Iffah's Answers To The Questions

Why is it important to foster social cohesion?

It is important to foster social cohesion so that we can build a strong bond within Singaporeans. Singapore provides a lot of opportunities to foster social cohesion. All the different races go to the same type of school and have the same co-curriculum activity (CCA).This opportunities helps Singaporeans to bond with each other despite the differences they had to make Singapore a happy, prosperity and progressive country.


What were the events that led to the race riots of 1964?

The Malay newspaper, Utusan Melayu, claimed that 3,000 Malay families were affected by the resettlement in an area stretching from Crawford, Kampong Glam to Rochor. In reality, out of 2,500 families resettled, only about 200 were Malays. The Utusan Melayu also highlighted that the PAP government did not care about the Malays in Singapore. UMNO had a meeting with the Malays giving them fiery speeches portraying PAP as anti -Malay that made the Malays furious.
Malays gathered at the Padang to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. Along the way, a group that was dispersed was asked to rejoin the procession by a policeman.Instead of obeying the orders, the group attacked the policeman. This incident led to race riot after the group of Malays attacked the Chinese.


What were the causes of the race riots?

Lack of communication, understanding and interaction between the different races causes this race riots. Another reason for this riot is that the riot occurred during the period when the
PAP-UMNO relations were severely strained after the PAP challenged the UMNO in the March 1964 Malaysia federal election with the campaign slogan of Malaysian Malaysia.


What happened during the race riot?

During the riot, a curfew was declared at 9.30pm to restore order but in the first day of the riot 4 people were killed and more than 170 were injured. After the curfew was lifted at 6am, the conflict grew even more intense and another curfew was imposed but only lifted for a short period of time for people to buy food. The curfew was completely lifted on 2 august.