2/24/2013

A walk into the recent past




Throw back to the 40s, 50s, or even early 60s, there were probably a million people here, or lesser in the 40s. Many were stateless, new migrants allowed to work but no citizenship status. They just fended for themselves under the colonial administration that would be very happy as long as there was no problem from the population of migrants. The migrants knew their station in life and kept to themselves, away from the law, and just worked and lived.

The long arm of the law was thin and short. Land was aplenty, state land, neglected land or untended land everywhere, officially owned by the colonial Govt. The migrants came and looked for a place to stay. Many were herded into the cubicles of Chinatown for the Chinese while the Indians would have their own appointed corner in the island. I was at Thian Hock Keng a couple of days ago and could not imagine that some 80 years ago my parents were standing in front of ‘Ma Cho’ praying at the very same spot that I stood before settling down in this island.

They were not so fortunate but braved the uncertainties and unknown, moved to the foothill of Mount Faber where a Malay kampong Radin Mas stood. At the fringes of the kampong they simply erected a hut from whatever wood available and there was instant home. Many migrants did just that, built themselves a home on any vacant land they could find, away from the kampongs or towns. And there were plenty of land all over the island. After sometimes they would become owner or official tenants of their huts. The ‘teh gus’ would come to register their huts and a official address was given, and that was it. It was like finder’s keepers. I think in the early days there was a law that said once a person occupied a land, built his hut, and lived there after some years, then the land became his, or something like that. It was like choped choped, but not with tissue papers.

And this was not too long ago. The early years of colonial Singapore when the island was too large to administer and too few people to fill up the vacant land. Land was not scarce like today. It is all relativism. Try imagine 2030. Everything will be scarce except people in this island.

10 comments:

  1. Hi RB
    Our forefathers are humble and hardworking people. They made an effort to understand and speak Malay. They intergrated well without the the goverment help. Never once I heard my elders complained.
    Off-topic : Wat is 'Tong sua' - is it a place in China, whereabout? Wat is Tiongkok ?
    Wish I cud say hello to you That day at HLP. Maybe next time ya.

    Mak Yah

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colonial Singapore. No political structure. Governance: COLONY. Laissez faire governance, freedom.

    Modern Republic of Singapore: Heavily biased political structure.
    Governance: STATE

    Forming a city state might have led to the economic success of Singapore, but once you have a state, then you have an ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY which can grow and grow and choke you.

    There is no reason to have Singapore, a small island, be governed by a state. A small management committee would have sufficed.

    But with a state, you can ta the fuck out of people (thankfully lower than other states) and grow your ruling class of elites into outrageous sizes, and justify outrageous expenses.

    Got constitution?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Mak Yah, Ya it would be nice to meet you at Hong Lim. Perhaps one day we will meet.

    'Tong sua' or actually or pronounce in Hokien, 'tng sua', direct translation is long mountain. It is a colloquial term used by the illiterate Hokiens to refer to homeland or China. The PRC used the term 'tah lu' or something like big land.

    'Tiongkok' is hokien for Middle Kingdom or the not so old name for China. Historicaly China was known by their dynasties. The word China is a western name given to it by the Europeans just like India, Indonesia or the Philippines or Japan.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi RB,

    Isn't "tng sua" 唐山?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi October Leung, welcome to the blog.

    Yes, it is also tang shan, and also use in the context of tang ren, tang people.

    There are several variations according to the dialect groups and users.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is what they want to create - scarcity. THen they will want the people to bid a COE for everything on top of owning a car - housing, hospital beds, university places, jobs postings etc. It is very easy money and superior high returns. People first is a propaganda, pussy party first is the truth.

    ReplyDelete
  7. 6.9m people to create more demands and scarcity. Who ends up the victim of this vicious cycle?

    ReplyDelete
  8. redbean- you should take a walk in Geylang after you have done whatever business you are doing there. The whole place has turned into a bigger Chinatown than the original one in cow-car-water.

    ReplyDelete
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