Photograph (above) - 1964 Racial riots
We need to be thankful that we are living in peaceful times where riots were a thing of the past. As you have read in the History books, Singapore went through a turbulent period in the 1950s and 60s. Many riots took place at that time.
In 1950, we have the infamous Maria Hertogh riots which started when the courts in Singapore under the British government ruled that Maria Hertogh be returned to her Catholic biological parents, after she was raised a Muslim girl. The verdict resulted in a riot where the Muslim community turned violent against the European community. The riot resulted in the death of 18 people and 173 people were injured. Needless to say, the riots also affected businesses and economy with the imposed curfews.
The Anti-National Service riots took place in 1954. The riot came about when the British government in Singapore made it compulsory for males (ages 18-20) to serve National Service. The young Singaporean rioted because they were not willing to serve a foreign government. The riots made the Chinese community more political and it planted the seeds for more anti-British colonial government feelings, which the locals felt at that time that the British were not looking after the welfare of the people enough after WWII.
In 1955, a labour riot took place. Workers of the Hock Lee bus company rioted against the poor working conditions set by the bus company. It was reported that the Hock Lee Bus riot was in fact a politically motivated affair, where the bus workers and Chinese school students vented their anger against the company and the pro-British government at that time.
By 1956, the people became more political, in particularly the students in the Chinese schools. Many of them were pro-communist. When Lim Yew Hock, the Chief Minister of Singapore at that time de-registered and banned two pro-communist organisations. The Chinese students began a series of riots which started at Chung Cheng High School and Chinese High School. The rioting resulted in the death of 13 people and about 100 people were injured and had to be taken to the Singapore General Hospital.
The occurrence of riots in Singapore did not stop after the 1950s. In 1964, a more serious riot took place. This time, it involved the Malays and the Chinese. The 1964 Racial riots resulted in the loss of 23 lives and 454 people were injured. The riots came about when a breakaway group from the main Muslim possession which was celebrating the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad was told by the police to re-join the main party. The group began to attack the policeman, which sparked into a free for all riot.
Photo resource:
Internal Security Department - http://www.mha.gov.sg/isd/ct.htm
ACTIVITY TIME
Study the quote by this famous historical person.
“A riot is the language of the unheard” - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Do you agree with this statement? Do you think riots are entirely bad?
Please support your response with evidence and it should have a minimum of 150 words.
It is suggested that you write your response on Microsoft Word to take advantage of its spell-checker before doing a cut and paste it into the box below.
Sec2N8 (5)
ReplyDeleteI agree with this statement that riots are bad. Riots not only broke the peace between different races but also causing more death and more people injured.This is evident in 'The occurrence of riots in singapore did not stop after the 1950s.' Riots started in the 1950s and became more and more violent till the 1960s. This is stated in 'As you have read in the History books, Singapore went through a turbulent period int he 1950s and 60s.' Hence, telling us that the riots were extremely bad and also killing lots of people.
Riots are not entirely bad it depends, the reason why there is even a riot is beacuse the people want to fight for what they think is right. This causes the opponent party to go against each other.For example the students want to finish their studies and not go for national service.If they don't complete their studies they will not be able to find a good job after they finish national service.
ReplyDelete2/8-03
I agree with the statement as riots always or probably started with religions. When you want to stop the riots it would difficult as people would in chaos. Some riots are not entirely bad as people have their own views in religion and also for self-defence of their own religion.
ReplyDelete2/8-39
Not all riots are entirely bad because people have their own different mindset and thinking that they are actually right. Some of them doesn't approve or dislike the way they are thinking , so they decide to go against them. For example , boys needed to go for national service at the certain age , this would let them have a period of time of not studying and this would affect their future by not knowing what is happening around them in the end . This would also doesn't allow them to get a better job in future.
ReplyDelete2/8-24
2/8-40 "A riot is the language of the unheard" I agree with this statement as riots as usually a form of expressing themselves of what they feel is right and fair. Riots are not entirely bad as it helps to make things fair and voice out their opinions. The Maria Hertogh riot started as the Muslim community felt that it was unfair and "the verdict resulted in a riot where the Muslim community turned violent against the European community". The Anti-National Service took place as "they were not willing the serve a foreign government". Though riots were not that bad, many lifes were taken. Hence it can be bad in a way.
