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Mayhem in May: A social history of the 1957 Asian Flu epidemic in the Colony of Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2025

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Abstract

This article examines the month-long epidemic outbreak of Asian Flu in 1957 in the Colony of Singapore that occurred as part of the larger 1957–58 Asian Flu Pandemic. The notably short duration of this epidemic outbreak in Singapore relative to the prolonged Asian Flu experience in other countries poses significant socio-historical intrigue. In response, this article constructs a socio-historical narrative of Singapore's societal response to the event, focusing specifically on the reactions of the state and the colony residents. Studying the social narratives that emerged from official and popular discourses, this article argues that Singapore's societal response to the epidemic outbreak bifurcated drastically between the state and the public as a result of different and contradictory perceptions of public health and epidemic severity. Owing to extenuating circumstances, state interventions were, overall, reactive and insufficient, permitting the Asian Flu's rapid spread in the colony. The public, however, sought active control over their epidemic fates, as they were driven by a mixture of fear, greed, and civic duty to self-medicate, profiteer, and provide aid to one another. Consulting an eclectic range of hitherto underutilised primary sources, the article constructs a compelling socio-historical narrative that furthers understanding of Singapore's state-society relations.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , First View , pp. 1 - 26
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The National University of Singapore

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank his late grandmother, Soh Chwee Huay, who most certainly lived through the 1957 Asian Flu epidemic in Singapore and who continues to live through all of the author's days, and his family who offered support during the writing of the article. The author also offers gratitude to his undergraduate thesis supervisor Professor Naoko Shimazu, whose kindness and patience were central to the project and construction of his undergraduate thesis which formed the basis for this article. He is also grateful to friends that have helped bring his project to fruition both materially and spiritually. Last but not least, the author offers remembrance to the victims of the 1957 influenza epidemic in Singapore and recognises that any shortcomings of this article are solely his own.

References

1 A. M.-M. Payne and J. C. McDonald, ‘Symposium on the Asian Influenza Epidemic, 1957’, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine, 51, 12 (1958): 1009–10.

2 Ibid.

3 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, Cmd. (New Series) 13 of 1959 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, Aug. 1959), 90, Singapore-Malaysia Collection, NUS Central Library.

4 Ibid.

5 Based on 1957 census report figures of 1,476,694. Seng Chew Chua and Singapore Dept. of Statistics, ‘Report on the Census of Population 1957’, Cmd. / Singapore, Legislative Assembly; 19 of 1964 (Singapore: Printed by Government Printer, 1964), NUS Central Library, https://go.exlibris.link/B3GG1f2W.

6 Vernon J. Lee et al., ‘Influenza pandemics in Singapore, a tropical, globally connected city’, Emerging Infectious Diseases 13, 7 (2007): 1052–57, https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1307.061313; Vernon J. Lee et al., ‘Influenza excess mortality from 1950–2000 in tropical Singapore’, ed. Lisa F. P. Ng, PLoS ONE 4, 12 (2009): e8096, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0008096.

7 Valerie Tay, ‘The man who isolated Asian Flu virus with help of eggs', The Straits Times, 19 Apr. 2020, https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/the-man-who-isolated-asian-flu-virus-with-help-of-eggs.

8 Lenore Manderson, Sickness and the state: Health and illness in colonial Malaya, 1870–1940 (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996); Deepak Kumar, ‘Lenore Manderson, sickness and the state: Health and illness in colonial Malaya, 1870–1940 (Review)’, Medical History 42, 1 (1998): 123–24, https://doi.org/10.1017/S002572730006350X.

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11 Liew Kai Khiun, ‘A defining moment, defining a moment: Making SARS history in Singapore’, in Population dynamics and infectious diseases in Asia (World Scientific, 2006), pp. 369–88, http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/9789812773395_0019; Matthew Kwok, ‘Everybody, we have a part to play: The SARS outbreak in the Singapore story’ (Bachelor's Thesis, Singapore, National University of Singapore, 2020), ScholarBank@NUS Repository, https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/184391; Nurenee Lee, ‘A plague o’ both your houses: Medicine, power and the great Flu of 1918–1919 in Britain and Singapore’ (Master's Thesis, Singapore, National University of Singapore, 2011), ScholarBank@NUS Repository (Master's Theses (Open)), https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/22854.

