One of a Kind (2nd Edition)

A HISTORY LESSON THE FIRST BATCH DID NOT GET

ONE

Initially, Singapore was administered as a dependency of the East India Company station at

Bencoolen on the southwest coast of Sumatra, where Raffles, with the title of Lieutenant

Governor, was in charge. The first Resident of Singapore, William Farquhar, reported to

Raffles, but during the tenure of the second Resident, Dr. John Crawfurd of the Bengal Civil

Service, the administration was transferred directly to the Governor-General of India (then

a BEIC appointment) who ruled India for the British Crown. In 1826, Singapore, Malacca

and Penang were incorporated as the Straits Settlements, one of four Presidencies of India.

In 1832, Singapore became the centre of government for the three trading stations, and on

April, 1867, the Straits Settlements as a whole became a Crown Colony under the Colonial

Office in London. As a component of the Presidency, the chief administrator of Singapore

was called Resident Councillor, but from the time the Straits Settlements were constituted, its

head of government became known as Governor-General of the Straits Settlements.

shooting in Farrer Park, ceremonial parades and mess life. But there was also a sense of

civic responsibility and a genuine interest in military activities. Nothing significant by way of

operations happened from the inception of the SVRC through the rest of the 1800s, which

was spent mainly in sustaining membership. Organisationally however, the movement was re-

launched as a Volunteer Artillery formation (SVA) in 1888. But at the turn of the century, with

the outreach to Asian communities in the Straits Settlements, there was a surge of interest and

general growth in numbers and types of units. Ironically, in 1901, the movement that started

as an insurance against threats from Chinese communities saw the enrolment of a Chinese

Infantry Company. The Sepoy Mutiny of 15

February, 1915 was viewed as a vindication of

the Volunteer movement as the Volunteers were instrumental in quelling the mutiny and seen

as offering a trustworthy alternative to the hired help. While the Great War atmosphere of the

previous decade had triggered off similar movements in the federated and unfederated Malay

States, it grew exponentially when the movement was centralised in Singapore as the Straits

Settlements Volunteer Corps (SSVC) in 1922. In 1934 a Naval Volunteers element was added

and was followed in 1936 by a Volunteer Air Force component. The Volunteers kept the faith

during the dark days of Japanese aggression and occupation, suffering many dead, wounded

and captured. They disbanded after the war and re-formed again, to participate in communist

counter-insurgency operations and later against Indonesian guerrillas attempting to wreck the

merger of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak as a single political entity. On separation

from Malaysia on 9

August, 1965, those who were from Singapore were reconstituted as the

People’s Defence Force. Many accepted permanent full-time service and manned important

staff and command jobs in the new Ministry of the Interior and Defence, some to hold

key senior appointments in the early days of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), including

Director, General Staff (two), the Chief of Navy, Chief of Artillery (two), Chief of Armour

and Commander, Singapore Air Defence Command.

III. AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH FORCES IN SINGAPORE