Saturday 25 June 2011

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE RIOT??













The colonial government agreed to postpone National Service as the first big-scale attempt to recruit male youths for part-time National Service died a natural death due to the big resistance. The demonstrations awakened the Chinese students' consciousness and strengthened the influence proposal to form a Singapore Chinese Middle School Students Union (SCMSSU).

The authorities had used the force of the police to stop the riot of 13 May. In 1955 and 1956, when the process towards Singapore's self-government intensified, police-student clashes were to recur. The government tried to diffuse tension by making concessions to student demands but when the students grew too radical and violent under the influence of SCMSSU, the police organised themselves effectively. With the help of the army, the police was able to prevent civil disorder arising from students.

For the communists, the demonstrations against the National Service Ordinance and the following use of force by the police played into their hands. These developments aroused public sympathy towards the students' cause and gave a tremendous boots to open left-wing activity in the Chinese Middle Schools. Communist subversion in the Chinese Middle Schools was to heighten subsequently under the banner of the SCMSSU.

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