Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Barry Yeow next joined the ‘369’ gang in Toa Payoh. He talks about gang culture between community, violence and crime. He committed his first offence as a juvenile and was placed on probation, but absconded and continued to offend. He was eventually arrested for drug consumption at the age of 16. Being in prison was difficult but he failed to rehabilitate de...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Five old-timers reflect on efforts to revitalise Chinatown and how they might succeed. 00:00 何乃强，旧牛车水与食街 Ho Nai Kiong, Old Chinatown & the Food Street 13:00 Alex Tan Tiong Hee, Chinatown 2.0 23:04 Jeffrey Eng, Artisans at Smith Street 36:15 Wilson Tang, Trainee Cooks at Smith Street 42:17 Victor Yue, Revitalising Smith Street I am Dr Loh Kah S...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Winston Wong relates his days as a naval diver and his involvement in several major incidents in Singapore: an industrial blast, a hijacked plane and a hotel collapse. He also remembers his posting as a combat engineer to Pulau Blakang Mati at a time when it was primed to be a tourist resort. He talks about its friendly villagers, iconic buildings and rich h...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Laura Yan talks about becoming a novice teacher at the age of 18 and how she came to love teaching. She was known to be a fierce teacher at River Valley English School and Rangoon Road Secondary School. She reflects on how teaching was more about the behavioural side of students rather than their academic achievements. 00:00 Introduction 01:09 A Teacher at t...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Five Singaporeans recall the warmth and heritage of Old Chinatown before redevelopment arrived 60 years ago. 00:00 何乃强，养正小学 Ho Nai Kiong, Yangzheng Primary School 15:14 Alex Tan Tiong Hee, Flavour of Chinatown 23:01 Jeffrey Eng, Teochew Chinatown 34:04 何乃强，大马路的金铺 Ho Nai Kiong, Goldsmiths of South Bridge Road 43:27 Charmaine Leung, Brothels...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Meeravathay P.S. takes us through over half a century of her richly diverse career in nursing, from infectious diseases and midwifery to gerontology and teaching. She talks about her early years at the historic Middleton Hospital for infectious diseases, where she met her future husband, the need for discipline and timeliness, the roles of local and foreign...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Barry Yeow and his family were one of the first to live in Toa Payoh New Town in 1967. He talks about having fun outside as a kid and not doing his studies at Heng A Khe Bong School. He fell in with a group of friends who gave him a sense of belonging and community. In a rough pioneer town dubbed the ‘Chicago of the East’, he began sniffing glue as a young t...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Kampongs were never meant to be part of the post-war Singapore landscape. Here are memories of five vanished kampongs: Jalan Kayu, Jurong Road, Kampong Gajah ('Elephants'), Kampong Chantek (Bahru), and Kampong Potong Pasir. 00:00 Chellapandi Chellaiyya on Jalan Kayu 07:56 Koh Boon Long on Old Jurong Road 17:40 Charles Ngui on Kampong Gajah 27:23 Koh...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Winston Wong recalls being in the 2nd batch of officer cadets at SAFTI and how the Israeli ‘advisors’ who trained them brought along their military mindset from the Six-Day War. He talks about what it meant to lead a group of men and his first posting to the bomb disposal unit, doing forensic work on relics from the Second World War. 00:00 Introduction 01:10...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Chinniah Saraswathy & P. Rajamogan talk about being in two professions that deserve more recognition in Singapore: a nurse and a technician. Having worked in these jobs for over 40 years, they recount the rewards and risks: saving patients in the ICU and contributing to the growth of the petrochemical industry, but also braving hazards, shift work, disea...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Former engineering apprentice Yan Yim Tong later married his wife Laura and they sailed together around the world on a missionary ship. He recounts the legendary apprentice Chua Chor Teck, who rose to become managing director of Keppel Shipyard. Finally, he reflects on the engineering apprenticeship as a phase in the history of technical education in Singapo...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Meeravathay P.S. relates her wondrous childhood growing up in the Nelson Road staff quarters provided by the Singapore Harbour Board and attending Silat Primary School. These were parts of old Tanjong Pagar before the port was taken over by the Port of Singapore Authority and redeveloped for container terminals. 00:00 Introduction 01:38 The Nelson Road Quart...