Chapter 16 Chapter 16 The Battle of Chinese Education

I had to take a position where the communists couldn't scold me for being an uneducated Chinaman.If I take one wrong step on this subject, I will be defeated by them.If they can prove that I prefer English to Chinese as the primary medium of instruction in schools, then I will not be able to restore the respect and support of the Chinese or dialect community to me. Working with the Communist United Front, I began to experience a baptism of fire.Lim Chin Siong, Fang Shui Shuang and other communists still believe that conflict with the police and even the government is a way to increase the revolutionary enthusiasm of the people and arouse more hatred among the people.I'm not sure if they knew that the PAP would have to be banned and the radical trade unions led by the Communist Party would be suppressed.At times, Lim Ching Siong and Fong Shui Shuang seem to have listened to my advice and only adopted the method of constitutional struggle, launching long negotiations with the management and at the same time conducting passive resistance to avoid bloodshed.However, their traditions and backgrounds are quite different from mine. In their minds, there must be different modes of struggle.

Whatever the truth, I was in an exceptionally difficult situation.While I cannot and will not defend them, I cannot condemn them either, or our united front will be divided.I am under great pressure.The chief minister convened an emergency meeting of the Legislative Assembly on May 16. The real purpose was to take advantage of the public’s aversion to trade unions, isolate and reprimand the PAP, and at the same time break the non-communist elements in the PAP with the communists.This time, Goode took the lead.He gave a powerful speech in which he pointed the finger at me: "For the sake of power... the PAP and the communist supporters and behind-the-scenes people hidden among them only want to see riots, bloodshed and labor unrest." He He also said: "If the honorable member believes that democratic self-government should be gradual, then he should oppose communism; if he is really opposed, please say it loudly and clearly, without hesitating or hawing He lamented the violence after the riots and the loss of life. Let me ask him: What preventive steps did he take before the riots? Did he have a clear conscience? Or was he out of control? The Bukit Timah district councilor (Lim Chin Siong) who sits behind him and directs the DAP?"

It was John Eade who spoke next.He is an immigrant white man who won the Tanglin District seat as the candidate of the Progressive Party.Since the political climate at the time was anti-white, it made it easier for me to deal with him getting up and speaking.Immediately after he had finished speaking, I stood up and said, I am glad that I am answering the questions of two Englishmen.If it had been Marshall, "he would have weighed every word more carefully, and would have done it more carefully, with a better understanding of the difficulties and dangers of the situation, and with a better understanding of the hopes, fears, and aspirations of his people...  

"We are not here as prisoners to face charges or to be held accountable for crimes committed." I continued in a defiant tone, "I am here as a representative of the people , therefore, I will speak as a representative of the people." I reiterated the PAP's position: "We want to destroy the colonial system non-violently. We swear not to use violence...We are not prepared to fight for the colonial system, extend the It exists, or perpetuates it. But just return power to us and we will fight the communists or any other force that threatens the very existence of an independent, democratic and non-communist Malaya."

Before the riots, I explained to the Sydney Daily Mirror correspondent the problems facing the moderates in the PAP.According to The Straits Times, I said: "In Singapore, whoever wants to gain the support of the Chinese-speaking or dialect people cannot take an anti-communist stance. The Chinese here are very proud of China. If I were to I will vote for communism, and the vast majority of Chinese will do the same." I hope to win enough Chinese to vote against the Communist Party with us and support independence and democracy.Yet deep down in my heart, I know that this goal will not be easy to achieve as long as the success of Communist China continues to inspire them.

Marshall's Prophecy Since I had praised Marshall during my speech, he wavered again, confusing even his supporters.He said the following words to keep the credibility of the PAP from being discredited.He said: "There are a lot of responsible, decent and honest people in the PAP. If they can purge the party of communists and fellow travelers - and they know there are such people in the party - if they dare to take their own responsibility responsibility, then their organization may one day lead the country to independence as they hope.” Neither he nor I expected that these words would become a prophecy.

