This year Singaporeans, or some Singaporeans, are blindly celebrating the Bicentennial, to remember 200 years after this island was colonised and taken over by a foreign power, the British Empire. Do Singaporeans understand the significance of being colonised and becoming the subjects of an Empire? When you are colonised, your country went with it, including your rights as a person, no more human rights. You are subjects, not citizens of a country, with lesser rights, no voting rights. Everything in the country, including you belong to the Empire.
Are we supposed to celebrate this occasion with ommphs and revelry, with pride and joy, hallelujah, God Save the Queen? Our history books, written by the British and the western historians distorted this part of our history as something normal, something glorious. It was glorious to the Brits and the British Empire. It was not glorious for being subjugated and ruled by foreigners, for them to take over our country and everything in it.
Our historians should rewrite this part of our history, we read it as history but actually fake news, manipulated to white wash how they stole our land and our wealth and our rights and dignity as independent people of our own island. Our fore fathers were here for centuries, living a peaceful life until the Brits came. And they unashamingly proclaimed that they founded this island, Stamford Raffles founded this island for the King of England. The residents in the island did not count. Fake news? Manipulated news?
Our history should read, in 1819, a hoard of European pirates let by a man called Stamford Raffles, landed along the Singapore River. The residents welcomed them as guests and invited them to trade with us, even to stay. Within days, the intruders forced the local rulers to sign a document, written in English, which the rulers did not understand, to give away the islands to them, under the guise of some goodies, and the protection of the British Empire, like the gangsters collecting protection money to protect from their harassment. The rulers did not have any choice as the intruders were armed with guns and cannons.
The intruders then went on to become the rulers of this island, putting the local rulers aside as passive audience, puppets without any power, and without knowing that the intruders had robbed them of their land. And the intruders ruled the island until 1963 when Singapore was returned to be a part of Malaysia.
During the rule of the British intruders/pirates, the people lost all their rights to everything in the island. The Brits did whatever they wanted with the island, formed their army and police to rule over the people. They were the white lords.
This was how the British distorted our history, manipulated the narrative like it was an innocent and acceptable thing to colonise and rule the people, our forefathers, as their subjects and owning them and the island.
So, is it not true that the Bicentennial celebration is a celebration of fake news and manipulation of our history? Would POFMA be activated to denounce the fake history that we have been brought up with? Would our historians and politicians get it right this time, that colonialists and colonial masters were bad people? They did not deserve any honour! Only the beneficiaries of their crimes would honour them. They robbed, they killed, they bullied and they turned everyone into their slaves, their possessions, called subjects. Why are we glorifying them like white gods? Have we grown up and grown out of our colonial subject mentality?
What do you think? Stupidity has no cure?
We don't have to accept western history as our history. We are an independent country, no longer a colony of the British Empire.
Though this tiny red dot is a sovereign island which is independent, it is still under that 'Commonwealth' membership of the Great Britain. Unless the leaders of the tiny red island declare a "Sin-exit" to be de-commonwealth, it will 4ever b like tat. Probably, tat Dieson wanna invest its electric car manufacturing here to take advantage of it.
ReplyDelete@ all
ReplyDelete130+ years as a British crown Colony wasn't so bad compared to the horrible years of Japanese occupartion -- Syonan To. Banzai up the arse lah.
Before that the Brits, it was The House of Temenggong --- the fucking inbred Johor sultanate.
Nah, British rule, not perfect, but not so bad.
Fortunately we finally found "perfection" in choosing those whose job it is to govern us and manage the State. We pay GOOD MONEY for the world's best government.
Therefore, our bicentennial should be a celebration of evolution: from Mat, to Mat Saleh, then to wild animals (Imperial Japanese), back to Mat Saleh very much weakened, and then the ascent of our own God, Lee Kuan Yew. Heaven came to Singapore.
Rb.. forgot your medicine this morning? U rather Singapore 's history start with LKY? At least the colonialists had the balls to venture out of their comfort zones.. they occupied Singapore.. transacted with the then current rulers and brought new roads.. technology..buildings n a system of education n civil administration.. further down the road it translated into naval bases etc..the British never held on to large stretches of properties via 99 year leases n indeed a lot of Singapore prominent property owners must be ever grateful to the British.. compare this to what happened ante brits..now..go take your medicine n be thankful that a lot of us were educated under a British education system..
ReplyDeletejjgg, I recommend you to check into IMH. This is the standard reply of unthinking Sinkies. We must be grateful to the British for all the things they left behind. Please understand that those things were built for themselves, not for us. And they left behind because after WW2 they could no longer hang on to their Empire.
ReplyDeleteSingapore's history goes far back than LKY or the British. You need to read history to know that life in this island started as far back as Sri Vijaya and Majapahit, and beyond.
Some believers also think like that when they were stricken with tragedies or bad luck. They would said it could be worse if not of their gods.
How silly for the victims of an invasion to embrace the stories of the invaders as their stories, as the truth, written in the perspective of the invaders and for the children of the invaders to brag and glorify?
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese Invasion of Asia was written as a war of conquest to rule the world for the Emperor of Japan. The victims, their death and destruction and suffering were irrelevant to the Japanese.
The victors write the stories. The defeated do not have to accept the stories of the victors, just like what is happening everyday today.
The fact that articles and most comments in this blog are written in language of the British Empire, the laws, the administration, education system and parliamentary democracy are adopted and adapted from the British Lordship and Master speak clearly of Singapore and Singaporeans.
ReplyDeleteIt depends who you voted for in the last GE.