ReplyDelete2/8-23
ReplyDeleteRiots are bad but not entirely. some of the negative impacts are : houses are distroyed, people will get injure,destroying of private properties and even death. i think that the main reasons of the riots is that the government do not give a ear to help the locals or some disputes between the government and the locals. The government could prevent riots by answering to the locals and by not making ridiculous decisions like having very high income taxes and cutting their salaries when its already not enough to feed their family with that meager sum of money.
The locals that started riots are directly telling the government that they are not governing the country propery, therefore this can be a sign that they should change the way of governing. The government will definitely do something about riots.
Hence my conclusion isriots are bad because many live might be lost and houses may be destroyed and so the locals will be homeless.
2/8-16
ReplyDeleteno,the statement is not entitrelly true becuase people will start to have riot beacuse they find that there is no justics and not fair. but there is also another riot because the higher class people look down on the lower class people and the hiogher class people start to riot the lower class.yes, i think that riot is a bad thing because it will cause deaths and injuries"13 death and 100 people injured" riots will also cause decreased in economy as people are not allow to have buisness,the realtionship between different races will also becime worst. thus,i think that riots is very bad as it result in very bad consequences.
I think that riots are not extremely bad. It actually depends. For example, students are not willing to go national service. They rather study hard and get qualifications, which will benefit them as they could get a better job and enjoy life better. This is how riots occur,when one thinks they are right, while the other have another point of perspective. It is evident in 'The riots came about when the British Government in Singapore made it compulsory for male(age 18-20) to serve in National Service' This shows how the riots began, fighting over their rights for studying and finish school instead of going National serviceto serve for the country.
ReplyDelete(2/8-04)
2/8-21
ReplyDeleteYes, i agree to this. This is because to create such a riot, a hidden anger have to be there amung the people. Even if the people had not told anyone of the anger, all anyone needed was a spark to start the fire.
2/8-17
ReplyDeleteYes i agree with this statement. I do not think that all riots are bad because as how the quote says, "A riot is the language of the unheard", it is like telling the other side what they want. Riots are also bad because it harms people as they are fighting.Like the Maria Hertogh riots, the people are fighting about their religion's right and respect to their religion.
sec 2/7 (1)
ReplyDeleteyes, i agree with the statement.I do not think that all riots are bad because some riots were actually good for the citizens of singapore.With all these riots, singapoe still developed into a first world country.Although some people may not agree with the statement, i also feel that riots are bad too as many are either killed or badly injuired.If it was not for the riots, do you think singapore will be what it is now. A First World country and will singapore be developed. So i feel that these riots also helped in the developing of singapore to make it more independent and strong.
To me, I think that riots are not entirely bad. The Anti National Service riot was a way for the students to voice out what they think of the Nation Service at a young age, having to leave their family. I think that the reason for people to start a riot is because there were no justice and fairness between the people in the society. Although saying that, it did affect the economic rates at that time where businessess had to close down and schools too had to close due to the riots. Riots too had many unconviniences like getting "23 lives and 454 people injured". Therefore, I don not fully agree with the sentence.
ReplyDeleteSecondary 2/7 (25)
Yes, I do agree with this statement. However, I also think that riots are not entirely bad. For example, The Anti National Service riots allowed the males of ages 18 to 20 to voice out what they feel about serving for a foreign country. I agree with their feelings as it is not fair serve for a country or government that you do not even belong to. It was also a good thing to go against the British government as the locals felt that the British were not taking care of their welfare after the World War ll. Other riots that also took place were all showing the effect of unfairness between the society and government at that time. However, despite saying that riots are not entirely bad is because during riots many people always get injured and small amount of them get killed. Riots also affect the economy and businesses. Hence, I do not agree with the sentence fully and the riots are also somewhat bad.
ReplyDeleteI think that all riots are not entirely bad.It depands on what the riots are for.This is evident in the qoute which says'A roit is the language of the unheard'.This tells us that why they start a riot and the other side of it.The Anti National Service is also another evident as it tells the govenment what the young age people think of leaving their family.Therefore some roits are started for their justice but some are not.Therefor roits can be good and bad.
ReplyDeletesec2/7(24)