Topic: Singapore's struggle to achieve internal self-government in the period 1945-1959 had its cost. Was it worth it? Give at least two reasons to support your stand.

The British since they first landed Singapore had always treated the locals unfairly and had no interest in supporting Chinese educated students. Even after ruling us for over a period of 100 years they failed to protect us from the Japanese which proves that they weren't a reliable in even defending our country.

If we didn't struggle to achieve internal self government we would always be treated as the 2nd priority under the British rule and wouldn't be properly defended therefore the cause was worth it or else we would be a vulnerable nation all the time.

Another reason why the cause was worth it was as already stated the British were still unfair to the local people and favoritism would always be onto other British or European men therefore in order to have a just and fair nation internal-self government was needed thus the cost was worth it as being ruled under local people meant they could understand and solve our problems better and fairly.

blog topic 4

In your opinion, what could have prevented the Maria Hertogh riots in 1950? Give at least 2 suggestions.

The custody of maria hertogh being handed back over to her natural parents , her marrige not being recognised becuase she was underaged and wthout her nartual fathers consult and she being sent to a catholic convent even though she was a muslim showed the lack of understanding and bias acts shown towards the dutch by the british. I myself would have been outraged to find such a verdict.

In my opinion i think maria's case should have been kept out of the press as this would only anger the society and cause all the riots to have come.

I also believe that the the british court should have been more open minded and less bias to the dutch and should have respected the fact that marrige among young teenagers during that time was very common among muslims . The british had totaly ignored the muslim religion and should have at least given some thought to where maria hertogh should have been sent while waiting for her court case, instead they had sent her to a catholic church and thus should have sent her to stay with 1 of her parents or among muslim orientated people.

bog topic 3

( i accidentalydid blog topic3 on a new blog so it looked like i didnt do my topic3 sorry for the delay)

Topic: Did the industrial revolution affect the way people lived and worked in the 19th century for the better or for the worse? Explain your answers by providing examples. From most people's view the industirial revolution is most famous for the inventions of machines that helped workers produse their products better instead of much needed labour from workers.This had many pros and cons and is therefore both affected people in the 19th century both for the worse but for some for the good.

One advantage people had was that due to the invention of machines,workers could now make their products within a shorter period of time and could make their products in larger quantities.One good example would be women who made cloth by hand.picture of a women making cloth by hand After new machines such as the spining machine was invented, women could now produce more cloth in a shorter periods of time compared to their previous way of making cloth by hand which was usualy tedious and often produced only enough cloth for themselves. However this meant that the lives of these women were faced with more challenges and also resulted in the suffering of homelife as women faced with the double burden of factory work, followed by domestic chores and child care. These women were also faced with predujice and resulted in having a lesser income then those of men as Men assumed supervisory roles over women and received higher wages. picture of a man maitaing a spinning machine These machines were often located in factories thus more employment was also needed.However education of young children suffered cause of the demands of work.These factories were also extremely dangerous and unsanitary and often resulted in fatal accidents and the suffering of many children and employees.

These factories produces smoke which also polluted the air .Even the new transportation machines such as the steam train invented needed the use of steam from burnt coal and thus also produced smoke that polluted the air.But the new steam based transportation vehicles helped people to travel longer distances for a shorter time to look for markets and raw materials . I conclude that the industrial revolution may have helped the growth in material health for people but however it had also affected their natrual way of living as it had an impact on their families , the environment , the education of young children and the safety of their working space.

My Reflections 2

Q. The national museum has decided to eract a statue infront of its entrance.They have to choose between Stanford Raffles and Tan Tok Seng.If you were working for the museum,who would you choose?Why?

If i were working for the museum i would not choose a statue which is the most famous or well-known. I would choose a statue of a man who helped during trials and tribulations of Singaporeans and a man who had a for passion for Singapore thus Tan Toack Seng fits the bill.Raffles fonded Singapore but all he did was sign a treaty for singapore to become a harbour and trading port etc.. He did not stay or returned back to singapore.He probably hardly cared for singaporeans except for the country's trade and how it helped fellow british merchants.Tan Toack Seng may had been from Melaka but he had helped people during the early years of Singapore more than anyone else.To me Tan Toack Sengs profile showed that he had alot of passion for singapore.

He took care of the sick and poor and even supplied over a thousand coffins to chinese funerals.Not only did he spend his fortune to help the poor he even help bury unclaimed bodies which was an extremely unusual thing for any wealthy man to do.This had made an impact on me on how devoted and kind he was to others.He did not want any profit.However Raffles had no intentions of helping the lives on singaporeans.All he ever wanted was a harbour place for his fellow british people to rest and stalk up. This would be why i would choose to erect a statue of Tan Tock Seng.To commemerate his good deeds and his passion for singapore.

Who really founded Singapore?

The true founder of Singapore would be the man who established himself to building institutions or making small buismesses in the country hoping it would prosper and to me that man would be Sir Stamford Raffles. His vision for Singapore was not that it would become a rich nation but that it would be a harbour and trading port for traders especially those from the east -india company.However it was this vision that made what Singapore is today.Other claimed founders like Sang nila utama for instance was only a tale written in the Sejarah Melayu and had very litlle evidence to show that there was really a city in temasek ruled by this so called Prince. Raffles was the only british who even thought of having a british trading settlement in Temasek.Unlike William Farquhar and John Crafurd Raflle had known what was to become of Singapore from the first day he spoted singapore however Crafurd only signed the treaty and went off without even helping establish the trading settlement in Singapore.William Farquhar only asked settlers from Melaka to come to Singapore to help with the lack of food problem and he only solved the living conditions of the people however his intensions was to help the people and was nothing to close to establishing a harbouror an trading settlement .

My reflections