Secret societies in Singapore

Secret societies in Singapore have been largely eradicated as a security issue in the city-state.[1][2] However many smaller groups remain today which attempt to mimic societies of the past. The membership of these societies is largely adolescent.

Despite fading from contemporary Singaporean society, these secret societies hold great relevance to Singapore's modern history. The founding of the city-state in 1819 saw the arrival of thousands of Chinese, thereby transplanting to Singapore social systems already present in China itself. Although the secret societies were commonly associated with violence, extortion and vice, they also played a part in building a social fabric for early Chinese migrants in Singapore. They were given leeway to control the Chinese populace due to the hands-off policy adopted by the British colonial government, who hoped to create stability.[3]

  1. ^ CHWEE CHENG FOON. "SECRET SOCIETIES IN SINGAPORE: SURVIVAL STRATEGIES, 1930s TO 1950s" (PDF).
  2. ^ Abshire, Jean E. (2011). The History of Singapore. ABC-CLIO. p. 72. ISBN 9780313377426.
  3. ^ Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, "Protected Sites: Reconceptualising Secret Societies in Colonial and Postcolonial Singapore" Journal of Historical Sociology (2016) 29#2 pp. 232-249.