SECTION A: SOURCE-BASED QUESTIONS [21 MARKS]
Question 1 is compulsory for all students.
Study the sources carefully, and then answer all parts of the question.
For each question part, you should use the source(s) you are told to use to help you answer
the question. In answering the questions you should also use your knowledge of the topic to
help you understand the sources.
1
(a)
Study Source A.
What does this source tell you about the occupations of the early immigrants in
Singapore? Explain your answer.
[5m]
(b)
Study Source B.
What can you infer from this source about the life of the early immigrants in
Singapore during the 1930s? Explain your answer.
[5m]
(c)
Study Source C.
What does this source tell you about the attitude of the government towards the
immigrants? Explain your answer
[5m]
(d)
Study Sources D and E.
In what ways are Sources D and E similar? Explain your answer.
[6m]
What was life like for the early immigrants of Singapore?
Source A:
A cartoon depicting the early immigrants of Singapore by a local cartoonist
in 2010.
Source B: A historian describing the life of immigrants during the 1930s.
The immigrants were often exploited and abused by the Immigrant Brokers. Many times
they were unwillingly shipped to Sumatra instead of Singapore and the immigrants could
do nothing about it. These immigrants were illiterate and often had to work hard to repay
the shipping fare failing which they would be beaten up by the brokers. Many of these
immigrants also had to pay protection money to the Chinese gangsters to ensure their
safety in Singapore.
* Brokers are agents who are in charge of bringing the immigrants into Singapore.
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Source C: A view of a historian on the life of the labourers in Singapore during the early
19th century.
The truth was that Singapore was growing rapidly and was generating a lot of income.
However the government spent very little on education, health or other social services.
The immigrants who came were poor and suffered from diseases like Malaria, Cholera
and Typhoid. Many of them were lying on the roads too weak to move. When they died
their bodies were left on the roads. It was only because of the efforts of successful
businessmen like Tan Tock Seng and others that the dead had proper burials.
Source D: A historian’s view on the life of a coolie worker in Singapore in the 1920s.
Chinese coolies formed the early backbone of Singapore's labour force. These coolies
were employed in mines, ports, plantations, construction sites and as rickshaw pullers.
They did back-breaking tasks under the sun and for long hours, such as loading and
unloading cargo as well as tin-ore mining. It was a common sight in early Singapore to
see coolies carrying gunny sacks filled with commodities near the Singapore River.
*The term coolie was used to denote the new immigrants from India and China.
Source E: A speech by Yusuf Bin Ishak, the First President of Singapore in 1969.
The early immigrants were mostly ordinary humble folk. They helped build a wealth
which was never there and would never have been if not for their hard work, sweat and
suffering. Singapore has no natural resources, and everything that makes life bearable
and hopeful for us was a result of the hard work and sacrifice of those early immigrants.
2.
SECTION B: SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS [14 MARKS]
Answer both questions.
This question is on the founding of Singapore as a British settlement in the
19th Century.
Describe how Singapore was able to thrive as a trading settlement after the
signing of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty.
[7m]
3.
This question is on why people came to Colonial Singapore before World
War Two.
Describe three pull factors resulting in the large number of immigrants coming to
Singapore in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
[7m]

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