12 UNWHO Epidemiological Intelligence Station Singapore, ‘An account of the functions of the Epidemiological Intelligence Station’ (Singapore: World Health Organization Epidemiological Intelligence Station Singapore, 1954), 1, Singapore-Malaysia Collection, National University of Singapore Central Library.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

17 Ibid., p. 2.

18 Renamed as the Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System in 2011 upon the adoption by the World Health Assembly, of the Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework for the Sharing of Influenza Viruses and Access to Vaccines and Other Benefits (‘PIP Framework’); Thedi Ziegler, Awandha Mamahit, and Nancy J. Cox, ‘65 years of influenza surveillance by a World Health Organization-Coordinated Global Network’, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses 12, 5 (2018): 1, https://doi.org/10.1111/irv.12570.

19 Ibid., pp. 1–2.

20 Ziegler, Mamahit and Cox, ‘65 years of influenza surveillance by a World Health Organization-Coordinated Global Network’.

21 B.R. Sreenivasan, ‘The recent flu epidemic in Singapore’, Proceedings of the Alumni Association, Malaya 10, 3 (1957): 211–15; K. A. Lim et al., ‘Influenza outbreak in Singapore’, The Lancet, originally published as vol 2, issue 6999, 270 (1957): 791–97, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(57)90893-0; Y. O. Swee and H. Dourado, ‘Influenza epidemic in Singapore children’, BMJ 2, 5060 (1957): 1523–25, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.2.5060.1523.

22 Lee et al., ‘Influenza excess mortality from 1950–2000 in tropical Singapore’; Lee et al., ‘Influenza pandemics in Singapore, a tropical, globally connected city’; Vernon J. Lee et al., ‘Twentieth century influenza pandemics in Singapore’, Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore 37, 6 (2008): 470–6; ‘Singapore's efforts and experiences in influenza control’, in Bird Flu: A Rising Pandemic in Asia and Beyond?, (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing, 2006), pp. 211–19), https://www.worldscientific-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/10.1142/9789812707338_0015.

23 Edwin D. Kilbourne, ‘History of influenza’, in Influenza, Edwin D. Kilbourne (Boston, MA: Springer US, 1987), pp. 3–22, http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-1-4684-5239-6_1, see p. 17.

24 Kavita Sivaramakrishnan, ‘Looking sideways: Locating epidemics and erasures in South Asia’, Bulletin of the History of Medicine 94, 4 (2020): 637–57, https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2020.0087; Meaghan Jeannine Marian, ‘Fever dreams: Infectious disease, epidemic events, and the making of Hong Kong’ (PhD, Ann Arbor, University of Toronto (Canada), 2016), ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global (1818964463), http://libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/login?url= https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/fever-dreams-infectious-disease-epidemic-events/docview/1818964463/se-2?accountid=13876.

25 C. M. Turnbull, ‘Chapter 8: The road to Merdeka, 1955–1965’, in A history of modern Singapore 1819–2005, New edition (Singapore: NUS Press, 2020), pp. 407–71.

26 Lachlan M. Strahan, ‘An oriental scourge: Australia and the Asian Flu Epidemic of 1957’, Australian Historical Studies 26, 103 (1994): 182–201, https://doi.org/10.1080/10314619408595959; Debra Ellen Menconi Blakely, Mass mediated disease: A case study analysis of three flu pandemics and public health policy (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2006).

27 Only two of the official information bulletins issued by the Ministry of Health during the epidemic outbreak survive in the archives: ‘Ministers discuss epidemic’, The Singapore Free Press, 10 May 1957, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; Singapore Government, ‘Flu’ statistics, Singapore Government Press Statement’ (Press statement, Singapore, 17 May 1957); Singapore Government, ‘Singapore gives Australia advice’ (press statement, Singapore, 31 May 1957).

28 Great Britain Colonial Office, ‘Colony of Singapore Annual Report 1957’, Colonial Reports (Singapore: Government Printing Office, 1959), https://go.exlibris.link/QRh1vmcr; ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the year ended 31st December, 1957’, Cmd. (New Series) 13 of 1959 (Singapore: Government Printing Office, Aug. 1959), Singapore-Malaysia Collection, NUS Central Library; H.R. Morrison, ‘Annual Report of the Health Department 1957’ (Singapore: City Council of Singapore, 1959), Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/persistent/e40dc2ca-f516-4581-be73-87ac19ba2f46; Influenza epidemic in Singapore (Statement by the Minister of Health), Singapore Parl Debates; vol. 3, sitting no 11; Col 1938; 22-05-1957.