ReplyDeleteBtw, they have 69.9% behind them.
Hahaha........
Angmo rule is not perfect but still better than other (ahneh, ahtiong, ahBN) rule. At least they will not house people like in a concentration camp. They will also put in pensions, medicare, children and unemployment benefits.
ReplyDeleteAiya rb.. how many of us were conquered n subjugated by the British ah.. my great grand parents landed 100years+ after the British landed..when did yours land..we took advantage of all the colonialists had to offer .. u rather we remain under the rule of the royals who soid Singapore out for 30 pieces of silver? The British could have built infrastructure for themselves but hell of a lot of people..including yourself n present day government took advantage of it.. u should recognize the good they do.. to commemorate 200 years of modern Singapore is not so bad
ReplyDeleteMr Lim Tean in one of his Videoclips said we should be thankful that we were once under the British and not the Dutch or Spainards.
ReplyDeleteSinkies before Raffles were like Sinkies of Today.
Bo hew,bochiap and kiasi,kaisoo and Kai everything.
Don't bother who lord over us.Like some Anons used to post.Made what's 3Ms more important.
We followed the British Paleimentary System. Their MPs of Ruling and Opposition dared to vote in their Parliament differently.
Here,in Sinkieland, the Ruling MPs are just like parrots.The NMPs are appointed by the Ruling Government and have to abstain from voting against any policies that they knew pricking their Souls.
The British brought so called Domocracy to the Countries that they had conquered but left behind most blemished governments.
Also, now their own in Turmoil and breaking up soon.
Most Bananas will still adore the Brits as they are now like the British Lords filling in the vaccine as left by their former Masters.
That's why they said the Brits are good and wanted to celebrate the Centennial.
The Japs attempted to rewrite history by calling their invasion of South and South East Asia a war of 'liberation'. Had the Japs not been defeated, we would in all probability have become a colony of Japan. That would have been a disastrous outcome as well, with the Japs copying the mentality of the West, like resorting to put up signs like 'no admittance to dogs and Chinese". That is the kind of human rights they profess to adopt.
ReplyDeleteAll the historical fake news started big time with the invention of printing, books and the rise of the new media, controlled by the elites and manipulated to carry the propaganda of the West.
In every country that the whites claimed to have discovered, there were natives who lived there for generations. even centuries, but not having the means to claim and tell the world about it without access to written books, printing and media to propagate their heritage.
In today's digital age, what the West can propagate with fake news, China is now capable of doing that as well. It is no longer a one sided media bombardment. That is why the West cannot stomach the reality that they cannot control the hearts and minds of the Chinese people using the print media.
There is even the argument that because the spying platform of the West is based on 4G, it now cannot work well on 5G, and that is why they are targeting Huawei for being at the forefront of 5G infrastructure development. How true is this, only those who know the technical aspects can verify.
Should be filing the "Vaccum".
ReplyDelete50 years from now,future Sinkies will be celebrating several colonisation celebrations by the Pinoys,Ah Nehs, Mynamar,Cheenas, Any Mohs as back from the past with their still Bo hew, Bo chiap attitude.
Let me tell a simple story of Ah Kow, Ahmad and Muthu. They were all orphans, found on the road side by an angmoh lord who owned the land and the plantations. The angmoh lord raised them and gave them jobs, Ah Kow became the cook, Ahmad the driver, Muthu the jaga of the plantation. They were all very grateful to the angmoh lord for raising them and giving them jobs and food on the table.
ReplyDeleteThey did not know that their parents owned the land and the plantation that were razed and taken over by the angmoh lord before they were made orphans. Their parents used to stay in their homes in the plantations but were dead and forgotten.No one write the sad stories of their parents, like the stories of the Red Indians.
U sure it's the brits..reads like the PAP land acquisition act 😂😂😂
DeleteSome people said the world is so much a better place because of the conquests of the Europeans. Look at the USA, Australia, NZ etc etc, and also Singapore, if the white men did not kill all the red Indians and robbed the land of the natives, these countries would still be living like tribes. White men brought progress.
ReplyDelete@Anon
ReplyDelete///But the whites did not kill all the Japs. How did the Japs, South Koreans and Chinese progress?///
But 10,000 times more Sinkies want to migrate to white man lands than to the above 3 places.
And 100,000X more Sinkies send their kids to study in angmoh Unis than to those 3 places.
Life is NOT fun when you're average or below average in those countries. Yesterday another SKorean taxi driver burned himself to death in front of govt building in Seoul to protest against ride hailing apps.
100,000s of young Japs and 1,000,000s of young Cheenas have been struggling & living zombie slave lives in the last 20 years, even during economic booms & when their big companies bring in billions in revenues & profits.
All 3 places have zero or very little welfare benefits or unemployment benefits or retirement benefits. Minimum wages are equivalent of SGD700 and retirement welfare is SGD500.
Unless you're in the top 30% income earning population in those 3 places, your life is pretty fucked over 10-60 years of living.
I would be happy to live under the British Rule than under PAP over-paid, self-praising, self-enriching, self-checking, enact laws to protect government (strong) against the people (weak) instead of protecting people (powerless) against government (powerful), import foreigners to displace and replace own people (traitorous) , etc.
ReplyDelete>>142pm
ReplyDeleteThe papies think they are the 'aryan' race and so they took advantage of us and set us up in a concentration camp. When we are done, they will reduce us to ashes. No diff from nazis.
Unless you're in the top 30% income earning population in those 3 places, your life is pretty fucked over 10-60 years of living.
