The history of Singapore 101: part 1

I have been totally appalled by the number of people in Singapore who actually believed that Singapore was a fishing village in 1965 when the country became an independent nation. My reader Cheerio Gobbler left a comment which read, "He (LKY) still quite single-handedly shaped Singapore and transformed it from fishing village to sprawling metropolis." 

Cue palm to forehead. Groan. We're talking about the very basics of the history of Singapore which would have been covered as part of the social studies curriculum in primary school and certainly in secondary one history lessons in Singapore. Was Cheerio Gobbler not educated in Singapore perhaps? When I went on to explain where he was so wrong, that Singapore was certainly not a fishing village in the 1960s, he went on to explain, "My history is bad, so you have me on that one. Poor history notwithstanding, I do think he still played a big part in steering the ship."

Singapore was NOT a fishing village in 1965. 

Well, it's not that I am trying to crucify Cheerio Gobbler for not being able to remember the details of what he had learnt as part of his history education in Singapore (if indeed he was educated in Singapore) - but surely if he is indeed Singaporean (his profile is private and I don't know anything about him) and if his parents were born in Singapore, then surely they and his grandparents would have been around Singapore in the year 1965. Did Cheerio Gobbler really know that little about how his parents and grandparents spent their lives back in the 1960s? Did he really imagine his parents growing up in "a fishing village"? 

Indeed, Singapore wasn't a fishing village in 1965 when it first attained full independence - it was already a thriving city of 1.89 million people already in 1965. Agriculture (farming, fishing) had already experienced a sharp decline in Singapore by 1965 as it had already became a highly urbanized modern city. It was by no means a village - but one of the most exciting, modern and cosmopolitan cities in Asia in 1965. Certainly if you were to compare Singapore in the 1960s to Singapore today, of course it may seem backward - but is that a fair comparison? A far more useful comparison would be to compare Singapore in 1965 to other regional cities like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Perth and Taipei in 1965. 

Does this picture depict 1965 or 1865?

Mislabelling Singapore as a fishing village in 1965 is not only factually wrong, it also gives the PAP way too much credit for the kind of economic transformation they have delivered post-independence. What the PAP inherited in 1965 was a city that was already had very good infrastructure - from a well run civil service (police, education, hospitals etc), public utilities (water, electricity, drainage), a thriving port, a transport network (an excellent national road network complete with a public transport system), to a business community that had already achieved great success. This was a process that started back in 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles first landed in Singapore - that was when the story started, not 1965! Driven by the success of entrepôt trade, the port of Singapore was already one of the world's most prominent ports before WW2 - given its strategic position at the southern most point of mainland Asia, making it a natural place for ships to make a stop en route between East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines etc) and India, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and beyond.  The key factor was in fact the building of the Suez Canal in Egypt. Once the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Singapore lay directly on the route from Europe to Asia. In the minds of the locals and the British Colonial Office, it had now become firmly anchored as an integral part of the British colonial chain in Asia.

What you can deliver depends so much on what you are given - let me give you an example. When I was serving national service, I gave private tuition to some students (a very Singaporean thing indeed). I had a whole range of students: from the RJC student who was determined to get a distinction for his Economics 'S' paper to the poor kid from a neighbourhood JC who was struggling to pass 'A' level Economics. Needless to say, I had an easy time with that RJC student as we were having mostly philosophical debates about economics - he didn't need help really, he just needed someone to challenge him in a way to develop more innovative ways to approach the subject. Whereas with the neighbourhood JC kid, I did what I could but to no avail. The RJC student did get his 'S' paper distinction (he had brilliant results and went on to be a scholar) and the neighbourhood JC kid failed his economics exam - what is the conclusion? Depending on whom you ask, they will either tell you I was a great tuition teacher or an awful tuition teacher. Do you know what made the difference in those two students? Was it the me? 

My RJC tuition student went on to be a scholar. 

My verdict on myself is that I am no miracle worker - give me a good student with great potential and I don't need to do anything, he'll get the excellent results with or without my help. Give me the struggling student and I don't have a magic wand to turn the situation around. I was a tuition teacher, not a magician. By that token, the PAP had inherited a city that was bursting with potential - like my super bright RJC tuition student. How much credit could you give me and how much credit would I accord to the student himself? Likewise, how much credit would you give to the PAP and how much credit do Singaporeans in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s deserve for this economic transformation? 

Let's run with this tuition analogy for now - my RJC tuition student was obviously smart, but he had already been very well taught all the way from primary school, secondary school right through to JC. He clearly had a very good economics teacher at RJC and I was building on all the good work that had already been invested into this very well-taught student. The neighbourhood JC kid on the other hand, didn't go to a good secondary school unfortunately and a lot of the basic skills like a good grasp of mathematics (in order to understand statistics) or a good grasp of English (in order to write essays) were simply absent! At times, I felt as if I needed to give him maths and English tuition as well, rather than just economics. I felt helpless - that sense of "how do I even begin to help this guy? Where do I start?!" 

Aargh, where do I start?!

By that token, what the PAP inherited in 1965 was the equivalent of my RJC tuition student - a country which already had a lot going for it, thanks to the former British colonial administration. Sure they weren't perfect and you could criticize them for not having done enough - but what they did leave behind was a city that had great potential to blossom (like my RJC tuition student). Of course, in the spirit of post-colonialism, amongst the patriotic cries of "Merdeka!" (freedom, in Malay) - few Singaporeans were willing to thank the British for what they had left behind. Instead, it was all to convenient for them to boast that this ex-colony was going to become richer and more successful than the former colonial power (which is indeed the case today) without acknowledging that the Singaporean success was built on the foundations left behind by the British. 

Hence I am advocating that Singaporeans should know their country's history if they want to understand how we got to where we are and what kind of nation we want in the future. In part 2 of the history of Singapore 101, I shall be interviewing a 70 year old Singaporean woman, talking to her about what her life was like in the period after WW2 and before full independence came in 1965. She will be telling us personal stories about her childhood, her struggles, her challenges and her vivid memories of growing up in Singapore in that period before independence. I certainly hope my readers like Cheerio Gobbler and other younger Singaporeans will read that interview as it will be a very educational insight into pre-independence Singaporean history. Akan datang!! 

If you have any comments or memories from pre-independence Singapore, please feel free to leave a comment below! Many thanks, kum siah, terima kasih.