People's views towards Singapore after the japanese occupation

the return of the british
The USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 august 1945 .
the Japanese government decided to surrender shortly after, this marked the end of the war in Asia .
the Japanese occupation in Singapore thus came to an end and the british colonial rule continued .
however the british would discover a difference in Singapore after the Japanese occupation .
many people hoped that the re-establishment of british rule would bring a return to the prosperity and
stability .but the people of Singapore still continued t face a number of  problems .

- there was insufficient food due to the disruption of trade, the black market thrived an food continued to be sold at high prices.

- houses were scarce, people had to live in cramp and overcrowded spaces. the rents were high to the housing shortage .

- may children did not attend school during the Japanese occupation . they wished to continuewith their education when the british returned but however , there were insufficient schools , teachers and textbooks to meet the demands for education .

- trade had been disrupted and business needed time to recover.
the BMA ( british military Administration ) did try to solve all these problems.
but they face contraints , such as a lack of funds and resources . thus shortages in housing , jobs and essential items remained . black market activities continued . many of these problems , such as unemployment and shortages of food and housing, remained even after the civilian government took over from the BMA .


seeing that all these problems still remained unsolved , the people of Singapore thus demanded for
better treatment of local civil servants . but the british officials continued to enjoy better pay and to hold senior positions within the civil service even though the locals were equally well-qualified .
the locals opposed the goverments unequal treatment of the locals and demanded that the government raise their pay . later than , political groups emerged , one party that emerged was the Malayan democratic union ( MDU ) . members of the MBU discussed how they wanted Singapore to be governed.

during the post-war period ( the BWA period ) , i went into the university and i told myself ,
" im going to study really hard " i had a sense of seriousness because the Japanese occupation had given me this seriousness towards life , life is very serious. i am going to do well...so with that attitude , i cut myself off from other activities .
- adapted from an account by Goh Sin Tub ,
a teenager whose education was disrupted during the Japanese occupation  .
the Japanese occupation had been a traumatic experience for many people in Singapore .
the fact that the british lost Singapore to the Japanese showed people that the british rule could be challenged , they wanted a greater role in shaping Singapore's political future and in how Singapore was governed after the Japanese occupation. All the developments drove the people to aspire towards a Singapore that was free from the colonial .

 ~ end of chapter 5 ~