The Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency

The Malayan Emergency began in 1948 and ended in 1960. This 12-year guerrilla battle was fought between the Commonwealth Troops, the Malay forces and the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). The Commonwealth Troops and the Malay forces were fighting together against the Malayan National Liberation Army which was the military force of the Malayan Communist Party. The Malayan Communist Party was led by their leader Chin Peng, who was a communist fanatic. It was called the Malayan Emergency as rubber plantations and tin mining industries would not be insured if they were attacked if it was called a “war” instead of “emergency”.

How was the Malayan Communist Party formed?

After World War II, there was shortage of food, low employment and extremely low wages. These led to many strikes and protests put up by protestants of Singapore. The British then employed harsh punishments on these people and the police were told to capture those people. They were then enraged and soon, they turn to communism. Many of them then followed Chin Peng, the leader of the Malayan Communist Party to retreat to rural areas. Most of the people in the party were Chinese. This party was also somewhat a reformation of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army who also put up a guerilla battle against the Japanese. This party was trained by the British during the Japanese Occupation so when it ended, the weapons provided to them were taken back by the British. But not all of the people returned their weapons as some stashed the weapons away for future use. These weapons then came into handy when the Malayan Communist Party was formed.

What did the Malayan Communist Party attack and how did they do so?

The Malayan Communist Party mainly attacked the rubber plantations, sabotaging installations and destroying infrastructure and transportations. They gained the support of the local Chinese who were very poor, no equal rights to vote in elections and finally, had no land rights to their names. They played an important role to the Malayan Communist Party as they supplied important information to them and also supplied essential materials such as food.

They attacked the British with three significant phases. In the first phase of attack, they would raid government and police buildings, tin mines and many other essential buildings where the British were stationed in rural areas to force the British to retreat to the city. In the second phase of attack, they would establish guerrilla bases at the areas they have just gained control of to train the informants among the locals who were called the ‘Min Yuen’ to expand their army. In the third and final phase of attack, they set off into the cities to destroy the economy by destroying villages, towns and railways. With the cities down, they were then set to fight against the British on a battlefield openly.

How did the British respond?

The British soon realized that the Malayan Communist Party operated on information gathering by the local civilians. They then concluded that they needed to cut off this supply of information in order to gain an advantage over the party they were against. They then initiated the operation, Briggs Plan. They relocated about 500,000 rural Malayans and made them live in New Villages, which was the term called for the place that they build for them. The New Villages were surrounded with barbed wires and many other protections with the main aim of keeping the people staying there in and guerillas out. This plan operated with only one aim, to cut off all supplying of information from the Malayans to the Malayan Communist Party.

They also tried to garner the support of the Malayans as they realised that the main reason the Malayan Communist Party were getting so much information on them was the fact that they had the support of the Malayans. The British then began their “hearts and mind campaign” which was the British giving food and medical support to the Malays and other tribes.

Finally, they put up tighter defense by regular patrolling of the place where the Malayan Communist Party were, the jungle. They sent men to be stationed there and this pressurized the Malayan Communist Party there so they were forced to advance deeper into the forest. Subsequently, this led to them having the lack of basic necessities and resources in relation to their location. Many of the guerillas who were captured by the British changed sides and worked for the British.

How did the Malayan Emergency affect Singapore?

The Malayan Emergency was caused mainly by the communist party in Malaya. The communist party was formed as they saw how communist China gained power during that time and believed that communism would solve the all their problems such as shortage of food, unemployment and low wages. But if Singapore were to turn communist, the investments made by the British on Singapore would all reap no profits and the British did not want that to happen. The direct linkage of the Malayan Emergency to Singapore was the fact that the Malayan Emergency and how it originally broke out led to the British slowly giving power to the local civilians to pacify them and prevent Singapore from being a communist country. This process was a big step towards Singapore’s independence in 1965.

