Singapore’s tourism documentaries, 1930s and 1950s

“Singapore before 1959” series – Part 11

by Imran bin Tajudeen

“… the greatest transshipment centre in the East” (1938)

“[a waterfront drive] comparable to any similar thoroughfare in Europe.” (1938)

“… [an] aerodrome unrivalled in the Orient” (1938)

“The financial hub of Southeast Asia” (1956)

“At first it looks like any other Eastern city, but if you’re used to Eastern cities, you’ll notice how clean this one is.”  (1957)

The above quotes are some of the accolades heaped upon Singapore in a number of documentaries produced before Singapore’s internal self-government from Great Britain in 1959. These quotes come from four different documentary films made about Singapore from the 1930s and 1950s – that is, both before and after World War Two. From these films we learn the great extent to which Singapore was regarded as an exceptional city, not only among the cities of the “Orient” but also globally.

These four documentary films appear to have been made for a white audience (Anglo-Saxon, Euro-American-Australian), particularly as tourists or visitors. They emphasise Singapore’s distinction, arising fundamentally from its locational advantage astride the trade routes of the world (both by sea and later also by air) and how therefore numerous goods and services and infrastructural investment has been concentrated in a fine, modern city in Britain’s colonial empire.

There are in fact a number of other amateur footage of Singapore beyond these official documentaries. The four examples featured here are interesting as they show the convergence of colonial propaganda and travel documentary narratives. 

Although this article is conceived as the concluding section in the series planned on “Singapore before 1959” (see Part 1: Introduction here),  it may also be seen as an interesting way to enter the subject.

Film 1: “Singapore – Crossroads of the East” (1938) – a city “destined to become one of the greatest commercial ports”

The first film, “Singapore – Crossroads of the East” (1938) by André de la Varre (Uploaded onto YouTube by travelfilmarchive on May 6, 2008) begins with the proclamation that:

“[In] 1819, only a little over a hundred years ago, Stamford Raffles, a far-sighted official of the East India Company, realised Britain’s great need of an important base in the Indies for future expansion of Eastern trade, and against [the] advice and wishes of his company, secured by agreement from the Sultan of Johor an island of the extreme southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, and here founded Singapore, a settlement destined to become, within less than a century [of its founding as a British outpost in 1819], one of the greatest commercial ports, and the most strategic point of the British Empire.”

We are also reminded that

“The finest and most efficient Air Force in the Far East, both as the personnel and the equipment, is stationed in Singapore, with [an] Aerodrome unrivalled in the Orient…”

The Aerodrome being referred to here is of course Kallang Airport, a facility for advanced for its time. It was officially opened in 1937, just one year prior to the filming of this documentary in 1938, and was hailed as “finest airport in the British Empire“.  In 31 Aug 1931, the then-Governor Sir Cecil Clementi first announced the Kallang Aerodrome project with the following words, “Looking into the future, I expect to see Singapore become one of the largest and most important airports of the world.”

More information on Kallang Airport and other astonishing aspects of colonial Singapore’s infrastructural feats will be discussed in “Part 9: Transportation and power on land, air, and sea – world’s firsts and largest in colonial Singapore.”

“One of the cheapest shopping centres in the entire world”

Impressive though an aerodrome and the Royal Air Force may be, tourists to an Eastern city would presumably be more interested in shopping, and the documentary does not fail to mention Singapore’s fame as a duty-free shopping haven, boasting possibly the world’s cheapest prices.

Upon arrival by ship, still the dominant mode of international travel in the 1930s, the visitor would be greeted by the impressive waterfront at Collyer Quay with its tall commercial buildings, and thereafter be enticed by the shopping centres found around Raffles Place, including Alkaff Arcade / The Arcade and Change Alley (buildings that will be discussed in another article in this series).

“The busy harbour and waterfront [Collyer Quay is shown], the fine buildings and crowded modern streets, bespeak her importance as a free port, and the greatest transshipment centre in the East, where practically everything that is made can be purchased duty-free, with the result that Singapore is one of the cheapest shopping centres in the entire world.”

