Bl0g t0pic 5: 'Singapore's struggle to achieve internal self-government in the period 1945-1959 had its cost. Was it worth it? ( at least 2 reasons)

In my opinion,I think that the cost of achieving internal self-government was worth it because Singapore would not have developed so successfully without it. Though death and injuries occurred in the riots but eventually Singapore manage to gain internal self-government in 1959.

During the 1945-1959 years, the British were ruling Singapore. They mentioned that they are able to govern the local people well but they did not prove themselves right. The British was not able to see the needs of the people and riots happened. This made resulted the people of Singapore thinking that, that is a need to struggle and achieve internal self-government

The three major riots that occurred were the Maria Hertogh riots,Anti-National Service riots and the Hock Lee Bus Riots. The roots to all the three riots is that the British did not understand and pay much attention to the needs of the people in Singapore.

- Take the Maria Hertogh riots as the first example, if the British will to find out more about the Muslim laws and take the Muslim's feelings into considerations before their unwise actions, the riot would not had happened.

- As for the Anti-National Service riots, it involved mostly Chinese students who were anti-British. They started to strike because the British neglected those who were still studying at the age of 18-20 due to the delay caused by World War 2. The British had failed to spare a thought for the Chinese students.

- The Hock Lee Bus Riots took place as the workers wanted to seek for better pays and working conditions. The Hock Lee Bus Company dismissed 229 workers instead of putting in effort to negotiate with them. The British had neglected the peoples' interest and resulted in the riots.


Lastly, the British seemed to be taking sides with some races which should not be allowed as the local people regarded them as the governor. Also, I think it's only right for the local people to rule Singapore as no country should be a colony of another. The local people of Singapore knew the living conditions of the nation and understand the people best.

In conclusion, I strongly think that it's worth it for Singapore to struggle in order to achieve self-government, despite all it's cost as what we gained form been independence is far more than what we had lost!



lei yu jia (15)
faith2-1