ReplyDeleteMay 16, 2019 1:08 pm
You think your life is not fuck here if you are not in the top 30% income?
Mr ChinLeng is misleading everyone here with an essay bordering on fake news. There are a few crucial points he missed:
ReplyDelete1. The legacy of British colonial rule in Singapore, is not to be compared with British colonial rule over the aboriginal natives of Australia, or the black people of Johannesburg. Neither are they to be compared with the savages Caucasian who massacred the hapless Red Indian tribes of what is now called USA. In his article Mr Chua clearly gives the impression that the colonial past was a very bad period of Singapore history, something very shameful. Let me ask, did Raffles kill anyone from the Temenggong , or the locals? Did he and his East India Company robbed, maimed, raped, massacred any of the local Malays, Chinese coolies businesses, Indian community around 1819? Surprising I don't hear of any, unless, perhaps there was a huge coverup. But as we are all locals, we would certainly have known of atrocities committed by Raffles and co., had there been such events.
2. Mr Chua further laments that it is foolish to be thankful to the British re. the infrastructure here, which was built for themselves not locals. You can't have your cake and eat it too. The British indirectly plundered some of the resources here (rubber and tea mostly from Malaya), and made tons of money from the port and from Clifford Pier gateway, and shipping, money goes back to England. But, in lieu of such, they left behind excellent sewage, water, electric system, bridges, great buildings. I ask Mr. Chua. Do you thing Temenggong or the Chinese businessmen and Indians residing in Singapore in 1819, has the technology and business knowledge to built infrastructure? In those days, the British had the knowledge of science, not local singapurans here. I see it as a trade off. Raffles handed a rather unfair commercial real for Temenggong, but, the fact is, the British actually left behind all those stuff for the locals. The locals, buay sai lah, not up to date with construction, management and tech know how.Whatever the British took away, they did pay back in terms of leaving behind the excellent physical infrastructure as well as administrative skills in business and government.
3. The British also inadvertently gave unity to the mess of place called Singapura. Without the common language of English, would Temenggong and the bumiputra of Singapura tolerate the influx of Chinese and Indian immigrants? English gave access to a level playing field, without which the Malays, Indians and Chinese will probably still be fighting to this day.
The colonial past of Singapore need not be celebrated, but neither should it be condemned. We were very lucky that the British somehow treated locals with reasonable respect, I don't know why. There was no such thing as apartheid, instead meritocracy was reverred. Astonishingly, the British open up a most precious gift to the Singapurans here: Education. Raffles Institution opened just 5 years after Raffles landed, and the school basically did not restrict locals. The standard of instruction was so high, and it was able to train great minds like Lee Kuan Yew, David Marshall, and many others. Singapura could have gone a much worst path like the Red Indians of USA, but Mr Chua you should thank your lucky stars our colonial masters somehow didn't give us a very bad deal.
Humbleideas.com
@Anon 3:14pm
ReplyDelete///You think your life is not fuck here if you are not in the top 30% income?///
S'pore is similar to those 3 places -- Jap, Korea, China.
It's in our East Asian blood. You die your biz, take advantage of & suck the lives of fellow sinkies to get ahead. Its in our culture & mentality.
The colonial brits took advantage of our mentality to create a thriving international port & agri commodities hub.
LKY & PAPies did much better -- they managed to take advantage of us 100X more.
Daft Sinkies revered Treacherous Folks who worked for Japanese lmperial Army during World War II.
ReplyDeleteThe Japanese lmperial Army targetted the Chinese, old, young and of both gender for torture, murder,rape and plunder wherever they were. Yet, the Daft claimed that the Traitors were Founding Father and Leader of Sin.
One claimed that he took over a fishing village from the British Ang Mohs.
Now,
Ang Moh is telling Sinkies that abouy 700 years ago, Sin was thriving and probably the Richest Place in the Region. By the Way, Sin was the Largest Seaport and Oil Refinery for nearly 200 years and is still in top positions for both.
Anyway,
the Good Old Days shall be fond memories soon. Sin is going awry with the Mess created over yhe Last two over decades. lt is getting worse by the day and the Worst has yet arrives.
A peaceful and prosperous society makes its people happy or at least pacified. However, when the Rulers and the Ruled are at odd and antagonistic at each other, especially when suppression comes into play, the Consequences of chasm and confrontation shall be chaos, instability, decline and collapse.
The Day of Reckoning is not too far away for Sin.
Lucky got other PAP old guards. Look at Hong Kong, during British also live in cages. China take over also live in cages. Joke. Now no more old guards, LKY get rid of all old guards, so now the new guards all LKY style? Dont celebrate what Raffles lah. Invent LKY style dance and dance on Tik Tok make it famous better. Wear SBO, use Yakult bottle make fake 6 smoke bomb and hang on SBO and dance.
ReplyDeleteGST is it will be 9% ah? Go dine at places, service tax 10%, GST 9%? Die liao funeral services also GST? I want go vote opposition or throw blank vote during election but I scared the one that count vote too tired read wrong. So I stay at home. Unless like some Ang Moh place where even tourist see doctor is free, than even more I no need vote.
Now those foreigners live in those like condo style flat, very shiok is it? You all prefer small places easier to vacuum ah? Never see the Old Guards era, anyhow anyhow do one lousy job can buy a big 4 room flat. I think the foreigners are same daft as sinkies in Singapore. Produce nothing. KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA. CHINA all same gang AH TIONG got many different brands of Chiu Dian Wei. KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA. And they survive with that kind of population? Enough food? No NTUC below how they going to eat ah? I think I will die leh. Anyone eat left over food in China? Or live in Cages? So Hong Kong people dont blame British or China. Blame your own Hong Kong people. Lucky we got old guards leh. You all shit also dont have. Still live in cages. Blame what British or China. Daft.
