HCI 2025 C2 H2 History Prelims Paper 2

This document consists of 4 printed pages. Excluding cover page. HWA CHONG INSTITUTION PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Higher 2 CANDIDATE NAME CT GROUP INDEX NUMBER HISTORY Paper 2 Developments in Southeast Asia (Independence – 2000) Additional Materials: Answer Paper 9 174 /0 2 September 202 5 3 hours INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Write your name and CT class clearly in the spaces at the top of this page. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. Section A Attempt Question 1. Section B Answer two questions. Please start every question on a fresh page and label each question clearly. If you did not manage to attempt a question, write down the question number you would have attempted on the cover page of the booklet. At the end of the examination, insert any additional 4-page booklets used for responses into the 12-page booklet. This document consists of 4 printed pages, ex cluding the coverpage. The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question.

9 174 /HCI/ Preliminary Examination/ 202 5 1 Section A You must answer Question 1. ASEAN AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION 1. Read the sources and then answer the question. Source A While ASEAN ’s declared objectives were economic, social and cultural, all knew that progress in economic cooperation would be slow. The fall of Saigon to the communists in April 1975 increased our sense of danger from subversion and insurgency. ASEAN had to undertake economic development more effectively to reduce domestic discontent. At a bilateral meeting with Suharto in Bali in September 1975, I tried to persuade him to agree to set economic targets for ASEAN at its first summit, and to go for a trade liberalisation policy starting with a 10 percent reduction by member countries of tariffs on selected items and leading eventually to a free trade area. Suharto ’s close aide later told our ambassador that after [he] met me, his technocrats had advised him against free trade. From the memoirs of Singapore ’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, published in 2000. Source B We are fully aware – at its early stage – that the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme will cover only several products, and applied to Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. In due course, on par with the conditions and readiness of the respective countries, we will also implement it for the rest of other ASEAN countries in accordance with the timetable we commonly agreed upon. It is with full awareness that we designed the CEPT with its format we currently possess. As an initial stepping stone to implementing the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), we decided to limit its application only to some varieties and groups of products. This is critical in helping to address any worries that any given country would be sacrificing rather than gaining benefits from this