However, Marshall did not know that because of this speech, especially his eagerness to resolve disputes and avoid conflicts, he opened Pandora's box.Every worker, every trade union leader, and every Communist cadre in Singapore knows that they can use the government to achieve their own goals; they can also use the government to intimidate employers, gain benefits, and take over the power of management. Their success has paid off.By August 1955, the membership of the Federation of Factory and Shop Workers in various industries in Singapore had increased to 23,000, of which Chinese youths accounted for the majority.English-educated associates in the federation—now five Indians, including Devanna, Uhar, James Putuchari, and Domini Putuchari—helped the Chinese-educated to destroy the British colonial system.Their strategy is to infiltrate existing unions and organize new ones.The Singapore Chinese Secondary School Students' Association has in fact become their affiliated group.Their weapon is a sympathy strike.If there was a dispute in any institution, they threatened to call a strike for all employees.

This was to form a united front of workers, students and farmers (one of the few in Singapore) with the aim of inciting labor unrest, turning labor disputes into political disputes, deepening class hatred and racial hatred against whites, and inspiring the populace to despise the authorities.After the Federation of Factory and Store Workers in Singapore developed into an octopus-style union through members speaking Chinese or dialects, Lim Ching Siong and Fang Shuishuang turned their targets to the Singapore Harbor Board Staff Union, the Military Port Employees Union and the city council Union of Workers.These unions are all non-communist organisations, but their Indian, Malay and English-speaking Chinese members are prepared to follow the FFSF.They now realize that they can also use the fighting spirit and intimidation of the Chinese trade unions to launch sympathy strikes to achieve their goals.

Black also saw that the situation had deteriorated. On September 26, he wrote in his report to Po Ai: "During the election period...some people made excessive speeches and attacked the government...The people's action party's rallies were also crowded with organized labor and Chinese school students; the masses sentiments were subtly stirred up. All this led to a loss of respect for the legitimate authorities and increased the prestige of those who... openly challenged the government." Labor tides come and go During this period, labor movements in Singapore came and went.In the nine months from April 7 to December 1955, there were 260 strikes.However, the results of these radical developments have worked in my favor.

On June 19, 1955, the City Council Workers' Federation threatened to strike because the request for adjustment of benefits proposed in the previous year had not been resolved.The city council has warned that if union members strike, it will issue stop-work notices while hiring contractors to provide essential services.Negotiations between the two parties eventually broke down. The strike began on August 17. Three days later, though, the union asked me to be their legal adviser.The members of the trade union are mainly Indian daily wage workers, and most of them are engaged in cleaning and garbage collection in urban areas.Unions are large, with thousands of members.The union leader was an Indian named Subiya.He is squinting, smart and uneducated.During the strike, some unfortunate accidents occurred and they resorted to violence.I replied that I was honored to be their legal adviser, but I put forward the condition that they go on strike peacefully.They agreed, and several negotiations turned out to be constructive.

