JIazhen's post.

What weret he events that led to the race riots of 1964

The malay newspaper, Utusan Melayu, was used by UMNO, to spread the anti-campaign. The paper claimed that 3,000 malay families were affected by the resettlement in an area stretching from Crawford, Kampong Glam to Rochor.
In reality , out of the 2500 families resettled, ony about 200 were malays . The Utusan Melayu also highlighted that the PAP government did not care about the malays in singapore. In july the government called for a meeting with malay organisations to explain its policies . This was an attempt to adress any unhappiness that the malays might have. Before this meeting was held , UMNO had an earlier meeting with the Malays . The fiery speeches which portrayed PAP as anti-Malay stirred anger in the malays.

This is Marianne's posts.

What are the measures taken to foster social cohesion?

Singapore has taken several measures to manage social cohesion.These are the measures that were taken:

Multi racialism

The policy of multi-racialism promotes equality among all races, with no special rights granted to any particular racial or religious group. This means that everyone has equal opportunities to suceed, regardless of their background. Favouring a certain group of people because of their race or religion is prohibited by the Constitution. Since everyone is seen as a valued member of the Singapore society, they have a sense of national identity as Singaporeans.

Children of different races wearing different traditional costumes

Common Practices

Common practices are actions that Singaporeans carry out together, like singing the national anthem, taking the pledge and attending the flag raising ceremony.These practices help to foster a national identity. Inculculating loyalty and national pride towards Singapore is one way to get Singaporeans to see themselves as one people. Bilingualism

The policy of bilingualism was introduced in schools in 1966. Students were expected to learn English and their own Mother Tongue. With bilingualism, English is used as the language that links the different ethnic groups. Mother Tongue language is used to impart moral values and cultural traditions of each race.

Safeguarding the interests of the minority groups

Minority Representation

This policy gives minority groups a say in governance and safeguards their interests. The President Council Of Minority Rights(PCMR) and the Group Representation Constituency(GRC) are 2 examples of how representation of the minority groups is achieved.

The PCMR consists of members from the minority racial and religious groups. It ensures that no racial or religious group is disadvantaged as a result of a law that is passed in the Parliament.

The GRC ensures that at least one of the candidates in the team contesting in the General Election is from the minority racial communities such as Malay, Indian or Eurasian. The GRC system ensures that the minority racial groups are represented in the Parliament. This way, the concerns and needs of the minority groups are made known to the government.

Self-Help Groups

Chinese Development Assistance Council(CDAC), Singapore Indian Development(SINDA), Mendaki and the Eurasian Association play an important role in helping members of their community, who are less fortunate, to get help in their studies and training for their jobs. It also gives moral support to their members of the community and helps Singaporeans to cope and compete with one another on an equal footing.

Since 2002, the different self-help groups have embarked on joint projects such as joint tution programme. These joint efforts allow students from different ethnic groups to attend the same tution classes in tution centres run by CDAC, Mendaki and SINDA. This provides the opportunity for youths from different ethnic groups to inteact and get along with one another.

Developing common space

Common Space refers to the time and place when people get together. It provides opportunities for Singaporeans to interact and throught this interaction, understanding among Singaporeans from the different races can be deepened.

Events and programmes organised by grassroots organisations

Grassroots such as People's Association(PA) create common space through their wide range of programmes and activities developed to cater to the needs and interests of every Singaporean.

One of the programmes conducted for students was a home visit or home stay opportunity with a host family from another ethnic group. This allows participants to gain a better understanding of the cultures and customs of other races. With mutual respect, strong friendship can be built over time.

The Choa Chu kang Grassroots organisation participating in the walk-a-jog on 9 April

Opportunities offered by educational institutions

Educational institutions such as schools and tertiary institutuions are open to every Singaporean, regardless of race, language or religion. Students from different races and religions study and play together. Through this daily interaction, the students have ample opportunity for friendships to be cultivated and strengthened.

Co-Curricular Activities(CCAs) in schools play an important part in forging closer bonds among youths of all races. The variety of activities conducted during CCAs provides opportunities for students to work closely together to play games and work on a task.This helps to build teamwork among them. Students will also learn to appreciate one another's talents and respect one another as individuals.