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Yusof Wanjor relates the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebrations of the past and why the wound (luka) from the 1964 race riots will never heal. He talks about growing up in a compound house at Penaga Place at Haig Road and old Geylang Serai as a rural settlement. He wrote Islamic books and cherishes his independence. 00:00 Introduction 01:26 Prophet Muhamma...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Old-timers from the north recall its former kampongs – Chong Pang, Nee Soon and Chye Kay – as well as Jalan Sembawang Kechil and the Sikh temples. 00:00 Wan Chan Peew on Chong Pang Village 04:29 R. Asokan on Chong Pang Village 10:37 Ronnie Choo on Chye Kay Village 15:39 Joel Chandran on Jalan Sembawang Kechil 26:34 R. Asokan on Nee Soon Village 46:53 Mejar S...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Koh Boon Long remembers student politics at the Chinese High School. He is Hainanese and both his parents were domestic servants for the British. His father was a cook and his mother a laundrywoman. Koh then attended the Bukit Panjang Government High School where he was of the pioneer batch in 1959. It was an integrated school but the English- and Chinese-st...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Wan Chan Peew recalls his difficulties in technical studies and why, upon graduation, he joined the Finance Department in the Naval Base. He reunited with his former school mates years later. He talks about how studying should be an enjoyable experience while it prepares students for adulthood. He also suggests building around old schools instead of demolish...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Long-time friends Chinniah Saraswathy & P. Rajamogan were classmates at Trafalgar School, an old primary school in Tanjong Pagar by the sea. They relate their memories of the school compounds, the staff and their classmates, and their families’ ties to the old port of Singapore. They eventually moved out, studying at Tanglin Technical & New Town Seco...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Relive some of the old kampongs in the east of Singapore: Bedok, Chai Chee, Kembangan, Amber, and Changi. 00:00 Yeo Hong Eng on Bedok Village 06:16 Margaret, Dennis & Jimmy Tan on Bedok Village 22:33 Yeo Hong Eng on Kampong Chai Chee 29:01 Rey Pereira on Kampong Kembangan 37:01 Alex Tan Tiong Hee on Kampong Amber 39:10 Maria Yap on Changi Village I am Dr...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Roger Ting & Ting Min Long from the Singapore Dragon & Lion Athletic Association discuss the intricacies of Foochow dragondance as well as the art of making dragons heads. Over time, they have improved the design of the dragon heads. They talk about their hopes and optimism for the future and their efforts to document the heritage of Foochow dragonda...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Pioneer engineering apprentice Yan Yim Tong of the Old Engineering Apprentices Association recounts how poverty drove him to enrol in the Dockyard Technical College in the Naval Base. As an apprentice, he learned from kindly sifu (masters) who taught him well. He eventually sailed to ports around the world, living a seaward life filled with risks and drama....

欢迎来到旧新加坡记事录。何乃强医生回忆起日治时期家人逃往波东巴西，并藏匿贵重物品，以及他的学业如何受到影响。他谈到战争给新加坡带来的三个教训。 Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Dr Ho Nai Kiong recalls fleeing to Potong Pasir with his family during the Japanese Occupation, hiding their valuables and how his studies were affected. He talks about the three lessons of the war for Singapore. 00:0...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Sathasivam Kolandaivelu remembers secret societies at Everton Park and how the area changed when his family moved to Bukit Merah. They also stayed in a flat at Low Hill Road for a time. Sathasivam studied at two early campuses of Raffles Institution at Stamford Road and later Grange Road. He remembers Principal Philip Liau’s sound advice as well as keeping t...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Koh Boon Long takes us back to the entire stretch of the Bukit Timah Road in the 1950s – the Sime Darby servants’ quarters where his family lived, Kampong Chantek (Bahru) to the north, the Duchess Road School which he attended, and the floodwaters he and his friends splashed around in. This was notwithstanding the politics of the decade – though his parents...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Venugopal Kurup talks about how he returned to Singapore, studying in Beatty Secondary School and the Singapore Polytechnic. He worked for a while in the Ministry of the Environment before becoming a civil engineer with Shell, based on Pulau Bukom. He started his own business as a building and maintenance contractor but eventually returned to Shell and retir...

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Jack Tan, Eric Ko and Edwin Ng from the Chin Woo Athletic Association tell Angela Sim and I about the art of liondancing. They talk about how younger members learn differently from the older generation and the future of the association and liondancing – in terms of finances and membership. 00:00 Discipline & Coordination in Liondance 08:34 The Head &...