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1. Assign a Group Leader, Scribe, Time Keeper and Presenter

2. All to contribute in the discussion

3. Write down your assigned source and findings in the table on p. 3 of your handout

4. Refer to Annex A for your assigned source and questions to answer

5. Scribe to key in your group’s findings and final answer on the inference question on Padlet

6. Presenter to showcase the group’s findings and inference answer to the class

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Source E: Adapted from the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 7 December 1851 

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Source E: Adapted from the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 7 December 1851 

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The suppression of piracy must be provided by the general Government and not by the Municipal funds. If the existing marine is too weak for the efficient discharge of this important duty it should be strengthened, but not by weakening the Police. The English government has always neglected the systemic suppression of piracy, leaving the pirates for long intervals to pursue their nefarious calling unheeded. The Straits Government has generally done what it could in the matter, but the miserable and undermanned steamers and gunboats it has usually been supplied with, have been quite unfit for any real work.

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Source A: Adapted from an account given by a coolie named Lew Ship Yit to William Pickering, Protector of the Chinese in Singapore, in the late 1870s

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Source A: Adapted from an account given by a coolie named Lew Ship Yit to William Pickering, Protector of the Chinese in Singapore, in the late 1870s

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A friend of mine suggested I leave China by saying, “Look how poor you are here. If you follow me, I can take you to Singapore, where you will get such good employment. Very soon you will pay off the small amount of passage money required and will save a lot of money.” On arriving in Singapore, we were taken to a shop upstairs and were locked up, only having very little rice and saltfish. We could not go out for anything. I don’t complain much about food, as long as I can get some work to make money. But we were not allowed to speak up or know what was being done with us.

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Source C: Adapted from a newspaper report about Chinese Secret Societies in Singapore, 1837

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Source C: Adapted from a newspaper report about Chinese Secret Societies in Singapore, 1837

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The many burglaries and robberies committed within this Settlement of late years, have been by bands of Chinese. It is an undisputed fact that there exists throughout the empire of China, powerful secret associations. The goal of these organisations is to offer mutual assistance to each other in whatever country they go. Though this goal seems to be good, yet it is notorious, that among the half-civilised hordes who emigrate from China, the goals generally degenerate from mere mutual assistance to plunder. In these settlements especially, such is their goal, they engaged to defend each other against attacks by others, hide each other’s crimes, and assist members to make their escape from the hands of justice.

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Source D: Account on the plight of karayuki girls by Hisatoro Matsubara, a shop assistant who worked at the Koyama Clothing Shop in Singapore, from 1912-1926

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Source D: Account on the plight of karayuki girls by Hisatoro Matsubara, a shop assistant who worked at the Koyama Clothing Shop in Singapore, from 1912-1926

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Since my shop was near the suteretsu (Malay Street), I was often asked by the karayuki girls to write letters for them. The girls would come to see me when the shop was not bust, and dictate letters such as, ‘because master and mistress have made me buy an expensive kimono, I cannot save very much toward repayment of the debt. This is all I can afford to send you this month’, or ‘times are difficult and I cannot earn very much. I am sorry but I cannot send you any money this month.’

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Source B: Chinese coolies taking in cargo at Singapore, 1873

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Source B: Chinese coolies taking in cargo at Singapore, 1873

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Group 1 & 6: Source A
Group 2 & 7: Source B
Group 3: Source C
Group 4: Source D
Group 5: Source E

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1. Why was there an issue with piracy in Singapore before it became a Crown Colony of Britain?

2. What can you infer about how the issue of piracy was being managed before Singapore became a Crown Colony of Britain?

3. Suggest one solution in which your government can do to tackle the issue of piracy.

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1. How were coolies brought into colonial Singapore?

2. What were the issues that the coolies faced when they arrived in colonial Singapore?
3. What can you infer about the coolies’ experience in colonial Singapore?

4. Suggest one solution in which your government can do to help the coolies.

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1.  Why were the Chinese secret societies created?

2. What problems did the Chinese secret societies bring to colonial Singapore?

3. What can you infer about the impact of Chinese secret societies in colonial Singapore?

4. Suggest one solution in which your government can do to tackle the problems caused by the Chinese secret societies.

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1. How were the karayuki girls brought into colonial Singapore?

2. What were the issues that the karayuki girls faced when they arrived in colonial Singapore?

3. What can you infer about the karayuki girls’ experience in colonial Singapore?

4. Suggest one solution in which your government can do to help the karayuki girls.

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1. Based on Source B, what are the coolies doing at the dockyard? Who else is there with them? What are these people doing?

2. What can you infer about the working conditions of coolies in colonial Singapore?  3. Suggest one solution in which your government can do to help the coolies.