On September 8th, Sir Black Ridge reported to Purity: "A number of disturbing incidents of brutality, in a familiar manner, ceased abruptly after a few days. Is this due to the Lee Kuan Yew, it's hard to be sure, but it might be." The two sides reached an agreement on September 7."Contrary to what was generally expected... the strike did not go by half way and the union won considerable concessions from management... for two main reasons. The first is that the City Council has its own weaknesses... The second is that Lee Kuan Yew, the secretary-general of the People's Action Party, came forward to mediate in his capacity as the union's legal adviser. In fact, his mediation is beneficial to both parties. His personal status may also be greatly improved by the resolution of the labor unrest." The method of constitutional confrontation I adopted was to act within the scope of the law, which was very different from the method adopted by the Communists, and the result was very effective.But my methods would not be so effective without Communists acting outside the bounds of the law and resorting to violence.The option I proposed was not likely to be offensive, so the British accepted it.By the same token, Tengku Rahman would never have been able to speak to the growing number of Malays in the countryside if there hadn’t been terrorist incidents in the Malay Peninsula that made the British feel ashamed to surrender to the communists. And strive for the independence of Malaya.The methods adopted by the Communist Party are unacceptable.In this way, the constitutional means that the nationalists resorted to to gradually erode the functioning of the colonial government became effective and acceptable to the colonialists.In India before the war, since there was no threat from the Communist Party, it would take decades for passive constitutional resistance to be effective. Just as the unions continued to brew and grow in strike power, Marshall went from one political crisis to another.He has a knack for creating political crises.In the midst of continuous industrial unrest and riots, he clashed with the Governor Sir Blackridge for the creation of four more Deputy Minister posts.When the Governor only promised two more, he decided to make the dispute public.He claimed that the Governor-General has no power to disregard the views of the Chief Minister and threatened to resign if the Governor-General refused to consult with him before taking any steps.He demanded that Britain grant full self-government to Singapore.The governor-general extended the validity of the emergency decree, which expired on July 21, by three months, although the extension must be formally passed by the Legislative Assembly in its next session.Marshall's quid pro quo was that the British would grant Singapore self-government "in the shortest time possible". The utter boredom and irresponsibility of the political parties at that meeting of the Legislative Assembly was typical of them.When Marshall proposed the relevant motion, he explained that it was a matter of principle related to the constitution.After swearing at the Governor General and colonialism, he turned to me and said that the Tanjong Pagar MP "used to annoy me with his loud shouting" but he was "the leader of the opposition in the eyes of the public" .He then asked me to second his motion.By making this request, he virtually denied Goode's accusation against the PAP just two months ago, on April 26.At that time, Goode pointed out that the People's Action Party was a tool of the Communists and was willing to be their minion.Of course, it was my honor to second Marshall's motion, and I could not refuse.I said, "I find it hard to imagine anyone disapproving of this motion. The native people are determined to free themselves from the colonial civil servants, agents of a European power, serving the interests of Europeans 8,000 miles away. But, I think The solution lies in politics, not law." mouse becomes lion The House adjourned on July 22.When the meeting resumed three days later, Progressive MP Lim Kun Teck tried to run faster than Marshall and I.He suggested: "Let us . The word "self-government" in the motion is changed to "independent".In other words, he demanded immediate "independence" for Singapore.Such stupidity is unbelievable.The Progressive Party has always advocated a moderate approach to independence, and now he has suddenly played tricks to make the Progressive Party look more radical than the Labor Front and the People's Action Party.I said: "Today we are really blessed to see such a strange scene of a mouse turning into a lion... I can't believe that a week ago a certain gentleman said here that we are not qualified or fit to tell Her Majesty's government that her The representative should take the advice of the Chief Minister of the Colony, and on Monday . . . " The amendment was finally defeated, and the original motion for immediate self-government was passed.The timing was just right, and the Colonial Secretary, Boyle, was coming in a week, just in time to put pressure on him.But by taking this step, the Progressive Party has ruined itself, and it is no longer a sound and reliable party.Today in Singapore, there is no longer a tightly knit right-wing political force or a centrist political force.With successive crises on the labor front and internal turmoil, the people of Singapore had to choose between the communists and the non-communist elements of the PAP. Pau arrived in Singapore, met Marshall, and then continued to Malaya. On August 3, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly read a letter from the Governor to the House, claiming that the Minister of Colonial