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A surprise that WWI centenary passed Singapore without notice

The letter “World War I offers lessons for Asians too” (July 30) highlights the seeming distance of the conflict to Asia, as the main theatres of war were in Europe. However, the impact of the Great War was felt globally.

The letter “World War I offers lessons for Asians too” (July 30) highlights the seeming distance of the conflict to Asia, as the main theatres of war were in Europe. However, the impact of the Great War was felt globally.

As part of British Malaya, Singapore had its fair share of material and manpower contributions to the Allied war effort. Between 1914 and 1918, the territory funded several squadrons of planes and the battleship HMS Malaya, which joined the historic Battle of Jutland in 1916.

From volunteers and enlistees within the British community, the region fielded a Malayan contingent of several thousand soldiers and funded the medical facility FMS (Federated Malay States) Hospital in England.

Besides supplying vital mineral resources such as rubber and tin from its plantations and mines, Malaya’s ports, especially that of Singapore, would have been the trans-shipment point of an estimated 150,000 Chinese labourers sent to Europe to participate in the war.

The winds of war also swept through the island, with the threat from German warship SMS Emden and the turmoil of the failed Indian mutiny in February 1915 by Sepoy mutineers who were instigated by prisoners from the Emden, whom they were guarding.

An estimate of nearly 100 people were killed in this short episode. More casualties came from the European battlefront of the Malayan contingent. From the list of names inscribed on the Singapore Cenotaph, more than 100 personnel came from Singapore.

In the broader context, the war raised the confidence of the colonies vis-a-vis the Empire and sowed the seeds for eventual self-determination.

Subjected to the sacrifice of military conscription and heavy taxation during those years of conflict, the British community became more assertive in its dealings with London.

In the case of the Chinese, citing the role played by the mainly Asian Singapore Volunteer Corps in suppressing the Indian mutineers, the community urged for stronger participation and recognition in the military and for greater recognition as loyal subjects of the Crown.

Given such contexts, even while Asian countries and cities have been marking the event with public education programmes and film screenings, I am surprised that the centenary of the World War I has passed Singapore without any notice.

Singapore’s residents celebrated the centenary of its founding together with the end of the war in 1919. In the coming years, I hope the Government and the European cultural institutes can coordinate to raise the prominence of World War I.

The centenary of its conclusion in the Treaty of Versailles will fall in the same year as the bicentenary of the founding of Singapore in 2019. As the words on the Cenotaph state: “Lest we forget.”

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