The History of Singapore

“Welcome to Singapore!” said Chow Yun Fat in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Indeed, for most of the 19th century, Singapore was an archetypal pirate port and frontier town. The British provided only the minimum government they could get away with. So who did Singapore’s people turn to when they needed leadership, security, arbitration? Who decided who got to be in charge and how? In this episode of “The History of Singapore”, PJ Thum discusses how the 99% of Singapore worked out their own systems of government, giving birth to Singapore’s strong brand of locally-oriented, indigenous politics – and how the British responded to it.

As mentioned, here is part 2 of the duology: the story of the 99%. I have long wanted to include the Pirates of the Caribbean metaphor in my work, but I could never figure out how to put it into the “serious” academic pieces of writing (especially given the word limit). It’s a fun metaphor, but I hope it will help people to examine their own assumptions about the nature of colonialism. Colonialism was fundamentally about the imposition of capitalism and the forced integration of local economies into world trade and commerce networks, in order to enrich colonial elites, at the cost of the destruction of local societies. Whether you think this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your own values, but we need to recognise what colonialism was. It wasn’t just about conquest; it was about reshaping entire societies in order for them to be exploited by global capitalism. Java on the eve of Dutch conquest, for example, had living standards and per capita GDP as high as Western Europe. But once Dutch guns, germs, and steel appeared, they rapidly declined and have never approached European levels again.

The seeds of Singapore’s independence movement were sown in the very first years of its existence. Raffles, Farquhar, and Crawfurd all had major impact on the contours of politics in Singapore, which would in turn have a huge impact on the nature and trajectory of Singapore’s colonisation movement. In this episode of “The History of Singapore”, PJ Thum traces how Raffles’ radical vision, Farquhar’s good sense and courage, and Crawfurd’s shrewd pragmatism gave birth to Singapore’s history of freedom, liberty, and republicanism.

After last’s week rather theoretical episode, we get into the meat of the series with episode 2, which tells the story of Raffles, Farquhar, and Crawfurd. Someone asked why I don’t go back even further; the basic answer is that this series is a story of Singapore’s independence movement, and there is nothing to be independent from before Raffles walked up the beach. Hence, we start at the moment of colonisation.

Episodes 2 and 3 might be seen as a duology: Episode 2 tells the story of the 1%, and the benefits of colonialism; episode 3 is the story of the 99%, those neglected by the colonial government.

And away we go! Episode 1: Introduction and Origins is now released. Listen now or on the radio, at BFM89.9, this afternoon at 3pm.

In this first episode for “The History of Singapore”, PJ Thum introduces the series with a discussion about the partition of Malaya in 1946, its importance, and how it illustrates two central conflicts in Singapore/Malayan history: The meaning and purpose of government, and national identity.

The radio time slot required a commercial break about halfway through, which is why the theme music plays just after 9:30 – that’s where the commercial break is.

In this preview of “The History of Singapore”, PJ Thum talks about why he is making the show, and plays excerpts from upcoming episodes. “The History of Singapore” premieres 7 August 2015. Subscribe now!