29 ‘Influenza virus variants’, British Medical Journal 1, 5034 (1957): 1517–18; C. E. Gordon Smith, L. H. Turner and C. J. V. Helliwell, ‘Far East influenza’, British Medical Journal 1, 5032 (1957): 1412; ‘Influenza 1957’, American Journal of Public Health and the Nation's Health 47, 9 (1957): 1141–4; Payne and McDonald, ‘Symposium on the Asian influenza epidemic, 1957’; Zühdi Berke, ‘The Asian Influenza pandemic in Turkey, 1957–58’, Bulletin of the World Health Organization 20, 2–3 (1959): 494–8; Hideo Fukumi, ‘Summary report on the Asian influenza epidemic in Japan, 1957’, Bulletin of the World Health Organization 20, 2–3 (1959): 187–98; Frederick L. Dunn, ‘Pandemic influenza in 1957: Review of international spread of new Asian strain’, Journal of the American Medical Association 166, 10 (1958): 1140, https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1958.02990100028006.

30 ‘Flu strikes Singapore’, The Straits Times, 5 May 1957, sec. p. 1, NewspaperSG.

31 ‘Epidemic is now at its peak’, The Singapore Free Press, 8 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

32 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, p. 90.

33 Ibid.; Influenza epidemic in Singapore (Statement by the Minister of Health), Singapore Parl Debates; vol. 3, sitting no. 11; Col 1938; 22-05-1957.

34 Ibid.

35 Ibid.

36 Ibid.

37 Great Britain Colonial Office, ‘Colony of Singapore Annual Report 1957’, p. 20. Disagreement among official records regarding death statistics will be addressed later.

38 Originally 50,000; typographic error.

39 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, p. 91.

40 Influenza epidemic in Singapore.

41 The laws of the colony of Singapore edition of 1955 containing the ordinances and selected imperial legislation in Force on the 1st Day of May 1955, Volume 4, 8 vols (Singapore: F.S. Horslin Government Printer Singapore, 1955), https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/persistent/f95574e7-6a86-441a-931c-e4f1cc0d22c1.

42 ‘Flu strikes Singapore’.

43 Ibid.

44 Influenza epidemic in Singapore.

45 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’.

46 ‘時評：再談流行性感冒’, 南方晚報, 7 May 1957, sec. p. 1.

47 Palmer Road was where the Ministry of Health was headquartered in 1957. ‘Palmer Road | Infopedia’, accessed 24 Mar. 2022, https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_288_2005-01-26.html.

48 ‘Act on flu’, The Singapore Free Press, 16 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘市議員及鄉局委員籲請政府分配藥品醫治’, 中興日報, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 6.

49 ‘Act on flu’.

50 Ibid.

51 Ibid.

52 ‘Police, nurses hit by flu’, The Singapore Standard, 6 May 1957, sec. p. 2, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘It floors the postmen’, The Singapore Standard, 9 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘Absentees still increasing, but… flu epidemic is on way out’, The Singapore Free Press, 9 May 1957, sec. p. 16, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

53 ‘流行性感冒侵襲星洲⋅交通事業亦受打擊⋅電車及各巴士公司車輛減少川行次數⋅總共十餘八仙職工沾染此病症⋅海港局職工七百餘人缺勤工作受影響’, 南方晚報, May 9, 1957, sec. p. 1; ‘流行性感冒仍蔓延⋅海港局雇員有八仙染病⋅各巴士公司職工缺勤者與昨日略同⋅聯合邦各地亦流行此病’, 南方晚報, 11 May 1957, sec. p. 1; ‘巴士與電車缺勤者仍衆多’, 南方晚報, 13 May, 1957, sec. p. 1; ‘流行性感冒無顯著減退⋅各學校本周續停課本星期六將再檢討真情勢⋅電車公司與各巴士站工友缺勤者尚多’, 南方晚報, May 13 1957, sec. p. 1; ‘少數學生尚告缺席⋅相信係因沾染感冒正未愈所致⋅個站巴士車川行數回復正常狀態’, 南方晚報, 20 May 1957, sec. p. 1.

54 ‘Leftists: Arrests were a heavy blow’, The Straits Times, 11 July 1957, sec. p. 6, NewspaperSG.

55 ‘Up, up goes flu total’, 16 May 1957, sec. p. 1, NewspaperSG.

56 Ibid.

57 Ibid.

58 ‘A-tishoo! -And the big sneeze spreads’, The Singapore Free Press, 7 May 1957, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

59 ‘Flu closes schools’, The Straits Times, 8 May 1957, NewspaperSG.

