Singapore : The 1st 10 years

Done by : Li Chen Yi 2O221

Housing

• City areas are extremely overpopulated, lacking in facilities and amenities

• ¼ of population already living in HDB flats but public housing remained very high due to the population growth of 2.5%

Racial Tensions/Housing

HDB• Provided housing 25% of Singapore’s

population.• Built 53k new flats by the end of 1965

• Provided opportunities for social bonding amongst different races n religion

Racial Tensions

• “Sports for All” programme introduced in 1973– Include cycling, jogging, walking etc– to infuse a sense of national pride into the

citizens

Racial Tensions

• National Stadium opened on 21 July 1973– bonds Singaporeans together in national spirit– Home to 18 national parades

Racial Tensions

• Sports was encouraged and was actively promoted through community centres.– Promote a strong sense of national pride

Racial Tensions

Community centres• Set up in various parts of Singapore• Provided a common space for different races• Sports, talks, concerts, cultural programmes

were held

Racial Tensions

• Cultural appreciation was promoted– Believed that cultural appreciation would lead to

better understanding and tolerance among Singaporeans

Racial Tensions

HDB• Facilitated by the board’s self-contained

neighbourhood principle.• Common spaces promotes social bonding

Racial Tensions

Home ownership for the people• Promoted a sense of rootedness

• Announced on February 1964

Racial Tensions

Education• Malay studies department revived, Chinese studies

department strengthened to ensure that the studies of languages would be available to all students.(University of Singapore)

• Schools were encouraged to participate in national events and campaigns.– Sense of common destiny in a multi-racial society

Racial Tensions

• Mr Ong viewed ECA as one of the central pillars for inculcating moral values.

Hygiene

• The cattle's endangered public health and property– Cattle farming was later banned in heavily

populated areas

Hygiene

• Waste was treated by– Mechanised sweepers were introduced in 1972,

can replace 24 ppl– Public education– Public cleaning

Hygiene

• Licensing of street hawkers– Hawkers have to move into markets and shop

houses and have to comply to health regulations

Hygiene

• Industrial health unit and the Anti-Pollution Unit was set-up to address industrialisation pollution

• To ensure clean air and water supply– Prohibition of smoking in certain enclosed public

places act (1970)– Discharge of trade effluents into water courses

(1971)– Clean air act

Hygiene

• Public cleaning services overhauled to clean 30% more tonnage per day

• Campaigns– Keep Singapore clean (1968)– Keep Singapore clean and mosquito free (1970)– Keep Singapore clean and Pollution free (1970)– Keep Singapore Pollution-Free (1971)

Wages

• Formation of wages council (June 1971)– Establish a flexible wage system that would

respond quickly to changing economic conditions– Comprising representatives from the government,

employers, trade unions

Expanding trade

• Export Promotion Centre (EPC) in 1966 by DR Goh– Became known as the International Trading

Company (INTRACO) in 1968• New shipping line started to promote export-

oriented industries– Started with 5 vessels, had 20-strong fleet by 1973

Expanding trade

• Vietnam war made shipbuilding and repairing crucial in Southeast Asia

• More shipyards were built– By 1969 45 shipyards were operational, providing

employment for 12,000 people

Retraining

• 2 training centres established with Rollei and Philips

Defence

• Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) signed in 1971 between Singapore, Australia, Britain, Malaysia and New Zealand.– Allows member countries to conduct shared

activities such as the Integrated Air Defence System (IADS)

Defence

• Singapore Armed Forces Training Institute (SAFTI), the first training institute to train officer cadets

• Other military set-up after the success of SAFTI– School of Basic Military Training– School of Artillery – School of Signals

Defence

• National Service (NS) was introduced in March 1967 to conscript male citizens into military service– Defence– Nation-building

Defence

• Dr Goh established the Ministry of Interior and defence (MID) which later became the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Home Affairs– Established to public confidence after bombings at

the MacDonald house

Foreign affairs

• Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

• Singapore was admitted into the UN when it was just 6 weeks old

Industrilisation

• Jurong Island– Industrial land grew scarce– Idea of joining southern islands off jurong idustrial

estate together– Physical land reclamation began in 1995– Officially opened in 2000

Aviation

• Paya Lebar International air port opened in 1955.– Was Singapore’s third civilian airport – Had a single run way and a small passenger

terminal building

Aviation

• At it’s infancy stage in 1965 had 98,481 visitors– 170 qualified tourist guide– 1,134 hotel rooms

• Paya Lebar Airport was unable to cope with the traffic by 1970– Passenger numbers rose from 300,000 to 1.7

million in 1970– To 4 million by 1975

Aviation

• Plans were made to built a new airport on the site of Changi Airport– Land reclamation began in June 1975,completed

in May 1977 with 870 hectares of land reclaimed(total site area 1,300 hectares)

Economic

• Less than half of Singapore’s population are economically active

• Unemployment rate was 14%– Strikes arising from trade dispute

Education

• Literacy rate was 60%, an 8 increase from 1957– ¼ of the population at school going age– Large class result of shortage of schools– Lack of qualified teachers

Public health

• 80% (40,000) of street hawkers were unlicensed and lack knowledge of hygiene food preparation and waste disposal

“Ours is a country that can characterised as 4 overlapping circles, held together by strong social bonding. We must see beyond our race and religion and keep on renewing and strengthening the social glue that binds us.”

Teo Chee Hean, Minister for education and second Minister for Defence