Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. My new book, co-authored with Stephen Dobbs, recounts the little-known history of shopkeepers. As a varied group of small capitalists, they made Old Chinatown such a fabulously memorable place. Over the last 60 years, they struggled to cope as Chinatown was drastically redeveloped. I discuss two businesses that are trying to survive today – the effigy carver Say Tian Hng and small Chinese bookstores.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/1gowQfMb44E

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/zjajjG3agts

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/8OAnQpxBmCc

00:00 Introduction

02:02 Origins of the Book

04:35 People’s History of Shopkeepers

06:46 Ji Ji Noodles

08:30 The Shopkeepers’ Town

12:24 The Research

14:36 Letter-Writer

17:06 UN Reports & Other Sources

21:03 Speaking to Shopkeepers

26:19 Eng Tiang Huat

27:09 Thye Shan Medical Hall

27:51 Pearl’s Optical

28:36 Signcraft, Brothel, Goldsmith

30:42 Say Tian Hng

34:21 Chinese Bookstores

38:50 Conclusion

Shopkeepers of Chinatown: A Business World in Motion, 1819-2025

Kinokuniya

https://kinokuniya.com.sg/products/9786297575698

Shopee SG

https://shopee.sg/Shopkeepers-of-Chinatown-Loh-Kah-Seng-Stephen-Dobbs-(SIRD)-i.279887392.52914597553

City Book Room

https://citybookroom.com/products/pre-order-shopkeepers-of-chinatown-loh-kah-seng-stephen-dobbs

SIRD (Publisher)

https://www.gerakbudaya.com/product/shopkeepers-of-chinatown

NLB

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=ccfd463e-d61b-53ef-9843-956e9a0d8652&entityType=FormatGroup

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I learned a lot from speaking to Yeo Hock Yew about little-known parts of our history. He grew up in a kampong house in Kampong Bahru near Singapore General Hospital (See Pai Poh) before moving into an SIT flat at Strathmore Avenue, Queenstown.

Hock Yew loved art as a kid and studied at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, where he was taught by the Nanyang artist Lim Yew Kuan. This merged with his other interests – football and reading – and led him to the exciting, forgotten world of football comics.

00:00 Introduction

01:08 Kampong Bahru Childhood

08:07 SGH & Other Places

11:18 Peranakans from Riau

16:43 Moving to Strathmore Avenue

21:00 Straits Times

22:52 My Schools

30:31 Early Interest in Art

34:38 Sociology in University

38:03 Painting at NAFA

45:29 Art in Church & University

47:35 Football Comics

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Gary Koh recounts both the golden and dimmer years of women’s football in Singapore from the ‘80s but offers some hope – there has been a resurgence in recent years. The semangat (spirit) that drove the earlier Lionesses could be an inspiration for the current generation. Gary and I discuss the strengths of the women’s game (compared to the men, less playacting) and how it can continue to grow in Singapore.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/ilmPmbx61yQ

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/LhAarwfOO64

00:00 Winning Lionesses

06:14 Guangzhou Tournament

07:50 Difficult Years

11:10 Recent Resurgence

16:33 Semangat (Spirit)

20:37 Turning Pro?

27:52 Raising Interest

32:14 The Women’s Game

Coach Choo Seng Quee, a Giant of Singapore Football

https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/all-sections/vol-19-issue-3-oct-dec-2023-choo-seng-quee-football-coach/

ROAR: Football Legends of Singapore

https://pagesetters.sg/ROAR/

A princely endeavour: Meet Chelsea's rising star who's Bruneian royalty

https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/princely-endeavour-meet-chelseas-rising-star-whos-bruneian-royalty

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Retired policeman Sukhdev Singh Gill recounts the threat posed by secret societies in the past and how they were brought to heel by the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act 1955. He also reflects on issues faced by security guards today, mostly seniors and unemployed young people, as well as problems of molestation, voyeurism and mobility devices.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/yrwMp7NRj0Y

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/Vowo8sDLBmk

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/p-uLp9hkWBg

Part 4 | https://youtu.be/QOjXxK6UxtI

00:00 Ang Soon Tong

03:14 Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act

09:35 Secret Society Kingpins

17:10 Security Guards

22:16 Improving the Sector

26:16 Molest & Voyeurism

29:16 Mobility Devices

Sukhdev’s books:

Boh cheng hoo: a Sikh boy in Hokkien gangland

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=d9a97a7b-3534-5db2-9281-f87020349847&entityType=FormatGroup

Bang cheng hoo: a Sikh man in SG police force

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=620f135a-c12b-5ded-9b00-d747bb46962a&entityType=FormatGroup

Gong cheng hoo: a Sikh elder in Sulawesi & SG politics

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=8a184efd-f699-595e-8896-64910dc74851&entityType=FormatGroup

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Uncle Ringo, the man behind the famous travelling carnivals, recounts growing up in the bustling, rowdy and expletive-filled Sembawang Strip. This was a street of bars and restaurants serving sailors from the Naval Base but also filled with the music of the ‘60s. Here, Uncle Ringo learned the guitar and played Beatles covers in bands like many of his Sembawang friends.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/PDV7_d_WXzA