Can I ask the Hong Kong people?
ReplyDeleteWho built so many casino, airport terminal in Singapore ah? Old guards? New guards? British? China? Jackie Chan?
You all live in cages want to ask who ah? We use to be living in big 4 room flat with a anyhow job leh. Maybe next time our 4 room flat shrink and shrink until cages problem appear also?
Colonialism is colonialism, just like a rape is a rape no matter how much the victim enjoyed it because the rapist was kinder.
ReplyDeleteThe British of today also felt ashamed of what their ancestors did, to colonise and rule other people. But some Asian mentality do not feel bad being colonised and ruled, just like some rape victim may think the rape was too bad, quite enjoyable actually.
The lack of cruelties when Raffles landed was due the lack of resistance by the locals, too few and too weak. Subsequent import of indenture labourers too did not create too much problems for the Brits as the poor labourers were too happy to find a job and three meals here, just like the Ah Kow, Ahmad and Muthu.
Humbleideas maybe feel grateful and indebted to the British. So be it. To me, we were just part of the accidents of history, landed here out of adversities and inherited leftovers by accidents, not meant for us. Nothing to be grateful for.
The few infrastructures left by the Brits were not rocket science stuff that locals could not build.
Chua, your post @1042 needs substantiation. Else you are guilty of fake news dissemination. You said in no uncertain terms that the British killed locals in 1819 era, and confiscated the land. Temasek or Singapura as we know, is not like USA or Australia where the massacre of locals is well documented.
ReplyDeleteCan you cite any scholarly works that substantiate your claim that locals "were made orphans" by the British? To my knowledge, the evil of the British was confined to a naughty business deal in which they give a pittance to Temenggong and other land owners, in exchange for huge tracts of land. But do note, all the evil is already paid back, the confiscated land owned by the British, is now owned by Singapurans our own people. Mr Chua, you have a wild imagination that you are a Red Indian, and your feet are now stepping on Sioux territories. Don't anyhow say things without proof. Pofma!
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/05/16/singapore-red-cross-website-hacked-details-of-over-4000-potential-blood-donors-leaked/
ReplyDeleteHeng ah. Lucky no old guards or daft sinkies? Cos all kena get rid? Ask new guards why? Heng ah. No old guards and daft sinkies problem? Heng.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teh_Cheang_Wan
Heng ah. Sibei Heng. Huat ah. Lucky Hong Tou Jing all die liao also? Heng ah? If not maybe they will built server rack with cement that is not hackable? Heng ah to world wide hacker our Hong Tou Jing Boh Tak Zi ah? Heng ah. Huat ah.
RB your context is all wrong. We are talking about 1819 the ancient period of First Industrial Revolution. Electricity to the masses, and piped water system, in-house sewage system pumping shit underground, pumps, and petrol engine cars, tarred roads were only recently invented, in Europe. What we take for granted today, was considered Hi-tech in 1819. How could you therefore say that the few infrastructure in 1819 constructed by British in Singapura were simple and could be done easily by the locals of 1819? Remember it was 1819!!! It's not just the knowledge. Where would the local Singapura people get the money to ship machinery from England to construct infrastructure??You are seeing Singapura with 2019 eyes, not in context of 1819.The presence of the British here DEFINITELY BROUGHT TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER. It is a bitter sweet deal, the British swiped the land at zero or low cost. They build excellent infrastructure, (which they left behind) not possible to be organized by the very fragmented local people.
ReplyDeleteI noted that Finally you conceded that NO ATROCITIES WERE COMMITTED against locals BY BRITISH from 1819 . So in that case, what did YOU OR YOUR ANCESTOR lose? How did your THEY suffer in the colonial era?
You gave the absurd example of lost job opportunity. Again you are confusing what the Pap does to Sg with what the British did to locals. If you are frank with yourself, in those days, Science and knowledge was the domain of british. How can you get a job as Engineer in Singapura in 1819 if you are not trained? So why blame the British if the high paying jobs are not given to locals? Fortunately the British were generous with education, very soon Sg had a core of very good, educated people, and I don't think they were discriminated by the British. It appeared to be quite a fair system, many locals could get good jobs based on their education even in 1900s era.
RB, I find it unacceptable that you are drawing other examples of colonial atrocities, to the local scene here. We (our ancestors) were not treated like the Red Indians of USA or aborigines in Australia, yet Mr Chua you are trying to stir up everybody to some hidden agenda.
There is no need to worship the British or other colonial masters, but in the context of SINGAPORE, I think we should remain neutral, as no gross atrocities were committed by British on Malays, Chinese or Indians here.
Humbleideas.com
@ RB
ReplyDelete>> Colonialism is colonialism, just like a rape is a rape no matter how much the victim enjoyed it because the rapist was kinder. <<
This is the kind of "moral equivalence" --- without nuance, without context, without degree or subtlety --- which Uncle is so famous for. 😂🤣
Humble Ideas: remember how I claimed that there are no such things as "rights"?. Magna Carta aka The Great Charter of Liberties 1215, then continued development until "final version" in 1297. This established the ideas of "human rights" ie what the authority could and could not do.
Other Europeans developed ideas of freedom, liberty, private property, etc. in the Renaissance. These rights might have had their origins in Europe, but they are now UNIVERSAL and adopted by most civilised nations, adding their own "flavours" to suit the various culture. Renaissance ideas and the Magna Carta influenced English Common Law, which the Brits brought along with them when they colonised various lands, including Singapore.
