The+Post+War+Period+(1945+-+1955+)

__**The Post War Period (1945 - 1955 )**__
On 15 August 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the British. a British Military Administration was formed to govern the island until March 1946. Much of the infrastructure had been destroyed during the war, including electricity and water supply systems, telephone services, as well as the harbor facilities at the Port of Singapore. There was also a shortage of food leading to malnutrition, disease, and also an increase in crime rate and violence. There were also high food prices, unemployment, and workers' discontent which caused a series of strikes in the year 1947. This caused massive stoppages in public transport and other services. By the late 1947, the economy of Singapore began to recover, facilitated by a growing demand for tin and rubber around the world, but it toke several more years before the economy returned to pre-war levels. ==**__ First Legislative Council (1948-1951) __** == In 1948, elections were introduced for the first time and the British allowed the locals to be elected into the Legislative Council and people who shared the same ideas on how a country should run formed political parties. Then, representatives from the different parties can stand for election in different areas of Singapore. The political parties would go around convincing the public to vote for them through visits, speeches, rallies and posters they made. Then on the day of the election, voters would go to various polling centres to vote for the parties they want to vote for. For that election, only the Singapore Progressive Party took part in it and they won three out of the six seats and the others were won by the independents.

**__Riots__**
In 1950, a riot took place over the custody battle of a 13 year old girl, Maria Hertogh. She was born in Java in 1937 to Dutch Catholics parents. When her Dutch parents were imprisoned during the Japanese occupation and Maria came under the care of Che Aminah and her husband. Both of them brought Maria up as a Muslim and named her Nadra. Then, in 1949, her Dutch mother came to claim her daughter back and the case was brought to the High Court in Singapore and Maria was placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department. In May, the High Court ruled that the Maria be returned to her natural parents but Che Animah opposed the decision and sent an appeal and two months later Maria returned to Che Aminah. Under her care, Maria married a Malay teacher when she was 13 years old. In November 1950, the court ruled that Maria was to returned to her natural parents and the Dutch law did not recognise her marriage as she was underaged and her natural father did not consent to Maria's marriage. This upset the Muslim as they felt that their laws were not respected and this caused riots. Europeans and Eurasians in sight were attacked and cars were burnt and also overturned. About 18 people were killed and 173 were injured. ==**__ Second Legislative Council (1951-1955) __** == In 1955 election, 79 candidates contested for the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly. In that election, 160,000 people turned up to vote and the Labour Front won 10 seats, the Singapore Progressive Party won 4 seats, the Alliance Party won 3 seats, the People Action's Party won 3 seats, the Democrats won 2 seats and the Independents won 3 seats. The outcome of the election surprised the British and showed that the politics in Singapore had changed.