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/BAzGYSyei7Y

00:00 Introduction

01:50 Sembawang Strip

05:14 The Beatles

08:03 Hainanese & Others

13:42 Seafarers & Bars

18:48 My Guitar

25:29 Victoria School

27:39 The 3 Worlds

36:33 The Blue Flames

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

The British military withdrawal in the late 1960s caused much anxiety for Singapore’s leaders. But they had an ace in the pack – the bountiful real estate and facilities the British were leaving behind. Instead of a crisis, the pullout played out as a new buzz – a catalyst for Singapore’s growth into an industrial powerhouse in the ‘70s.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/sdnXHH92Ueo

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/xAE-EsRyHco

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/y15UOOJd5I4

00:00 Triple Whammy

03:50 All Out By 1971

07:50 The Sweetener & Bribe

10:20 Two Ministers

13:23 Counter-Recession

16:20 Windfall

18:33 Sembawang Shipyard

23:28 JTC Flats

26:08 Remaking Changi

28:48 Aerospace at Seletar

29:24 RSAF Tengah

29:40 Industry across Pasir Panjang

31:28 University & Polytechnic

32:35 Sentosa & Brani Naval Base

34:55 The Catalyst

37:23 Singapore’s Gratitude

I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Jeffrey Eng talks to me about the old Teochew areas in Chinatown and River Valley, the Ellenborough Market fire of 1968 during the Chinese New Year and the Teochew names of streets. We also reflect on the Speak Mandarin Campaign debate arising from the film Dear You, and how the campaign has prevented younger Teochews from knowing the language.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/WdXYrCIj3UI

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/H95nfHI9yrM

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/89Vj7nBG3s4

00:00 Teochews in Old Chinatown

06:37 The Ellenborough Market Fire

11:52 Teochew Place Names

15:13 Teochew, My Mother Tongue

18:57 Speak Mandarin

24:20 Learning Teochew

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Thiyaga Raju is a historian of Singapore football and author of ROAR: Football Legends of Singapore. He recalls the match in 1974 that kindled his love for the sport. He talks about Singapore’s legendary players and coaches: Uncle Choo Seng Quee, Brian Richmond, T. Pathmanathan (Captain Marvel), and Fandi Ahmad, among others.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/DHm8s_g2Mkc

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/C06EThnSdQc

00:00 Introduction

06:33 Queenstown FC

11:29 Brian Richmond

13:43 ‘70s Football

21:48 Uncle Choo Story

26:55 ROAR Book

31:26 T. Pathmanathan

39:36 Fandi Ahmad

ROAR: Football Legends of Singapore

https://pagesetters.sg/product/roar-football-legends-of-singapore/

Captain Marvel: The T. Pathmanathan Story

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=2e456eb8-6372-554e-90a2-da909e7f81ff&entityType=FormatGroup

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. In 1983, Matthew Lui was a PSA office pilot in the cable car towers. On 29 June, upon finishing his watch, a series of unexpected events unfolded to cause one of the worst accidents in Singapore’s history – the cable car crash and the deaths of seven people. Matthew draws from the commission of inquiry’s report to recount the accident and the rescue operation.

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/10ykZ-kUKME

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/tm7BLGRysIE

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/cmg1KDdGzic

00:00 Murphy’s Law

06:03 The Fateful Day

13:36 Rescue

18:12 Reflections on the Accident

22:41 Reflections on Sailing

Report of the Commission of Inquiry into the Collision of the Drillship Eniwetok with the Sentosa Cableway on 29 January 1983,

https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/book-detail?cmsuuid=cc879855-d090-42b3-95e6-14119d5375ed

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Sukhdev Singh Gill spent 32 years in the Singapore Police Force. He offers his honest views on questions arising from the evolution of the force – why were neighbourhood police posts so important (and do we really need police complexes), why do people call the police on all kinds of matters, and is the police force facing a manpower shortage today?

Part 1 | https://youtu.be/yrwMp7NRj0Y

Part 2 | https://youtu.be/Vowo8sDLBmk

Part 3 | https://youtu.be/p-uLp9hkWBg

Part 4 | https://youtu.be/QOjXxK6UxtI

00:00 The Police Academy

04:19 Learning the Law

06:09 A New Police Force

09:45 Posts to Complexes

13:59 Neighbourhood Police Posts

19:30 Lee Kuan Yew’s Role

21:15 Calling the Police

25:47 Undermanned

30:37 With the People

Sukhdev’s books:

Boh cheng hoo: a Sikh boy in Hokkien gangland

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=d9a97a7b-3534-5db2-9281-f87020349847&entityType=FormatGroup

Bang cheng hoo: a Sikh man in SG police force

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=620f135a-c12b-5ded-9b00-d747bb46962a&entityType=FormatGroup

Gong cheng hoo: a Sikh elder in Sulawesi & SG politics

https://catalogue.nlb.gov.sg/search/card?id=8a184efd-f699-595e-8896-64910dc74851&entityType=FormatGroup

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian, and I document people’s memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

Do like the video and subscribe for future episodes. This will help the channel a lot.

Write to [email protected] if you have any of these stories:

• Old places or kampongs.

• Communities – their way of life & culture.

• Childhood & schools.

• Work or business.

YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ChroniclesOldSG

Spotify | https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/61551786759344

Patreon | https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore