Friday 5 September 2014

Reflection

From this history project and research, we've learnt about the differences in society in he past and present.
It was different last time.People did not have equal rights and were not treated fairly due to language,race or religion.We learnt that it is important to work together as one and everyone do deserve equal treatments.

Through the various riots , Maria Hertogh , hock lee bus riots and the racial riot which we have also researched on for various sources , we can learn that it is always the different view of various groups of people that results in the riots. As they were unwilling to compromise , they resulted in the fight for their own rights , for example the Hock Lee bus riots and also the racial riots.

For the Maria Hertogh riot , it is mainly on the insensitivity of people , the insensitivity of the things people said like the reporters without thinking if what they had said would have affected the people involved, including Maria,her foster parents and Che Aminah,as well as even the public who could have and did felt offended.The media,instead of helping to calm the locals down,added oil to the fire and made things worse.In fact,the media caused more people such as the local malays to be involved and hence resulting in the riot.We also learnt that Maria herself did not want to go back to her foster parents as she felt that she was never loved by her foster parents,that's why they gave her away.She also mentioned that she was not the boy they wanted in the Maria Hertogh documentary filmed in 2009. 

We learn that it is important to work together as one and everyone deserves equal treatment.We should learn and respect the other cultures as well an not be racist,this way,we will not offend other races and people resulting in unhappiness.We also learnt that we can live in peace and put everything else aside to build a democratic society
base on justice and equality so as to achieve happiness prosperity and progress for our nation.From this, we can also learn that we have to compromise with each other in order to achieve a decision where both party agrees with so that riots can be prevented and also to achieve peace and equality that both ideas from both parties are used and both parties have rights of their own.

With the example of David Marshall and his political dispute with the other members of parliament including the British ,we can learn that trust is a very important thing. As the British did not trust David Marshall , they turned his idea down as they did not trust him and did not believe in his abilities,in what he could really do. For instance , if they had trust among themselves , there might be more possibilities in their partnership and the ideas that David Marshall had might also be carried out , leading a better future for Singapore.

From the hocklee bus riots,we learnt that the life of the workers were tough as they had to work for very long and tiring hours just to get a minimal pay every month to support themselves.Also,we learnt that life was unfair in the past that those chinese educated were not treated fairly as those who were english educated,such that even with the same qualifications and positions in a company,the chinese educated one would be paid lesser than the english eductaed. The government also funded the English schools more than the chinese schools, with Chung Cheng being one of them in the past.The bus drivers were not respected as well,when they asked for more pay and better living conditions,they were just bluntly ignored hence resulting in the strike. 

Friday 29 August 2014

Topics doing

Hock Lee bus riots
Title : Life of the local bus drivers

Maria Hertogh & 1964 racial riots
Title : Racial Tensions

David Marshall
Title : Significance of political firgures


Meeting plan

Joei 
Type in all findings including similarity and differences.
Did differences contrast
Compile all findings


Joanelle
Did similarity contrast.
Did David Marshall findings - his contributions and reasons why British disliked him
Did Maria's significance and consequences.

Vanessa
Did life of bus drivers 
pictorial evidence for Hock Lee Bus riots & 1964 Racial Riot
Maria Hertogh video link and summarizing
Maria Hertogh political comic 

Keane
Reasons of the start of racial riots
Maria Hertogh video Link and summarizing
Maria Hertogh political comic
David Marshall picture

Everyone was present for all 3hours of the meeting ,no one was absent :)

Tuesday 26 August 2014

Life of the local bus drivers - Hock Lee Bus Riots
They wren't getting enough pay,hence they riot to get more pay.They had poor living conditions as well.
Racial Tension - Maria Hertogh
                       - 1964 race riot
Significance of political figures - David Marshall                                      

Hock Lee bus riots:
Source 1;
From youtube video:
http://youtu.be/7yDv2r783Tk

Quek Sin Liang ; an ex Hock Lee Bus worker

"Our pay was little,and the company refused to increase it.So we joined the Union to ask for more pay.We also worked long hours.Our Union leaders met with the company ,but there was no result,so we decided to strike. It was frightening.The stones fell all over the place.If you were older,you'd be unable to take the blows."

Source 2
Source shows the  reason why did the riot started , showing the relationship between both parties  , the employee and boss.
Why did they want to strike?
They wanted more pay and better living conditions for the long hours they put in at work.




1964 Racial Riot
From youtube video
http://youtu.be/sHoVRK_OrmA
Haji Aliman Hassan ; eye witness
"Whilst still at a distance ,an idea struck me.I turned my car radio from the Malay to the Mandarin station.And then they stopped me.They thought I was chinese because of the way I looked.They asked me in Hokkien:"Where are you going?" Because i was not so fluent in Hokkien,I answered them in cantonese,"I want to go home."They asked me where i stayed and I told them I lived at Jalan Sultan.They told me not to go home as many Malays were attacking Chinese.I told them it was alright because they were all my friends.They wanted me to leave this place quickly.And that's what I did.Otherwise,I might haven been beaten to death.
This shows that the Malays were only attacking the Chinese , that's why they asked Haji Aliman Hassan to leave quickly ,worried that he may get injured as well as he looked like a Chinese.


Why did the riot start?
The racial riots were, by far, the worst and most prolonged in Singapore's post-war history. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak of violence:
(1) to enforce their policy of Confrontation with the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia, a number of Indonesian activists had infiltrated into Singapore in attempts to arouse the religious fervour of the more fanatical Malays;
(2) Chinese Secret Society gangs seized the opportunity to stir up violence;
(3) inflammatory reporting in the vernacular press helped to fan racial emotions.