Affairs had discussed the Singapore issue with the Chief Minister, and that he would continue with the Chief Minister after he returned to Singapore from Malaya on August 15. discuss.After being soothed by Bo Mi, Marshall looked and spoke sympathetically.He said, "Perhaps we should put this matter aside for the time being and continue with general discussions." I disagreed, and pointed out that, from the Governor's letter, there had been no substantial change in his position since the last meeting Change, "except that day, our Chief Minister became more ferocious".I proceeded to move a motion to prevent Marshall's motion to thank the Governor from passing the House.I had the support of the House, and Marshall was blue with rage. However, on August 18th, the Speaker read another letter from the Governor, stating that he would act on the advice of the Chief Minister in all matters except the adjournment and dissolution of the House.The letter also stated that the British government welcomes Singapore to send a delegation to London to discuss constitutional issues at an appropriate time.Marshall declared, "This is indeed a great day for Singapore, the end of the first phase of our struggle for freedom. It marks the beginning of a new era - an exhilarating victory".In a moment of excitement, Marshall moved again that the Speaker "... ask the Governor, on behalf of all, to thank the Secretary of the Colonial Office for his sympathy with our wishes."I'm not going to do that, I'm threatening to quit.I need time to research the implications of this thank you motion.Marshall jumped up.However, my objection motion was denied. Fighting Marshall was fun, but I had more serious things to attend to.The future of Chinese language, culture and education is still a serious problem.Prior to this, the riots at the Chinese middle school subsided temporarily, and the political party committees "appealed" to the government not to expel students, nor to give reasons why the schools should not be closed.This committee has come up with an ingenious solution to a serious face problem.The government inadvertently discovered a good way, through private consultations, so that both parties can find a solution to the problem, so that the problem will not be deadlocked in full view.If there is an open discussion, as long as there are shortcomings in any solution, the Chinese newspaper will report it, and it will become a point of debate, bargaining and propaganda. The proposals of various political party committees are quite effective, and are beneficial to Chinese education and the harmony of a multi-racial society.The situation appears to be gradually improving, but a crisis lurks as further pressure looms on the Communists to act.About 90% of Chinese adults in Singapore, if educated at all, were educated in Chinese.However, since the promulgation of the Emergency Act in 1948, the number of Chinese children entering British schools has increased dramatically. In 1950, there were 25,000 more students in Chinese schools than in English schools. By 1955, the ratio was reversed, and there were 5,000 more students in English schools than in Chinese schools.The Malayan Communist Party does not know the exact figures, but they see this trend and feel that it must be stopped, lest the source of recruitment be cut off.As a result, the struggle to preserve Chinese education has become more relevant to the Communists than in the past. the problem gets tougher Since many parents also love Chinese culture, they are not enthusiastic about introducing English subjects in Chinese schools, which makes the problem faced by the non-communist elements in the government and PAP even more difficult.If they want the government to cover the administrative costs of all Chinese schools, the schools themselves must follow government regulations in terms of curriculum and discipline. I believe that the only politically plausible policy, whether practical or not, is a trilingual system, with Malay, the future national language of Malaya, as the common language, and English as the language of international trade and science At the same time, it is stipulated that Chinese is the mother tongue of Chinese people, and Tamil, Hindi or Punjabi is the mother tongue of Indians.The chairman of the party committees is Education Minister Chow Swee Lin, and the other seven members include a Malay, Local Government Minister Hami Yumer.I worked with both of them for the next nine months, and they were receptive to my advice.Together we drafted a report that included my comments.The report also recommends rewriting all textbooks in Chinese schools.The textbooks used by Chinese schools in the past were all used in China under the rule of the Kuomintang before the war. During this period, Lin Chingxiang and Fang Shuishuang were not idle.They continued with the typical united front tactics, which I soon became familiar with.Lim Ching Siong had himself elected as the chairman of a Chinese education committee representing 16 trade unions and the Singapore Chinese School Parents Association.However, this is only the beginning.He has a larger list on hand of all the people and organizations he can call upon. But this is only one side of the octopus-like union.Lim Ching Siong also wants to absorb many traditional Chinese clan halls.Since these guild halls were all affiliated to the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, he tried to win the support of Chen Liushi, the chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.Chen Larkshi was an uneducated, wealthy rubber merchant.He vigorously defended the Chinese language and education, and donated the most money alone. He founded a university in Singapore, so that Chinese school students throughout Southeast Asia have the opportunity to receive higher education.He admired the new China very much, and as long as the Communists did not harm his interests, he was willing to deal with them.Lim Chin Siong got his consent, and on June 6, 1955, the Chinese Entrepreneur Association, its affiliated clan associations, and Lim Chin Siong's "Education Committee" jointly held a general meeting. Ye Pingyu, vice president of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, is an English-educated comprador who works for OCBC Bank.He didn't want Lim Chin Siong to take advantage of it, so he managed to compress the conference into a meeting attended by representatives of only six education groups. