Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Karen Brooks and Angela Bird, two sisters from Portsmouth, spent their childhood years in the Singapore Naval Base where their father was a submariner from 1966 to 1969. They reminisce about the unrelenting heat, the houses at Jalan Asas and Fraser Road where they lived, the local food they ate, and the Junior School they attended. 00:00 Introduction 04:35 C...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Tea man Kenry Peh and I discuss the ongoing revitalisation of Smith Street by the Chinatown Business Association. We talk about bringing Nanyang tea to the street and to Chinatown more generally. 00:00 Revitalisation of Smith Street 05:01 Tea & Culture at Smith Street 14:58 Encouraging Interest in Chinatown 18:03 The Nanyang Tea Challenge 23:10 The Stewa...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Wilson Chua rounds up the podcast by recounting how he joined the Changi Beach Club in 1982 and what he did for the club over the years, especially as its Chairman. He also reflects on his grassroots work among the residents of private housing in Paya Lebar and meeting the weightlifter Tan Howe Liang, who won the silver medal at the 1960 Olympics. 00:00 My T...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Ullas Kumar and I discuss the process of integration for new citizens and recent migrants from India. We talk about finding the balance between retaining practices from Kerala or India and accepting local ways and customs. When Ullas first came to Singapore, he thought that a 10 am meeting would only start an hour later, as in Kerala. The key for migrants is...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Dr Darinee Alagirisamy talks about the history of Tamil migration (both involuntary and voluntary) to Singapore from the vantage point of Tamil Nadu. We discuss the contributions of Indian convict labour, abuses in the kangany system, colonial self-interest, and the social reformers who tried to uplift the Tamil working class. 00:00 Introduction 02:16 My Res...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Kenry Peh is the proprietor of the hundred-year old heritage tea merchant Pek Sin Choon. A professed tea man, he talks about how his great grandmother Bai-Zhuang Dan Niang & her son Pek Kim Aw migrated from Anxi, Fujian to the Nanyang. They set up a tea shop at George Street in 1925 before moving to other streets of Chinatown. Blending different varietie...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. How did it start? Dr Loh Kah Seng looks at the evidence for the most controversial part of the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee fire: the rumours that the government wanted to remove the kampong for public housing. 00:00 Introduction 03:00 Researching the Rumours 03:51 Arson? 09:28 The Historical Context 10:25 The Thinking Behind the Rumours 15:20 Police Investigation 16:...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. After leaving Dunearn Technical, Wilson Chua worked in sales of air freight services for multinationals in Singapore, including the German multinational Birkat. Forced to leave the company, a friend encouraged him to set up his own company. Thus, UT-Ways, a freight forwarding business, was born. Wilson talks about manpower issues, competition from the big co...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. V. Maheantharan studied at the University of Southampton on a government scholarship before being posted to the Singapore Polytechnic. There, he oversaw many innovative programmes which made the polytechnic an exciting alternative to the university, which it was unfortunately not allowed to develop into. He talks about the need to acknowledge the roles of bo...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew promised a new home for every fire victim within 9 months. Find out how the Bukit Ho Swee fire became what the HDB called a ‘God-sent opportunity’ to rebuild the kampong into a housing estate and changed the lives of Singaporeans forever. 00:00 Introduction 03:45 Fire Site 05:32 Relief Centres 14:36 Temporary Housing 15:01 5 Ogres...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. The Malayalees are the largest minority within the Indian population. Ullas Kumar came to Singapore to work in 1999 and almost immediately joined and volunteered with the Singapore Malayalee Association. He talks about the Malayalees’ rich history, culture and community – the waves of migration from Kerala, the migrants’ mindset, the importance of education,...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Dr Loh Kah Seng traces a history of seven calamitous fires in urban kampongs before the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee inferno. These paved the way for emergency housing the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) built for fire victims in the 1950s. Such semi-permanent housing – many being 1-room flats with shared kitchens and toilets – has mostly been forgotten. But it was...