History Test (15 April 2008) Corrections

a) Study Source A. What information does Source A reveal about the British’s attitude towards Singapore in 1869? Explain your answer. [4m]

Level 1 Lift information from the source (1m)

Source A shows that the British did not do enough for the welfare of the people of Singapore and they did not care very much for the needs of the people.

Level 2 Uses information from source and make attempts to explain from evidence (2-3m)

Source A shows that the British did not do enough for the welfare of the people of Singapore and they did not care very much for the needs of the people. This implies that the British were only concerned about their own interests.

In addition, Source A shows that the British were unwilling to pass laws which were detrimental to the business community. This suggests that the British were merely concerned with profits and the well-being of their business and not the welfare of the people.

(2m for 1 point and 3m for 2 points)

Level 3 Makes inferences using evidence from source and provides logical explanations with reference to the key topic of the questions (3-4m)

Source A shows that the British did not do enough for the welfare of the people of Singapore and they did not care very much for the needs of the people. This seems to imply that the efforts of the British towards meeting the needs of the people were lacking and hence meant that they were probably indifferent in their attitude towards Singapore.

In addition, Source A shows that the British were unwilling to pass laws which were detrimental to the business community. This suggests that the British were only concerned about protecting their own interests of trading and making profits and thus meant that the British were very selfish in their attitude towards Singapore.

b) Study Source C. How useful is Source C in showing the problems faced by the British in maintaining law and order in Singapore in the 19th Century CE? Explain your answer. [5m]

Level 1 One sided answer. Useful or Not useful without explanations. (1m)
Level 1 Two Sided answers with NO explanations. (2m)

Source C is useful in showing the problems faced by the British in maintaining law and order. Source C shows that the British were not able to control the secret societies and that there was not enough policemen.

OR/AND

Source C is not useful in showing the problems faced by the British in maintaining law and order as it did not show the problems of piracy and the abuses of the coolie trade.

Level 2 One sided answer. Useful or Not useful with explanations. (3-4m)
Level 2 Two sided answer. Useful and not useful with some explanations (3-4m)

Source C is useful in showing the problems faced by the British in maintaining law and order. Source C shows that the British’s ignorance of the Chinese language and customs was a great handicap in dealing with the secret societies. This implies that the British cannot effectively control the spread of secret societies activities due to the language barrier. In addition, Source C also shows that there were no European officials who could speak Chinese for seven years though there was a need for them. This implies that the British was not responding to the needs of the people and hence led to problems in maintaining law and order.

Source C also shows that there was no proper police force with only 18 policemen for a population of 16,000 in 1831. This suggests that the British cannot effectively control and prevent crimes as the police force was inadequate to deal with such a huge population. Hence, Source C is useful in showing that the British were unable to maintain law and order as they lacked the social services needed to do so.

OR/AND

However, Source C has its limitations in giving a complete account of the problems faced by the British in maintaining law and order. While Source C has given some problems faced by the British namely the language barrier and the lack of social services like an adequate police force, it failed to show the other problems. For example, it did not provide information regarding the nature of the activities of the secret societies. These societies controlled the coolie trade which resulted in many abuses of the immigrants. In addition, these societies were also involved many of the social vices like opium and gambling dens and prostitution. Hence the language barrier between the British and the Chinese has resulted in more serious problems and not merely a case of unfamiliarity with local customs.

In addition, Source C only deals with the internal problems faced by the British. It did not provide any information regarding the threat of piracy which affected the livelihood of the people of early Singapore. The threat of piracy caused fear and disrupted trade which in turn affected the economic growth of the settlement. This resulted in common people losing their livelihood who resorted to stealing and robbery to make ends meet. Hence the problem of piracy caused the British much difficulty in maintaining law and order.

Level 3 Two sided answer showing both strengths and limitations with good explanations. (5-6m)

Both of Level 2 answers

c) Study Sources A and B. How different are they in showing the weaknesses of the British Colonial Government in 1869? Explain your answer. [6m]

Level 1 Shows only similarities OR differences unexplained (1m)

Sources A and B are different as Source A is more detailed than Source B.

OR

Source A and B are similar as both show that the British government were mainly made up of British officials and hence bias.

Level 2 Shows both sides unexplained (2m)

Both of Level 1 answer.

Level 3 Shows only similarities OR differences explained (3-4m)
(3m for 1 point and 4m for 2 points)

Sources A and B are different in showing the weaknesses of the British Government. Source A shows that the senior officials in the Executive and Legislative Councils did not care very much for the needs of the people while Source B merely shows that the councils were made up of British officials and did not provide any information about their attitude towards the people. Source A thus more specific in providing information about the weakness of the British Government while Source B is factual, merely providing information about the structure of the government.