Common living space provided by public housing

In the 1980s, it was observed that there were too many people from the same racial group living in the same housing estate. This situation could hinder the social bonding amog people from the different races.

In 1989, the ethnic intergration policy was introduced. It puts a limit on the proportion of races in every neighbourhood and block. This ensures that there is an even number of the different races in all housing estates.

Living together in the same neighbourhood provides several opportunities for people from different ethnic groups to interact.

Activities conducted by Inter-Racial Confidence Circles(IRCCs) Aand Harmony Circles(HCs)

The IRCCs were introduced in January 2002 to provide the common space to foster greater inter-racial understanding. The activities carried out by the IRCCs such as visits to places of worship, create opportunities for Singaporeans to appreciate their differences and develop strong bonds among different ethnic and religious communities. At the workplace, these inter-racial and inter-religious activities are carried out in HCs. All these activities help to build confidence and friendship among people.

Shared experience through National Service

Another area where common space is created for the various races to interact is National Service. National Service, introduced in1967, requires all able-bodied men to serve in the defence of the country. The shared experiences, for example, going through military training during National Service, help to strenghten the bond among the men.

Why is it important to manage ethnic diversity?

Security and peace

Because Singapore is a multi-ethnic society living harmoniously, all Singaporeans can enjoy feeling safe in the security and peace of our country.

Economic Progress

With peace and stability comes economic progress. Foreign investors invest and set up their companies in Singapore because they know their investments would be protected.

An example of an economic benefit of maintaining peace and harmony in Singapore is the tourists industry. Tourists generally avoid visiting countries that are caught in violence and conflict. In addition the multi-ethnic characteristics of Singapore's population attract tourists from all over the world.

Explore other ways to foster social cohesion in Singapore

Have some CIP work in our CCAs that allow us to visit different counntries or in the very least, go to different parts of Singapore such as Little India or Chinatown and learn the food,tradition and culture of different races and religions.

Ask our friends, especially those from different foreign countries, to tell us about their customs and culture and perhaps teach us their language as well. But at all due costs, respect their traditions all the same.

Sources from EPB/Pan Pacific Upper Secondary-Social Studies-Textbook 3

Pictures from Google images

This post is done by Lim Wee Kiat .
Quak Wei Ren have nothing to do with this post so no credits is given to him =D

What were the events that led to Maria Hertogh riots of 1950s ?

In the 1940s , a Dutch couple was imprisoned by the Japanese .
They placed their daughter ,Maria Hertogh ,under the care of a Malay lady, Aminah .
Maria was raised as a Muslim and at the age of 13 ,married a Malay teacher.

When her parents demanded that Maria be returned to them ,a court trial followed.
This court trial had wide media coverage and provoked much unhappiness among the Muslim
community. The court decided to give custody to the Hertoghs.

What were the cause of the Maria Hertogh riots ?

The large crowd outside the court felt that British legal system was unfair to Muslims.
This sparked off anger towards the European and Eurasian communities which resulted in the outbreak of the riots.

What happen during the riots ?

5 people were dead and 100 hurt in the riots.

The events throughout the court trial had much media coverage in the English ,Malay and Tamil newspaper. The court's decision to annul Maria's marriage to a Malay teacher and pictures of Maria in a Christian convent were published. They felt that the welfare of Muslims was not looked into.

During the riots, the government placed a 24-hour curfew for two weeks. The British and Malayan troops as well as Singapore police were called in to maintain peace.

Conclusion

The riots showed that if religious issues are not handled carefully, hostillty and distrust could occur among the people, thus affecting the relantionships among the different religious groups.

Q & A

1) How different are we? ( WEIREN)
Singapore is a multi-ethnic society and there are many different races and religion.

2) What are the challenges of multi-ethnicity in Singapore? (Oscar)

In a multi-ethinic society like singapore, issues such as race and religion can be used to cause conflict among the different groups. How these can issues are handled is crucial in ensuring that harmony is maintained.