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Winston Wong remembers other interesting parts of Farrer Park and nearby Serangoon and Race Course Roads – curry restaurants, Tekka Market, Kandang Kerbau Hospital, and the various schools he attended. He talks about the demolition of the Farrer Park sports grounds in the 1990s and his wish to lead another tour of the area’s unique mix of sports, food, relig...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Wilson Chua is one of the pioneers of independent Singapore’s technical education system and small-medium enterprises (SMEs). He talks about growing up in a shophouse at Lavender Street and studying at Dunearn Secondary Technical School. His PE teacher was the famed national sprinter C. Kunalan and he enjoyed scouting and sports more than his studies. 00:00...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Loh Kah Seng begins a new series on the 1961 fire at Bukit Ho Swee – the biggest in Singapore history and the place where he traces his roots. He relates the terror and chaos on that fateful day on 25 May 1961 as the inferno crossed two main roads and rendered 16,000 people homeless in a matter of hours. The fire was the topic of his PhD dissertation. In sub...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. V. Maheantharan remembers three types of early housing he lived in – a cramped house at Cantonment Road, a ‘palatial’ 2-room HDB flat at Taman Ho Swee and one of the flats at Blair Plain newly built by the PSA. He talks about his father’s work and influence among the Indian port workers of Tanjong Pagar and how the community revolved around the Sri Mariamman...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. By looking at life in the urban kampongs after WWII, Loh Kah Seng unpacks the myth that they were black areas. While there were poor housing, insanitation and secret societies, the kampongs were legitimate communities. There were many efforts towards self-help and gotong royong: celebrations of Chinese festivals, tontines and voluntary fire-fighting squads....

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Gerard Ee reflects on the difference between community development and social service and how both can co-exist. He talks about how the problem today has shifted from the youth to low-income families and elderly. I asked him about the valuable research his team did on vulnerable families during the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for practice research. 00:00...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Loh Kah Seng begins a new series on the 1961 fire at Bukit Ho Swee – the biggest in Singapore history and the place where he traces his roots. He relates the terror and chaos on that fateful day on 25 May 1961 as the inferno crossed two main roads and rendered 16,000 people homeless in a matter of hours. The fire was the topic of his PhD dissertation. In sub...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. On and off, Laura Yan sailed and lived overseas with her husband from 1976 to 1984. Upon returning to Singapore, she taught at Fuhua Primary School till she retired in 2001. She then taught class management to trainee teachers at the National Institute of Education for a few years. She highlights the importance of caring for the students and providing them e...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Winston Wong grew up in a SIT flat at Farrer Park, named after Princess Elizabeth. His balcony looked out to the famous Farrer Park sports ground. He recalls the diverse range of sporting events at the grounds, especially football. Many football teams played in the open fields, including a team of his neighbours called Hampshire United, as well as renowned n...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Barry Yeow relates how art and a mentor named Dan Lim finally helped him find a way out of prison to be a truly free man. He explains the creative role of art and the need to hate things like drugs that destroy people’s lives. He reconciled with his mother and set up an art studio in Commonwealth called 5seventeen. The past, he says, is an asset both to hims...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Winston Wong reflects on the SAF’s military heritage and what more can be done to document it, especially the pioneering regulars like him and their second careers. He has begun to contribute himself to this rich heritage, publishing a book of sketches of his SAF days with a second book in the process. 00:00 The SAF’s Military Heritage 05:24 My Sketches of M...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Singaporeans living in the British military bases recall how their lives were turned upside down when the British announced they were pulling out of Singapore sooner than anticipated. 00:00 Wan Chan Peew, Retraining for Clerks 10:10 Vijayan Nambiar, Stay or Leave 11:41 Mary Abishagam, Everything was Haywire 13:52 Alfred Dass, Dark Days 17:44 R. Asokan, A Gol...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Gerard Ee, long-time executive director of the Bukit Ho Swee Community Service Project, takes us back to the 1980s when the project was known as Nazareth Centre. He talks about how he and his team of volunteers worked hard, and successfully, to keep the children and youth of Bukit Ho Swee socially engaged and out of trouble. 00:00 Introduction 02:23 Kampongs...