Sources : http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_malaya.html

Dr Goh Keng Swee Part 2

Dr Goh Keng Swee has done very great contribution to Singapore

1) Economically

2) Militarily

3) Education

I would like to emphasize the word Education and Militarily because this is the main aspect of our project. To commemorate him, we are going to make an award for those who do well academically-wise and those who excel in Military-wise stuff like attaining high awards and distinctions.

Since there are already so many examples, (Down there)

-Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors Award award

-Nobel prize

Then, we finally decided to have a Goh Keng Swee Prestige Award to award those who are able to achieve the few aspects as said above.

Dr Goh Keng Swee (Part 1) II

His Greatest Contributions

What he done for the economy

Tourism

He was the one who decided to build the Jurong Bird Park and the Singapore Zoological Gardens. The Jurong Bird Park was built 1971 and the Singapore Zoological Gardens was built in 1973. These are the two prominent places in Singapore, attracting tourists from all over the World to come and visit these places. Any tourist who visits Singapore would definitely not miss visiting these places.
Not satisfied with the work done, he then proceeded on to suggest creating a place where a variety of fishes could be viewed. The coming of Underwater World in Sentosa in 1991 was inevitable. Now, even the locals visit Underwater World, surely the tourists would flood the place of joy.

Estate

He came up with the plan to change the swampland in Jurong to the famed Jurong Industrial Estate. The Jurong Industrial Estate area is bustling with activities now and you would never think that it was once a wasteland.
In 1962, the then Finance Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee, laid the foundation stone for the National Iron and Steel Mills, the first factory in the new industrial estate. In 1963, 24 factories were established. Jurong is also home to the Jurong Bird Park, the Chinese and the Japanese Gardens, the Science Centre with its Omnimax Theatre, three golf clubs and the Raffles Marina. Extensive public housing has brought an influx of residents, who are well served by shopping centres, sports facilities, schools, good road connections and the Mass Rapid Transit system. Dr Goh was the one who decided and strongly believed that the sleepy swampland could be turned into this.
Finance
He established the Economic Development Board (EDB) in 1961 and Development Bank of Singapore (DBS) in 1961. These organisations proved crucial to the development of Singapore as the Economic Development Board helps the economy to improve while the Development Bank of Singapore was a major bank.

Developing as a country

He is responsible for developing an economic strategy that was crucial in explaining Singapore economic takeoff. Between 1959 and 1965, he came up with the import-substitution strategy and made Singapore a manufacturing centre to provide common Malaysian market with their needs.
In other words, the import-substitution strategy mean emphasising on replacement of some agricultural or industrial imports to encourage local production for local consumption, rather than producing for export markets. The simplified way means to bring in goods rather than to bring out goods.
That was before Independence. Following Independence, he focused on making Singapore an export-orientated development strategy. He went against economic theories which stated that state protectionism and heavy spending on part of the government was important for the growth of a country.

What he done for the education

He was the one who came up with the idea of streamed education, which included the EM1, EM2 and EM3 policy. Although this was stated controversial by the people, he went ahead with his plan which indeed helped the education of the people in Singapore.
Defence

What he done for the Military Force

He was the one who set up the Singapore Armed Forces in a mere six years. Additionally, it was one of the most successful Singapore state institution.
He made the law of all able-bodied males at the age of 18 need to attend National Service. He strongly believed that a strong defensive force was a crucial part in Singapore’s Independence. He believed that Singapore male citizens should participate directly as soldiers in their country’s defence to reinforce their sense of responsibility to the national community and to strengthen they themselves and their bonds with one another as countrymen.

In 1971, he put together the Electronic Warfare Study Group, a team of newly graduated engineers who had excelled in their university studies which was headed by Dr. Tay Eng Soon, a university lecturer. The group worked on Project Magpie, a secret project to develop Singapore's defence technology capabilities. In 1977, the group was renamed the Defence Science Organisation (DSO). Originally part of the Ministry of Defence, in 1997 the organization became a non-profit corporation called DSO National Laboratories

Dr Goh Keng Swee (Part 1)

His Life Timeline

1930s

He entered politics and he was elected as MP for Kreta Ayer on 30 May 1959. He was its MP till his retirement from politics in Dec 1984.

