Vol.

12 Issue biblioasia04 2017 JAN–MAR 02 / “Lancing Girls” of Yesteryear 16 / The Tan Tock Seng Story 20 / Fashion from the 60s 32 / From Britannia to NCO Club 46 / Syonan Gallery Opens 56 / Party Time at the Raffles SINGAPORE Revisited

p. 8 BiblioAsia Director’s Note Editorial & CONTENTS Vol. 12 / Issue 04 JAN–MAR 2017 Production The Italian philosopher George Santayana (1863–1952) underlined the value of memory when Managing Editor he wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. History is Francis Dorai littered with enough examples of follies being repeated either due to ignorance or because FEATURES mankind seems incapable of learning from history. By the same token, there are some Editor things worth remembering (and reliving) because of the pleasant memories they recall. Veronica Chee Beneath the Glitz and This issue of BiblioAsia – aptly themed “Singapore Revisited” – remembers illustri- Editorial Support 02 Glamour: The Untold Story ous (and sometimes colourful) personalities as well as significant places and momentous of the “Lancing” Girls Masamah Ahmad events that have shaped the course of our history. Stephanie Pee Many Singaporeans are familiar with Tan Tock Seng, whose legacy lives on in a hospital Windows into History named after him, but few would know of the Danish missionary Claudius Henry Thomsen, Design and Print 08 who produced some of the earliest Malay-language publications in Singapore and Malaya. Oxygen Studio Designs Pte Ltd Sue-Ann Chia recounts the rags-to-riches story of her distinguished ancestor (she traces Contributors From Pauper to 02 08 her lineage to Tan Tock Seng), while Bonny Tan documents the life of the Danish printer. Adeline Foo, Bonny Tan, 16 Philanthropist: The Tan The dance hostesses from the cabarets of New World, Great World and Happy World Fiona Tan, Francis Dorai, Tock Seng Story amusement parks were more famous for their risqué stage shows than their works of char- Georgina Wong, Goh Sin Tub, ity. Adeline Foo tells us about the “lancing girls” who set up a free school for impoverished Ho Phang Phow, Michelle Heng, 1960s Fashion: The Legacy Sue-Ann Chia, Yeo Kang Shua, children in post-war Geylang. Swati Chandgadkar 20 of Made-to-Measure Many of the stained glass windows that adorn churches in Singapore were produced in Belgium and France between 1885 and 1912. Recently discovered drawings, or “cartoons”, Please direct all Claudius Henry Thomsen: in a Belgian archive help fill gaps in the history of stained glass windows in Singapore, correspondence to: A Pioneer in Malay Printing according to Yeo Kang Shua and Swati Chandgadkar. National Library Board 26 100 Victoria Street #14-01 The former NCO Club and the Raffles Hotel on Beach Road are two iconic structures National Library Building From Britannia to the that were built for different purposes. The former – now conserved as part of the South Singapore 188064 32 NCO Club Beach development – was once a favourite off-duty spot for soldiers, as Francis Dorai Email: [email protected] tells us. The fabled Raffles Hotel has hosted many lavish parties since its opening in 1887. Website: www.nlb.gov.sg 16 20 26 Jessie Yak previews a selection of hotel menu cards that reside in the National Library’s On the cover: Rare Materials Collection. Stained glass windows found in Ties That Bind: The Story Fashion journalists John de Souza, Cat Ong and Tom Rao describe Singapore’s style the side chapels at the Convent 38 of Two Brother Poets scene in the 1960s, a time when bell bottoms, hot pants, maxi dresses and chunky platform of the Holy Infant Jesus (today shoes reigned, in this extract from a newly published book entitled Fashion Most Wanted. repurposed as a commercial The Sook Ching In the 1970s, Singapore students had to learn the painstaking way of writing Chinese complex known as CHIJMES) at script in its proper form. Ho Phang Pow describes a textbook series from 1936 that has the corner of Victoria Street and 42 Bras Basah Road. Courtesy of been preserved in the collections of the National Library. Swati Chandgadkar. Finally, as we mark the 75th anniversary of the Fall of Singapore on 15 February 2017, we remember those who perished during the dark days of the Japanese Occupation. Goh Errata: Sin Tub’s short story “The Sook Ching” is a visceral first-hand account of how he escaped In the article “Time-Honoured Temple Design”, published the mass executions that took place in the days following the British surrender. in BiblioAsia, Vol. 12, Iss. 3, 32 38 42 Still on the subject of war, Michelle Heng reveals the touching story of two brother Oct–Dec 2016, we incorrectly poets, Teo Kah Leng and Teo Poh Leng, whose literary works were only recently discov- stated that the temple’s three- ered. Poh Leng was killed in the Sook Ching massacres, while Kah Leng survived to pen a tiered gopuram (or tower) was poignant poem in remembrance of his younger brother. erected in 1903. According to The Fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942 and the horrific events that followed in photographic records, the three- tiered tower existed as early as NL NOTES its wake are documented in the revamped “Syonan Gallery: War and its Legacies”, which 1861. The online edition has been opens at the Former Ford Factory on 15 February 2017. The atrocities unleashed by the revised accordingly. We apologise Syonan Gallery: War war is a painful reminder why such an event must never happen again. for this error. 46 and its Legacies On a much lighter note, do make time to visit the exhibition, “Script & Stage: Theatre in Singapore from the 50s to 80s”, held at levels 7 and 8 of the National Library Building 哎哟华文字真难写！ until 26 March 2017. Also ongoing is an exhibition on the renowned artist Tan Swie Hian in “Anatomy of a Free Mind: Tan Swie Hian’s Notebooks and Creations” at level 10. 52 We hope you enjoy reading this edition of BiblioAsia. Party Time at the 46 52 Raffles Mrs Wai Yin Pryke All rights reserved. 56 National Library Board, Director Singapore, 2017. Script & Stage: National Library ISSN 0219-8126 (print) 62 Theatre in Singapore ISSN 1793-9968 (online) from the 50s to 80s The views of writers and contribu- tors do not reflect the views of the Publisher. No part of this publica- BiblioAsia is a free quarterly publication produced by the National Library Board. tion may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior writ- It features articles on the history, culture and heritage of Singapore within the larger ten permission from the Publisher Asian context, and has a strong focus on the collections and services of the National and copyright owner(s). Library. BiblioAsia is distributed to local and international libraries, academic institutions, Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of government ministries and agencies, as well as members of the public. the information in this publica- 56 62 tion, the Publisher accepts no The online edition of BiblioAsia is available at: http://www.nlb.gov.sg/biblioasia/ ­legal liabilities whatsoever for the contents of this magazine. 01 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

