HISTORY BOLEH

SESSION 1

24 August 2014
109 minutes
No absentees
The past's influence on the present
Completed Stages 1 and 2

Why should we remember the 1950s and early 1960s today?

The past shapes the current present and future. Many parts of the past yields valuable lessons worth searching for. Those who have will indeed become better people as learning from previous lessons is one of the best ways to improve oneself right? This thus shows the significance of the past. However if we are talking about the 1950s and 1960s in particular, we should first start with the significant events that took place at that time in Singapore. For example, the Maria Hertogh case, which is the event our group is researching on. The incident started on 11 December 1950 after a court decided that Maria Hertogh, who was raised by the Malay community ( Che Aminah ), should return to her Catholic biological parents. The Malay community, who were from the Muslim religion, believed that since Maria was raised by them, she belonged to them. A protest was made by the Malays but soon escalated into a riot as they felt that their religious believes were not respected at all. However, Maria was eventually returned to her Dutch biological parents. Until now, some Malays still believed that Maria should have been a Muslim, or Malay girl. Some say that the judge and jury were biased towards the Dutch as in Muslim religion, once a person is married to a Muslim, they will have to convert from their religion to it. The riot resulted in 18 deaths and 173 injured people. This event is significant as it is a constant reminder that if racism goes overboard, the consequences will not be light. From this event, the Singaporean government took measures such as setting a certain percentage of certain races living in the HDB flats. Such measures are important to ensure racial harmony in fear of another racial riot. Racial riots are definitely not a laughing matter as clearly seen in the Maria Hertogh riot. This is why remembering the past, or 1950s and 1960s, is important.

Comparison of sources

Source A: David Marshall, a political leader, in a public speech under the apple tree at Old Parliament House, 1956.

"Merdeka! People of Singapore! Last year, this time, in the month of March: a time of agony. I came before you, day after day at lunchtime, to speak to you of the dangers that the future held and to put before you a blueprint for a miracle. I did not dream, i did not dare believe, that you would give us an opportunity to make that miracle possible.

I think you know, when i was first elected and appointed Chief Minister, I was told I had no office, no clerk, no thambi. And oh they couldn't give me any office - it took a long time - government offices were extremely overloaded - and there was a lot of difficulty. I had to threaten to bring a desk here and set it up here or in my flat before i could get an office!"

Source B: A historian's account of the Chinese Unions in 1956

"From early April until the end of December 1955, Singapore witnessed a staggering 260 labour stoppages, walk-offs, go-slows and sit-downs - if we exclude Sundays, that means more than one labour protest every working day. Out on the streets, Chinese students ignored the government's official closure of their schools, and in a repeat of the previous year locked themselves into their classrooms, where they established their own revolutionary curriculum."

How similar are sources A and B?

Both Sources A and B are similar in a way that the working conditions in 1956 were very bad.

In source A, "And oh they couldn't........were extremely overloaded....threaten to bring a desk.....get an office!" It shows that even a political leader have difficulties to get a standard office. It shows that the working conditions are bad even for a very high ranking official.

In source B,"From early April.....Singapore witnessed....if we exclude...every working day."It shows that the worker went out for protest to get better working conditions.it also states that there a huge number of problems due to poor working conditions, a total of 260 from early April to the end of December.

Both Sources A and B are different in a way that source A is talking about the government having too much problems with themselves

that they did not have enough time to get David Marshall an office. From source A, "And oh they couldn't give me any office - it took a long time - government offices were extremely overloaded - and there was a lot of difficulty." This shows that the government were so busy that they could not even get David Marshall an office.
Source B is talking about the government having problems with the public. From source B, "From early April until the end of December 1955, Singapore witnessed a staggering 260 labour stoppages, walk-offs, go-slows and sit-downs - if we exclude Sundays, that means more than one labour protest every working day." This tells us that the labourers were protesting more than once on every working day, thus the government has problems with the public.

