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The Explosion
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Summary of Task A article:Prologue: Singapore went through racial or communal riots between Malays and Chinese over two five-
day periods beginning on 21 July and 2 September 1964 respectively. These riots, the worst
and most prolonged in Singapore's post-war history, erupted after Singapore merged with the
Federation of Malaysia.There were 22 deaths and 461 inured.
Events
For about two months, Chinese and Malays in Singapore clashed because the Malays resented the facts that they would not be granted special treatment in Singapore after Singapore merged with the Federation of Malaysia.
On 19 July 1964,ore than 1,000 Malay non-political leaders from 101 organisations met Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the Prime Minister of Singapore and Encik Othman Wok, the Minister for Social Affairs to clarify the issue of the special rights for Malays.
At the meeting, Mr Lee promised that Malays will be trained to compete for top positions with non-Malays. He reiterated that all Singaporean citizens had equal rights, regardless of race.On 20 July 1964, in response to Mr Lee, the 23-man Singapore UMNO Action Committee, called on him to use his time in curbing the secret society menace instead of splitting the Malay community. The Leader of the committee is UMNO State leader, Senator Ahmad Haji Taff who claimed that the meeting was an insult to the Malays. He defended his Action Committee against accusations of communalism by the Premier, by counter-charging that Mr Lee himself was trying to break the harmony and good relations between Malays and Chinese. He emphasised that the campaign was not aimed at the chinese. Instead, it is aimed at the Singapore government and Lee Kuan Yew for not including the special rights clause in the Constitution.
On 21 July 1964, rioting broke out on the eve of the celebration of Prophet Muhammad's birthday when a protest demonstration by Malays escalated from a verbal war of taunts and insults with Chinese bystanders. The ensuing violence which continued for five days, left 22 people dead and 454 injured. Curfew hours were imposed to restore law and order. The curfew was gradually relaxed by 2 August 1964.On2 September 1964, Racial tensions exploded once again when a Malay trishaw rider was stabbed to death at night. Rioting erupted again and continued for another five days with 12 people killed, 109 injured and over 1,200 people arrested for rioting and curfew-breaking. The curfew was lifted on 11 September when the situation returned to normal.
The racial riots were, by far, the worst and most prolonged in Singapore's post-war history. A number of factors contributed to the outbreak of violence:(1) to enforce their policy of Confrontation with the newly-formed Federation of Malaysia, a number of Indonesian activists had infiltrated into Singapore in attempts to arouse the religious fervour of the more fanatical Malays;(2) Chinese Secret Society gangs seized the opportunity to stir up violence;(3) inflammatory reporting in the vernacular press helped to fan racial emotions.
