1964 Religious Riots In Singapore

On 21 July 1964, about 25,000 Malays gathered at the Padang, Singapore to celebrate the Muslim prophet Muhammad's birthday. After the speeches, the procession went on to Geylang. Along the way, a policeman asked a group that was dispersed to rejoin the main procession. Instead of obeying the orders, the group attacked the policeman. This incident led to a race riot after the group of Malays attacked ethnic Chinese-Malay passers-by and spectators. The riots were reported to have started at about 5:00 p.m. between Kallang and Geylang Serai. The government declared a curfew at 9.30 p.m. to restore order, but in the first day of rioting, four people were killed and 178 injured.

After the curfew was lifted at 6 a.m. the next morning, the conflict grew even tenser and another curfew had to be imposed. The curfew was not completely lifted until 2 August, 11 days after the start of the riots. After the riots, goodwill committees were set up. It was made up of community leaders from the various racial groups. The main task of these leaders was to help restore peace and harmony between the Malays and ethnic Chinese by addressing the concerns of the residents.

Different reasons have been cited for the riots. Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak blamed ethnic Indonesian and Communist provocateurs. On the other hand, Singapore’s then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and several foreign observers attributed the riots as the result of agitation by ultra-nationalist faction in United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

The riots occurred during the period when the People's Action Party (PAP) and UMNO relations were severely strained after the PAP challenged the UMNO in the March 1964 Malaysia federal election. PAP ran on the campaign slogan of Malaysian Malaysia. In addition, analysts suggested the participation of Chinese secret societies in the riots increased the level of violence.

The July riots that occurred in our own country have indeed raise the country’s awareness on the importance of not only racial harmony, but also religious harmony. It is important for Singaporeans to understand and respect each other’s religion practices. This will then prevent such religious riots and tensions to occur in our country. Let the 1964's religious riots be a constant reminder for us, Singaporeans to always maintain the religious peace and harmony that we have achieved all these years.