Episode 5: The Origins of Malayan Nationalism

From the early 20th century, global and local forces of historical change were being unleashed. Singapore was open, and wealthy, and cosmopolitan, a centre for regional and global communications, and hence a magnet for the agents of these forces. These new political, cultural, economic forces of change would disrupt the lives of Singapore’s residents in very fundamental ways. This is the age of nationalism and revolution; of industrialisation and changing economic relationships; of reform and transformation. People responded by asking fundamental questions about the nature of their societies, their economies, their political units. In this episode, PJ Thum describes the wealth but also inequality of Singapore in the 1930s, and gives a broad overview of the forces from which the different threads of Malayan nationalism would spring.

Please send questions, comments, and feedback to thehistoryofsingapore@gmail.com or visit thehistoryofsingapore.com. Support the show at patreon.com/pjthum. For all the previous episodes in this series, search for "History of Singapore" on bfm.my.