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how to submit a memorandum to the government requesting that the government treat Chinese schools and British schools equally.Before the meeting, it has been stipulated that no debate will be held on the day of the meeting, and no new proposals will be proposed, but the relevant proposals will be directly voted on.However, despite careful arrangements in advance to prevent the meeting from being manipulated, the chairman did not dare to resolutely enforce the meeting rules against pro-communist elements, so Lim Chin Siong still managed to break the rules and go against the chairman's wishes.He proposed a memorandum, not only requiring Chinese schools and British schools to have the same status, but also asking the government to allocate funds to build Chinese schools, implement six-year primary school education free of charge, and recognize the right of students to form self-government associations (that is, each middle school should set up a radical self-government association). A branch of the Singapore Chinese Secondary School Students' Association).He agrees with the need to revise school textbooks to reflect the Malayan context - a formal CPM policy to curry favor with the Malays in Malaya, who make up about half of the Malayan population , without their support, the struggle against the British colonialists may not be able to win.In addition, he asked the Chinese to revise their textbooks without the government interfering. When the chairman struggled to enforce the rules of the meeting, Fang Shuishuang asked to speak on behalf of the Singapore Bus Workers Federation, but the chairman refused.Fang Shuishuang then spoke directly to the audience.At that time, there were some supporters of Lim Chin Siong crowded in the venue. They gave loud cheers of approval, expressing their solidarity with each other, and at the same time scaring the chairman.The chairman had to submit.Thus, Lin Qingxiang and Fang Shuishuang took control of the entire venue. In such an atmosphere, the auditorium was packed with representatives of clan associations and pro-communist trade union activists, and the chauvinists who defended the Chinese language and culture gained the upper hand.The principal of Chung Cheng High School, Zhuang Zhulin (who later became the principal of Nanyang University), opposed the revision of Chinese history and geography textbooks. His objection was enthusiastically supported, and Lim Chin Siong was forced to abandon his proposal to change the textbooks to have a Malayan background.In addition, other proposals beneficial to the Communist Party were all passed.Lim Chin Siong got everything he wanted, and he also had the support of the traditional leaders of the Mandarin-speaking or dialect groups. In the reports of the various political party committees, the memorandum of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce was placed at the top of the appendix, but nothing was mentioned about its suggestions. When Zhou Ruilin addressed the report in the Legislative Council in February 1956, no one raised any objections.The report was the best compromise we could think of, and representatives from all parties signed it.Zhou Ruilin promised to launch a comprehensive debate on this topic later when the education white paper is tabled in the House for discussion.The full debate started on April 5, 1956, and Zhou Ruilin gave a good speech.He had discussed the content of the speech with me beforehand and showed me a draft in which I added a few points I suggested."The main purpose of introducing bilingual and trilingual education is because we urgently need to foster a sense of Singapore-centrism and common allegiance to Malaya among our students," he said. The content of the proposal is actually very simple.First, English schools also teach their mother tongue—Chinese for Chinese, Malay for Malays, Tamil or several other Indian languages ​​for Indians.Chinese school students must learn English or Malay in primary school, and both languages ​​in secondary school.Students in Malay schools also have to learn English in primary school, and in secondary school, they can learn a third language if they like.This proposal fully meets the demands of the ACP elements in the PAP. Behind the battle of language and education, there is another struggle for the political voice and political power of both communists and non-communists.Chinese businessmen, leaders of clan associations, and giants of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce all hope to have their elected representatives in the Legislative Council who can speak for the Chinese in fluent Chinese instead of unfluent English, hoping to expand their influence and wealth.They have submitted a memorandum to the Linde Commission in the past recommending multilingualism in the Legislative Assembly, which was rejected.We supported their proposals