In addition, Sources A shows that the officials in the Legislative Council were not willing to pass laws to make the rich pay more taxes while Source B merely shows that the Legislative Council had the power to make laws. While Source A is more detailed and explanatory as it suggests that the British were not willing spend money on the people at the expense of their profits thus exposing their weakness as a government. However Source B is more factual as it merely provided information regarding the make-up of the Legislative Council and its function but failed to provide any explanations about the weakness of the government.

OR

Sources A and B are also similar to a certain extent. Source A shows that the Colonial Government did not do enough for the welfare of the people. This suggests that they were indifferent to the needs of the community. Similarly, Source C shows that the Colonial Government was made up of mainly British officials and Asian traders. This implies that the officials and even the Asian traders might have been more concerned with their own trading interests than the good of the people.
In addition, Source A shows that the government was not willing to pass laws to tax the rich more. This suggests that they were more concerned about profits than the people’s welfare. Similarly, Source C shows that the Legislative Council has the power to pass laws and since they were made up of mainly traders, it implies that they were also more concerned about profits rather than the needs of the common people.

Level 3 Shows both similarities and differences with attempts to explain (3-4m)

(3m for 1 point both sides and 4m for 2 points both sides)

Level 4 Shows both similarities and differences with good explanations of comparison of contents of the source (5-6m)

Both of Level 3 answers.
(5m for 1 point for both sides and 6m for 2 points for both sides)

Structured Essay Question (10 marks)

2. This question is about the British administration of Singapore in the 19th Century CE.

a) Describe how the locals of Singapore in the 19th Century CE were involved in the government. [2m]

Ÿ The locals of Singapore in the Government were mainly traders and merchants who were selected to speak on behalf of the people
Ÿ They served as non-official members of the Legislative Council whose primary function was to make new laws for the colony

b) Describe the success of Eunos Abdullah and failure of Dr Lim Boon Keng in the implementation of laws for Singapore in the 19th Century CE. [2m]

Ÿ Eunos Abdullah persuaded the British Government to improve the living conditions of the Malays and as such, a large piece of land was set aside for a Malay settlement known as Kampong Melayu.
Ÿ This settlement provided a large number of Malays with cheap housing as well as land to grow vegetables and rear poultry.
Ÿ However, Dr Lim Boon Keng’s request to ban opium was not successful. He spoke about the evils of opium and wanted the British government to ban opium.
Ÿ The British government was not willing to ban opium as that was a great source of revenue for the government and banning opium would meant a loss of revenue.


c) To what extent was the British Government successful in improving the welfare of the people in Singapore in the 19th Century CE? Explain your answer in detail. [6m]

Level 1 Listing British Government’s measures to improve social services (1-2 marks)

The British Government improved the Police Force, set up Chinese Protectorate, schools and hospitals.

Level 2 Explain measures with reference to success of improving welfare of the people (3-4 marks)

The British government was successful in improving the welfare of the people in early Singapore. Due to the problems created by the Chinese secret societies, the people lived in fear and anxiety. To solve the problem, the British government improved the police force by giving its officers proper training and better pay. It also employed capable officials who could speak the local dialects so that they could resolve conflicts among the locals easily. Hence law and order improved and the people could go about their livelihood without much worry about their safety.

In addition, the British government also stepped up its efforts to provide for social services like education and health. Schools were set up to provide education for locals so that they could fill up posts in the government offices and trading companies. This provided the people with a means of living and hence their welfare improved. Health care was also given to the people when the government set up the Public Health Department. This measure was taken to prevent the spread of infectious diseases which would greatly affect the economic prosperity of Singapore. As such, the people’s welfare improved.

Level 3 Explain measures with reference to success and limitations of the efforts by the British Government (5-6 marks)

Level 2 answer plus:

While the British government did improve the social services for the people, much was done in order to meet their own objectives. In the area of law and order, the British Government improved the police force and set up the Chinese Protectorate to see to the problems created by the Chinese community. However, this was done mainly because the British felt that the problems created the Chinese were detrimental to the economic health of the settlement. They did so probably to ensure that their trading interests was protected and not disrupted by these problems.

In addition, the structure of the British Government was made up primarily of British officials. There were very few Asian representatives in the Legislative Council and as such it was very difficult for these Asian to effectively bring about improvements to the masses. Also, it was not until 1924 that the number of non-official members was increased and equaled to the official members of the council. This suggests that the British Government was not really concerned about improving the welfare of the people but more to safeguard their own trading interests.
More importantly, the British were seen to be the Colonial masters. In the government service, Asians who were more qualified were not given the opportunities to hold senior positions and were also paid lower than their British counterparts. Social discrimination was also practiced where Asians were discouraged from traveling in first-class carriages and they were not allowed to use the dance floor or bar reserved solely for the Europeans. These discriminatory practices did not augur well with the locals and thus the rift between masters and ‘servants’ grew wider.

Hence, the British may be successful in improving certain aspects of the welfare of the people through its measures but they were not very successful in raising the level of happiness and loyalty of the people. This would affect the welfare of the people as they felt that they were being discriminated against.