He was anti-colonial in his outlook during the pre-independence years..

1940s

He was anti-colonial in his outlook during the pre-independence years.
He founded the Malayan Forum in 1949 - a political discussion group comprising Malayan and Singaporean students in London. The group met regularly to rally support for the decolonisation of and independence for Malaya and Singapore.

It was through the Forum that he met Toh Chin Chye and Lee Kuan Yew. He founded the Malayan Forum in 1949 - a political discussion group comprising Malayan and Singaporean students in London. The group met regularly to rally support for the decolonisation of and independence for Malaya and Singapore. It was through the Forum that he met Toh Chin Chye and Lee Kuan Yew

1950s

He entered politics and he was elected as MP for Kreta Ayer on 30 May 1959. He was its MP till his retirement from politics in Dec 1984.
Economic
He spearheaded many of the most impressive public policy achievements in Singapore: Economic Development Board (EDB), the Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), the Jurong Industrial Estate.
His thoughts on economic growth contrasted sharply with the vast majority of his counterparts in other Third World governments. His decidedly conservative approach to public finance stands out.

1960s

Upon Singapore's independence in 1965, Dr Goh also became Minister for the Interior and Defence until 1967, assuming responsibilities for strengthening Singapore's military and domestic security capabilities.

A key policy was the creation of National Service, a mandatory conscription system for able-bodied young males. Upon Singapore's independence in 1965, Dr Goh also became Minister for the Interior and Defence until 1967, assuming responsibilities for strengthening Singapore's military and domestic security capabilities.
Together with Lee Kuan Yew in 1965, they decided that Singapore's central bank; Monetary Authority of Singapore will not have currency issuing power. Singapore remained one of few independent states to issue currency under a currency board until 2003.
He was instrumental in the founding of Monetary Authority of Singapore. (MAS). He "undertook major restructuring of MAS' key functions - monetary policy, reserve management, and supervision and development of the financial sector".
who started his public service career as a social welfare officer in the colonial government, then became a determined anti-colonial fighter who helped found the People’s Action Party (PAP), and later went on to helm key ministries over 25 years in politics.

When the education system needed fixing, Dr Goh went there in 1979 to streamline it and bring down drop-out rates.

May 1959 – Sep 1963 : Vice-chairman of PAP.
30 May 1959 – 3 Dec 1984 : Legislative assemblyman and later member of parliament for Kreta Ayer.
5 Jun 1959 – 8 Aug 1965 : Minister for Finance.
9 Aug 1965 – 23 Sep 1965 : Minister of Defence and Security.
24 Sep 1965 – 16 Aug 1967 : Minister of the Interior and Defence.
17 Aug 1967 – 10 Aug 1970 : Minister for Finance.
11 Aug 1970 – 11 Feb 1979 : Minister of Defence.
1 Mar 1973 – 31 May 1980 : Deputy Prime Minister.
12 Feb 1979 – 31 May 1980 : Minister of Education.
1 Jun 1980 – Dec 1984 : First Deputy Prime Minister and chairman of MAS.
1 Jun 1981 – Dec 1984 : Minister of Education.
1981 – 1994 : Deputy chairman, Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.
1983 – 1992 : Chairman, Board of Governors, Institute of East Asian Philosophies (later renamed Institute of East Asian Political Economy or IEAPE).
Dec 1984 : Retired from politics.
1985 – 1992 : Deputy chairman, MAS.
1988 – 1994 : Chairman, Singapore Totalisator Board.
1991 : Director, Gateway Technologies Services Pte Ltd.
1992 – 1995 : Executive chairman and chairman of Board of Governors, IEAPE. Chairman, East Asian Consultancy (S) Pte Ltd.
1994 : Chairman, N. M. Rothschild & Sons (S) Ltd.
1995 : Vice-chairman, Hong Leong Asia Ltd.
1996 – 1997 : Deputy chairman, IEAPE.