& my world will be coloured.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Answers on the 4 Questions

QUESTION:

(1) Why is it important to have a newspaper that is not biased in report of events?(Pg 138)

It is important to have a newspaper that is not biased in report of events so that the people can know about the truth of certain events. Other than the internet, newspaper is the other important way to let the people know about things that are happening around the world.If we have a newspaper that is biased in report of events, we would be given the wrong information about the event but would still have the "everything newspaper say is true" thinking and just believe what the newspaper had reported.At the end of the day, those people in the wrong would be believed to be the innocent if the newspaper were to report about his innocence and vice versa. Therefore,having a newspaper that is not biased in report of events would be important so that people would be given a true and full coverage about the events.

(2)How is English used as the language to link different ethnic groups?In what situations?

In 1996, students were expected to learn english and their own mother tongue. This is also known as the policy of bilingualism. With this policy, english is used as the language linking the different ethnic groups. As english is a non-active language for all the ethnic groups, nobody has any sort of advantage over others. It has helped to improve the communication among singaporeans.English is used as a language to link different ethnic groups in situations such as improving communications among Singaporeans.

(3)What is common space?What are some examples of common space in our school?

The common space refers to the time and space that different races of people come together.This space provide us the opportunities for singaporean to interact and for us to understand different races of people.This can also deepened the understanding of different races and the bonding of singapore .The most common places of common space is school where different races of people study, learn , and play together.This can help them to understand from the young age where they would not be baise between one another.

4)Answer the SBQ question on page 152.

Base on both sources , they are comments about the bonding of singapore among residents in public housing.

soucre C said that the spirit of togetherness in housing estates is very strong as the residents frequently contact with one another as their daily path cross.this encounter enable residents to recognise one another and exchange greethings, from which some develop stronger spirit of togetherness.The source also tells me that the residents between them are closely bonds and very friendly between one another.

But in source D ,they compare the spirit of togetherness between a village and in HDB flat, and also said that the spirit of togetherness is stronger, which is different to what source C wants to said.This can be proved that they said that there is no community spirit in the HDb estate as there is no sign of togetherness.Everyone has it on progamme that does not care about the other like not friendly and did not exchange greeting between one another, not like in the village.'Only the kids in the playground in the afternoon have togetherness' , this shows that the spirit of togetherness and social bonding have to learn and pratice from young. Hence, people are not socialised and they would not get to understand each other well to create harmony between people.
In summarise, Source C tried to say that the spirit of togetherness is strong whereas Source D tries to say that the spirit of togetherness is weak in HDB estates.

(Your Name) ♥ 7:58 AM

Summarise on Task B

Summarise on Task B Q1 :July 21, 1964 Racial Riots
text from: http://www.littlespeck.com/ThePast/CPast-64riots-640721.htm

This is the summary on the start of the July 21,1964 Racial Riots and also the causes & results of the riots.

Certain elements of UMNO were from the outset opposed to Singapore's merger with Malaya as Singapore had a large number of Chinese. These more extreme Malay nationalists within UMNO were also unhappy with the high profile adopted by Lee Kuan Yew, an ethnic Chinese politician, in the negotiation for Merger and the immediate period after Merger.
Celebrations to mark the birthday of Prophet Mohammad were held throughout Malaysia. In many towns, it was a grand occasion.In Singapore, 212 Muslim organisations participated in the rally. By 1 pm on 21 July 1964, 25 thousand Muslims gathered on the Padang.At 3.30 pm, the crowd was supposed to march from the Padang to St Andrews Road, Beach Road, Arab Street, Victoria Street, Kallang Road, and eventually to Lorong 12, Geylang.
During the procession, at the Kallang area, some one threw a bottle at the procession. Tempers were frayed. When a federal reserve unit policeman asked the procession-marchers to stick to the route near the Kallang gas works at around 5 pm, he was attacked. Disorder quickly spread. By 6 pm, arson affected the Geylang area between Kallang and Geylang Serai, and cars were overturned. By 6.30 pm, clashes in Chinatown and Tanjong Pagar were reported. At 6.45 pm, there were further reports of clashes at Arab Street and North Bridge Road junction. 50 injured people, mostly with head injuries, were treated at the Singapore General Hospital by 8.30 pm. The disorder was so great that many cinemas announced the cancellation of their 9.30 pm film screening. In the first day of rioting, 4 were killed and 178 injured.
Disorder spread to some other areas of Singapore in the next few days. 2 men were assaulted in the Upper Serangoon area at 9.15 pm on 22 July. Malay families living in Queenstown left their homes for fear of their personal safety. A dusk to dawn curfew was imposed island-wide to control the disorder on 23 July, and was only completely lifted on 2 August, 11 days later. 45 curfew breakers were jailed.
With instability, the prices of food and provisions shot up during this period. All work had to cease for three days. Most important of all, fear was widespread.