Racial Issues

• What were the events that led to the race riots of 1964?(Marianne)

The State government of Singapore and the Federal government in Kuala Lumpur tried several different political approaches and this caused a strain in their relationship.

This was worsened in 1964 when the People's Action Party(PAP) participated in the Federal Election of Malaysia. The PAP promised a non-communal approach to Malaysian politics and the creation of a Malaysia where everyone had equal rights and privileges. This made the Malays in the United Malays National Organisation(UMNO) feel threatened as they took it as Singapore's first attempt to have a share in the affairs of Malaysia.

Some of the UMNO leaders organised an anti-PAP campaign so as to highlighted the poverty of the Malays in Singapore. In addition, the PAP's resettlement and redevelopment programme was portrayed as anti-Malay. The UMNO accused the PAP for uprooting the Malays from their homes in the traditional Malay areas during the resettlement programme, even though the Chinese residents were affected as well. This was done to arouse feelings of dissatisfaction among the Singapore Malays towards the PAP.

The UMNO used the Malay newspaper, Utasan Melayu to spread the anti-PAP campaign by claiming that 3000 Malay families were affected by the resettlement programme when in reality, only about 200 out of the 2500 families resettled were Malays. It also claimed that the PAP government did not care for the Malays in Singapore.

In July, the UMNO had a speech with the Malays and portrayed the PAP as anti-Malay, which made the Malays very angry. Later on, the government called for a meeting with Malay organisations to explain its policies and promised the Malays that their economic and social positions would be improved through education and training. However, the Malays were still angry and planned a race riot.

• What were the causes of the race riots?(Marianne)

The causes were the UMNO's spiteful speeches of the PAP and the bias as well as irresponsible newspaper articles.

• What happened during the race riots?(WEIREN)

In July 1964, during Prophet Muhammad's birthday celebration, a fight between a Chinese policeman and a group of Malay participants of the procession, turned into a full-blown race riots over the next few days.

Efforts were made to call for calm. Goodwill Committees were also formed to help foster stronger bonds among the people from different races and religions. Committee members went from house to house to spread the message of living peacefully with one another.

• What were the consequences of the race riots?(weiren)

The race riots caused damage to property as well as loss of lives, 36 people dead and 560 others injured.

• Why do people react sensitively to race issues?(Marianne)

Because this is a very emotional and volatile subject.

• What were the lessons learnt from the riot?(Marianne)

Never trust bias information about other governments unless you know the what is truth and what is not

• Why do people react sensitively to religious issues ?(Oscar)

Because some religious issues can be quite insulting & it can be offending at times. Different people have different kind of thinking or thoughts towards religious issues. Thus, some people will react sensitively towards religious issues.

• How issues relating to transnational terrorism could divide the people.(Oscar)

transnational terrorism refers to acts of violence which are global in terms of aims, organisation and impact. These acts can test the social bonds of the people in Singapore. Singapore needs to handle this threat carefully as it can divide the people. in multi-ethnic societies like Singapore, race and religion may be used to create ill feelings among the different ethnic groups. This can, in turn threaten racial and religious harmony in the country.

HeyHeyHey!

Welcome to our website! We have to set it up to do a Social-Studies project.

Here's our Project Task A:

We are here to set up a blog to reflect on the challenges at social cohesion that Singapore (A multi-racial Society) has faced & is facing today. We are to blog about how the government has managed ethnic diversity & the importance of doing so. We are also to explore other ways of bonding Singapore & to invite comments on our suggestions or proposals.

We chose Project Task A as we found it much more easier to research on than Project Task B. :P It also helps us learn more about our Singapore's history and the conflicts that happened in Singapore. :)

The Work Division:

Jiazhen-

Oscar-Typing of posts

Wei Ren-

Marianne-Research

Wee Kiat-Designs and prepares the blog for posting

Research That Needs To Be Done:

-Find out about the race riots of 1964 and the Maria Hertogh riots

-Find out about the threats from transnational terrorism

-Find out what are the measures Singapore has taken to foster social cohesion & its importance

-Discuss and find out other ways to foster social cohesion

Sources we can use to find more information:

-Wikipedia

-Yahoo/Google

-Textbooks