To understand the history of
"Nantah" or "Nanyang University", we will need to
visit several reference sites available from the web.
The idea of a Chinese university in Singapore to
provide higher education to the Chinese community was first mooted
by Tan Lark Sye in 1953, then
Chairman of the Singapore Hokkien Association. A fund was set up
for this purpose, drawing donations from people of all walks of
life, and with Mr Tan himself donating $5 million. The Singapore
Hokkien Association donated 500 acres (2 km²) of land in the
western Jurong area, which was then largely undeveloped rural
land.
Nanyang University started classes on March 15 1956, offering
courses in the arts, sciences and commerce. Construction of the
entire campus was not completed until two years later. In 1958 the
university held its official opening ceremony, officated by Mr Tan
and Sir William Goode, then Governor of Singapore.
Nanyang University was merged with University of Singapore in 1980
to form the National University of Singapore (NUS), in part due to
the government's desire to pool the two institutions' resources
into a single, stronger entity. The merger was met with strong
opposition from the university's alumni in particular, as well as
the Chinese community, who consider the university a people's
university due to their financial contributions, and who believe it
is a bastion of Chinese education, culture, and social development.
The promotion of a single educational system based on the
English-medium of instruction in pre-tertiary eduation, however,
severely reduced the student catchment pool of Nantah, thus
hastening its demise.
With the merger, the Nanyang University grounds was taken over by a
new technical institute, the Nanyang Technological Institute (NTI),
in 1981. In 1991, the NTI was upgraded to university status as
Singapore's second English-medium university, the Nanyang
Technological University (NTU). Although technically a distinct
institution from the old Nanyang University, NTU has gradually
absorbed the rich heritage of the former institution, and there
have been calls to rename NTU as Nanyang University to reflect
this, particularly with the support of NU's alumni. The
administration of NTU has long resisted this move, however, and the
idea receives a lukewarm response from the almuni and current
students of the new institution. Most opposition stems from
concerns over confusion in the market, and the effect it may have
on the goodwill NTU has cultivated over the years in the industry.
Some alumni members of NU also object to the move, citing the
distinction between the two institutions and the need to preserve
the heritage of the old university. [1].
The NTU administration finally relented and announced the decision
to rename Nanyang Technological University as Nanyang University in
2005, justifing the move based on the university's introduction of
non-technology related schools and its expansion into a full
multi-disciplinary university. A year before this came into effect,
however, the administration backtracked and postponed the move
[2].
In 2005, a Symposium titled
"Paths Not Taken: Political
Pluralism in Postwar Singpaore" was jointly sponsored by
the Centre for Social Change Research at the Queensland Univerity
of Singapore and the Asia Research Instititute at the National
University of Singapore - several papers were submitted by leading
researches from both universities.
From the synopsys of the papers submitted, will provide us with
several snap-shots of the social-political period that led to the
closure of Nantah:
2. All Quiet on Jurong Road : Nanyang University and
radical vision in Singapore
- Dr Yao Souchou - Page 10 / 16
"Nantah was the first and only Chinese university in Southeast Asia
and a triumph of Chinese education in Malaya and the region. In its
short life, it came to shoulder considerable cultural idealism and
political ambitions of the Chinese community, especially among the
young students. But the way to understanding such idealism and
ambitions is muddled by the labelling of Nantah as a place of
'communist-inspired radicalism' by colonialism and later the
Singapore government. The chapter's attempt at de-mystification
will argue two points of analysis.
First, there are recognisable traditional 'cultural forms' in the
conception of Chinese education and communal support in the setting
up of the university; it is these 'cultural forms' rather
'communist radicalism' that energised Nanth.
Second, the political tenor of Nantah is 'Chinese Modernity' as
defined by the May Fourth Movement with powerful agendas of
progressivism and anti-traditionism (especially Confucianism). In
Southeast Asia, to these will be added anti-colonialism and
nationalism and it can be demonstrated 'communism' is a minor
player in this consternation - as it was in the May Fourth.
To understand the political energy of Nantah, and the state
suppression of it, we have to turn to the 'cultural influence of
China' in the specific historical sense. Further it is
necessary to bring the desire and ideological intentions of the
colonial and post-colonial states to the center of analysis.
The sad fate of Nantah - creating as it has nostalgic memories of
graduates in Singapore and overseas - has to be examined within the
dialectic of these two modalities of 'influences'
"
Other topics discussed at the same
Symposium included the
events in various socio-political segments of Singapore that
preceded the closure of Nantah in 1980 - these included
:-
"The Formation of a Local
Identity: The South Seas Society of Chinese Intellectuals in
Singapore, 1946 - 1971" - Mr Leaner Seah - Page 12 /
16
"Ambitious Chinese Merchants: The Democratic Party in the
1955 Legislative Assembly Election" - Dr Sikko Visscher -
Page 12 / 16
"The Campus as Crucible: Student Activism in Singapore and
Malay(si)a ?"
- Dr Meredith Weiss - Page 14 /16
[b]"Lawyers and Singapore Politics: 1945 1990"
- Dr Kevin Tan - Page 15 / 16
