Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. John Ng turns 80 today. He was a policeman in the Naval Base and then in Sembawang Shipyard after the British left; his mother was also a searcher in the Naval Base. He tells me stories of the old Medical quarters where he lived, the creative ways he and his friends learned to make money as kids, the endemic gambling inside the base, and the secret garden be...

Might be better to view the video version here: https://youtu.be/RY4-YQ-sUfk Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. So much of the historic Singapore Naval Base has been lost so former Navalite Wan Chan Peew takes us on a walkthrough to document its old places and activities. We started with the gates, then the roads where Asians like him lived, and the docks and other places of work inside the n...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Woon Yew Thong remembers old Jurong Road before it was urbanised and leaving the Jurong Crescent Road quarters in 1974. He left behind his Reader’s Digest collection and a warm community of neighbours and friends. In recent years, he found many of them on social media while documenting memories of the Jurong Radio Transmitting Station on his website. Part 1...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Rey Pereira talks football history from his book, Uncle Choo: Singapore's Greatest Football Coach. He traces the remarkable career of Uncle Choo Seng Quee as player and coach of Singapore and Malaya. We cover the popularity of football from the British colonial days through the Japanese Occupation to the pitches of Farrer Park after the war. Part 1 | htt...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Self-taught guitarist Ronnie Choo and his musically-talented friends made some money playing in rock 'n' roll bands inside the Naval Base in Sembawang. Full episodes: Part 1 | https://youtu.be/-maCgkgStUI Part 2 | https://youtu.be/_Aq1rTEwBCA Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. In the final part of our podcast, LTC (Retd) Mejar Singh Gill gives his thoughts on several questions: how have SAF and SAFTI evolved over the years, is Singapore prepared for war, is the soldier still important in the high-tech 21st century, should women serve, how has the SAF served as a global peacekeeper, and how have regulars contributed to Singapore? P...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Selamat Kadari recalls the elders of Kampong Amber, its religious buildings and an interesting connection with PM Lawrence Wong (listen to find out!). He talks about the name ‘Amber’, what happened during the 1964 race riots and the old Katong where the kampong was located. Finally, we reflect on the reunions Selamat organised as chairman of the group, Our K...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. In Part 2, Pamela Sandanasamy recalls her subsequent trips to the village of Anaikkadu in India, bringing her daughters along. She found the St. Francis Xavier’s High School which her grandfather had built for the village. But most of all, she wanted to find out about her grandfather’s parents. When she finally located their graves, she understood why he had...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Rajandeeren Kanayan recalls his schooldays at historic Gan Eng Seng, the school of choice for those staying in the port area. He also endured torturous sea journeys to India and sold kueh and newspapers as a youngster. Today, Rajandeeren reflects on how Tanjong Pagar has changed as Singapore has evolved and his close ties to India. The past, no matter how no...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Hear LTC (Retd) Mejar Singh Gill recount the neglected history of 1 and 2 SIR. The first especially was formed by David Marshall in 1957 before Singapore became independent. When 1965 arrived, the government launched a crash programme to build new military facilities and recruit Israeli ('Mexican') advisers. There was an unexpected windfall - the Bri...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Jason Boh talks about his schools near the Naval Base. But the British era was coming to an end. The 14th Mile was demolished when the British forces vacated the base and the villagers and base families largely dispersed. Jason reflects on the changes and what still remains. The Sembawang experience forged in him a can-do spirit and a curiosity about the wor...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Abdullah Hussain & Saiful Nizam talk about the people in Seni Gayong – the silat elders as well as female members called Ibu Gayong (‘the mothers of Gayong’). We discuss their accomplishments in researching the history of Silat Gayong, but also new challenges in training the younger generation as well as documenting silat as Malay heritage martial arts....

