NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
NATIONAL INSTITUE OF EDUCATION
CTL 202: Selected History Topics for
Primary Social Studies Teaching
A tranquil little kampong amidst
the racial riots in 1964.
Is it possible?
Name : Tan Ser Yunn Kevin
NIE Student Number : 047150B08
Email :
Telephone : 90992254
Course Code : CTL202
Course Title : Selected History Topics for Primary Social
Studies Teaching
Tutor : A/P Karl Hack
CTL202: Selected History Topics for Primary Social Studies Teaching
A tranquil little kampong amidst the racial riots in 1964. Is it possible?
A tranquil little kampong amidst the Racial Riots in 1964. Is it possible?
Written by Tan Ser Yunn Kevin
For this assignment, my original intention was to interview my grandmother who had came to Singapore as a child bride 60 plus years ago and had also gone through the Second World War. However, as she was reluctant to recall life during those years, I had to approach my father, Mr Tan. However, I was pleasantly surprised during the interview, as he had painted me a totally different picture of the racial riots from the one that I had anticipated.
In his fifties and speaking to me in predominantly English with some Mandarin and Hokkien phrases in between, he related to me that he was only 13 years old during the time of the racial riots. At that time, he was living a Chinese kampong somewhere in the North-Eastern part of Singapore, near to the presently Hougang Avenue 10. As the occupants of his kampong were all Chinese, the racial riot was almost a non-event for him, other then the inconvenient of having to stay at home for a few days. But, at the same time, he also revealed that people in his kampong was still affected to a certain extent as they did organised vigil at night to kept watch “just in case”.
Background
On 21 July 1964, a riot broke out during the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad birthday’s procession. In all, it claimed a total of 23 lives and 454 injuries[1]. In addition, “some 3,568 persons were arrested, 715 of them charged in court and another 945 placed under preventive detention”[2].
So what could have cause such devastating a riot? There were many possible reasons, as Malaysia’s and Singapore’s government were not on good terms during that time. However, most people would state that the despatching of UMNO’s Secretary-General Syed Jaafar Albar to Singapore could be the spark to the riot as “he tried to instil a more rabid nationalism into the [UMNO’s] branch leaders and this eventually led to demands… for privileges and safeguards equal to… Muslim peoples of the Malay States”[3] . This was flatly refused by the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew who only wanted to give concession “in the field of education”[4]. “[S]o racial tension, deliberately exacerbated by members of a strong anti-Malaysia underground movement, bubbled dangerously just below the surface”[5] and it finally reared it’s ugly head on the 21 July 1964.
As such, on that fateful day, “an estimated 20,000 Malays and Muslims”[6] were “gradually passing through Kallang, an area dominated by Chinese population”[7] when the riots broke out. There were different claims to the cause of the riots as both Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Mr Abdul Razak had offered various reasons that ranges from the hitting a Chinese Federal Reserve Unit officer by a group of Malay youths, the throwing of a bottle at the procession crowd or even to the Indonesian sponsored agitators who stirred up the riots. However, those claims would still not have initiated the riots if the Malay and Chinese did not have that underlying distrust among each other. Therefore, the various reason could just be a spark that actualise and manifested the riots itself.
With the inception of the first case of riot, it spread rapidly to many areas of Singapore. And at the end of the first day, “220 incidents had been reported, 178 persons had been injured… and 4 had been killed”[8].
The scales of the riots was scattering so quickly that Singapore military forces and even the British military forces were activated. Curfews were also implemented to control the riots and it was finally lifted completely only on 2 August, 11 days later when the situation calmed down. It was so devastating that Mr Toh Chin Chye described it as “unprecedented in the history of Singapore”[9].
In the North-Eastern Part of Singapore
In Albert Lau’s book, “A Moment of Anguish – Singapore in Malaysia and the Politics of Disengagement”, he has given a very detail description of the riots and it’s locations. From the description, it was observed that the troubled areas started from around the Southern part of the island which included “Arab Street, Victoris Street, North Bridge Road etc.” all the way to the East part of the island which encompasses “Geylang and Chai Chee, Joo Chiat etc.[10]
This seems to be consistent with the description of Mr Tan that the North-Eastern side of the island is indeed spared from the direct impact of the riots. In fact, Joe Yeoh, in his comic book “To Tame a Tiger – A Singapore Story”, actually printed that “The violence spread to other parts of Singapore and although communal temperatures rose several degrees, the vast majority of Chinese and Malay neighbours protected each other.”[11] It was echo again in a website called Little Speck as it mentioned that “In many kampongs, Chinese and Malay residents protected each other from disorderly elements from outside their kampongs?”[12].
This seems to show that there were still rational Singaporean among some of the more “ hot headed” one, as portrayed in most of the books, even though they are often “forgotten”. The adults in the kampong of Mr Tan further illustrated the point by forming groups to safeguard their kampong instead of joining in the riot themselves. They did not agree with the ideology of the rioters but for the safety of the their families members, decided to “take matters into their own hands”.
It was also interesting to note that Mr Tan pointed out that there was no police or army personnel to be seen in the kampong during that period of time. It was a bit weird as if no “official forces” were presence in the kampong, how were they to know if there were riots around that area? Unfortunately, searches in the library and books did not really reveal any clue to this aspect of the riots.
Interaction between the races
Next, Mr Tan stated that he had got almost no contact with member of the other races during that era. Even if he sees them on the way to school, they would just walk past each other. The non-interaction between the youth seems to suggest a segregation of the Singaporean by races in certain parts of the island. As they did not see the need to interact with each other, misunderstandings could easily occur and Mr Syed Jaafar Albar could just be the person who make the most out of this gap in communication.
