National Institute of Education
ETL 201-Selected History Topics for Primary Social Studies
Oral History on Kampong to HDB Life
Name : Soo Sin Ee
Matric No. : 020362H24
I/C No. :S7839309B
Group : Friday – 10.30am to 12.30pm
Tutor’s Name : Dr Ang Chin Guan
Looking back from Kampong to HDB Life
(Oral History interview and summary by Soo Sin Ee)
I have the privilege to interview my aunt who lived through kampong to HDB[1] life. In her sixties, my aunt who is illiterate relates her experiences to me in a mixture of Hokkien and Mandarin. This three-hour interview consists of looking back to her kampong experiences as well as HDB experiences. Throughout the interview, the interviewee was enthusiastic and excited. There were moments of silence as well. I think these moments were rooted deep in her impressions, may be tough ones, sad ones. I did not probe further and respected her feelings.
Mdm Toh AL used to live in 6, Hong Kah, Singapore 22,12 milestones. That place used to be a kampong dominated by Ann Kway Hokkiens. As compared to the six-digit postal codes now, in the past the postal codes used to have only 2 digits. Following independence in 1965, Singapore took over its own postal function and was one of the members of Universal Postal Union. Therefore, Singapore adopted the union system of postal coding.
As all the villagers are of the same dialect group, the structures of the houses are very similar. From the interview, Mdm Toh revealed that the houses were made of plank wood, zinc roofs and cement floor. I believe the Hokkiens in their village were quite well to do, as it was not a norm during those days to have cement floor. Each house would have an inscribed board above the main door. This inscribed board had the surname of the family inscribed on it. White ants and termites often attack the houses. If the condition worsened, the houses had to be rebuilt. Besides these, leakage of roofs had also caused inconvenience to the family. According to Toh Meng Soon[2], the inscription board told which part of China the house-owner’s ancestors came from and revealed the names of the family hall. To be precise, the inscribe board provides information more than just the surname as Mdm Toh had mentioned.
According to Mdm Toh AL, it was a norm to have 10-15 siblings. She is the fourth child in a family of eleven. Due to poverty, one sister and one brother were sold to foreigners. Singapore was still a developing country in the fifties to sixties with most of its people working as agrarians. Therefore, Singapore experiences high birth rates. Firstly, children can help in the field or farming. As the nature of agriculture is labour intensive, therefore having one or two children are insufficient. Secondly, the people may not have any medical knowledge of contraceptive pills, use of condoms and operations to curb birth giving. Even if they are well aware of all these through village mayors, they are financially incapable to carry out the above-mentioned measures. Thirdly, the women, being barren or with few children, may be perceived as a curse from God or symbolized bad luck. Therefore, they would give birth to accommodate such belief.
In Mdm Toh’s Kampong, free education was provided. In1932, Sin Nan Public School was founded by the villagers. Today, the school is renamed as Xingnan Primary School.[3] As Mdm Toh came from a traditional family background and girls are discriminated. This deprived Mdm Toh from attending school because only boys were allowed to attend school in the family. Even though boys were allowed to go to school, none of the boys in Mdm Toh’s family completed their primary education. They were either busy helping up in the farm or felt that education is not important.
Life was tough for Mdm Toh as well as her elder sisters. They had to look after six younger siblings as well as managing all the house chores at a tender age of seven. Mdm Toh had to wake up at 5am daily to rear pigs and chickens. Unlike today’s Singapore, she had to fetch water for six to seven times a day from a well that was 300m away. It’s hard to imagine a seven years old girl having to balance herself with two pails and a stick across her shoulder. But that’s how life was for Mdm Toh. It was not possible to have a well in her house as it was hard and expensive digging wells and there may not have any underground water. Besides these, Mdm Toh had to help her mother collect wood from the forest. As there were no gas stoves, wood was needed for ironing, cooking, etc. With the frequent use of firewood, the pots are all black and dented, therefore unknowingly their family members had consumed much carbon.