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The coolies are transporting goods. There are some employers standing next to them. From source B, I can infer that the working conditions of the coolies are very harsh as they have to unload many heavy goods from the ship onto the shipdock. They also look famished as they might not have gotten food for a few days and are so skinny that the rib cage can be seen
SUGGESTED SOLUTION
the government can employ some officers to go around on a patrol to make sure that the cookies are not treated unfairly. They can also set up a department where coolies have the opportunity to tell the officers that they are being mistreated and perhaps the officers can provide some food and let them rest for a while
Grp 2 :) 🙆🏼🙋

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Kaile, Reiko, yudian, Edmund, Clara, Michelle
Q1.  They were brought in ships and were deceived that they would earn money and live a good life.
Q2. They had little food and pressurized to not tell anyone about their slavery.
Q3.I can infer that the coolies experience in Singapore was horrible. This can clearly be seen from” having very little rice and salt fish”, “ could not go out for anything” and “we were not allowed to speak up” . The evidence suggest that the coolies had very little food for survival. They were also not allowed to tell anyone about how they were locked up and was pressurized not to tell others about their slavery. The coolies were in a very controlled environment and were like slaves. Thus, I can infer that the coolies experience in Singapore was horrible.
Q4. They should capture and pressure them to tell the government about their enslavement.

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1.There was an issue with piracy in Singapore because the marine was too weak and the english government has always neglected the systemic supression of piracy, leaving pirates long interval to pursue their nefarious calling unheeded.
2. I can infer that the issue of piracy was being poorly managed befor Singapore became a crown colony of Britain. Source E states'The english government has always neglected the systemic suppression of piracy, leaving the pirates for long intervals to pursue their nefarious calling unheeded. This suggests that the British did not use enough money to stop piracy. They did not do much efforts and did not care much about the piracy situation. Hence, the issue of piracy was being poorly managed.

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They were tricked into coming to Singapore, as they were probably promised promising, well-paid jobs, but instead, when they reached colonial Singapore, they were forced into prostitution.

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They did not have enough money and did not have any choice over what they could do, as their ‘masters’ forced them to do whatever they wanted the girls to do. The girls were probably very oppressed and suffering from phycological, mental and maybe physical illness

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Question 3:
From source c, I can infer that it has a negative impact on Singapore. Source c says "In these settlements especially, such is their goal, they engaged to defend each other against attacks by others, hide each other's crimes, and assist members to make their escape from the hands of justice" This suggests that the people in the societies have bad intentions implanted in their mind. The crime rate has increased greatly which made singapore unsafe. They committed a lot of crimes but they always escape and hide to avoid facing the consequences of spending their days in jail. Therefore, I can infer that it gives off a negative impact of chinese secret societies in Singapore.

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Group 6
Merrill Kelynn Ke Han Guan Zhi Celeste
1. The coolies were tempted by huge profits by coolie-agents or wanted to earn money abroad or were kidnaped
2. The coolies were extremely restricted and barely received any remittance. They were starved and exploited for labour.
3.

I can infer that the coolies’ experience in Singapore was agonising. Source A states,’we were taken to a shop upstairs and were locked up, only having very little rice and saltfish. We could not go out for anything’. This suggests that instead of having a better way of life the coolies were exploited and were treated like cattle. They were barely given any food and were heavily malnourished. They had no say in anything. They were slaves. As such, their experience in Singapore was agonising

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They suffered a lot and found the experience horrible and very traumatised.They were probably depressed even though they were promised well-paid jobs, causing them not having enough money.

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1) These secret societies were created was to offer mutual assistance to each other wherever they went. Basically they offer support to the chinese financially or mentally to those in the region.
2) Burglaries and robberies were common within the settlement of late years. They also tried to defend their own kind and hide each other's crime to allowing each other to escape the hands of justice.

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We feel that the government can ban prostitution and since the girls would be jobless then, the government should offer alternative job options for them, no only that, the government should also provide mental and financial support to the girls

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Merrill Ke Han Celeste Guan Zhi Kelynn
4. Ban the trade of coolies

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Tian Yu, Shanglin, Lanxiang, Jereth, Arwen, Xinyao

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3. Acoording to Source E, I can infer that the government can provide sufficient cash for the unemployed to survive and not have the need to become pirates.The government should also employ more policemen and buy better steamers and gunboats. Souce E states " The straits Goverment has generally done what it could in the matter, but the miserable and undermanned steamers and gunboats it has usually bee supplied with, have been quite unfit for any real work." This shows that the equiptment used by the police were not up to date and could not hold its own when fighting the pirates. Moreover, the boats were undermanned, indicating that there was insufficient manpowwr. This, the government should provide better equiptment and increase manpower.

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Question 4
Be undercover and join the society but instead of helping them, catch them and put them in jail