From 25 April 1955, dismissed workers of the Hock Lee Amalgated Bus Co, who were members of the pro-communist Singapore Bus Workers’ Union (SBWU) went on strike. In February 1955, 250 workers of the Hock Lee Amalgamated Bus Company joined the Singapore Bus Workers’ Union (SBWU). In response, the bus company dismissed two employees who were branch officials of the SBWU. At the same time, a rival union the Hock Lee Bus Employees’ Union was formed. This tension between the bus workers and their management later erupted into a series of disputes.On Thursday May 12,1955 known as "Black Thursday", The strike escalated into a riot causing deaths and injuries.
From source 2 and 3 , I can infer that hock lee bus riot is a lesson learnt to ensure the fairness and rights of the workers. In source 2, “They were also unhappy with the number of Hock Lee Bus Employees’ Union members being employed as spare workers. In the second instance, the workers objected to the management’s refusal to allow members of the SBWU to operate the spare buses.”
This shows that the workers were not pleased with the hiring of more workers and yet the company made no adjustment to it causing more the workers to feel unfair. This incidents help to emphasize the importance of respecting the requirements of the workers.
In source 3, “ Basically, then workers of the Hock Lee Amalgated Bus company who were also members of the pro-communist Singapore Bus Workers Union (SBWU) went on strike due to the new work rosters and the formation of rival unions.” This shows the reason for strike was due the unhappiness of the new strategies.The relationship between the employer and employee must be good in order to prevent such thing from happening again. Thus , Hock Lee Bus riot set as a lesson for us to ensure the right and fairness of workers.
From source 8, I can infer that the Chinese students in the Chinese schools were influenced easily by the riot.
From source 8; “Later in the day, the government closed three Chinese middle schools – the Chinese High School, as well as the Chung Cheng High School and its branch school.The government stated that this action was taken because of the “deterioration in the strike situation and the increased participation in that situation by pupils of these schools in particular””
This shows that the Chinese students took part in the riot as they felt that they were treated unfairly too. They took the opportunity to let off their steam and discontentment causing more conflict as the number of people in the riot escalated.
From sources 1 and 4, I can infer that many citizens of Singapore were wounded. From the evidence, “The riot resulted in four people dead and 31 people injured.” The evidence shows that people were killed and harmed due to violence. The workers protested with brutality to fight for better working conditions which caused sufferings. They set cars on fire, shot and splashed burning oil to those in their way. This is obvious that the people were being very selfish, caring only for their own interests and welfare , forgetting the society they are living in.
The Hock Lee Bus Riot was a riot that has many learning points, of which include to ensure the fairness and rights of the workers, patience in solving issues, knowing what is right or wrong and lastly, not to follow blindly to what others do. The learning points mentioned above are especially relevant to today’s society, it being more bus workers are employed today and transportation being affected will bring about a big blow to our economy, as well as our daily lives.