60 ‘Over—the flu holiday’, The Straits Times, 18 May 1957.

61 ‘Flu closes schools’.

62 Rediffusion was the first cable-transmitted radio station in Singapore. ‘Rediffusion | Infopedia’, accessed 27 Mar. 2022, https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_1198_2008-10-24.html.

63 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, p. 93; Influenza epidemic in Singapore.

64 Ibid.

65 Ibid.

66 Influenza epidemic in Singapore.

67 A small island off the southern coast of Singapore.

68 ‘Three dead, 300 sick on flu island. Threat of starvation follows epidemic: Whole households lie ill, unable to work’. The Straits Times, 15 May 1957, sec. p. 9, NewspaperSG.

69 Ibid.

70 Ibid.

71 Ibid.

72 Ibid.

73 Dr. K. Kanagaratnam was also the author of the Ministry of Health's dedicated report of 1957 Asian Flu epidemic outbreak in the 1957 MOH Annual Report.

74 ‘How bad is flu on Pulau Sudong?’, The Straits Times, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 5, NewspaperSG.

75 Ibid.

76 Penghulu refers to the village headman or chief.

77 ‘How bad is flu on Pulau Sudong?’

78 ‘Forgotten Isles’, The Singapore Standard, 16 May 1957, sec. p. 6, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

79 Ibid.

80 Turnbull, ‘Chapter 8: The road to Merdeka, 1955–1965’.

81 Wei Lim and Adrian Ee, ‘Primary care’, in Singapore's health care system, World Scientific Series on Singapore's 50 Years of Nation-Building (World Scientific, 2015), p. 202, https://doi.org/10.1142/9789814696067_0014; ‘Anti-Diphtheria Work Slowed’, The Straits Times, 20 May 1957, NewspaperSG.

82 Great Britain Colonial Office, ‘Colony of Singapore annual report 1957’, p. 159.

83 Ibid.

84 ‘Epidemic is still spreading in colony’, The Singapore Free Press, 13 May 1957, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection

85 ‘Codeine is a flu bug killer’, The Singapore Free Press, 10 May 1957, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘Who said flu?’, The Singapore Free Press, 13 May 1957, sec. p. 5, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

86 ‘Flu victims are destitute in Chinatown’, The Singapore Free Press, 14 May 1957, sec. p. 16, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

87 ‘All cases of flu to be reported, federation steps up anti-epidemic measures’, The Singapore Standard, 10 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

88 Colony of Singapore Government Gazette April–June 1957, vol. 12, 14 vols (Singapore: Government Printer, 1946–1959, 1959).

89 ‘Epidemic is still spreading in colony’.

90 Alick Isaacs, ‘Letter to Dr. A. M. M. Payne’, 1 Jan. 1957, I2, 418–12, WHO Archives HQ Centralised Files 3rd4th Gen I2 Influenza and Other Series.

91 ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, p. 93.

92 Sivaramakrishnan, ‘Looking sideways’, p. 654; ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’, p. 93.

93 C. Mani, ‘Letter From Dr. C. Mani to Dr. Timmerman’, 21 May 1957, I2, 418–12, WHO Archives HQ Centralised Files 3rd4th Gen I2 Influenza and Other Series.

94 ‘Letter from SEARO Director to Chief, IQ’, 23 May 1957, I2, 418–12, WHO Archives HQ Centralised Files 3rd4th Gen I2 Influenza and Other Series.

95 Great Britain Colonial Office, ‘Colony of Singapore Annual Report 1957’; ‘Report of the Ministry of Health for the Year Ended 31st December, 1957’.

96 Excess death or mortality is measured as the difference between the reported number of deaths in a given period and an estimate of the expected deaths for that same period had the 1957 Asian Flu epidemic in Singapore not occurred.

97 Morrison, ‘Annual Report of the Health Department 1957’, p. 26.

98 ‘Influenza’, The Singapore Standard, 16 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘Flu Epidemic’, The Straits Times, 16 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Formosan “Flu”’, The Singapore Free Press, 2 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘Formosa ‘flu Epidemic’, The Straits Times, 3 May 1957, NewspaperSG; ‘Flu spreads’, The Straits Times, 4 May 1957, sec. p. 2, NewspaperSG, https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19570503-1.2.25; ‘台北發生流行性感冒’, 星洲日報, 3 May 1957, sec. p. 1, NewspaperSG.

