Why should we place an emphasis on the wave of mass migration to Singapore in the years before the Second World War? Most Singaporeans already know something about this mass movement of people to Singapore, or at least they think they know. These preconceived understandings and misunderstandings formed the first obstacle for a history teacher to overcome when discussing the phenomena of mass migration that fundamentally shaped Singapore.
The pre-existing understandings of students were forged by a symbiotic combination of National Education messages and the popular media portrayals of the period. Drama serials such as The Awakening and The Price of Peace proved to have a significant and enduring impact on the popular memory of Singaporeans regarding the narratives of mass migration to Singapore.[i] This narrative, reinforced every National Day, was that migrants came to Singapore in search of a better life, and together they built a shining city on the hill that we are still enjoying the fruits. An appreciation of the achievements of our forefathers plays an important role in the process of nation-building, by providing younger Singaporeans something they can feel proud of. Mass migration is therefore the bedrock upon which the Singapore Story was built.
There is much validity in this narrative. It is true that Singapore was a migrant society that was made up of thousands of men and women seeking a better life. However, in the context of a historical classroom, we should aspire to go beyond that narrative and give our students a deeper understanding of the complex global forces that were at work which drove the founding of Singapore, and triggered a large wave of migration to Singapore – bearing in mind that this was a wave of migration that was only second in numbers to European migration to the Americas, Australia and New Zealand during this period.
suhaimi.afandi@nie.edu.sg
