These are the stories of the last surviving historians among us. Hear the vivid memories of a time gone by, told by a generation who grew up in a completely different Singapore nearly 100 years ago.

Relive the past through our oldest living historians, vividly brought to life through memories, animation, re-enactments and archives. This generation of people witnessed life in the country before there was a nation and can still remember glimpses of a Singapore that we barely see traces of today.

What was it like living in a bustling colonial city-state of immigrants, filled with colourful communities and languages? Or growing up in a time of kampongs and crowded urban squatter areas, where spitting was common and cattle still roamed the streets?

From the stirring to the humorous, their recollections chronicle the personal coming-of-age of an entire generation born before WW2, and reveal intriguing insights from a vastly different era of Singapore. The documentary produced by The Moving Visuals Co called “Let Me Tell You a Story” is a two-part series premiering on August 8 and 9, 2023 at 9pm on CNA. It features the stories of 15 seniors including these five who recently participated in our Makan with Seniors’ session:

• Rasamal Nadayson, 87 – Born to an Indian father and Cantonese mother, Mdm Rose as she is called grew up in a multicultural kampung where she picked up multiple languages. She speaks seven different languages, including Cantonese, Hokkien and Tamil. Growing up, she experienced poverty and living in an attap house, and fondly remembers her childhood memories of playing in the kampong with children of different races. She was in an arranged marriage at a young age and gave birth to her first child when she was in her teens.

• Tan Kok Seng, 86 – He is the author of the book “Son of Singapore”, which documents his life as a Teochew farm boy coming of age during the Japanese Occupation. As a child, he lived in a village near Punggol where his father found work on the coconut plantation. After the war, he earned a living as a coolie at Orchard Road market, delivering groceries to British officers.

• Tan Kah Cheng, 91 – Kah Cheng grew up in the rural area in Jurong where her family reared chickens and pigs. Due to poverty, she did not get the opportunity to attend school and instead started work at age 14 in a factory sewing attap leaves together. At 16, she found a construction job where she laid bricks and patched grass under the supervision of samsui women. She was in an arranged marriage and later experienced one of the fire outbreaks that used to plague kampongs in the past.

• Lai Kum Yoong, 84 – Kum Yoong joined general nursing in 1960 and was trained in the midwifery school in Kandang Kerbau Hospital (now called KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital). She was posted as a kampong midwife in rural areas like Lim Chu Kang and Bukit Panjang where healthcare services were scarce and undeveloped back then. Working in the maternity ward during the baby boom years, she experienced overcrowded labour wards and was involved in family planning and educating mothers on maternal and infant health.

• Harbhajan Singh, 85 – A former nurse who enrolled in nursing school in 1959, Harbhajan Singh became a full-fledged male nurse in 1962. He experienced major health challenges and diseases that Singapore was dealing with in the 60s, such as tuberculosis, and has stories to share about being on the frontline in the fight against these diseases.

 

** If you missed the actual telecast, you can view the two-parter HERE.