Hence, the Deputy Premier, Dr. Toh Chin Chye, suggested on 2 August 1964 that legislation be introduced to prohibit newspapers from publishing articles which incite communal strife. Furthermore, the leaders of both the Federal Government of Malaysia and the State Government of Singapore gave firm assurances that everyone, regardless of racial origin, "has a place under the Malaysian sun and all will be looked after without discrimination." 
Source: The Sunday Times, 16 August 1964


Significance of Political Figures
http://www.slideshare.net/theracie/chapter-eight
Why did the British did not like Davis Marshall?
The British were not certain that the Marshall administration could protect British interests and prevent Singapore from falling into the hands of the communists. This was because Marshall seemed unwilling to arrest and imprison the communists.When Marshall requested for more authority for his government, the Governor turned him down. Marshall believed that the amount of self-government given by the British was insufficient and requested for full self-government.

David Marshall's contributions to Singapore?
The policies and ideas that Marshall introduced before and during his short tenure as Chief minister was later expanded and implemented by the Lim Yew Hock government and the PAP government.  He inspired the meet-the-people sessions.  During his tenure as the Chief Minister, the All-party Report on Education Policy and a white paper on education policy were published. They proposed many revolutionary ideas such as multilingualism and emphasis on learning English, which formed the basis for Singapore's present educational system.

Marshall also advocated use of multilingualism in the Legislative Council to get all citizens to participate in the affairs of the country. In 1958, it was implemented by the Lim Yew Hock government.  Marshall proposed a scheme to resolve citizenship issue for the 220,000 China-born Chinese, which set the tone for future Singapore citizenship schemes. He appointed B. R. Sreenivasan to head the Malayanization Commission committee to look into appointing locals in the Civil Service. Sreenivasan's recommendations were included in the White Paper on Malaynization passed by the assembly later in 1956.

Marshall was instrumental in passing the Labour Ordinance towards the end of 1955 which brought an end to long work shifts.  When he was in the Progressive Party, Marshall was interested in the idea of Provident Fund and in fact paid a lawyer to get some advice on this. When he came into office, the Central Provident Fund Ordinance of 1953 was amended exempting employees earning less than $200. He established an elected City Council which replaced the Rural Board. In this, he saw the opportunity to train and educate the populace on democracy and, later, self government.



Maria Hertogh Riot
Racial tension
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_83_2005-02-02.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPPRERt3m18 

Why did the riot start?
The riots were a result of the court battle for custody of a young girl,Maria.

How did Maria feel throughout the riot?
Maria Hertogh also known as Nadra,herself on May 2009
"I didn't want her(birth mom). I despise her.Why does she come to make trouble?I didn't want her.She never loved me,that's why she gave me away."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdFtO6aOH_k

From Maria, documentary video
"I shouted I don't want to go,i want to stay here. They never loved me,I wasn't the boy they wanted"
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/tv/tvshows/daysofrage/nadra/959854.html


Why were the Muslims angered?
British did not recognize her marriage at the age of 13 as she was underage and not having the consent of her foster parents. Muslims were angry as they felt that their Muslim Laws were not respected by the British.

The riots highlighted the insensitive way the media handled religious and racial issues in Singapore. The British colonial authorities also failed to defuse an explosive situation when emotional reports appeared in the local press of the custody battle accompanied by sensational media photographs of a Muslim girl in a Catholic convent.

Although the rioters were mainly Malays, they included a large number of foreigners including Indian, Pakistani and Indonesian Muslims. Added to this, the mainly Malay Police Force appeared to sympathise with the Muslim rioters and displayed some measure of deliberate inaction and defection during the riots. Gurkha Police Riot Squad Detachment, constituting at least 149 men were unfortunately not utilised and were in fact withdrawn at critical locations.

As a result of this historic event, the Government of Singapore, upon independence in 1965, instituted legislation against racial discrimination. It became an offence to incite racial and religious hatred in Singapore. The local media exercised greater discipline in the coverage of sensitive issues. National integration and nation-building took top priority in the formulation of government policies.







Friday 22 August 2014

Similarity & Differences 


Similarity : 

Both sources are similar in that the managing was poor.This can be seen from Source A where,'And oh they hey couldn't give me any office - it took a long time - government offices were extremely overloaded - and there was a lot of difficulty.I has to threaten to bring a desk here and set it up here or in my flat before i could get an office!" This shows that they had poor managing such that they had insufficient space for even their own Ministers and not enough and not even giving the basic necessities they need.Similarly,Source B states that "Chinese students ignored the government's official closure of their schools,and in a repent of the previous year locked themselves into their classrooms,where they established their own revolutionary curriculum."This shows that they had poor governing and managing of the country and also discipline such that the Chinese students did not bother or listen to their orders and was not afraid that there would be any consequences which shows that their managing and governing was very poor.Therefore,both sources are similar in that the managing was poor.

Differences :

Both sources are different in that the people's support to the government is different.In source A,the people were said to support the government.In Source B,the people went against the government.This can be seen in Source A where,"I think you know,when i was first elected and appointed Chief Minister."This shows that the people voted for David Marshall to be the Chief Minister and the people had show full support to the government by supporting David Marshall . In contrast,Source B states that,"they established their own revolutionary curriculum."This shows that the people did not support the government and yet went against the government by not showing their support and did what they wanted instead of what they had to, therefore they had to set up their own revolutionary curriculum.Hence,both sources are different as of who the people support.