This chapter will present a historical account of the 1960s Singaporean official film series Berita Singapura (1963–9). Berita Singapura emerged out of the context of British decolonisation in South-East Asia, Singapore's independence from Britain from 1959 onwards, and the territory's entry into and eventual expulsion from the Federation of Malaysia. Above all, however, Berita Singapura was the creation of and articulated the vision of the Singapore People's Action Party (PAP) and its leader, the ubiquitous Lee Kuan Yew; who also appeared in many Berita Singapura films. Because it would not be possible to understand Berita Singapura outside these contexts, the approach adopted in this chapter will be to first provide the reader with a synopsis of them, and particularly of the policies of the PAP, before outlining the genesis, constitution and overall configuration of Berita Singapura, and then arriving at conclusions concerning this film series. This approach will enable a detailed overview of Berita Singapura to be presented in relation to context. Given this approach and focus on the determining contexts and overall configuration of the series, however, and also given limitations of space, it will not be possible to engage in intensive textual analysis of particular films. This may be inopportune. Analysis of similar films is, however, carried out elsewhere in this anthology. The author also believes that what is of particular importance about this series is how it emerged out of and articulated the policies of the PAP, and this will therefore be the principal focus of this chapter.

THE PEOPLE'S ACTION PARTY (PAP)

As part of the process of colonial withdrawal from governance in Singapore, the first general election to be held in the city occurred in April 1955. No single party won sufficient seats to gain power. In 1959 a second general election was held, in which the PAP won a landslide victory, with the party leader, Lee Kuan Yew, becoming the first Prime Minister of Singapore. At the time, the PAP believed that a merger with Malaya was necessary for political reasons and that the antiquated Singaporean economy would also develop through being linked to the larger – and wealthy – Malayan economy.