CONTROL + SPACE: A STUDY OF SINGAPORE'S COLONIAL MARKETS WITH TELOK AYER MARKET AS A CASE STUDY (1888-1939)

Abstract

Colonial control of the market begins in 1889 with a priority on profit as the only way that the state knows how to manage market space. The state chooses to sacrifice direct control of the market because it does not have the means, nor the motivation to exert control. A focus on profits reveals disagreements within colonial leadership and sows the seeds of distrust between the Municipal Commissioners, and the government. With an ever present threat of death and disease, the state shifts gears in the early 1900s to a direct control of the market, prioritizing hygiene. Good leadership and systematic data collection processes detailing the state of hygiene are wildly effective tools for the state. By 1920, the problem of unsound food in the market is under control. But this focus on hygiene leads to a myopia of the wider socio-economic context of the market. Telok Ayer Market in particular, is unable to cope with the pressures exerted upon it by its own neighbourhood, compromising its very existence. Furthermore, global events exert an enormous amount of pressure on the market space, beyond the control of the municipality. By 1939, Telok Ayer Market ceases to be a fish market, having been consumed by the very socio-economic forces that had once made it a vibrant space. This thesis is a story of creation and control of the market space in Singapore.