99 ‘Dirty notes and ‘flu [Letter]’, The Straits Times, 20 May 1957, NewspaperSG.

100 ‘Second victim reported’, The Singapore Standard, 13 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘時評：流行性感冒死亡日多’, 南方晚報, 15 May 1957, sec. p. 1.

101 Yoke Tho Tong, Sheela Narayanan, and Pradeep Paul, Caring for our people: 50 years of healthcare in Singapore, 2015, 29.

102 Daniel Foo Say Liang, ‘A short history of a long tradition: The resilience of Chinese medicine in Singapore’ (Thesis, 2001), 5, Repository, https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/186781.

103 Great Britain Colonial Office, ‘Colony of Singapore Annual Report 1957’, p. 158.

104 Yan Yang, ‘Chinese medicine in Singapore (1867–2014): The interactions between the government and non-governmental organizations’ (Thesis, 2018), pp. 54–55, https://scholarbank.nus.edu.sg/handle/10635/147703; ‘Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Ordinance, 1955’, in Singapore ordinances, 1955 (Government Printing Office, Singapore, 1956).

105 ‘預防流行性感冒及治療方法’, 中興日報, 6 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

106 ‘中西藥材店昨日生意特別忙’, 南洋商報, 13 May 1957, sec. p. 5, NewspaperSG; ‘Codeine is a flu bug killer’.

107 ‘Codeine is a flu bug killer’.

108 Ibid.

109 ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘The Key to Success’, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 1 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 9 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘Mental Exhaustion’, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 8 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 9 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘The Secret of Youth…in Old Age’, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 15 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 11 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘A Word of Advice for the Vital Months Ahead’, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 22 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 9 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘After Illness Health and Strength Rapidly Restored’, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 29 Apr. 1957, sec. p. 9 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Brand's Essence of Chicken, ‘Influenza. Your Best Defence’, Advertisement’, The Straits Times, 16 May 1957, sec. p. 10 Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG.

110 ‘Aspro, ‘The great medicine to cure fever!’, Advertisement’, The Straits Times, 5 April 1957, sec. p. 9, Advertisements Column 1, NewspaperSG; ‘Aspro, “Influenza hits Singapore”, Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 9 May 1957, sec. p. 10, Advertisements Column 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘Aspro, “Influenza Hits Malaya” Advertisement’, The Singapore Standard, 18 May 1957, sec. p. 8, Advertisements Column 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘Aspro, “流行性感冒襲擊马来亚”，advertisement’, 星洲日报, 12 May 1957, sec. 第8页 广告 专栏 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

111 ‘Traditional Chinese medicine in Singapore’, from the oral history interview of Chong Soo Seng 庄树声 (Accession No. 002808 Reel/Disc No. 03), Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore.

112 Ibid.

113 Ibid.

114 Ibid.

115 Ibid.

116 ‘About Us’, 何人可 Ho Yan Hor, accessed 30 Mar. 2022, https://hoyanhor.com/about-us/; ‘Ho Yan Hor Original Herbal Tea’, Ho Yan Hor (blog), accessed 4 Mar. 2022, https://hoyanhor.com/our-products/ho-yan-hor-original-herbal-tea/.

117 ‘三腳標健永公司，’道歉故事’，announcement’, 星洲日報, 25 May 1957, sec. 第1页 广告 专栏 3, NewspaperSG; ‘三腳標健永公司，’道歉故事’，announcement’, 星洲日報, 26 May 1957, sec. 第1页 广告 专栏 4, NewspaperSG.

118 ‘金魚標良藥 空運來星市 治療感冒症’, 星洲日報, 10 May 1957, sec. p. 6, NewspaperSG.

119 ‘感冒流行聯邦各地聲中 各藥店紛紛搶購 斧標驅風油應市’, 星洲日報, 31 May 1957, sec. p. 9, NewspaperSG.

120 ‘流行性感冒雜記’, 中興日報, 14 May 1957, sec. p. 3; ‘流行性感冒雜記’, 南方晚報, 13 May 1957, sec. p. 2.

121 ‘預防流行性感冒及治療方法’.

122 Ibid.

123 Ibid.

124 Ibid.

125 A possible exaggeration. Ibid.

126 ‘Singapore flu scare’, The Straits Times, 7 May 1957, sec. p. 1, NewspaperSG.; Photo 2.

127 ‘防止流行感冒症之特効藥’, 南洋商報, 8 May 1957, sec. p. 14, NewspaperSG; ‘流行性感冒’, 南洋商報, 7 May 1957, sec. p. 5, NewspaperSG.