As mentioned earlier, girls were discriminated in the family and it was
considered improper for girls to play with boys. Therefore, Mdm Toh did not have much opportunity to play “goli”(marbles),capteh[4] or other games. The only leisure that she had was watching television or opera show. The opera show was put up only on religious festivals. The whole streets would be lighted up and loud blast of the speakers drew almost the whole village to the opera. The overwhelming responses may be due to the limited entertainment that they used to have. At that time, only the very rich family could afford to buy a black-and-white television. Mdm Toh could only watch television through invitation from rich neighbours or in the community center which was 5km away.
Though life may seem tough but there were fond memories as well. The team spirit and unity in the kampong was something Mdm Toh treasures very much. For instance, if one of the families held a wedding, the whole kampong would be very much involved. Everyone would come and look at the bride and groom and present gifts to the family. The gifts are mainly food such as roast pig, eggs, chickens, etc. depending on individual families. This reflects the simplicity of life in the olden days.
I believe this kind of rapport was easier to build in the past than today. Living in the 21th century, we are distracted by a lot of things such as career, nightlife, television, computer games, internet, etc. However, in the past, people chit-chat with one another to past time. There is indeed a great contrast in life style; perhaps this is the result of urbanization.
“ Although life in the kampong was blissful for some, it cannot be denied that many people were living under inadequate housing conditions with poor sanitary conditions, few social, recreational and other amenities, and the threats of fire and flood. It was only a matter of time before those living in the kampongs would be resettled in flats and housing estates which are found all over Singapore today.”[5]
The move from kampong to HDB was definitely not an act of will for Mdm Toh’s family. They were told to relocate by the governor officials for the betterment of the family. Mdm Toh knew she was compensated for the relocation, however she had forgotten how much she was compensated. According to Kampong days, the compensation rates[6] were $26.90 for squatters huts; $20 to $40 for fruit trees such as coconuts, durians and rambutans; and $741 per hectare of vegetable beds. Families affected by clearance received compensation of $450(sub-tenant) and $600(house owner) to help them relocate to HDB. Besides these, they were also given a rental subsidy of $15 per month for three years. I believe a rental subsidy was needed because the villagers were unable to afford to buy a HDB. Therefore, they had to rent HDB flat from the government. Although plans were devise to ease the financial burden, Mdm Toh had difficulty adjusting to her new lifestyle.
Mdm Toh moved from Kampong to Taman Jurong in 1983. Mdm Toh took one year to adjust herself living in a HDB 3-room flat. She recalled how difficult it was initially to live in a flat that was like “a cell”. The environment was totally different in terms of living with different races, the tall concrete blocks and the confined spaces, etc. This made her feel insecure and lost for a moment. Despite all the discomfort that Mdm Toh experienced, she enjoyed the convenience of living in HDB and its state-of-art living facilities such as proper sanitary systems and fresh water supply from taps. All these facilities were quite easily taken for granted if we did not live in their era whereby they had to wait for people to empty buckets that were full of faeces as well as walking kilometers just to get pails of water.
In today’s affluent and urbanized Singapore, things are not quite the same compared to the past. Neatly packed vegetables are seen in supermarkets, chickens are white and featherless, animals are only found in the zoo, etc. With the passing years, moving from kampong to HDB, nobody would remember Singapore was once clustered with attap houses, farms and kampong. I learnt a great deal through this oral history assignment. There were so much that I never knew till I had an interview with my aunt. The past was not a common topic among the elders. Maybe there were sad memories, unpleasant ones, etc. I am not very sure but I hope that the elders who had lived through the last era would share their valuable experiences with the younger generations.
Acknowledgement of References
I would like to express my appreciation to the followings to make the writing of this essay possible:
- Housing Development Board Website, http://www.hdb.gov.sg, retrieved on 8 September 2003.
- Sing - Post, http://www.singpost.com/01_aboutus/history.htm retrieved on 8 September 2003.
- Kampong days: Village life and times in Singapore Revisited, National Archives,1993.
