Blog topic 5

"Singapore's struggle to achieve internal self-government in the period 1945-1959 had its costs."Was it worth it?Give at least 2 reasons to support your stand.





I think the struggle was worth its cost as it eventually showed the people that they could not always rely on the british to protect them forever.it also showed the people of singapore that they should not be pushed around by the british and they had the ability to run their own country.

Firstly,the riots of maria hertogh and the anti-national service riots showed the british that the people of Singapore were dissatisfied with the way they ruled Singapore.
The people of singapore were unhappy with the court's decision in Maria Hertogh's case and thought they were supporting the Dutch at the cost of people in Singapore.Hence,they felt that in future cases, the mainly British court would support the Europeans rather then considering the fact that Singapore was a Southeast Asian country which could think for itself.
The judge in court at that time did not consider the fact that the crowds outside the court were gathering,hence when the army was called in,the disaster caused an overall death toll of 18 people in one mere riot.

Secondly,Singapore could only wait to be deemed unuseful, had the earlier leaders of Singapore such as David Marshall and Lee Kuan Yew not fought for internal self-government,letting the british rule over us and discriminate against us, the "non-White" people.

The riots were a reflection of the discontentment of the local people,leading to the decision to allow more political power to the people so as to win their favour,however,that little amount of power was not enough to satisfy the locals,hence when david marshall won the elections in 1955, it showed the British, who were expecting a pro-British political party to win, that the people were not satisfied with the british rule.The people of Singapore showed their silent protest by voting for political parties that were strongly against British rule such as the Labour Front.As the majority of voters during the 1955 elections were Chinese who did not support pro-British political parties,it showed the british they were fighting a losing battle against the people of Singapore.

Thus, i think the cost Singapore suffered was worth the while in the struggle for self-government.