History of Singapore in the 20th Century Quiz

Answer: Johor

Johor is the southernmost state in Malayan Peninsula. The Johor-Singapore causeway is 1.056 km (0.66 ml) long, connecting Johor Bahru to Woodlands in Singapore across the Straits of Johor. The causeway was officially opened on June 28, linking Singapore with the Malay Peninsula and the rest of continental Asia.

The causeway functions as a road link for motor vehicles between the two countries. In present-day, it is one of the busiest land borders in the world with about 250,000 and 400,000 crossing daily. It was the only physical link between Singapore and the Malay Peninsula for almost three quarters of a century until the Second Link, which connects Tuas in Singapore to Tanjung Kupang in Gelang Patah, southwest Johor, was opened in 1998.

Answer: Kallang Airport

On June 12, 1937, Singapore's first purpose-built was officially opened, and was hailed as "the finest airport in the British Empire", making an important milestone in Singapore's aviation history. The airport was built on 300 acres of reclaimed mangrove swampland along the eastern edge of the Kallang Basin.

Eight days later, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan made a stopover at the new airport during her second attempt to fly around the world in 1937. Their stop in Singapore was a scheduled refueling and rest stop, necessary for such a long and demanding journey. Earhart was very impressed with the new airport, which she called an "aviation miracle of the East" and the "peer of any in the world" at that time.

The airport stopped operation in 1955; due to limited space and the increasing size of modern aircraft, the airport was unable to keep up with the growing demands of air travel. It was replaced by the Paya Lebar Airport, which was replaced by the Changi International Airport in 1981.

Answer: Naval base

The British naval base in Sembawang, northern tip of Singapore, was completed. The base was a cornerstone of the British defense strategy in the Far East until their withdrawal in the 1960s. The British government spent an enormous sum on the project, which cost £60 million and featured what was then the world's largest dry dock, the King George VI Graving Dock. The impressive scale of the naval base and Singapore's strategic location led Winston Churchill to call it the "Gibraltar of the East," implying that it was an impregnable fortress.

Since the British withdrawal in the 1970s, the naval base has been converted into a commercial shipyard, and the surrounding area has been redeveloped into a modern residential township.

Answer: February

The Battle of Singapore was fought from February 8 to 15. The Japanese forces of 36,000 troops, led by General Tomoyuki Yamashita, launched a surprise attack from the north. They advanced swiftly from the Malay Peninsula, utilising bicycles and swift tactics to overcome the superior British and Commonwealth forces of 85,000 troops. The Allied troops were caught largely unprepared.

The British formally surrendered Singapore to the Japanese imperial force on February 15, 1942, the first day of the Lunar New Year. Winston Churchill famously described the fall of Singapore as the "worst disaster and largest capitulation in British history".

During the Japanese occupation, Singapore was renamed Syonan-to, meaning "bright south island". Singapore served as a key military and propaganda hub for the region.

Answer: Communism

The British declared a state of emergency in Singapore on June 24, 1948, when the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) launched a complex campaign of urban subversion targeting the Chinese students and workers in Singapore. They influenced the trade unions and Chinese-educated schools to create labour unrest and violent demonstrations. The acts of violence and sabotage included assassination attempts against government officials and British interests.

Although the "emergency" in Singapore ended on July 31, 1960, the threat of the MCP did not fully cease at that time. The threat formally ended with the signing of the Hat Yai Peace Agreement on December 2, 1989. This peace accord, signed by the Communist Party of Malaya, Malaysia, and Thailand, saw the communist guerrillas finally lay down their arms

Answer: David Marshall

David Marshall (1908-1995), a lawyer, was a prominent figure in Singapore's path to self-governance. In the 1955 General Election, his party, Labour Front (LF), won 10 out of 25 seats, but did not have a clear majority. To form a government, LF formed a coalition with Alliance Party, which won three seats. He served for just over a year, resigning in 1956 after his delegation to London failed to in their negotiation for self-government. He was succeeded by Lim Yew Hock as chief minister.

During World War II, he had been captured by the Japanese after the fall of Singapore and was sent to a forced labour camp in Hokkaido, Japan. From 1978 to 1993, he served as Singapore's ambassador to France, Spain, Portugal, and Switzerland.

Answer: People's Action Party (PAP)

The election took place on May 30, 1959. PAP led by Lee Kuan Yew won a landslide victory, capturing 43 out of 51 seats in the Legislative Assembly, winning 54.08% of the popular votes. It was the first held under the new constitution that granted Singapore full internal self-government. Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in as Singapore's first Prime Minister on June 5, 1959.

The PAP platform in 1959 GE was outlined in its manifesto, "The Tasks Ahead", which focused on delivering a five-year plan to tackle pressing social and economic issues. The platform was built around the core goals of achieving full independence and building a fair and just society.

Answer: Weightlifting

Tan Howe Liang (1933 - 2024) emigrated to Singapore at the age of four from China. In 1952, he started serious training in weightlifting and was crowned national champion within a year of beginning training. At the 1960 Rome Olympics he competed in the lightweight category and finished second among 35 competitors. He set a new Olympic record for clean and jerk lifting a weight of 155 kg.

He was also the first Singaporean athlete to have won a medal at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games, and Southeast Asian Peninsular Games (SEAP), the predecessor to the SEA Games. He also set a world record in the clean and jerk in 1958 at the Commonwealth Games.

Answer: Indonesian confrontation

Indonesian first president, Sukarno, was against the creation of Malaysia which included Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei as part of the federation. He viewed the creation as a "neo-colonial project" of the British and as an attempt to undermine Indonesia's influence in the region.

Indonesia engaged in a campaign of sabotage and terrorism in Singapore. The Indonesian agents carried out a series of bombings aimed at causing panic, disrupting the economy, and intimidating the populace. There were more than 37 bomb attacks recorded. The most significant incident in Singapore was the 1965 bombing of MacDonald House on Orchard Road, which killed three people and injured many others.

Answer: 1965

Lee Kuan Yew fought for Singapore's merger with Malaya primarily for three reasons: economic survival, political stability, and fighting communism. He also wanted this merger as a strategy toward gaining full independence from British colonial rule. In the early 1960s, Singapore as a small island faced severe economic challenges with limited resources, rapidly growing population, and high unemployment rate. He saw the need for Singapore to industrialize, and required the Malayan peninsula to be the "hinterland" to provide raw materials and a customer base for Singapore's manufactured goods.

The short-lived merger was marked by political and racial tensions. In the end, irreconcilable differences led to Singapore to be expelled from the federation on August 9, 1965. Singapore was left alone to become a sovereign, independent republic.