128 ‘蘿蔔橄欖 不再吃香’, 星洲日報, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 9, NewspaperSG.

129 ‘Weird new facial: Influenza cure they say’, The Singapore Free Press, 14 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

130 Ibid.

131 Larry Xavier, ‘Lion's tail and rare fruit to ward off flu: Nepalese hill-billies cash in on epidemic’, The Singapore Standard, 19 May 1957, sec. p. 5, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

132 Ibid.

133 Ibid.

134 Ibid.

135 ‘Influenza and rumours’, The Singapore Standard, 11 May 1957, sec. p. 6, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

136 Ibid.

137 ‘Singapore doctor: The truth about the influenza epidemic’, The Singapore Free Press, 20 May 1957, sec. p. 12, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘What is this thing called ‘Flu?’, The Singapore Standard, 27 May 1957, sec. p. 6, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘The flu’, The Straits Times, 17 May 1957, NewspaperSG; ‘How to beat that “flu bug”’, The Singapore Standard, 19 May 1957, sec. p. 14, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items; ‘流行性感冒：你知道它的病理和怎樣預防和治療嗎？’, 中興日報, 6 May 1957, sec. p. 6, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘流行性感冒’; ‘流行性感冒的防治’, 星洲日報, 16 May 1957, sec. p. 5, NewspaperSG; ‘怎樣預防流行性感冒？’, 星洲日報, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 11, NewspaperSG.

138 ‘流行性感冒：你知道它的病理和怎樣預防和治療嗎？’; ‘How to beat that ‘flu bug’; ‘Epidemic: advice by doctors’, The Singapore Free Press, 11 May 1957, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘以中醫學理看感冒’, 南洋商報, 15 May 1957, sec. p. 14, NewspaperSG.

139 ‘流行性感冒：你知道它的病理和怎樣預防和治療嗎？’; ‘Epidemic’.

140 ‘聯合診所，’假如你有病不必憂慮’, Public Service Announcement/Advertisement’, 夜燈, 18 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘中國新型醫療社⋅’濟僑潦病所公開流行性感冒病驗方以利僻地患者之自療’, ‘Announcement/Remedy’, 夜燈, 21 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘流行性感冒蔓延濟僑療病所公開經驗良方’, ‘Announcement/Remedy’, 夜燈, 21 May 1957, sec. p. 4, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘聯合診所，’假如你有病不必憂慮’, Public Service Announcement/Advertisement’, 夜燈, 25 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection; ‘散送流行性感冒良方’, 南洋商報, 12 May 1957, sec. p. 5, NewspaperSG; ‘醫治感冒中藥方’, 南洋商報, 14 May 1957, sec. p. 14, NewspaperSG; ‘醫治感冒中藥方’, 南洋商報, 15 May 1957, sec. p. 14, NewspaperSG.

141 ‘醫治感冒中藥方’, 15 May 1957.

142 ‘Flu victims are destitute in Chinatown’.

143 Ibid.

144 ‘They've started a free flu clinic … Free press report prompts leading citizens into action’, The Singapore Free Press, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 16, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

145 Ibid.

146 Ibid.

147 ‘The first free clinic for flu opens: 130 treated’, The Straits Times, 18 May 1957, NewspaperSG.

148 ‘Flu: Colony's doctors’ free service to victims’, The Singapore Standard, 17 May 1957, sec. p. 1, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

149 ‘The first free clinic for flu opens’; ‘Colony's flu clinic has busy first day’, The Singapore Standard, 18 May 1957, sec. p. 5, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection, https://digitalgems.nus.edu.sg/collection/1853/items.

150 ‘Another clinic opens to treat flu victims’, The Straits Times, 19 May 1957, NewspaperSG; ‘Another free flu clinic’, The Singapore Free Press, 21 May 1957, sec. p. 3, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

151 ‘Plight of the rural flu sufferers’, The Singapore Free Press, 18 May 1957, sec. p. 2, Digital Gems, NUS Libraries Special Collection.

152 Debra Ellen Menconi Blakely, ‘Chapter Two—The Asian Flu pandemic of 1957’, in Mass mediated disease: A case study analysis of three flu pandemics and public health policy (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2006), 108.

153 ‘Medical services in Singapore’, from the oral history interview of Lim Kok Ann (Prof), (Accession No. 001385 Reel/Disc 06), Oral History Centre, National Archives of Singapore.