There are still no such "things" as "rights". They are IDEAS, and those ideas have become cultural and legal fixtures or the basis for derivatives of those rights (ideas).
Asian societies back then were strictly feudal or monarchies where the top=tiers had all the rights, and the peasants had whatever the aristocrats would GRANT them by favour. If thee feudal lord/ king/ headsman was a nice guy, the peasants were lucky. If not...well, then, not so good.
If I tell the story of the 3 little pigs, am I spreading fake news if I did not justify?
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to discuss logically when people start to talk about aliens and all the jazz just because they wanted to imagine all those things.
Colonialism is bad, it is robbing of a country, control of the people, depriving of their rights, subjecting them to the rules of a gang by force. No tribes should go around colonising and ruling other people and be regarded as good just because circumstances did not push them to commit massacres and worse crimes against humanity.
Lack of atrocities did not mean there were no injustice, gansterism, rule by force, seizure, arrest, imprisonment, punishment, torture etc etc of the subject or ruled people.
The lack of resistance from a very small local population that were tribal and unorganised, unlike the bigger countries that have matured into kingships or feudal states, was no excuse to support colonialism. The brutal suppression and massacres in Indonesia, India and other parts of Asia were standard recipe and consequences of colonial conquests. Read up the cruelties committed by the Brits in India and Indonesia and Malaya and Borneo.
Whatever infrastructure built from 1819 onwards were built to serve the colonial govt. The benefits to the locals were incidental and often out of necessity, not out of kindness. Raffles was built to educate the locals to be clerks, nothing more. Subsequently a trickle of the rich received higher education was an exception rather than the rule.
Why do you think the local Chinese built Chinese High and Nantah?
When the victim of a rape happened to be too weak to resist or did not resist does not make the rapist a saint.
Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...
ReplyDelete@ RB
>> Colonialism is colonialism, just like a rape is a rape no matter how much the victim enjoyed it because the rapist was kinder. <<
This is the kind of "moral equivalence" --- without nuance, without context, without degree or subtlety --- which Uncle is so famous for. 😂🤣
Matilah, you need me to explain them further?
The 3 little pigs story is non contextual..Whereas your allusion that British made orphans of local Singapurans in the 1819 era, is SPECIFIC and remains to be proven. I am beginning to agree with Pofma now. There are people who can make a fake news and go off the point about little pigs when challenged. I suggest you to categorically withdraw your statement. This has got nothing to do with the bigger discussion on colonialism.
ReplyDeleteHumbleideas.com
Chua, you totally cannot see my point. Never once I said that the British built infrastructure for the locals. It is recognised that they build up Singapura to support the East India Company activities and the Crown. I agree totally that we benefitted from it on an incidental basis. Coloniasm is a generic term, like MATilah said, your understanding is devoid of context and nuance. In the spirit of MATilah, every man must protect his own turf, that is the brutallity of existence. Likewise if someone has not harmed you in any way, in Singapore, there is no reason to condemn the British settlement in Singapore. You are paranoid about words that's why I chose Settlement rather than colony. You know, in Chinese, colony is 殖民地 meaning place where you transplant the seeds of your people. That seems to fit Singapore quite well. We were not unduly bullied like Hongkong which was a disgrace because of the Opium War incident. Neither were we decimated like the Mohicans or even Filipinos during their colonial era. There is not a single story I hear of Singapore's past that tells me Brits committed gross acts of cruelty to the locals. I am not asking you to worship the British, but for Singapore, the net balance sheet is in favour of locals and is NOT WRITTEN IN BLOOD. Therefore, RB, stop being a fake hero and use external contexts to justify imaginary history in your mind.
ReplyDeleteHumbleideas.com
@All,
ReplyDeleteThe beauty of Brit colonialism is that if you are capable & hardworking & willing to take risks, then you can have the chance to retire @ 40 yrs old with over a million dollars in stocks portfolio like me, spitting out 5-figure monthly dividends ... while I can just shake leg & relak after 16 yrs of hard work.
For this to happen, I needed free enterprise, commercial rights, property rights, some basic human rights, rule of law, codified set of laws that has been established, debated, fought for & trialed & errored over a thousand years --- that's the old Brit & colonial Indian laws.
A bitcoin fucker is saying "If you are not a Billionaire in 20 years, it's your own fucking fault".
Well .... I'm not so harsh as that bitcoin fucker ... But I will say that in Sinkieland, "If you are not a Millionaire in 20 years, it's your own cheebye fault". LOL!!!
Hong Tou Jing, Jing Tau Hong.
ReplyDeleteUG, u really need to be sodomize together with the 5pm anon. Best UG if you can sodomize the 5 pm anon on our bahalf. 😀
ReplyDeleteFake Degrees, Fake Working Experiences, Fake Testimonials, Fake Talents Inadvertently Imported En-mass Into Singapore?
ReplyDeleteMore than 600,000 unqualified doctors are operating in Pakistan. 270,000 are in the Sindh Province.
Recently, one of these fake doctors have been arrested and charged for spreading the AIDS disease to more than 500 people (the real extent is still under concerted massive investigation). Most of the victims are babies.
How many fake doctors are there in India? 6,000,000 conservatively?
How many of these fake doctors are now operating in Singapore hospitals, polyclinics, private practices? I dare not think about it. But I will reject to see any doctor, Fake or real, coming from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China or Philippines all the time. I have been conned twice.