The PAP government realised this after the riots and Mr Othman Wok, Minister for Social Affair in the 1960s mentioned that
“[s]oon after the riots, we decided on a housing policy to mix the races together in the Housing Board flats. The experience of Geylang Serai and Joo Chiat showed that if the communities were left apart, there will be endless problems”[13].
Duration of the Riots
In Mr Tan’s account, He mentioned that the riots caused him to be ground at home for a few days. There seems to be a slight discrepancy in his account of the duration of the riots as compared to books and researches. As mentioned earlier, the curfews were completely lifted on the 2 August 1964 but according to National Archives Singapore, “[s]chool holidays were bought forward a week earlier and term resumed on 17 August instead of the original date of 27 August”[14].
This discrepancy could be due to Mr Tan’s self admission that he could not remember the exact detail of the riots as he was only 13 years old at that time. The time issue could be insignificance as critical issue here is that there are indeed pockets of peace among the unrest during the racial riots.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Singapore is a small country made up of people from different races and belief. The racial riots in the 1964 taught us a painful lesson that we should never take racial harmony for granted. Recent terrorist crisis had once again reminded us of the delicate social fabric of our society. Our ex-Prime minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong reminded us that “those who lived through [the riots] had been convinced of the overriding importance of racial tolerance and harmony and this had helped shape Singapore into what it was today”[15]. As such, we should start inculcating the importance of “preserv[ing] racial and religious harmony”[16] to our future generation so as to ensure that similar incident do not ever occur in Singapore every again.
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CTL202: Selected History Topics for Primary Social Studies Teaching
A tranquil little kampong amidst the racial riots in 1964. Is it possible?
Bibliography
- Alex Josey. Lee Kuan Yew – The Crucial Years (Singapore: Times Books International, 1997)
- Albert Lau. A Moment of Anguish – Singapore in Malaysia and the Politics of Disengagement (Singapore: Times Academic Press, 1998)
- C. M. Turnbull. A History of Singapore 1819-1975 (Kuala Lumpur: Oxford University Press, 1977)
4. Joe Yeoh. To Tame a Tiger – The Singapore Story (Singapore: Wiz-Biz, 2000)
5. Little Speck. “Singapore: July 21, 1964 Racial Riots”, http://www.littlespeck.com/ThePast/CPast-64riots-640721.htm
6. Ministry of Education. “Six messages of National Education”, http://www1.moe.edu.sg/ne/AboutNE/SixMsgs.html
7. National Archives Singapore. “Trials & Turbulences in 1964”, http://www.knowledgenet.com.sg/singapore/SG/NR/NRTNT001.asp?next=0
8. Ravi Veloo. “The Story of Singapore’s Race Relations as seen through the eyes of Othman Wok”, http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/independence/ref/race.html
- William Shaw. Tun Razak – His Life and Times (Kuala Lumpur: Longman Malaysia Sdn. Berhad, 1976)
- Walter Fernandez. “Riots ‘helped shape S’pore’”, http://huaren.org/diaspora/asia/singapore/id/070898-1.html
Transcript for the oral interview project
Profile of the Interviewee
Name of Interviewee : Mr Tan S. K.
Age : 54 years old
Nationality : Singaporean
Occupation : Taxi-driver
Language Spoken : English, Mandarin and Hokkien
Venue : Mr Tan’s living room
How old were you when this happened?
I was 13 years old when the riots happened. That was many many years ago. Can’t even remember much liao.
Where were you living then? What is the ratio of the ethic groups in your kampong?
Well, at that time, I was living in a kampong… let me see… it’s should be where the current Hougang Ave 10 is now. It was a small Chinese Kampong and there was no Malay or Indian in my kampong.
Where were you studying at that time?
Monfort Missionary School. It used to be somewhere in Upper Serangoon. I have to walk to school every day.
What is the racial combination of the school?
The school has some Eurasians and a lot of Chinese. Yeah, there were also some Malay and Indians but their number is very small.
Did you get to talk to them?
Not really. Cause they are not in my class.
Can you tell me how is your relationship with members of the other races before the riots?
The other races? You meant the Malays and the Indians? … I did not really know anybody from the other races other than the Eurasian in school. The Malays and the Indians are in other classes. As I lived in a Chinese kampong, all of us are Chinese. If we need anything, we just go to the only provision shop in the kampong. It sold almost all the things that we need. As such, I did not really have a chance to talk to other races. The closest I came into contact with Malay students is when we walked past each other when we were going to school. They were from other villages. But it’s just walked past. We didn’t talk.
Not even once?
Well, at that time, I did not see the need to talk to them. Therefore we still did not talk to each other.
How did you know of the riots?
One day, I was informed that as there are some riots, I did not have to go to school. Can’t really remember who told me that but I think it should be some adults. But know that I did not have to go to school for quite a few days.
Can you remember more about the person who told you about the riots and what was told to you?
(After a long pause) I can’t really remember. It’s really a long time ago. Think it’s riots from some kampongs. The Chinese and the Malays were fighting with each other. That’s all I know.
How did you feel? How did you react?
Actually, I did not feel anything, as I was only 13 years old. I only knew that I did not have to do to school that’s all. However, the only difference was that I was told to stay at home and not allowed to go out. Not even out of the door. In fact, it was very boring for me.
What about the kampong? Is there any fighting?