Colony to Nation: Continuity and Change in the Singapore Economy, 1946–2016
About Project
Colony to Nation: Continuity and Change in the Singapore Economy, 1946-2016 (CCEH) was produced by Dr Loh Kah Seng through a heritage grant from the National Heritage Board and was donated to the Oral History Centre in 2021. The project covers aspects of the development of Singapore's economy from the post-second world war period when Singapore transitioned from a British colony (1946-1958), a self-governing state (from 1959), and then became an independent nation after separating from Malaysia from 1965.
The collection consist of 13 interviews which includes interview with senior executives and workers from the shipping, shipyard, oil and gas, transport, manufacturing and banking industry, as well as public servants, economists, and academics.
Key questions discussed & asked of interviewees include include:
1. Who were the key drivers in the economic history of Singapore after 1945? What policies were they responsible for? What was your role in the economic history after 1945?
2. What major factors contributed to Singapore’s economic success? Were international or domestic factors more important? Was success due more to Singapore’s geography and history as an international port, or to policy change and intervention?
3. Has there been more change, or continuity, in Singapore’s economy today from the colonial period?
4. Did British colonial rule set the conditions for Singapore’s economic development after 1965? Did the Labour Front government also lay the economic foundations in the 1950s?
5. How important economically was the British military withdrawal from Singapore in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
6. What were the challenges and difficulties in Singapore’s economic development, and how did we deal with them?
7. How successful were the various, continuous attempts to transform or upgrade the Singapore economy between 1946 to 2016? What are the reasons for the success or lack of each phase of change?
8. What are the lessons of Singapore’s economic history? Have we learnt from them?
