The Main Cause Of The 1851 Anti-Catholic Riots

Introduction 19th century Singapore witnessed the influx of immigrants from various parts of China in search of a better livelihood, such that the population of Chinese grew to “more than seventy per cent of a population of over a quarter of a million, having begun to outnumber the non-Chinese by 1840.” Many Chinese immigrants proceeded to join clan associations or secret societies to seek solidarity and a sense of familiarity with people from their homeland. Gradually, secret societies began to emerge as the unofficial “leaders” of the Chinese community because they were “more powerful in many ways than the forces of law and order.” This was due in part to the combination of conciliatory and violent methods adopted, alongside the ineffective

While the religious factor contributed to the outbreak, the dominant narrative failed to consider how the economic situation of the Chinese community during that period, as well as the importance secret societies placed on exerting their power and dominance over the Chinese, contributed more extensively to the riots. Hence, this essay aims to rethink the main cause of the 1851 Anti-Catholic Riots by positing that it was not the religious factor that caused the outbreak; instead, it was the concern over their diminishing power and influence among the Chinese immigrant community that was the main factor which resulted in the secret societies’ starting the

While he provides a sound analysis of why the economic factor was the main cause for the outbreak, Lee attributes too much autonomy to the plantation owners and fails to consider the strong influence and power secret societies had. This meant that they could not have been under the control of these plantation owners. Moreover, he ignored the fact that there was a sizeable number of plantation owners who were Chinese converts too, and because of that, were prime targets of secret societies during the Riots as they were deemed to oppose the economic and political interest of the secret societies. This is demonstrated by a newspaper report of the events that transpired during the riots, which states “the bangaals and plantations of the Christians have been attacked by sets of 20 to 50 heathens, who rob all the property and destroy what they cannot carry away.” Once again, we see the secret societies’ desire for power and dominance being exhibited because they were retaliating against the Chinese Catholic plantation owners for undermining their economic interest. Thus, the economic factor did contribute to the outbreak of the riots but it was not the main reason because the basis of the economic factor still lay in the secret societies’ need to assert their power and dominance over the Chinese