Once bitten, twice shy.
Twice bitten, never again try.
Thrice bitten, I deserve to die.
The colonialists that butchered the Indians were the same colonialists that came to Singapore under the East India Company.
ReplyDeleteWhy were they so cruel in India and not so cruel in Singapore? One fought back with arms, one meek and hapless and accepted the rule. If the locals then fought back, the evil colonialists would have done the same.
In another words it is good to be meek and be treated nicer. They wouldn't kill such people, just imprison them would be enough. People with this kind of mentality do not deserve any rights, just rule them but be kind to them. Treat them as possessions, as subjects, throw them some leftovers and they would be contented.
They have no pride and dignity as a people, just food in the stomach.
Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...
ReplyDeleteLet me tell a simple story of Ah Kow, Ahmad and Muthu. They were all orphans, found on the road side by an angmoh lord who owned the land and the plantations. The angmoh lord raised them and gave them jobs, Ah Kow became the cook, Ahmad the driver, Muthu the jaga of the plantation. They were all very grateful to the angmoh lord for raising them and giving them jobs and food on the table.
They did not know that their parents owned the land and the plantation that were razed and taken over by the angmoh lord before they were made orphans. Their parents used to stay in their homes in the plantations but were dead and forgotten.No one write the sad stories of their parents, like the stories of the Red Indians.
May 16, 2019 10:42 am
Humbleideas, I am reposting the above here again. You want to sue me for it? You see my middle finger?
@ RB
ReplyDeleteIn you Ah Kow-Ahmad-Muthu parable you left out the fact that Ahmad's village chief accepted payment from the Mat Saleh as payment for the land.
The House of temenggong handed over Singapore to Raffles for MONEY.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteChua, you totally cannot see my point. Never once I said that the British built infrastructure for the locals. It is recognised that they build up Singapura to support the East India Company activities and the Crown. I agree totally that we benefitted from it on an incidental basis...Humbleideas
You refer to your comments above, gloating about the great infrastructures built by the British. You only conceded that they were incidental after I said so. You made these comments about infrastructures many times in several paragraghs.
What is left of the colonial heritage are a few museum pieces today. The rudimentary sewage and water systems have been rebuilt and improved tremendously by the Singaporeans, the transport system, roads and rails, were obsolete and done with. The primary schools left behind to train clerks were replaced by world class universities to produced professionals in all fields of science and technology. I could go on and on.
The divide and rule policy where locals were segregated by race in different locations had been dismantled to improve racial harmony. The angmoh ruling class is history.
Top 10 evil crimes of the British Empire
ReplyDeleteMalaya
In 1950, the Empire had a problem. Armed Communist insurgents were trying to take over Malay and most of the population seemed willing to let them do so. Reasoning that their forces stood no chance against a hidden army that could call upon the peasants for supplies, the British hit upon an ingenious solution. Rather than fight, they’d simply imprison all the peasants.
Known as “New Villages,” the camps constructed to house Malay’s poor were heavily fortified and watched over by trigger-happy guards. Inmates were forced to do hard labor in return for scraps of food, and contact with the outside world—including family—was forbidden. Once in a village, you lost all right to freedom and privacy. At night, harsh floodlights flushed out the shadows to stop clandestine meetings. Expressing any political sentiment could get your rations docked.
But perhaps most uncomfortable of all was the racist nature of the camps. Of the 500,000 people detained during the decade-long Emergency, only a handful were anything other than ethnic Chinese. Outside the barbed wire walls, another half a million Chinese were meanwhile being deported, sent into exile, or forced from their homes. In short. it was a racist policy that harmed nearly a million people, all so the British could cut off supplies to a handful of rebels.
www.listverse.com
Wikipedia
Malaya
On 12 December 1948, during the Malayan Emergency, the Batang Kali massacre took place which involved the killing of 24 villagers. Six of the eight British soldiers involved were interviewed under caution by detectives. They corroborated accounts that the villagers were unarmed, were not insurgents nor trying to escape, and had been unlawfully killed on the order of the two sergeants in command. The sergeants denied the allegations. The Government's position was that if anyone is to be held responsible, it should be the Sultan of Selangor.[94][95][96][97]
As part of the Briggs' Plan devised by British General Sir Harold Briggs, 500,000 people (roughly ten percent of Malaya's population) were eventually removed from the land, had tens of thousands of their homes destroyed, and were interned in 450 guarded fortified camps called "New Villages". The intent of this measure was to inflict collective punishments on villages where people were deemed to be aiding the insurgents and to isolate the population from contact with insurgents. The British also tried to win the hearts of the internees by providing them with education and health services as well as piped water and electricity within the villages. This practice was prohibited by the Geneva Conventions and customary international law which stated that the destruction of property must not happen unless rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.[98][99][100]
The above were evil crimes committed by the British in Malaya, when Singapore was the HQ of the Straits Settlement. Singapore did not exist as an independent state. The crimes may not be specifically in Singapore for the reason that Singapore was under the full control of the British and did not resist British rule. But many Singaporeans were arrested during the Emergency and you can read about how the British treat these prisoners.
I am still waiting for you to withdraw the comment that the British "made orphans of the people" in Singapura, circa 1819. It is FAKE NEWS.
