Development of labour organisation in Singapore, 1800-1960

Australian Journal of Politics and History

Volumn 47, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 115-129

  Trocki, Carl A ^a  

^a NONE

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0035578504     PISSN: 00049522     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/1467-8497.00222     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. I am grateful to Dr Michael Barr who read and commented on earlier versions of this paper and who kindly supplied me with his collections of articles from the Straits Times.
2. Overall, it is difficult to speak of any other kind of labour besides Chinese during the nineteenth century when addressing the questions of organisation. Other ethnic groups were in the working classes of Singapore, but in general most of British Malaya's society was characterised by ethnic plurality and social organisation rarely crossed ethnic, or even subethnic lines except in certain cases. Unless otherwise specified, all references to labour in this paper will be to Chinese labour.
3. Ernest T.C. Chew and Edwin Lee eds, A History of Singapore (Singapore: Oxford University Press with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1991).
4. Chiu Kwei-Chiang, "Political Attitudes and Organizations, c. 1900-1941", Chew and Lee eds, A History of Singapore, pp. 66-91.
5. Yeo Kim Wah and Albert Lau, "From Colonialism to Independence, 1945-1965", in Chew and Lee, A History of Singapore, pp. 117-153.
6. Lee Ting Hui, The Open United Front: The Communist Struggle in Singapore, 1954-1966 (Singapore: South Seas Society, 1996).
7. James Francis Warren, Rickshaw Coolie: A. People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986); and "The Singapore Rickshaw Pullers: The Social Organization of a Coolie Occupation", Journal of South-East Asian Studies, xvi, 1, (1985), pp. 1-15.
8. James Francis Warren, Rickshaw Coolie: A. People's History of Singapore, 1880-1940 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1986); and "The Singapore Rickshaw Pullers: The Social Organization of a Coolie Occupation", Journal of South-East Asian Studies, xvi, 1, (1985), pp. 1-15.
9. Carl A. Trocki, Opium and Empire: Chinese Society in Colonial Singapore 1800-1910 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990).
10. Carl A. Trocki, Prince of Pirates: The Temenggongs and the Development of Johor and Singapore, 1784-1885 (Singapore: Singapore University Press 1979), pp. 17-39.
11. Trocki, Opium and Empire, pp. 29-49.
12. Warren, "The Singapore Rickshaw Pullers", p. 1.
13. Trocki, Opium and Empire.
14. Trocki, Prince of Pirates.
15. Wang Tai Peng, The Origins of Chinese Kongsi (Petaling Jaya, Malaysia: Pelanduk Publications 1994), p. 3.
16. Ibid., p. 5.
17. "Report on Chinese Immigration", Legislative Council Proceedings (Singapore: 1876), p. ccxiv. This report lists all registered societies. There were 66 Chinese societies in Singapore at the time, with a membership of 28,418. Eight of them were listed as "dangerous" and of these, six together had a membership of 11,507 and another four, not listed as dangerous (but whose status could be changed at any time) had 7,079 members. The remainder of the societies, 56 of them, listed as "friendly", had only 9,832 members. It is clear that the large, mass-based societies were the dangerous ones. It is also of interest that such groups as the "Seh" groups, or surname groups, which were known to be gangs of thugs used as labour crimps and enforcers for the revenue farmers, were not among the dangerous group.
18. Warren, "The Singapore Rickshaw Pullers", p. 2.
19. Warren, Rickshaw Coolies.
20. Ibid., pp. 83-92.
21. Ibid., pp. 113-4.
22. Constance M. Turnbull, A History of Singapore, 1819-1988 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 136-137.
23. Chui, "Political Attitudes and Organizations", p. 79.
24. Ibid., p. 80.
25. Ibid., p. 81.
26. Chan Heng Chee, A Sensation of Independence: A Political Biography of David Marshall (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 53.
27. Yeo, "From Colonialism to Independence", p. 124.
28. Ibid., pp. 128-9.
29. Ibid., p. 127.
30. Ibid.
31. Lee, The Open United Front.
32. Ibid., pp. 86-7.
33. Straits Times, 16 January and 3 February 1959.
34. Ibid., 1 June 1959.
35. Ibid., 15 June 1960.
36. Ibid., 8 September 1960.
37. Ibid., 14 November 1960.