Singathology
Page 5
《海》文关注海峡华人对下一代的教育，“他们竟大胆地离其邻居的常规，为取得现有的地位和保有财产，同时建立一个文化系统，他们都让孩子接受英文教育。”西方人并不认同海峡华人的这一做法。 “很遗憾，他们忽视向青年一代教授适当的华文知识，或对此不加鼓励。”特稿认为，“对一个华人来说，倘若无法从祖国文化中获得力量，事实上无异于失去独立民族的资格。”完全不认同海峡华人的“建立一个文化系统”。
《海》文最后说，“今天，东方充满新理想、新希望、新勇气”，“那个伟大的民族和国家的历史连续性，不能随意搁置”。
100年前的文章总结，让100年后的人仍觉得合宜，但100年来历史并未朝文章的方向发展。100年后的人与100年前的人从同一角度看时事／世事，竟觉得历史如梦。
8
1915年开年不久的1月19日，中国总统袁世凯的一名私人顾问孔天正（也作孔天增）因染天花不治。
36岁的孔天正生于马六甲，过后到印度求学，曾是槟城华民护卫司署通译员，也曾是新加坡莱佛士图书馆的高级管理员。1910年游历中国，第二年经袁世凯的顾问莫理循推荐，成为袁的翻译员，1914年被委任为“总统图书馆”馆长与顾问。
对于孔天正的离世，宋旺相说：“他的去世让人们留意到，生于海峡的华人，只要具有良好的中国话（官话）知识，便可以毫无困难地，在一个比新加坡这小殖民地更高效益、职责更广的领域发挥所长。”
宋旺相道出的，不只是一个海峡华人的心声。
9
最终来到1915年8月9日。
100年前的新加坡人肯定不知道100年后的新加坡人会在这一天庆祝独立50周年。
100年前的新加坡人究竟怎么度过8月9日？或者这一天新加坡发生什么事？
当时的两份报章的报道南辕北辙，毫无交集。《叻报》8月9日和10日都是中国广东水灾，新加坡各个组织捐赈的新闻和启事。
中国珠江流域从6月下旬开始，发生严重的洪水，广东、广西、湖南、江西近百县市受影响。
《叻报》说，“此次叻地捐赈之慷慨，为向来所未有”，从写字助赈，咖啡店义卖咖啡茶水，酒楼义卖西餐月饼，到“演剧赈灾演出”都有。
《海峡时报》完全没有这则新闻。8月9日第二版赞赏俄国Ilia Mourometz 飞机，认为它超越德国的 Zeppelins 飞船。第三版介绍返英参与战事的在泰国英国人。8月10日则报道英国贸易局调查一艘沉船的结果。
《新加坡华人百年史》除了8月4日的大战周年集会，还有8月12日，林文庆再任立法议员，取代退休的陈若锦。《新加坡华人百年史》基本上是新加坡海峡华人史或新加坡上层社会华人史。
什么是历史？
百年前的新加坡以其多元回答历史。
10
人类是好战的，第一次世界大战后25年，经一代人，又爆发一次世界大战。
还好，人类还是从战争中吸取教训，第二次世界大战的25年后，世界只有“冷战”；再过25年加两年，1991年12月25日，圣诞节，苏联总统戈尔巴乔夫辞职，当晚苏联国旗从克里姆林宫缓缓降下，没有战火却让一个大国战败，瓦解。一个大时代过去。紧接着上演的是“一个大哥的时代”。
又25年过去，世界尚太平，感谢“大哥”与众“哥哥”。这一年，一个小岛在筹备独立50周年。
2014年8月5日，《联合早报》报道，本地三团体纪念第一次世界大战爆发100周年，标题为“一战百年纪念提醒和平可贵”，离当年《叻报》报道“叻地已用军律施行”，刚好百年。
该如何预测下一个25年，或两个？
但愿能“携床就树逐阴移”。
1C. M. Turnbull, A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 (Singapore: NUS Press, 2009).
