Answer 14

-Maria Hertogh Riots (1950)
-Anti-NS Riots (1954)
-Hock Lee Bus Riots (1955)
-The Chinese Middle School Riots (1956)

Question 15

When was the National Service Ordinance passed?

Answer 15

1953. The Ordinance required all males aged between 18 to 20 to register for NS by May 1954. Those who failed to do so would be jailed or fined.

Question 16

The announcement was deeply unpopular among secondary students from _______

Answer 16

Chinese-medium schools

Question 17

Why was the NS Ordinance so unpopular among these students?

Answer 17

-Many were old enough to qualify for NS as the war had disrupted their education. If they registered, their studies would face another disruption.
-Many Chinese students felt that the British discriminated against Chinese education while favouring English-medium schools, and provided little support to Chinese-medium schools. The students thus did not want to register for NS to defend a foreign government that did not seem to give them anything in return.

Question 18

What was the result of the Anti-National Service Riots?

Answer 18

-The British government postponed the registration for National Service
-The Riots encouraged the Chinese-educated students to be more politically active, resulting in the formation of students groups such as SCMSSU

Question 19

The British formed a ________ in ________ to review the _________ of Singapore.
The ________ submitted its report in ____, resulting in the introduction of the Rendel Constitution in ______.
The Legislative Council would be renamed the Legislative Assembly, and an election was to be held in _______.

Answer 19

-Commission, July 1953, Constitution
-Commission, 1954, 1955
-1955

Question 20

The 1948 and 1951 election had met with lukewarm response from the local population, but the 1955 election aroused far greater interest and generated much political activity.

Two political parties that gained prominence in the mid-1950s were:

Answer 20

-Labour Front (LF)
-PAP

Question 21

David Marshal criticised the______ for______

Answer 21

-SPP (winner of 3 out of 6 elected seats in the 1948 election
-their inability to push effectively for self-government

Question 22

How did the LF and PAP attract support among voters? What did they promise?
Which party was the biggest winner in the 1955 elections?

Answer 22

-They promised to improve workers’ welfare if elected
-LF (Winning 10 out of 25 seats)

Question 23

What caused David Marshall to resign?

Answer 23

-The failure of the First Merdeka Talks in 1956
-His way of handling the Hock Lee Bus Riots had an impact on the Talks

Question 24

Why did David Marshall refuse to call in British troops to handle the Hock Lee Bus Riots?
Who took over David Marshall’s position as Chief Minister after he stepped down?

Answer 24

-He did not want to appear to be siding with the British.
-Lim Yew Hock

Question 25

How did Lim Yew Hock’s handling of the Chinese Middle School Student Riots affect the way locals saw him?
What was the result of the Second Merdeka Talks in 1957?

Answer 25

-It made his LF government appeared to be “running dogs” of the British in the eyes of some locals.
-The Talks were successful in pushing for internal self-government. Lim was willing to compromise. He recognised that the British reluctance to surrender full control of internal security was due to their concerns about the communist threat. The delegation also agreed to leave external affairs and external defence in the hands of the British.
In this way, the second round of the Merdeka Talks succeeded in securing full internal self-government for Singapore. The British Parliament passed a State of Singapore Act in 1958 that converted the colony into a state with control over all domestic issues except for internal security.
Under the new constitution, Singapore would be known as the State of Singapore. A Head of State would replace the British Governor. To bring this new constitution into force, an election was to be held in 1959.

Question 26

When was the Citizenship Ordinance passed?

In the 1959 election:
The LF, renamed the _____ in 1958, performed _______.
This was because________

The ____ scored a landslide victory (winning 43 out of 51 sears)

Answer 26

-1957

-SPA, poorly
-The Chinese voters were unhappy over how Lim Yew Hock had handled the Chinese Middle School Student Riots (1956)

-PAP