Pre-colonial Southeast Asian port cities in the 15th to 17th centuries – those existing between 400 and 200 years before colonial Singapore was founded – were also globally-important centres where international trade and commerce converged and where immensely wealthy, cosmopolitan societies were to be found. A number of historians, notably Carl Trocki and Leonard and Barbara Andaya, have noted that Singapore’s astonishing wealth, diversity, and global prominence in the 19th century can be understood within the long tradition of globally-prominent and prosperous Malay, Javanese, Thai and other Southeast Asian port kingdoms from the past, and that Singapore assumed the mantle of these older port cities.  In a statement echoing many similar boasts about these older ports in the region (such as Melaka, Banten, Makassar, and Aceh), we hear that “… it is claimed no less than 26 languages are used [in Singapore] in conducting normal business…”

Another important aspect of modern Singapore of the 1930s boasted about in the documentary is its roads and vehicular traffic, and the narrative brings out one source of pride in particular:

“Paralleling the harbour is Connaught Road, one of the finest drives in the city, and comparable to any similar thoroughfare in Europe.”

The documentary says little about native/Asian commerce and industry, but we catch glimpses of life, particularly that found along the Singapore River, and in particular we see a delightful scene of a bullock cart surrounded by numerous lorries along one of the quays, and also of two young Chinese boys atop a fully-laden lorry in the following scene:

In contrast, nothing is shown of the other important port town in Singapore at Kampong Glam and Kallang Bay harbour.  Yet we do catch a glimpse of the shipping carried out by the Bugis in Singapore in the final scene of the film. Accompanied by a grand closing statement, we see a harbour filled with Bugis palari, echoing the scene captured by a number of other photographs from the 1950s and 1970s:

“Here on this tropical island which was once but an impenetrable jungle, along the coasts of which ships of the past sail with temerity, [Bugis ships in harbour] England has built a great city and established for the trade of all nations, a mighty Guardian in the East.”

The magnificent harbour scene below would also have been visible from Merdeka Bridge, completed in 1956.  A postcard shown in the article on Merdeka Bridge shows the harbour at Kallang Bay.

Film 2: “The 7^th largest port in the world” keeping malaria under control!

The second documentary, bearing the tag “Film 7552” in the Huntley Film Archives, bears no certain date and is said to be “from the 1930s or 1940s”.

The film starts by stating that Singapore is “the 7th largest port in the world, and almost everything comes to Singapore or leaves it by sea”. This documentary looks at some aspects of the city’s ethnic composition but has serious gaps in its narrative.

Nonetheless, it is of great interest because it refers to the reclamation of malarial coastal swamps in the early 20^th century:

“In earlier days, the colony was said to be unhealthy because of malaria from the swamps along the coast, but a system of drains and sluices have been built up to discharge the water into the sea and to keep out tidal water. Even now fresh drains are still being dug to reclaim further swampland… And strict malaria control is practiced by preventing mosquitoes from breeding in pools and stretches of still water.”

The section on malaria control concludes with the following statement:

“Thus though mangrove swamps may still be seen, the mosquitoes that bred there and spread disease have been banished.”

The documentary appears to target transit ocean liner passengers who pass through Singapore, “The travellers come “via Singapore”, change ship, and leave again” – just like most airport transit visitors today!

Film 3:  Singapore in 1956, “The financial hub of Southeast Asia”

The third documentary comes from 1956 and is posted in YouTube by Michael Rogge on Jun 19, 2013 with the title “Singapore in 1956” – no further information is provided.

Echoing the emphasis on Collyer Quay and Singapore’s international commercial stature in the 1938 documentary reviewed above, this documentary likewise directs out attention to how:

“The tall modern buildings towering above the river reflect the prosperity which international commerce has brought to the island. Along the modern boulevards of the waterfront large office buildings house the banks and financial firms that make Singapore the financial hub of Southeast Asia. Here many English, American, Dutch, and German people deal not only in banking but in rubber, tin, and shipping.”