2Song Ong Siang, One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore (London: J. Murray, 1923).
3H. F. Pearson, Singapore: A Popular History, 1819-1960 (Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 1961).
4邱新民,《邱菽园生平》(新加坡: 胜友书局, 1993).
1915: A Miscellany
BY CHIA JOO MING
Translated by Jeremy Tiang
1
The Singapore of 1915 was shrouded in an atmosphere of war.
1915 inevitably continued from where 1914 left off, with the fires of World War I raging on.
On 28 July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, raising the curtain on World War I. A week later, on the fourth of August, Britain declared war on Germany, thus entering the fray.
The news reached Singapore the next day, and both English and Chinese papers reported on the start of Anglo-German hostilities. The Straits Times, mostly catering to the four thousand British citizens living in Singapore, put the news on its front page. The main Chinese daily, Lat Pau, placed it in the “Local News” section on its second page, in the sixth column. Positioning alone clearly showed the priorities of each paper.
The “Local News” section contained nine items of Singaporean news, four of them to do with the war. The first, “Britain and Germany Declare War”, described the situation in a brief sixty-one words: “On this day, the Government has issued an urgent report stating that Britain and Germany are now at war, and this decree will be put into immediate effect through marital law in the territory of Singapore. The British and German navies were yesterday engaged in battle to the north of Britain, but the outcome of this battle is not currently known.”
The next three articles were “Local Chinese Ought To Help Local Government”, an essential notice urging those with “important messages for the government” to do their duty and come forward, adding that “the government has promised a reward and will definitely not renege on this”; “Seen and Heard on the Seas Today”, reporting that the cargo of a German ship had been seized, a Dutch ship had been intercepted while trying to leave the port illicitly, and a Chinese merchant ship had docked bearing a Dutch flag; and “Protect Water Sources”, stating that the government had stationed military vessels to keep our waters safe.
I believe that the Chinese newspaper readers of 1914 would have had no objection to the treatment of these news items. The 250,000 China-born Chinese in Singapore remained loyal to the Mainland, so the front-page news was often centred there. The Anglo-German conflict was relegated to “local” news, reported with a slant towards its relevance to the region – what immediate measures the colonial government was taking in response to the conflict.
These tactics were broadcast continuously. On 6 August, Lat Pau reported that the Governor-General had “at his own discretion… forbidden the spreading of rumours that might cause alarm” in order to keep the populace calm. The message was that Singapore had more than enough gun-forts with which to defend itself, not to mention battleships patrolling the seas, and the people were encouraged to “keep their minds on their jobs, continuing to work as usual”, although the shipping of military material, dry provisions, vegetables, and fuel was forbidden. In order to increase public security, the government was actively recruiting police officers.
Two declarations from 7 August are worth our attention:
1. The Sultan of Johor proclaimed that all troops in Johor were now at the disposal of the British.
2. The Chinese consul to Singapore, Hu Weixian, announced that he would make every effort to aid the British government in keeping the local area safe.
China made its stance clear five days after war was declared, with the Chinese consulate in Singapore stating that “our government is claiming neutrality in the matter of the European war”.
As Germany was then the enemy, German citizens in Singapore had their businesses frozen and their property confiscated. About forty Germans left the country
, and, on 8 August, the German Consul and Deputy Consul left the country for Shanghai on board a British ship.
On the ninth of August, a Sunday, none of Singapore’s newspapers went to press. The population of Singapore, with no papers to read, could not have imagined that, fifty-one years after this day, the British government would leave Singapore, and the little island would finally be independent.
2
As a result of the war, there was a run on the Chinese Commercial Bank.
