Units 3 and 4 Flashcards
State four reasons why migrants came to Singapore (2 push factors, 2 pull factors)
- Good trade and business opportunities
- make a living
- better jobs, higher wages - Free immigration
- don’t need to pay, can come and go as you please - Their home countries had poverty and starvation
- come to Singapore to make money to send home
- often results of natural disasters - Home countries had unrest and instabilities
- they came to Singapore to seek peaceful lives
How did the migrants help Singapore? (2 ways) (provide examples)
- Healthcare
- the government didn’t provide healthcare so locals did it themselves by setting up hospitals
- e.g. Thong Chai Medical Institution was set up in 1867 to provide free medical services - Education
- build schools for children (esp for girls)
- e.g. Maria Dyer set up St. Margaret’s School in 1842, The Chinese High School (present-day Hwa Chong Institution)
How were the Westerns racist towards the Asians in the government?
- The British thought they were superior & had to civilize Asians
- most high-ranking officials were western
- well-qualified locals were not given the same opportunities - Asians could only be non-official members of the Legislative Council
Who and what were the Asian member’s contributions?
- Eunos Abdullah
- asked the government for land to improve living conditions for the Malay
- resulted in lower housing prices for the Malays and giving them land for farming to make a living - Lim Boon Keng
- tried to ban opium (was unsuccessful as the British would lose too much money if they banned it)
- requested for equality in housing prices (rent)
Why did people want to join secret societies?
The migrants were lonely and helpless
- the secret societies provided support (proper burials of loved ones, financial aid, protection, healthcare)
What problems did the secret societies cause?
- They formed gangs
- were involved with robberies, collection of protection money, gang-fighting - Opened gambling dens, opium shops, brothels
- disrupted the lives of the people
- seriously threatened the smooth trading in Singapore
What did people do to abuse coolies? (4 things)
- Coolie agents tricked and kidnapped them to be traded in Singapore
- due to the high demand - They were put on ships that were disgusting and tightly packed
- called ‘floating hells’
- not enough food and water
- led to the deaths and illnesses of most of them - Locked in coolie houses
- cramped and dirty
- to prevent them from escaping
- badly treated by employers
How were coolie abuse, prostitution, and the problems of secret societies solved?
IN 1877, THE CHINESE PROTECTORATE WAS FORMED
1. Coolies
- register coolie agents and lodging
- routine checks on the coolies
2. Prostitution
- provide shelters
3. Secret Societies
- provided the Chinese community with support by creating clan associations (William Pickering’s idea)
Why was prostitution a problem?
- Prostitution was formed to help men cope with hardships
- women from China were sold to brothels to make money - Unbalanced ratio of men to women
- often the men who came to Singapore single or had left their families behind
- the women would engage with them
Why was piracy an issue, how did it impact Singapore’s trade, and who did what to solve it?
- Pirates attacked ships to steal cargo, kill travelers, and sell them as slaves
- Traders stopped wanting to come due to the high risk of death
- The government sent gunboats to patrol the waters (but this was only a temporary solution)
- permanent naval support was needed but it was too expensive
- in the early 1870s, European and Britsh powers started patrolling the waters
How was the police force improved?
1820
- Francis James Bernard didn’t give a shit about us cuz he was smart and didn’t waste his life on some shitty island in the middle of nowhere
- so we only had a small police force that was as useless as the American police
1857
- the traders were getting whiny about needing a stronger police force
- gov gave up and gave in
- appointed some overly eager guy (who I bet was a virgin till the day he died)
- he improved pay and hired more capable guys who could actually speak the local languages which is funny if you think about it cuz what were the other policemen doing “I want a cup of tea” “ni ke yi qu screw ni zi ji”
1930s
- use of phones, cars & radios made the police more efficient
What did the people and the government do for education?
Government
- they didn’t do shit
- set up a few free schools (the bare minimum) and let the people set up any other schools they wanted
- In 1867 they realized everyone was useless and couldn’t even speak English so they set up schools for future clerks and stuff (basically just preparing them for jobs they needed)
People
- Christian missionaries and European traders established schools (they were failures in life and this was their last shot at making a fortune/they were too rich and were bored)
- Chinese schools were set up and did not let the government interfere at all (this means they were abusing the kids with Kumon all day)
What happened to the healthcare of Singapore?
Problems faced:
- everyone was broke so they’d rather die than pay to be saved
- the westerns were hating on the Chinese so they couldn’t be doctors
- high death rate cuz of overcrowding which resulted in the easy spread of diseases, poor understanding of the diseases cuz no one gave a shit and didn’t trust doctors cuz they weren’t Chinese doctors
Gov actions:
- set up a dEpArTmEnT cuz that always works
- cleared swamps to prevent malaria
- reduced overcrowding
- replaced the bucket system with a fancy sewage system (also wtf is a bucket system)
- and quarantine was set up (you’d thinnk they’d have been more prepared for COVID with a past like this but OF COURSE NOT)
Port facilities improvement
- Modern machinery
- forklift cranes and tractors to load and unload goods (what were they doing before??? carrying it over their shoulders?) - Causeway between Singapore and Malaysia (1924)
- Keppel Harbour (1852)
- deep waters (were the boats just casually pulling up to the beach before that or what) and sheltered by 2 islands
- allowed steamships to sail right & prevented overcrowding of the old harbour
What was the impact of the Great Depression?
IN 1930, THE GREAT DEPRESSION CAUSED THE ECONOMY OF AMERICA TO COLLAPSE (once again proving that America is the reason for all that is wrong in the world)
1. Singapore depended on overseas trade esp the expansion for tin and rubber
2. Companies went into bankruptcy and those who didn’t had to fire workers or cut their salaries
3. Businessmen lost wealth
(basically, everyone became broker than they were before)