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Woon Yew Thong began to research his family history when his father Woon Khai Boon passed away 10 years ago. This centred around the staff quarters at Jurong Crescent Road where they lived (since demolished and expunged). His father worked as a technician at the nearby Jurong Transmitting Station. In the distance was the Chinese-medium Nanyang University, fo...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Charles Ngui and I ponder about how the contributions of the Light Industries Services can be recognised in the new millennium. Drop us a note if you are interested to help us document and celebrate this rich industrial heritage of Singapore. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/6-u7rymWSKk Part 2 | https://youtu.be/UtyDCpVboNY Part 3 | https://youtu.be/v2eHkDbDJ3Y Par...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Selamat Kadari remembers his old house on stilts at 117 & 117A Kampong Amber, which was demolished in the 1980s to make way for condos. He led a group of five former neighbours – Shirley Soon, Imma, Bah Bah, and Nelson – in a remarkable effort to map the residents and houses of the kampong. In this Malay-majority settlement were the rich and famous, Pera...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. LTC (Retd) Mejar Singh Gill remembers his callup to National Service in 1967 and signing up as a regular in the Singapore Armed Forces. Historically-minded as always, he traces his journey to the military histories of the Punjab Empire, the colonial armies of the past and the Singapore Naval Base in Sembawang. He talks about the tough training (he took it we...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Pamela Sandanasamy returns to the pod to talk about her roots, her wish to find out about her maternal grandparents and how this took her to India. In 2008, as part of the TV programme Muthal Payanam (First Trip), she travelled to India for the first time. She arrived at the town Pattukottai and the village Anaikkadu in Tamil Nadu. This was where her grandpa...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. The master-apprentice system was a fixture in many trades in Old Singapore. In the 1960s, it was transitioning as the Economic Development Board’s Light Industries Services was employing sifus to train its recruits in manufacturing. So young Charles Ngui found himself with two masters – Kok Seng and Lee Cheng Kok. As the eager student met his willing sifu, t...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Jason Boh grew up in a Hainanese family residing in the Medical quarters of the Naval Base. His father was a fitter while his mother was a domestic servant for British families. It was a vibrant, diverse world from ‘Medical’ and the Canberra Asian quarters to the Sembawang Village also called the 14th Mile. Jason’s brother left for Portsmouth when the Britis...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Irene Hoe reminisces about old Dhoby Ghaut and Bras Basah Road where she grew up in the ‘50s and ‘60s – bookstores, friends from various ethnic groups and memories – what she calls the ‘Real Singapore’. Ep1 | https://youtu.be/W0Y01qmL3xE Ep2 | https://youtu.be/H21GWCp7GZE Ep3 | https://youtu.be/szhMslptfqQ 00:00 Mixed Neighbourhood 09:50 Rex Bookstore 13:49...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. P.N. Balji recalls the rich cultural life of the Naval Base – the Malayalam plays that his father performed in and celebrations of Onan, the harvest festival. His mother Narayani was very protective of her son and his father’s love of language rubbed off on Balji’s long career in journalism. Balji also talks about his schooldays, the villages of Chong and Se...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Rajandeeren Kanayan traces his roots in the old Tanjong Pagar, from his grandparents arriving from India to his father working in the Singapore Harbour Board and then the Port of Singapore Authority. He himself grew up in Queen’s Crescent, Blair Plain and Silat Integrated School after the war. What filled his early years was a sense of adventure, initiative...

欢迎来到旧新加坡记事录。 黄信勇医师记得当年装修房屋、耕种土地都是靠双手完成的。在70年代，他的家人被迫从波东巴西搬到大巴窑2巷的政府组屋。他和他的兄弟姐妹——他们都接受过华文教育——开始工作谋生。他后来成为美玲街的一名中医，至今仍在行医，同时还教气功。他说，贫穷的出身也有它的好处。 Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Physician Wong San Yong remembers how renovating the house and farming the land was...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Abdullah Hussain & Saiful Nizam from the Silat Seni Gayong Naga Bura join me to trace the origins of pencak silat in the Malay world. They talk about how different styles were developed by masters called gurus, passed down by oral tradition and brought to Singapore by migrants. One particular style, the Seni Gayong, emerged on the now-forgotten island of...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I reflect on my oral history work spanning 20 years, beginning with leprosy survivors in 2005 and victims of the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee fire to recent interviews with shopkeepers of Chinatown and TCM physicians. Looking at two very different interviews with leprosy survivors, I discuss how ordinary people offer additional voices to the Singapore Story and new wa...