Radio and PodcastLive Radio & PodcastsOpening Radio and Podcast...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & PodcastsFetching podcast shows and categories...
Radio and PodcastLive Radio & PodcastsFetching podcast episodes...
A weekly podcast about Singapore history by Dr PJ Thum. In season 1, the podcast traces the history of Singapore's independence, from its founding as a British port in 1819 to its separation...
In this episode - the final episode of season 1 -, PJ Thum takes listener questions. Questions include comparisons of Singapore/Federation a...
After years of long drawn out sound and fury and violence, the final conspiracy for separation was conducted in absolute secrecy, between a...
As late as October 1964, separation was still unthinkable. But from November 1964 onwards, the situation slowly deteriorated. The road to se...
Singapore has never had a race riot - so why do we call the riots of 1964 “race” riots? In this episode, PJ Thum explains how the elections...
The mutual antipathy between Federation and Singapore ministers nearly sank merger before it happened, and ensured that Malaysia would be bi...
It is just barely an exaggeration to say that Lee Kuan Yew’s primary reason to pursue merger was to defeat Lim Chin Siong; as a result of th...
The British, Federation, and PAP leaders agreed that Singapore’s political opposition would be arrested, despite the lack of evidence of any...
The British, Federation of Malaya, and PAP leaders agreed to a merger of the Federation and Singapore. But Tunku Abdul Rahman demanded that...
Needing to negotiate a form and structure for merger that satisfied both the Federation government and the people of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew...
Lord Selkirk, UK Commissioner to Singapore, hosted James Puthucheary, Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, and S. Woodhull at his official reside...
As the Prime Minister of the Federation of Malaya, Tunku Abdul Rahman led a stable right-wing coalition. As leader of the United Malays Nati...
The desire of the overwhelming majority of Singapore’s people was the reunification of both parts of Malaya, known as “merger”. Why was merg...
At the end of the People’s Action Party’s first year in power in May 1960, they were widely popular and riding high. One year later, they we...
What is the nature of colonialism? What does it mean to be a colonised country? What does it mean to behave in a colonial manner? Can we be...
The PAP won the 1959 general election, but now their leaders had to govern Singapore. They would find this to be much harder than anticipate...
Singapore's 140th year was arguably its greatest. For the first time, all of Singapore was under the control of a fully elected, locally res...
One of the most pressing issues facing Singapore in the 1950s was the severe shortage of housing for its rapidly growing population. But imp...
Who are the voters of Singapore and what do they want? This is the question that every Singapore politician faces. And this question was par...
The PAP left-wing and its mass base were furious with Lee Kuan Yew’s right-wing adventurism and selfishness. A confrontation with the Lee Ku...
In honour of Pink Dot (on 4 June 2016), PJ Thum sits down with Dr Jun Zubillaga-Pow, a cultural historian whose research focuses on the arti...
Working with the British and Lee Kuan Yew, Lim Yew Hock had successfully crushed the left-wing anticolonial movement. But this was strictly...
By 1956, Singapore's left-wing anti-colonial movement had grown into a coherent multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic movement, that threatened the...
The most dramatic impact of David Marshall's tenure of Chief Minister was that independence suddenly seemed imminent. The British would be l...
At the end of 1955, Chief Minister David Marshall’s popularity was at an all-time high. Five months and seven days later, after a failure to...
"f you read English-language sources, David Marshall appears naive, weak, and irresponsible as Chief Minister. If you read Chinese-language...
The greatest of Singapore’s leaders - not the best, nor the most accomplished, perhaps not even the smartest - but the greatest of the five...
Recorded extemporaneously while sitting outside the Colosseum in Rome, PJ Thum answers listeners’ questions about the the importance of hist...
The Afro-Asia Conference, held in Bandung in April 1955, was hugely inspirational for anticolonialism around the world and for Singapore's a...
Dr Poh Soo Kai was the president of the University of Malaya Socialist Club in 1954-55 and its secretary general in 1955-56. He was a member...
1955-56 was the peak of mass participation in Singapore’s democratic process. Singapore has a long tradition of highly politicised mutual as...
Is it right to use illegal means to resist evil? Or is law and order paramount? Where do we draw the line? How do we decide? This is the mor...
The outcome of the 1955 general election was a massive shock to the British colonial government of Singapore. They had held the elections pr...
In the aftermath of the 13 May 1954 incident (aka “The “Riot Squad Brutally Beats Up A Group of Unarmed Students on 13 May 1954” Incident),...
On 13 May 1954, the Singapore Police’s Riot Squad charged into a group of 900 unarmed students, brutally beating them, sending 30 to the hos...
To safeguard British interests in Singapore after independence, the British desired to leave behind a reliably pro-British population, who w...
The campaign for Nanyang University (“Nantah”) was the first mass-based, locally oriented, popular campaign in Malaya, and resulted in South...
Post-War Singapore was divided into two worlds. In one, rich English-speaking Singaporean elites enjoyed unprecedented political participati...
World War II in Southeast Asia was a minor disagreement compared to what came after. With the defeat of the Japanese and end of World War II...
Singapore was ripped from the hands of one Empire by another on 15 February 1942. The military aspects of Japan’s Malayan campaign have been...
In this episode, PJ Thum takes listener questions. Questions include issues of nomenclature, on nationalism and national identity, on histor...
The Spartans and Athenians vs the Persians. The Wildlings and Night's Watch vs. the Others. The Autobots and Decepticons vs the Quintessons....
Highly influenced by the nationalist movements of China, Indonesia, and elsewhere, nationalist demands and aspirations for self-determinatio...
The "Left" is a broad term that we apply to a wide range of anti-colonial movements that originated in Malaya in the first third of the 20th...
China’s response to the events and forces of the late 19th and early 20th century took the form of royalist, reformist, and revolutionary mo...
The greatest force in Singapore’s decolonisation movement in the 1950s was organised labour. Workers coming together to fight to be treated...
One of the most powerful threads of Malayan nationalism was of Islamic modernism. Originating in the Middle East - particularly at Al-Azhar...
From the early 20th century, global and local forces of historical change were being unleashed. Singapore was open, and wealthy, and cosmopo...
Machiavelli's Prince noted that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it....
Nationalism is what gives nation-states their power. It’s like a belief created by all members of the nation. It surrounds us and penetrates...
"Welcome to Singapore!" said Chow Yun Fat in the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Indeed, for most of the 19th century, Singapore was a...