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Source 16    A statement from Liew Ship Yit, a new Chinese immigrant saved from being smuggled overseas by the British Police

The middleman came to me and said if you will come with me to Singapore, I will show you how to make lots of money, with which you can keep for your wife and family. I don’t know what the passage money was, but was told it would be very cheap and we could get money by working in Singapore to repay it. However, when we arrived, we were taken to a house upstairs and not allowed to come out. This morning, I was taken on board a boat with a lot of others, and those who refused to board were beaten up. I got beaten up as I do not wish to go past Singapore, this is the place I agreed to come to. I did not come here to be sold as a slave elsewhere.

 

Source Origin: Wise,M. (1996). Traveller’s Tales of Old Singapore. Singapore: Times Books International.

Use Record: Manjusri Secondary School, 2015.

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Source Origin: Singapore from Settlement to Nation Pre 1819 to 1971 by CPDD, MOE, Singapore.

Use Record: Hong Kah Secondary School, 2015

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Source 14: An excerpt about the Arab community in Singapore in the early 20th century.

After arriving in Singapore in 1819 as wealthy merchants from Palembang, the Aljunied Family in Singapore grew to be rich and influential in the early 20th century. This was also the case for the Alsagoff Family. The Alsagoff Family were spice traders and became influential by marrying into a royal family from the Celebes. They acquired many properties, like the other Arab families, including the ‘Perseverance Estate’ where they grew lemon grass for oils and sold to foreign markets. Presently, there are streets and even a town council named after them. 

 

Source Origin: Tan, M. (2014). Singapore Before 1819. In Understanding History (2nd ed., Vol. 1, p. 111, 20). Singapore: GLM Pte. Ltd.

Use Record: St. Gabriel's Secondary School, 2016.

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Source 13: An interview with an early immigrant about transportation in Singapore.

Those days, we had rickshaws pulled by men with pigtails. I still remember the pigtails that they wound around their heads, which they covered up with a straw hat. I felt sorry for them as most of them were opium smokers, but I later learnt that if they don’t take drugs, they have no strength to pull the rickshaws. Their diet was mainly porridge and sweet potatoes. On most days, they sat down by the road eating their porridge, and if they earned a little more money, they will have rice, hard cooked rice, not porridge. However, if they did not earn much that day, they would have nothing to eat.

 

Source Origin: Oral History interview with Mohinder Singh on 05/08/1985. Accession number 0000546.

Use Record: Ang Mo Kio Secondary School, 2016.

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Source 12: A report written by William Pickering, a British appointed as the Protector of Chinese, presented before the British Government i in February 1877.

These Chinese immigrants had been persuaded to leave their homes by promises that they will be brought to Singapore, the only destination promised. They were told they would receive very good wages and they would even save enough money to send to their friends or return home with. However, when they arrived, they did not receive the wages promised and had to be sent to work in tin mines of another country. So, they refused to board the boats. On this, they were threatened and punished by their agents. We, a government based on the principles of justice and freedom, have allowed a great deal of this evil to be committed, due to our lack of interference on this issue.

 

Source Origin: Michael Wise, ‘Report by Mr. Pickering on Kidnapping Sinkehs*’ in Traveller’s Tales of Old Singapore.

Use Record: Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus Secondary, 2015.

  1. An ex-Indian convict's experience as a labourer in colonial Singapore in the late 19th century.
  2. A commentary on the Bangsawan by a Malay historian written in 1898.
  3. A description of Samsui women, who worked in many construction sites in Singapore during the 1930s
  4. Adapted from a historian’s account on Chinese secret societies in colonial Singapore.
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