Friday, July 10 (The Straits Times)
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The young Dutch girl at the centre of a highly publicised custody battle that sparked the 1950 Maria Hertogh riots has died, Bernama reported yesterday.
Ms Hertogh died of leukaemia in Huijbergen, the Netherlands, on Wednesday. She was 72.
In 1950, when the High Court in Singapore awarded custody of the 13-year-old girl back to her biological Catholic Dutch parents, the ruling ignited three days of riots.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Talking Cock on the Founding of Singapore
Here is a short comedy on the founding of Singapore:
Note: Not all the events are real.
This is from TalkingCock the Movie
Note: Not all the events are real.
This is from TalkingCock the Movie
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Nuremberg Rally
The Nuremberg rally was a yearly event organized by Hitler's Nazi Party.
In 1937, Hitler made all German soldiers swear an oath of loyalty directly to him. This meant that they would be loyal to Hitler directly, and not the German state.
What other methods did Hitler use to control Germany?
In 1937, Hitler made all German soldiers swear an oath of loyalty directly to him. This meant that they would be loyal to Hitler directly, and not the German state.
What other methods did Hitler use to control Germany?
Monday, June 29, 2009
What is proportional representation?
In Chapter 4 (Nazi Germany), we learnt that a system of proportional representation caused Weimar government in Germany to be weak. What is proportional representation?
In most countries, there is an organization called Parliament. This organization decides all the major policies of the country. Each country's parliament will have a certain number of people (e.g. 200). The people vote at elections to decide who will make up Parliament.
In proportional representation, the number of people each party send to Parliament is decided by the percentage of vote each party has in elections.
For example if:
Party A gets 70% of the votes from the people, it gets 70% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 20% of the votes from the people, it gets 20% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 10% of the votes from the people, it gets 10% of the power in Parliament.
Party A gets the most power in Parliament and it can decide the country's policies.
However in Weimar Germany this is what would happen:
Party A gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 40% of the votes from the people, it gets 40% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.
No party gets over 50% of the power, so no party can decide the country's policies. As a result, there is a lot of fighting to decide the the country's policies. This fighting was not good for the country.
Proportional representation is not bad in itself, but in the case of Weimar Germany it led to weak governments.
In most countries, there is an organization called Parliament. This organization decides all the major policies of the country. Each country's parliament will have a certain number of people (e.g. 200). The people vote at elections to decide who will make up Parliament.
In proportional representation, the number of people each party send to Parliament is decided by the percentage of vote each party has in elections.
For example if:
Party A gets 70% of the votes from the people, it gets 70% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 20% of the votes from the people, it gets 20% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 10% of the votes from the people, it gets 10% of the power in Parliament.
Party A gets the most power in Parliament and it can decide the country's policies.
However in Weimar Germany this is what would happen:
Party A gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.
Party B gets 40% of the votes from the people, it gets 40% of the power in Parliament.
Party C gets 30% of the votes from the people, it gets 30% of the power in Parliament.
No party gets over 50% of the power, so no party can decide the country's policies. As a result, there is a lot of fighting to decide the the country's policies. This fighting was not good for the country.
Proportional representation is not bad in itself, but in the case of Weimar Germany it led to weak governments.
Friday, June 26, 2009
How did WW2 affect Singapore?
1. Why did the Japanese invade Singapore?
2. How was Japanese rule compared to British rule?
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