CAUSES OF THE RACIAL RIOTS:

(1) On 12 July 64 UMNO held a convention of about 150 Malay organisations in Singapore. It
was chaired by Syed Jaafar Albar, secretary-general of UMNO in Malaya. He concluded
that Malays in Singapore had not been treated fairly by the PAP government as they had
not progressed in material terms. He urged the Malays to unite to overcome this unfair
treatment.
(2) The Utusan Melayu, a Malay newspaper in Malaya, owned by prominent UMNO members,
also constantly adopted a communal line in their publications, and it accused the PAP of
humiliating and trying to divide the Malay community in Singapore. It was not easy for
Tunku Abdul Rahman to control the more racialist elements in UMNO as he would be seen to
be unprotective of Malay interests.
(3) There were already daily Indonesian accusations that he had sold out the Malays to the
Chinese and Indian merchants in Malaysia. After the racial riot, Tunku suggested that it was
caused by the long neglect of the Singapore Malays, pointing out for instance that, "(the
Malays) were being driven out of their homes which they had owned to make way for new
flats and so on ..."
(4) The Malayan Chinese Association, a component party in the Alliance which governed
Malaysia also contributed to the racially-charged atmosphere. Its minister in the
government, Khaw Kai Boh, who was the minister for local government and housing, for
instance, alleged that Singapore's progress was especially meant for the Chinese, and he
spoke of Chinese chauvinism in Singapore. PAP's position was that the Malays would have to
raise their educational standards in order to improve their economic position. No special
treatment, other than that stated in the Singapore constitution, was envisaged.

There were more fundamental reasons why some prominent members of UMNO and MCA were eager to create social and racial tension in Singapore, and thus weaken PAP rule and reduce its political threat. Certain elements of UMNO were from the outset opposed to Singapore's merger with Malaya as Singapore had a large number of Chinese. These more extreme Malay nationalists within UMNO were also unhappy with the high profile adopted by Lee Kuan Yew, an ethnic Chinese politician, in the negotiation for Merger and the immediate period after Merger.

Relations between MCA and PAP were worsened by constant antagonistic public statements, of a political and personal nature. Such statements came thick and fast in the midst of the campaigning for the April 1964 elections in Peninsular Malaysia, when PAP contested unsuccessfully in the urban areas against MCA, in order to show that PAP was more useful to UMNO electorally than MCA. Tension was further raised when Tan Siew Sin, the federal Finance Minister, refused to implement the common market in Malaysia as agreed during the negotiations prior to the Merger, unless Singapore remitted 60%, instead of 40%, of her national revenue to Kuala Lumpur.
It was believed that MCA did not want to increase Singapore's economic advantages at the expense of MCA members engaged in business.
Indonesian agents could also have been involved in provoking the disorder. This was the period of Confrontation. Indonesia, under the direction of President Sukarno, were opposed to the formation of Malaysia as she was interested in capturing Sarawak and Sabah in East Malaysia. The Indonesian government was also faced with various problems, such as economic perils, corruption, maladministration and subversive activities by communists. Its attempt to create disorder and instability in Malaysia would divert the attention of Indonesians from such problems.

In the period from September 1963 to May 1965, there were 42 bomb explosions by Indonesian-directed saboteurs. After the racial riot on 21 July 1964, Tunku Abdul Rahman, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, condemned Indonesia as the possible agent behind the riots. However, the Indonesian saboteurs would not have been successful, if racial tension has not already been heightened.