ReplyDeleteConcerning your comment Pride and dignity "as a people" you are hopelessly drifting from context of 1819. In those dark ages, the Malays, few Chinese, and Indians, in Singapura were never "a people". They see each other with some suspicion, kept at arms length distance, spoke different languages, and everybody just wanted their daily bread what more. There was no electricity in the houses, shit has to be sent out daily, water came from wells, many sicknesses had no cure at that time, life was tough. The British came with many interesting devices, gadgets and new ideas and inventions coming from the First Industrial Revolution. There wasn't anythin in Singapore to begin with, no minerals, oil, plantations, so what is there to suffer by making friends with Mr Stamford, Mr Farquhar to learn from them? What use is the vast tracts of wasteland in Punggol or Sembawang? They could not be monetised, unlike 2019. Yes,in 1819 food in the stomach is most important. You would have done the same Chua. Stop being an armchair critic and pretend to be a champion of the "people" of Temasek in 1819. The people were indeed impoverished and needed new ideas especially scienctific inventions to improve their lives. Raffles and co. did that (ok incidentally) and no blood was shed. Why are you creating all the fake news and drawing on external events which didnt apply to Temasek? Draw conclusions contextually and do not spread fake news, chua
Humbleideas.com
According to a Guardian report, the British destroyed all documents of their war crimes during the last days of the Empire. This is one of the reasons why nothing much surfaced about their crimes in Malaya/Singapore.
ReplyDeleteThe ruling govt of the day would not confess or document their crimes unless you have the resources to dig them out. Not reported or documented does not mean no crimes committed. They were evil colonial Empires. Period.
the British "made orphans of the people" in Singapura, circa 1819
ReplyDeleteThis is what you said, not what I said. Do not put words into my mouth. You are mischievous.
Concerning your comment Pride and dignity "as a people" you are hopelessly drifting from context of 1819. In those dark ages, the Malays, few Chinese, and Indians, in Singapura were never "a people". They see each other with some suspicion, kept at arms length distance, spoke different languages, and everybody just wanted their daily bread what more. Humbleideas
ReplyDeleteThis is just your view. My view, life was simpler, there were few people of different races living together, less influenced by race, religion and politics, so easier to live together, hungry, no time to get angry.
Singapore was just a little fishing village, no statehood to squabble about. The people just live by the day, to survive together, small barter trade to coexist.
I didn't put words in your mouth. Read your own post at 1042 am may 16. You are getting very old, Chua.
ReplyDeleteChua Chin Leng aka redbean said...
ReplyDeletethe British "made orphans of the people" in Singapura, circa 1819
This is what you said, not what I said. Do not put words into my mouth. You are mischievous.
May 17, 2019 9:52 am
Humbleideas, you fabricate lies and distorted the truth. You owe RB an apology and to retract this false allegation.
Unfortunately, your line of thinking that "just because there is no news doesn't mean didn't happen" is no different from Trump's Outrageous kidnap of Meng wanzhou. There was no evidence, therefore it is not right to draw a conclusion. This is the way of civilised thinking. There is no evidence of atrocious genocide or activities of the British against Singapurans in 1819. You can guess, conjecture, but without proof, it is necessary to stay neutral and keep your thoughts to yourself. There is enough of Donald Trump idiots in this world, have nothing to do with it.
ReplyDeleteHumbleideas.com
Many dumb and daft "Scholars" in this forum think that they are SMART just because they think they read and google widely in the WWW.
ReplyDeleteBut, they does not think that they are consuming shits and propaganda from those who want to protect their interests and evil deeds.
Just swallowed bait,hook and sinker into their throats. Thinking that they can browbeat others who are not their match in written English and their FAKE knowledge.
Many think that with their wealth, they be revered and respected anywhere they go. Loved to either have their Nationality as Stateless or Some one Subject.
Now even Singaporeans are classified as only Residents and not Sinkies which is even a better term to refer to.
Immigrants from the start and now after sixty odd years of bullshits Nation Building still as Immigrants.
Many lamented we are immigrants to begin with and we should welcomed the immigrants as our own.
Good for them to be displaced and have their status as Stateless or Subjects in time to come.
Even with your wealth, you think others in the other countries would not scorn and spilt at you if you are there to share their resources??
Daft sinkies deserved to be screwed and sodomised.
Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...
ReplyDeleteLet me tell a simple story of Ah Kow, Ahmad and Muthu. They were all orphans, found on the road side by an angmoh lord who owned the land and the plantations. The angmoh lord raised them and gave them jobs, Ah Kow became the cook, Ahmad the driver, Muthu the jaga of the plantation. They were all very grateful to the angmoh lord for raising them and giving them jobs and food on the table.
They did not know that their parents owned the land and the plantation that were razed and taken over by the angmoh lord before they were made orphans. Their parents used to stay in their homes in the plantations but were dead and forgotten.No one write the sad stories of their parents, like the stories of the Red Indians.
May 16, 2019 10:42 am
Humbleideas, please tell me where did I said 'British, 1819, Singapura'?
Please stop lying and spreading false allegation. Your imagination keep it to yourself.
If you are a gentleman, admit your false allegation and apologise, if not, fuck off.
Uncle, this asshole has been hiding here pretending to be innocent but waiting to attack you in anything you said if given a chance. If he can't find any fault or excuse, he will twist and turn and put words into your mouth.
ReplyDeleteClearly you can see where he is coming from.
Beware of such low life.
The contextual reference to the entire discussion was the colonisation period of Singapore starting from Raffles landing. I agree that there is no direct reference to Singapura in your words, but the implications your made in your anecdote is most obvious. Anyone with brain reading the chain of posts would have arrived at the same conclusion. I have no further comments. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteNow you know you were making wild allegations.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to apologise to Uncle?
Make stupid mistakes admit it lah.
The news report the rapist got beard. Your papa got beard oso right?