Session 2

24 August 2014
150 minutes
no absentees
Influence, happening and phases of Maria Hertogh Riot
Obtaining and evaluating sources
Presenting it in a pleasant way

It shows the custody battle and infomation of the characters

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Hertogh_riots

Evaluate Sources

infopedia:

Source is a textual source
Author:Lay Yuen Tan
Validity:the research is valid as the bottom of the page has multiple sources and references to other websites and has multiple evidence to support his claims and passage has no personal opinion and only contains facts which can be backed up by other sites

Relevance: the article is sufficiently broad to address the issue

Casualties because of the riot

(https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=6NtWDkW38bQL1M&tbnid=s4CiKzt5il6hjM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thesmartlocal.com%2Fread%2F5-riots-that-rocked-singapore&ei=PQ8HVOSVMse8ugTz54I4&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E&psig=AFQjCNGJVy-Xo3rL5uC_syibyL0owDPyEg&ust=1409835191898843)

A picture showing how disastrous the riot was

(https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=XRqUIcFqE78a7M&tbnid=6OfvXNsgJyL6uM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Funcledicko.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F03%2Fmaria-hertogh-sagapart-4.html&ei=CRAHVMX-LJKLuATK4oDgDA&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E&psig=AFQjCNGJVy-Xo3rL5uC_syibyL0owDPyEg&ust=1409835191898843)

Weapons were used

(https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=4Tc5DjIWJxjMNM&tbnid=Ow2PuHVe6rQqXM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaria-h-anti-ns.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F06%2Fabout-marai-hertogh-riots-newspapers.html&ei=VBAHVPOpK8yRuASSyYGgBg&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E&psig=AFQjCNGJVy-Xo3rL5uC_syibyL0owDPyEg&ust=1409835191898843)

Source

A interview with Maria Hertogh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=SG&hl=en-GB&v=ZI8fxB7LRbc

A photo that showed her supposed-to-be muslim husband

(https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=fvqkD9yXXF9bPM&tbnid=EUQdE3Dvt-zKVM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Flive.channelnewsasia.com%2Ftv%2Ftvshows%2Fdaysofrage%2Fnadra%2F959854.html&ei=FBEHVPK_NoPluQSbxYDgDg&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E&psig=AFQjCNGJVy-Xo3rL5uC_syibyL0owDPyEg&ust=1409835191898843)

A photo showing Cik Aminah protecting Maria Hertogh

(https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&docid=7XxqtIA1PyQ52M&tbnid=1dDZrxx_dBVlFM:&ved=0CAUQjRw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjnJCCX3Du2A&ei=TxEHVNO3FIuRuASlrYGYDQ&bvm=bv.74115972,d.c2E&psig=AFQjCNGJVy-Xo3rL5uC_syibyL0owDPyEg&ust=1409835191898843)

A picture showing that Maria Hertogh's marriage getting manoeuvred

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJDxfp_r55FRpFcbBBB8hieGAFUXsInbg1pkI2FzmLkLgydB6zY3gHJVDSrmKzuDafms7gMlJYOPrvWNfJpjHcGCiNCAsyQX7SJhwp7k8sGiWq5ugWZiMc3YwoVtXeLtGKotitaplQ-dVS/s1600/Photo0242.jpg

Curfews being imposed to keep the riot down

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9obZ9j0g0YRCJksJa3DmR6xdBt9QnVyTFyQbznyzy43_5HvRxQ4tKWYM9M5GwSEZ35gEXSuJayEdqPNE7rnIokDEhnDdqQkXHuD6drU_xL_S2LGlm929pAzOlv86Wz_i8mN8dSAekpPRA/s1600/Photo0233.jpg

|Type of Source |Information |

Main Things we have learnt

1: We must respect each other's religion or we would end up with another racial conflict.The Maria Hertogh riot is a prime example of what happens when 2 religion have a conflict. Everyone in this world has their own religion. We believes in our religion. We can prevent riots from happening due to religious issues by respecting one another's religion. We will cause unhappiness to someone if we disrespect that person's religion.

Therefore so as to prevent further racial conflict we must respect each other's religion

2: Riots are unnecessary when dealing with conflicts. In many riots like the Maria Hertogh riot, the protesters only wish to vent their anger by using violence. Riots are just showing a protest. Riots will definitely not solve the problems arised. It will only make things complicated instead. Riots will cause many people to get killed and injured. We will not gain any benefit from riots but to loss our loved ones. Shops, houses, vehicles and streets are destroyed and damaged by fires, bombs and many more.Therefore no matter the problem and conflict we must never go to the extent of starting a riot.

3: We learnt that communication is very important in any event. This riot broke out due to a lack of communication and misunderstandings. A lot of assumptions were made by the Muslims thus leading to misunderstandings. If the Muslims and the parents of Maria Hertogh communicated, maybe they could negotiate the terms. If we are able to communicate better in every way and anywhere, the world would be a better place and less riots and wars would occur.