Section A: Source-Based Case Study
Question 1 is compulsory for all candidates.
Study the Background Information and the sources carefully, and then answer all the questions.
1 (a) Study Source A.
What can you infer from the source about the Hock Lee bus riots? [5]
Explain your answer.
(b) Study Source B.
Why was this source published? Explain your answer. [6]
(c) Study Sources C and D.
How different are these two sources? Explain your answer. [7]
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Who was responsible for starting the Hock Lee bus riots?
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Read this carefully. It may help you to answer some of the questions.
In late April 1955, bus workers from the Hock Lee Bus Company went on strike. These workers
were members of the Singapore Bus Workers’ Union, and were led by trade unionist Fong Swee
Suan. The police were called in to control the workers, but this did not help to end the strike. On
12 May, after repeated clashes between the workers and the police, riots broke out. Residents,
students and bus workers in the area got involved. The Hock Lee bus riots resulted in four people
dead and 31 people injured.
Who was responsible for starting the Hock Lee bus riots?
Source A: Excerpts from an interview done in 2014 with Otto Fong, son of Fong Swee Suan.
The other bus companies, except Hock Lee bus company, accepted the union’s terms.
Employers and employees worked together better [as a result]…
There was a peaceful negotiation and settlement before the strikes. Hock Lee bus company
originally agreed to the settlement terms but went back on them by firing the union’s workers.
The Singapore Bus Workers’ Union had warned the government that the firemen must stop
using the high-powered hoses on the people on strike. Yet the hoses were used three times
[during the strike], which made the onlookers living around the area angry at this unfairness.
Source B: An extract from a report by the Chief Secretary, Mr. Goode, a high-ranking
government official, on the events leading up to the bus riots, published in The
Straits Times on 17 May 1955.
Meetings were held by the strikers for people to express their upset and anger. These meetings
were supported by many students and addressed continuously by agitators through
loudspeakers for several days. The meetings were deliberately designed to whip up hatred and
hostility towards the police force as a whole.
Throughout this period of growing tension, the police did everything in their power to prevent
any incident occurring which might provoke a clash.
Mid-Year Examination 2021 2 Secondary Two Express
History
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road)
Source C: An excerpt from a book by a historian highlighting the violence on the night of the
Hock Lee bus riots, published in 1989.
In May 1955, students and workers changed a peaceful strike at the Hock Lee Bus Company
into a violent demonstration, which led to a night of terror and death. Chief Minister David
Marshall refused to call in the troops to restore order and the strike resulted in triumph for the
Singapore Bus Workers’ Union.
The Chief Minister refused to take stern measures…because of his sympathy with the workers
and students.
Source D: An excerpt from a speech given by Lee Kuan Yew in the Legislative Assembly on
16 May 1955. He was also the legal adviser to the Singapore Bus Workers’ Union.
But if I may mention what I consider to have been a very strong influence in bringing about a
solution, it was the untiring patience of the Chief Minister [David Marshall] and his determined
spirit to get a peaceful settlement.
Not one single striker to my knowledge has been arrested for having done anything which
involved the use of force. They did squat on the ground; they did link arms. They did it as a
gesture of protest against the men inside. They showed to the others inside what their jobs
meant to them, what their union meant for them.
To my knowledge there was never any resistance - no force was ever used against any
policeman who ejected them.
Mid-Year Examination 2021 3 Secondary Two Express
History
