History (Unit 3, Chapter 5 and 7)

When the British realised Japan was a possible threat, what did the British do?

They set up the “Singapore Strategy”

Why did the British not want to have a larger military force to defend Singapore?

They were exhausted by WW1 and were unwilling to keep up military spending → power declined → unable to maintain a larger permanent military force

What was the Singapore strategy?

Construct a naval base in Sembawang, Singapore.

In an event of war, Britain would send a fleet of warships to the base

While the fleet was on its way, Singapore would rely on local defences built by the British

The defence of Malaya

Defending Malaya became an issue of importance to the British military planners

→ thought Singapore could not be attacked from the north →difficult to land troops during the monsoon and the thick jungles

Why did the British think that Singapore was an impregnable fortress?

• It’s naval base, its local defences and the natural protection of the Malayan jungles

What were trade unions?

They were concerned with improving housing conditions and wanted immediate change

What did industrial unrest cause and how did the British improve it?

The unsatisfactory working conditions led to a wave of strikes (most of them were members of trade union)

• laws were passed in an attempt to control the trade unions

• From 1946, all trade unions had to register with the government (to monitor membership)

How did the British rebuild the economy?

• repaired the ports that had been damaged during the war (restoring Singapore’s status as a important trading centre)

How did Singapore end its worst shortages and hardships in Singapore?

1. The expansion of trade

2. Greater control of trade unions activities

3. Abundant food harvests in 1948

How else did the British try to win local support?

people in Singapore were given a say in who would represent them in the legislative council for the first time

→ this 1948 election was the first step to democracy

How was the participation in the 1948 election?

It was very low (many recent immigrants were not eligible to vote as they were not born in Britain or its colonies)

Only 14000 of the 22000 who signed up showed up to vote (fraction of the total population of 96000)

Only 1 party, Singapore Progressive Party (SPP), contested the election (first political party). They got 3/6 seats, others were independent candidates

What major riots did Singapore face?

Despite the British’s efforts, sources of discontent remained.

Maria Hertogh riot and the Anti-National Service riot

What was the Maria Hertogh riots about? (Breif)

it was a personal custody battle over a 13 year old, Maria

What was the Anti-National Service riots about? (brief)

The announcement of male aged 18-20 to register and have the responsibility of defending Singapore was deeply unpopular among secondary school students from Chinese medium schools.

→ did not want to defend a foreign government who did not seem to give anything in return → protest

What did the British do to respond to the changing attitudes?

With the unrest of the early 1950s, they knew things had to change. (recognised the old system of government was no longer adequate)

• Rendel constitution

• 1955 election

What was the rendel constiution?

• formed a commission to review the constitution in Singapore

→ recommended more self government → able to elect locals to control certain areas of the government

• 6 local ministers were given control of education, healthcare, trade and industry and housing

• 3 British ministers would control what they deemed more important : law, finance, external affairs, external defence and internal security

1955 Election

-april

• aroused far greater election and generated much political activity

→ automatically registered → making it easier to vote

2 political parties that gained prominence in the mid 1950s were the Labours front (LF) and People’s Actions Party (PAP) - campaigned hard

→ convinced people they could bring an end to the British rule and promised to improve the worker’s welfare if they were elected → gained support

79 candidates contested for 25 seats in the Legislative assembly (5 times the number in 1948)

About 160000 turned up to vote (slightly more than 50% of those eligible)

- SPP lost and LF emerged as the biggest winner (clear to the British that the people wished to be free from the British rule)