How Well Did the British Govern Singapore?
Responsiveness of the British Government to Problems Explanation
No : One of the major problems of Singapore was the housing. Singapore became a magnet for more new migrants who arrived to seek better opportunities. This in turn created demand for more houses to be built. To solve the problems surrounding housing, such as bad hygiene and overcrowding, the British set up the Singapore Improvement Trust.
There were acute housing shortages in the 1920s, with many people homeless and bad living conditions such as in chinatown. The people started building kampongs on their own. And even though the SIT was set up in 1920, it only started building projects in 1932. This again shows lack of efficiency. In conclusion, even though the British made efforts of trying to improve housing for locals, they did not have the local’s interest at heart and there was a huge divide between the Europeans and the locals, this is also one of the reasons that lead to the housing issue in Singapore being unsolved.
British Efficiency in Administration Explanation
Yes : When the British first came to Singapore they did not find the need to look after the education of the people. They left these to the hands of the private institutions. But later on the British needed people to fill up the low posts in government offices, so they started building schools to help train people in basic educational skills. The British slowly started focusing more on the education of people and started giving out grants to schools. They set up scholarships for the top secondary school students and they would be given higher posts in the British administration than the other students. The people would later come and work for the British in lower posts than the British officers.