Other racial troubles in Singapore's recent history:
The 21 July 1964 racial riots were not an isolated incident. Three other significant incidents took place as well.

(1)The first took place between 21 August 1945 and 11 September 1945, in the interim period
between the Surrender of the Japanese and the return of the British forces.
(2)The second was the Maria Hertogh riots from 11 to 13 December 1950, during which Malay-
Muslim sensitivities were aroused by a colonial court judgement that a Dutch girl who was
brought up as a Muslim, was to be returned to her Christian natural parents. The ensuing
riot which was fanned by inflammatory press photographs and articles left 18 dead and 173
injured.
(3) The third incident occurred on 3 September 1964. The riots were inspired by Indonesian
agents who wanted to disrupt stability in Singapore. Though the clashes were sporadic, by
the time the curfew were lifted on 9 September 1964, 13 persons had been killed in rioting
and 102 injured. Some 240 "political agitators" who were deemed responsible for the
disturbance were arrested.

Summarise on Task B Q 2 & 3 : Information about Maria Hertogh (Nadra)
text and video from: http://infopedia.nl.sg/articles/SIP_508_2004-12-23.html & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqkcPUREJYE

Basically for Q2 and Q3 it is mainly about Maria Bertha Hertogh a.k.a. Nadra bte Maarof (sometimes spelt Natra) , who was the central focus of racial riots in December 1950, sparked off by controversy over her custody between her Malay-Muslim foster mother Aminah and her Dutch-Catholic parents, the Hertoghs. She was nicknamed Putih meaning "White" by Aminah.

Maria Bertha Hertogh a.k.a. Nadra bte Maarof was the third child of seven children that Adeline Hertogh bore. She was baptised Maria Bertha Hertogh by her Dutch-Eurasian parents. Maria's father become a prisoner-of-war during the Japanese Occupation . Struggling alone and pregnant with their sixth child, Adeline gave Maria to the care of a family friend, Aminah bte Mohammad, on 15 November 1942. The process was witnessed by Adeline's brother, Soewaldi.

Aminah was then brought to Bandung, raised as a Muslim and given the name, Nadra bte Maarof, at her circumcision a year later.Aminah moved out of Jakarta to Bandung where her fluency in Japanese enabled her to work as an interpreter for the Japanese military police. In 1947, fearing that Maria's Dutch background made her vulnerable during the Indonesian War of Independence, Aminah and Maria fled to Terengganu, Malaya. She grew up in Kemaman, Aminah's hometown, where Aminah was highly regarded. Studying at Chukai Malay Girls' School, Kemaman, Malaysia, Maria also was trained in Koran reading outside school hours by an ustazah.

In 1949, Maria's mother came to claim her back and the case was then brought to the High Court of Singapore. Maria refused to return to her parents but and no choice and was forced to do so. Initially, custody of Maria was given to Aminah. Within 4 days of the ruling, on 1 August 1950, Maria was married off to Mansoor Adabi, a 22-year old Kelantan teacher at Bukit Panjang Government School, heading a second year Normal Class. The marriage of the juvenile 13-year old Maria was raised in court, at Adeline's appeal for custody over Maria. On 2 December 1950, custody over Maria was gained by Adeline who whisked her to Amsterdam. On 11 December 1950, riots were sparked off over the custodial ruling, resulting in the death of at least 18 people.

Maria married a Dutch cabinet maker, Johan (Joep) Gerardus Wolkenfeld on 20 April 1956 through whom she bore 13 children, 3 of whom did not survive infancy. However, a 1975 television production on Maria's story stirred up Maria's unhappy memories and led her to tragic actions. Miserable over working at her husband's cafe-cum-bar, the "T Pumpke", from early morning to midnight, she plotted to murder her husband through two friends but the plans were found out and she was brought to court on 16 August 1976. However, after reviewing her tragic past, Maria was acquitted within one day of hearing. Her marriage ended by the 1980s and she is last reportedly living in Dallas, United States.

posted by: eddie

(Your Name) ♥ 7:10 AM