ReplyDeleteCan I say your papa is a rapist? knn.
The House of temenggong handed over Singapore to Raffles for MONEY.
ReplyDeleteMay 17, 2019 9:13 am Matilah
Obviously you are reading history books written by the colonial masters. This was what they said, and nothing else. They did it legally.
Did they tell you they pointed the guns at the Temengong, arrested his families and guards, and grabbed his hand to press his thumbprint on a piece of paper written in English which the Temengong did not understand? You think the Temengong knew how to write, how to hold a pen?
Just my wild imaginations. I dare not say this is the truth like some audacious clever guy.
Lest it be misconstrued that 10:36 is an apology, i would say the message is that the original article had clearly made incorrect false allegations by indisputable innuendo not technically by words. I apologize only for making a reference to age of a person. This is bad and I apologise the personal comment. Not many blogs in Sg stimulate thinking as much as as this, it is a pity that the quality of comments generally lag far behind the blog owners' styles, therefore it's better to refrain from personal comments, bad words, repetitive words ("sxxxxxx"? ), right?
ReplyDeleteWhere is the Humbleideas guy? This summary is for him.
ReplyDeleteRB said very clearly from the start that he was telling a simple story. You know what is a story? A story is not truth, not historical facts. A story is a story. And RB was very clear not to mention anything about British or Singapore.
Then this Humbleideas guy, humble? Not at all. He jumped into conclusion and threatened RB to withdraw his comments in the story, alleging that RB said British killed and made orphans in circa 1819 in Singapura which he then admitted was only his inference.
Then he accused RB of spreading fake news, according to his inference from the story which RB did not say.
Then he went on to praise the British for building excellent infrastructure and when pointed out by RB, he conceded that it was not for Singaporeans but incidental. Initially he even denied saying this, accusing RB for saying it.
My verdict, this Humbleideas guy needs to apologise to RB and retract all his allegations against RB.
Trying to fix RB now got taught a lesson by RB.
Humbleideas, did I say anything wrong factually?
There are two morals to this story. One, not to be grateful to thieves and robbers that robbed and killed your family. Two, not to be a smart alec and die die want to squeeze a round peg into a square hole to fix people. Preconceived bad intent would lead to bad endings.
The inscription on the statue of Raffles should read,
ReplyDelete'This English man came in 1819 to claim this island as a colony of the British Empire.'
Not this man founded Singapore. Fake news.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteLest it be misconstrued that 10:36 is an apology, i would say the message is that the original article had clearly made incorrect false allegations by indisputable innuendo not technically by words. 11:24am
What fucking nonsense are you talking about? The article is clear and precise, that Colonialism is bad and must not be accepted as good that the colonial masters wanted you to think so. RB is saying that we should rewrite our history to reflect the days when we were colonised as a time to remember but not go glorify. We must write our history in our perspective.
I have indeed apologised for a personal comment I made. As for the story, it is beyond shadow of doubt that the purpose of the story was to warn the reader that the British made orphans of people. In retrospect, this did not happen in Singapura, so it was a misleading story calculated at convincing Singaporean not to commemorate a shameful (as I think RB would consider) colonial history. RB story was so convincing that the writer above actually said that the moral of the story is not to be grateful to robbers who killed your family. Oh yes, you argue, it's not about Singapura, it's general. Please put the story in the context of this entire thread and see if I make sense.
ReplyDeleteLet us back track to the purpose of this debate. It is to decide whether it makes sense for Singapore to commemorate the 200 years of Singapura "founding" in 1819 by Mr Raffles. It is a debate, it is about fact finding, not fixing people, or giving misleading stories. Let me lay out the facts, and anyone can debate whether it is wrong to commemorate 1819.
1. There is no documented evidence of genocide of local Singapurans by Raffles. Our parents and grandparents who lived in Singapore did not have any bad stories about how the British treated Singapura people circa 1819.
2. The industrial revolution in Europe started around that time. There was no way that the locals here can play catch up game. Electricity grid in Sg did not exist. Synchronous Generators, power stations, sewage works, medical knowledge was not the expertise of locals, who survived by fishing, farming and trade of spices etc
3. The British created infrastructure over the years, for supporting the possibly covert activities of East India Company ELSEWHERE.
4. The British created schools, set up a stable legal system here, and managed a generally corrupt free system. Lim Tean was very grateful to this, if you had heard him at Hong Lim last month. I agree with him. The British were generous with educating locals. That's how LKY and his cohorts got their education, true meritocracy.
5. The British did not treat other colonial areas well, like India, Australia,etc
It is a great battle in our minds, should Singaporean be condemning our Colonization starting from 1819? Suppose the British did not colonise us. The Spaniards, the Americans did. Wow. You get the point?
The great point to wrestle with, if someone did you no harm, but instead willfully or otherwise gave meaning to your life, educated you in a world language with Gateway to knowledge and riches, are you about to curse them because they were cruel to somebody elsewhere? It is the same question as I always ask when a Christian say Thank God he wasn't on the flight which crashed. But what about the other 200 who died. Should we be grateful? It is a dilemma.
Aiyo, many CLASSIFIED happenings in the British Archives and documents that cannot see the light of the day.
ReplyDeleteEven the Racical Riots and what's the ISD of their Evil Deeds.
You think the Brits are all Angels??
Humbleideas, with all your comments posted here in black and white, first you posted fake news, then claimed it was said by RB, then threatened and demanded RB to withdraw what he did not said, you have confirmed yourself to be a congenital liar!
ReplyDelete