long before the PAP was formally formed in November 1954.Today, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce once again proposes to list Mandarin as one of the official languages. Yet in a multiracial, multilingual society there is the unavoidable question of how to organize a functioning legislative chamber and government without degenerating into chaotic and noisy utopian schemes.Every long-standing community in the world has a main language, and anyone who immigrates to this community has to learn this language; if you go to the United States or Canada, you have to learn English, and if you go to Quebec, you must learn French. When Raffles opened up Singapore in 1819, in the first urban planning map, several areas were divided, so that different races lived separately, and even different dialect groups of the Chinese lived separately.Then the British rulers introduced a large number of Chinese, Indians and Malays, allowing them to use their respective languages ​​​​in different regions without interference. Now this historical legacy is causing trouble for Marshall.Unsurprisingly, under the pressure of the public, he proposed such a bill to the Legislative Assembly on February 9, 1956: "This House considers that, for the convenience of oral debate, English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil should be the The lingua franca of the House; a selection committee in the House to review the reports of the party committees and make the necessary recommendations." Marshall knew he might be accused of impracticality in doing so.He said he was once told by a Malayan: "If there is polyglotism, you will give us to the Chinese. They will drown us." He replied: "But, sir, we must accept majority rule The principle. The Chinese make up 76 percent of our population. Let's not evade this issue." This is typical of the Marshallese style.He was half idealist, half (perhaps more than half) opportunist, eager to prove himself more Chinese than the Chinese, so that the Chinese would make him their fighter, at least for one more term. At that time, I clearly knew that my political disadvantage was my inability to understand Chinese and dialects, let alone master them.I recounted my own experience: "When I was a child, I entered an English school and planned to go to an English university to study in order to become an educated person. I grew up and finally graduated from university. I finally found that the whole set of values ​​is basically It's wrong. I felt that way long before I entered politics." Then I quoted Nehru's words.He said he cried because he didn't speak his mother tongue as well as English. "I'm not an emotional person. I don't cry a lot, I don't pull my hair, I don't tear paper, I don't tear off my shirt, but that doesn't mean I don't feel that way any less. My son is not going to an English school, he will not be a typical English gentleman. Of course I hope he knows enough English to talk to his father about things other than the weather." This is a portrayal of my mood at the time.I think these words are pleasing to the people who speak Chinese or dialect. The Malayan Communist Party is very concerned about the government's enforcement of discipline in Chinese schools.They worry that the government's actions will prevent students from being "used by political groups to overthrow legitimate governments by unconstitutional means" in the future.To make matters worse, through newspapers, magazines, literature and movies, English will present a completely different world to students.They will observe the world through binoculars instead of one eye and the Chinese through a telescope.I had to take a position where the communists couldn't scold me for being an uneducated Chinaman.If I take one wrong step on this subject, I will be defeated by them.If they can prove that I prefer English to Chinese as the primary medium of instruction in schools, then I will not be able to restore the respect and support of the Chinese or dialect community to me. In the middle of 1955, I sent 3.5-year-old Long to Nanyang Kindergarten, which taught in Chinese.One day, members of the political party committees and I visited the school. He thought I was looking for him at school, so he picked up his schoolbag and prepared to go home with me.His move made everyone present laugh.Afterwards, Chinese newspapers published a picture of Long in kindergarten, making it known to the Chinese that he was educated in Chinese.I am convinced, and I also believe that the three children should receive education in the language and culture of their ancestors, which virtually gave me a kind of proof that the Communists could not blame me.My two younger children, Wei Ling and Hsien Yang, followed Long and entered Nanyang Kindergarten and then Nanyang Primary School.Later, both Lung and Yang were admitted to Catholic secondary schools, while Ling went on to Nanyang Girls' High School.The three of them were fully educated in Chinese, but because they talked to their mother in English at home, they spoke English as fluently as they spoke Chinese.They have learned Malay since they were 6 years old, so they also mastered Malay. Little did I know at the time what lucky parents Chi and I were.Later, I discovered that to be able to use two languages ​​effectively, one needs to have an IQ of at least l10 (or at least 125 for trilinguals).It is much more difficult to be bilingual, English and Chinese, than to be proficient in English and another European language.The difficulties posed by bilingualism have haunted our education policy for the next 40 years, and no satisfactory solution has been found even today, and probably never will be.