LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN SINGAPORE : THE RURAL BOARD (1908-1959)

Abstract

This thesis examines the evolution and attempts taken to consolidate local governance in colonial Singapore with a focus on the Singapore Rural Board (SRB). This thesis argues that as much as the local government system has shown considerable problems, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, it had remained intact throughout the pre-war period. The local government system remained unmodified for two reasons. First, the Singapore Municipal Commission (SMC) had opposed the absorption of the Rural Board and the poor rural areas. Second, the colonial Government largely did not interfere with the affairs of local governance. I argue that things only began to change in the post-war period as the colonial Government searched for a new local government system to replace the ineffective pre-war system. In the immediate years that ensued between 1946 and 1949, the SMC and the SRB headed down drastically different political paths. The SMC was to have its first election in 1949 while the SRB created Village Committees to prepare local inhabitants for eventual election. Initially, there was no intention of introducing elections to the SRB or the VCs. However, the local leaders were so successfully in running the Village Committees that they soon replaced the SRB entirely. Between 1951 and 1956, three Local Government Commissions were set up to propose changes to the local government system. Significantly, all three Commission were to call for the abolishment of the SRB. In 1957, after the passing of the Local Government Ordinance, the District Councils were to take over the SRB and govern the rural population. However, their hopes for local governance were dashed when the PAP came into power in 1959 and finally put an end to the colonial system of local governance.