The documentary claims that the Malays in Singapore “work mainly as farmers cultivating vegetable gardens [film shows a man tilling the soil with a changkul], fishing, or tending tiny rice paddies” – the last is a very odd claim for Singapore in the 1950s, and speaks more about stereotypes on Malays than about the actual socio-economic conditions of the community. It also omits the urban Javanese and Bugis community in Singapore town.

More interestingly for us in the context of this article’s focus, however, is the way the documentary ends by touching on the cultural diversity that presents a challenge to unifying Malaya and Singapore while choosing to present a triumphant closing statement:

“Combining the different peoples who live in the Federation of Malaya and on the island of Singapore into a unified whole is one of the problems to be faced by this new nation. But with the wealth of the rubber forests, tin mines, and shipping, this problem may be overcome, and Malaya and Singapore may not only continue to progress as they have in the past, but become increasingly important in the modern world.”

Film 4: “Singapore – The Lion City”, 1957 documentary

 

The fourth documentary comes from 1957 and was produced by the Malayan Film Unit. Titled “Singapore – The Lion City” (Director: Osman Hj Samsudin, Malayan Film Unit),  its narrative centres around the traveller who arrives by air, in contrast to the 1930s documentaries that looked at sea travel. 

We see the Malayan Airways bus conveying the white tourists from Paya Lebar airport, which had been completed in 1955, to Raffles Hotel.

“You’ll notice how clean this one is. Then you’ll discover it’s unique.”

We are used to hearing and saying that Singapore is a very clean city, and we usually take this to mean post-independence Singapore. But this documentary stakes the claim that Singapore was already an exceptionally clean city, unlike any other “Eastern city”, already in the 1950s:

“At first it looks like any other Eastern city, but if you’re used to Eastern cities, you’ll notice how clean this one is. Then you’ll discover it’s unique. Because here, all the crush and tumble of the East are found side by side with luxurious living. For here are open spaces, fine buildings and orderly traffic.”

By way of contrast with the city to be found around Raffles Hotel, the rural fishing villages along Singapore’s East Coast is shown. In particular the footage shows prawn fishing using the Malay prawn push net – this is called the Sondong.

Like the documentary from 1938, this film also waxes lyrical on the staggering diversity to be found in Singapore like nowhere else –  “where else in the whole wide world can be found such variety, such contrast, and all in so small a space”, the narrator asks us. And as proof of this it shows the diversity in houses of worship, food and dining options, and entertainment styles – a stock of images that becomes the standard promotional narrative for tourism in Singapore into the present day.

World-famous places at “the crossroads of the world”

The documentary also tells us of the “world famous Change Alley” where electronic and other goods such as watches and cameras are sold. It also tells us of

“The worlds, for instance. Typically Singapore. These are amusement parks with side shows, try-your-skill stalls, shops, restaurants, cinemas, and dance halls…”

The documentary is of course referring to the amusement parks/centres bearing the names New World in Farrer Park/Jalan Besar (1923-1987), Great World at Kim Seng/Zion Road (1929-1978), and Gay/Happy World in Kallang/Geylang (1936), as well as the lesser-known Great Eastern Trade Fair of Geylang Serai.

Among the dining highlights featured in the documentary, we also see the neon sign of the Islamic Restaurant, a culinary institution which is still to be found in Kampong Glam along North Bridge Road today!

The documentary concludes by reinforcing Singapore’s position as a global air travel hub. In a closing statement showing KLM (Dutch) and BOAC (forerunner of British Airways) planes at Paya Lebar Airport, the narrator tells us:

“When it’s time to move on it is with regret. And our passengers must go their different ways, to India or Indonesia, Hong Kong, Manila, or Japan, Australia, Hawaii, America, or Europe – for this is the crossroads of the world.”