Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Tea man Kenry Peh and I discuss the ongoing revitalisation of Smith Street by the Chinatown Business Association. We talk about bringing Nanyang tea to the street and to Chinatown more generally.

00:00 Revitalisation of Smith Street

05:01 Tea & Culture at Smith Street

14:58 Encouraging Interest in Chinatown

18:03 The Nanyang Tea Challenge

23:10 The Steward of Intangible Cultural Heritage Award

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. Wilson Chua rounds up the podcast by recounting how he joined the Changi Beach Club in 1982 and what he did for the club over the years, especially as its Chairman. He also reflects on his grassroots work among the residents of private housing in Paya Lebar and meeting the weightlifter Tan Howe Liang, who won the silver medal at the 1960 Olympics.

00:00 My Time with Changi Beach Club

11:58 Grassroots at Paya Lebar

18:10 Tan Howe Liang, the Weightlifter

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. Ullas Kumar and I discuss the process of integration for new citizens and recent migrants from India. We talk about finding the balance between retaining practices from Kerala or India and accepting local ways and customs. When Ullas first came to Singapore, he thought that a 10 am meeting would only start an hour later, as in Kerala. The key for migrants is to be sensitive to local sentiments and find opportunities to interact with locals.

00:00 Why Malayalam is not Taught as a Second Language

09:48 Malayalee Associations Formed by New Citizens

18:35 The Question of Integration

20:42 Singaporeans’ Sense of Time

23:07 Employment & Economic Issues

26:28 Bridging Locals & Migrants

35:36 How Locals can Help Integration

41:44 How New Citizens & Migrants can Further Integration

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. Dr Darinee Alagirisamy talks about the history of Tamil migration (both involuntary and voluntary) to Singapore from the vantage point of Tamil Nadu. We discuss the contributions of Indian convict labour, abuses in the kangany system, colonial self-interest, and the social reformers who tried to uplift the Tamil working class.

00:00 Introduction

02:16 My Research & Teaching

08:35 The Perspective from Tamil Nadu

14:06 Convict Labour

19:13 Tamil Migration

23:41 Abuses of the Kangany System

30:17 British Self-Interest

36:11 Tamil Reformers

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Kenry Peh is the proprietor of the hundred-year old heritage tea merchant Pek Sin Choon. A professed tea man, he talks about how his great grandmother Bai-Zhuang Dan Niang & her son Pek Kim Aw migrated from Anxi, Fujian to the Nanyang. They set up a tea shop at George Street in 1925 before moving to other streets of Chinatown. Blending different varieties of tea, he explains, was part of their business survival strategy since the early days.

00:00 Introduction

00:39 One Hundred Years of Pek Sin Choon

07:19 Bai-Zhuang Dan Niang & Pek Kim Aw

13:44 Small Family Business

21:10 George Street

25:03 New Market Road

27:35 Tew Chew Street

30:03 The Tea Merchants Association

36:01 Blending Tea as Survival Strategy

45:27 Sharing Tea with Arts & Community Groups

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. How did it start? Dr Loh Kah Seng looks at the evidence for the most controversial part of the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee fire: the rumours that the government wanted to remove the kampong for public housing.

00:00 Introduction

03:00 Researching the Rumours

03:51 Arson?

09:28 The Historical Context

10:25 The Thinking Behind the Rumours

15:20 Police Investigation

16:58 40 Years Later

21:58 Wild Talk

23:59 My Professional Opinion

26:49 Debating the Rumours

30:53 Further Research

32:17 Outro

My books, Squatters to Citizens:

https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/squatters-into-citizens

Controversial History Education in Asian Contexts:

https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203753491/controversial-history-education-asian-contexts-mark-baildon-kah-seng-loh-ivy-maria-lim-g%C3%BCl-i%CC%87nan%C3%A7-junaidah-jaffar

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. After leaving Dunearn Technical, Wilson Chua worked in sales of air freight services for multinationals in Singapore, including the German multinational Birkat. Forced to leave the company, a friend encouraged him to set up his own company. Thus, UT-Ways, a freight forwarding business, was born. Wilson talks about manpower issues, competition from the big companies, treating his staff, and the need for honesty and good customer service.

00:00 A Novice Salesman in Air Cargo

05:52 The German Company Birkat

11:38 Working in (German) MNCs

14:05 The Air Freight Business in Singapore

19:19 UT-Ways

27:32 Labour & Competition

33:18 My Son Joined the Company

40:03 Advice for New Businesses

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. V. Maheantharan studied at the University of Southampton on a government scholarship before being posted to the Singapore Polytechnic. There, he oversaw many innovative programmes which made the polytechnic an exciting alternative to the university, which it was unfortunately not allowed to develop into. He talks about the need to acknowledge the roles of both the port workers and the Singapore Polytechnic to Singapore’s development.

00:00 Nautical Studies at University of Southampton

08:55 My Father Struggled with Containerisation

13:06 Tanjong Pagar is Unrecognisable

16:49 Acknowledging the Port Workers

20:23 Singapore Polytechnic in Singapore’s Development

26:13 Polytechnic & Industry

31:48 Turning the Polytechnic into a University

36:41 The Polytechnic has Become Sexy

43:28 Acknowledging the Polytechnic and its Students

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew promised a new home for every fire victim within 9 months. Find out how the Bukit Ho Swee fire became what the HDB called a ‘God-sent opportunity’ to rebuild the kampong into a housing estate and changed the lives of Singaporeans forever.

00:00 Introduction

03:45 Fire Site

05:32 Relief Centres

14:36 Temporary Housing

15:01 5 Ogres

19:10 God-Sent Opportunity

20:54 New Emergency Flats

26:50 Housing Chain Reaction

30:00 Squatters to Citizens

34:07 Further Research

36:00 Conclusion

My book, Squatters to Citizens:

https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/squatters-into-citizens

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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. The Malayalees are the largest minority within the Indian population. Ullas Kumar came to Singapore to work in 1999 and almost immediately joined and volunteered with the Singapore Malayalee Association. He talks about the Malayalees’ rich history, culture and community – the waves of migration from Kerala, the migrants’ mindset, the importance of education, and an almost innate ability to use their hands.

00:00 Introduction

02:08 Coming to Singapore

09:45 Joining the Singapore Malayalee Association

18:23 Malayalee Migration to Singapore

23:07 Post-1965 Migration from India

29:57 Kerala as a Migrants’ State

33:22 Importance of Education

40:00 Our Technical Talent

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. This is Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian, and I speak to people on their 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