The bank had been established two years earlier and prospered for a short while, with Lee Choon Guan as its Chairman and Lim Boon Keng as Deputy Chair. Now it closed its doors temporarily, turning to the government for help. The government’s response was to issue a statement to be posted outside the bank building saying that it “has found the bank’s assets to exceed its liabilities”. The bank resumed business on 1 November. In 1932, the Chinese Commercial bank merged with the Ho Hong Bank and the Overseas Chinese Bank to form the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC).
Below the government’s proclamation of confidence was more text, exhorting the public: “In the present time of war, people who have cash should pay it into the various banks in the Colony and thus allow it to circulate freely to help commerce rather than hoarding it. Hoarding not only does no good to the hoarders, but it will certainly do harm to the local situation and thus aid the enemy.”
This guidance did not have a great effect. With staple foods being scarce and many shops going bankrupt and closing down, everyone knew that, at this time, cash was king. This vicious circle caused a massive increase in unemployment, and on 10 August – six days after the Anglo-German war was declared – local Chinese people were told that “those who wish to return to China but lack the funds may apply to the Chinese Protectorate for a boat ticket”. By the end of the year, just five months later, 9,980 people had voluntarily repatriated themselves.
The war affected the economy too. On 5 October, the establishment of the Prince of Wales Relief Fund was announced essentially to collect money from the affluent. Whether they liked it or not, the funds were raised by a committee of ten local Chinese businessmen, including Lim Boon Keng.
On 14 February 1915, the Singapore Chinese celebrated a war-inflected Chinese New Year.
3
On 15 February, the second day of the Lunar New Year, Singapore experienced an unprecedented mutiny.
After the declaration of war, the King’s own Yorkshire Light Infantry, previously garrisoned in Singapore, was dispatched to France to fight on the European front, and the Indian 5th Light Infantry arrived from Madras in October 1914 to replace them.
According to C. M. Turnbull’s A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005, apart from the Indian troops, Singapore also housed the Singapore Volunteer Artillery and the Malay States Guides as well as a small number of royal artillery and military engineers.1
Three months later, the British government announced that the Indian 5th Light Infantry would be send to Hong Kong to replace another Indian detachment. There were rumours among the troops that they would subsequently be shipped to Turkey and forced to fight Muslim troops, even though the Indian 5th Light Infantry was primarily made up of Muslims.
On 15 February, the British forces held a farewell ceremony for the Indian 5th Light Infantry, which was garrisoned at Alexandra, but the Indians absented themselves, refusing to leave Singapore. At three in the afternoon, the Muslim soldiers in four of the eight Indian companies revolted. The rebels split into three groups, one of which – comprising about a hundred men – went to Tanglin Camp to gather ammunition, as well as to persuade the 309 German internees, who had been captured the previous November on board the SMS Emden, to join with them in rising up against the British. The Germans refused. Meanwhile, the other two groups prepared to attack the city centre.
At 6:30, three and a half hours after the mutiny started, the colonial government imposed martial law, requisitioning the use of all private cars and recalling volunteers who had left the service. Marines on board the HMS Cadmus, currently in dock, were also summoned. After the news broke, European women and children were evacuated to the nearby steamers Ipoh, Recorder, Nile, and Penang. The mutineers had probably forgotten the large number of naval reinforcements available to the British.
When the Sultan of Johor heard what had happened, he sent assistance in the form of 150 troops.
Song Ong Siang’s One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore records that the Chinese Volunteer Corps were given the day off on the eve of Chinese New Year, 13 February, and only reported back at 7 p.m. on the evening of the fifteenth, joining the fray at five the next morning, entering Alexandra Barracks to rescue the British forces and Malay States Volunteer Riflemen who had been surrounded by the Indian 5th Light Infantry.2 Song Ong Siang, forty-four years old then, was a Straits-born Chinese and also a lieutenant in Singapore’s Chinese Volunteer Corps.