- Past times: A social history of Singapore, Chan Kwok Bun and Tong Chee Kiong, Time editions,2003.
- Singapore: A historical history, Gretchen Liu, Times Edition,2001
- Xingnan Primary School, Ministry of Education, http://schools.moe.edu.sg/xnps/Index.htm, retrieved on 8 September 2003.
PROFILE OF THE INTERVIEWEE:
Name of interviewee : Mdm Toh Ah Lian
Nationality : Singaporean
Occupation : Retiree
Language : Hokkien, Mandarin
Duration of interview : 3 hours
TRANSCRIPT FOR THE ORAL INTERVIEW PROJECT
Q: Where did you live during your childhood days?
A: I lived in 6, Hong Kah, Sinagpore 22, 12 milestones.
Q: What was the livelihood of the people in your Kampong?
A: Our livelihoods include pig farming, vegetable farming, poultry farming and cow farming. Most of us have to work long hours.
Q: What were some of the significance of the house?
A: It was made of plank wood, zinc roofs and cement. White ants and termites often attack the houses. There was no pest control at that time, if the conditions worsen, we may have to rebuild the house. Every house will have an inscribed board above the main door. This inscribed board had got the surname of the family inscribed on it. When there is a heavy down pour, the water will sip through the roof. We have to put baskets, bowls or containers to contain the rainwater.
Q: What are the facilities that can be found in your Kampong?
A: There were a public school, temple, ma-ma shops, community centre and out patient clinic.
Q: How many siblings do you have?
A: I come from a big family with 11 siblings. I have 5 brothers and 6 sisters. I am ranked fourth in the family. Our family is very poor that’s why out of these 11 siblings, 2 were sold to foreigners immediately after they were born. I have never seen them before and don’t know where they are now.
Q: So do you have to help your parents look after your siblings?
A: Yes, of course. Our family is very traditional and girls are discriminated. I have never attended school before because only boys are allowed to go to school in my family. My two elder sisters and I had to look after the other 6 younger siblings as well as managing all the house chores at a tender age of seven year old.
Q: How was your life in Kampong?
A: Life was tough. I had to wake up at 5 am every morning to rear pigs and chickens. After which, I had to go to a well which is about 300 m away from our house to fetch water to and fro for 6 to 7 times. At a tender age, I had to carry two pails with a stick across my shoulder. It was very heavy and I had to be extremely careful not to spill the water. Once a month, I had to help my mother in gathering and chopping woods in the forest.
Q: What do you do during your leisure time in the Kampong?
A: As said earlier on, girls are discriminated in our family and it is consider improper for girls to play with boys. Therefore, we do not have any opportunity to play “goli” (marbles), capteh, or other games. The only leisure that I can think of is watching the opera shows during religious celebrations. The whole streets will be lighted up and loud blast of the speakers drew almost the whole village to the opera. Long benches were provided and we had to go extreme early to get a seat for our parents otherwise we will get beaten up. Normally, children have to seat on the floor or stand by the side of the stage.
Q: What about watching television program or going to the cinema?
A: Most of us could not afford to buy a television. If a particular family owns a television, they may invite us to their house to watch it. Otherwise, we will have to go to the community center which is 5km away from our house. Watching television is at the expanse of our parents. We can only watch if they wanted to and was willing to bring us there. Cinema? We don’t even dare to think about it.
Q: What do you like or dislike about kampong life?
A: I like the “togetherness” in the Kampong. All of us are just like one big family. We help one another. For instance, if one of the families held a wedding, the whole kampong will be very much involved. Everyone will come and up a look at the brides and grooms and present gifts to the family. The gifts are mainly food such as roast pig, eggs, chickens, etc. depending on individual families. I dislike the poor sanitary facilities in the kampong. The toilets were dilapidated, smelly and unhygienic. Buckets were provided in the toilets. We had to do our businesses in the bucket which is full of worms and houseflies. A man will only come and collect the buckets once every 2 to 3 days and replaced with a empty one.