This is a rare lantern slide photograph of two immigrant Chinese (Tan Hong Chu and Sim Hay) who were banished from Singapore in 1908 under a Banishment Order. The order was adopted by the British colonial administration to remove undesirable elements from Singapore. Banishment was applied principally to China-born immigrants who were involved in secret societies as headmen or in politically subversive activities. For much of the latter part of the 19th and 20th centuries, banishment functioned as a weapon of control and social order in Singapore.