According to H. F. Pearson’s Singapore: A Popular History, 1819-1960, on this day, 200 European special constables and 190 Japanese fought alongside the British.3
Over the next three days, naval ships belonging to the various British allies arrived to help. First was the French battle cruiser Montcalm, landing 190 men and two machine-gun cannons. Next came the Russian auxiliary cruiser Orel, then the Japanese ships Otowa and Tsushima. The 6th British Infantry arrived from Burma on the HMS Edavana.
By 22 February, 614 of the 815 men in the 5th Light Infantry had surrendered or been captured, fifty-two injured or killed, and 149 escaped. The weeklong mutiny was at an end.
The court-martials began the next day. Forty-one of the mutineers were sentenced to death and, on 1 April, faced a firing squad at the sepoy jail. The British therefore brought the mutiny to its grim conclusion on April Fool’s Day. The rest of the 5th captives were sent to West Africa. This mutiny had caused the death of forty British people as well as two Chinese.
Rumours circulated as a result of this incident. Some said that they were being spread by the Indian-Punjabi Ghadar Party while Singapore: A Popular History, 1819-1960 reckons that the Germans were behind them. This touched upon the wider issue of Indian independence, leading to the myth of the “Hindu-German Conspiracy” of World War I.
The mutiny also exposed how unprepared this British colony was for a war. The colonial officials were unable to appeal to Britain for military assistance and so could only redeploy the police force while recruiting Westerners living in Singapore to receive army training. These arrangements make it clear just how much the British mistrusted the three local communities: the Chinese, the Malays, and the Indians.
In fact, these three groups were not particularly concerned about the mutiny or even about the Great War in general. Colonial official W. G. Maxwell said in a report about the mutiny: “The native population of Singapore Island was quiet throughout. Chinese, Malays, and Tamils pursued their ordinary vocation. … There was amongst the Chinese in particular… an imperturbability which amounted to unconcern. Any feeling that was shown was that of sympathy with the Government. The natives of Northern India showed no sign of any sympathy with the mutineers.”
The Singaporean Indians might not have had any sympathy for the rebellious troops, but the colonial government still required the approximately 30,000 Indians to register with them in order to investigate this community. Similar tactics would later be used against the Chinese.
A History of Modern Singapore, 1819-2005 notes that the Japanese made up half of the civilian defenders against this mutiny, leading the British to have a friendly attitude towards them.
The volunteer troops at the time probably consisted of young people in their twenties. Thirty years later, these same individuals probably found it incomprehensible that the friends who had helped quell the mutiny were now transformed into enemies bent on killing them – and, once again, on 15 February.
4
In times of war, emergency funds are necessary, and military planes more so. The Si
ngapore Chinese business community donated both. On 21 May 1915, businessman Eu Tong Sen responded to the government’s call for an aircraft fund and spent £1,300 on a scout fighter plane, which he named Malaya No. 1 and donated to the British.
Malaya contributed a total of fifty-three planes to the war effort. Tan Wi Yan, Sim Cheng Mia, and Tan Kim Wah collaborated to donate another surveillance plane called Malaya No. 4; Lee Choon Guan and Lim Peng Siang gave Malaya No. 6; Tan Jiak Kim provided Malaya No. 21 at a cost of £2,250; and Malayan women of various races raised funds to buy Malaya No. 27.
The Chinese businessmen and volunteers who gave of their money and strength were, for most parts, Straits-born Chinese. When war broke out, apart from feeling an emotional connection to Britain, they also wished to demonstrate to the colonial government that they were patriots and loyal to George V.
5
In 1915, during the summer shadowed by war, Khoo Seok Wan – who had been bankrupt for eight years at this point – composed his poem “Affairs of a Summer Island”:
The small house’s sparse curtains are perfectly suited to summer,
I move my bed beneath the shady reach of trees.
Watching crows splash in the water, I recall the purity of wild ducks.
Such shame to speak of poverty while reciting scripture.
News of far-flung wars arouse fierce debate on this island,
Yet clouds obscure the truth of many matters.
The Taoist family is unaware of worldly powers,
But appreciates the landscape together.4