Dancers by Night, Benefactors by Day wasn’t just the “Queen of Striptease” who school Happy Charity School, in an obvious titillated men on stage; she was equally nod to the most popular landmark in Geylang People whom I spoke to about the cabaret generous in donating to various charities then – the Happy World amusement park.4 life would mention how the “lancing girls” that cared for children, old folks, tuber- The first principal of the school was were the main draw for the men. For as little culosis patients and the blind. Wong Guo Liang, a well-known calligrapher. as a dollar for a set of three dance coupons, Rose Chan wasn't the only “charity When Wong first met Madam He at the male customers could take the girl of their queen” from the cabaret world. There were interview for the position, he remembered choice for a spin on the dance floor. But, two other women from the Happy World being struck by her charisma and generos- invariably, the discussion would turn to the cabaret who worked tirelessly to start a free ity. Despite the irony of her situation, she most famous “lancing” girl of all time: Rose school for children. These women became advised him to set a good example as the Chan, a former beauty queen and striptease the founders of the Happy School in Geylang. principal and live up to the responsibility of dancer who joined Happy World Cabaret in being a role model for his charges. More 1942. When asked what was it about Chan A Happy School for Children importantly, he should never ever step into that was so memorable, many would say the Happy World Cabaret. it was her audacity to strip completely on In 1946, cabaret girls from Happy World Madam He related how her impover- stage, or to shock audiences by wrestling answered the call by one of its “big sisters”, ished past and the lost opportunity to be with a live python in her acts. Madam He Yan Na, to donate money to set educated made her even more determined Not many people were aware that up a Chinese medium school in Singapore. to help destitute children. She was unshak- Chan, like other “lancing” girls of that era, Madam He, the chairperson of the Happy able in her view that a good education was was involved in charity work. Perhaps it World Dance Troupe (which later became the key to a better life.5 was an attempt to salvage some measure the Happy Opera Society), was deeply In an interview published in the Chi- of self-respect or to assuage a sense of troubled by the large number of idle chil- nese daily Nanyang Siang Pau, Madam He guilt, or maybe it was borne out of genuine dren roaming the streets of Geylang. These was painfully aware of how society looked Beneath the sympathy for the destitute as many of the were the unfortunate children who had down on women like her: “The profes- cabaret girls themselves came from poor or their education interrupted by World War II. sion of dancing girls is seen as inferior. If dysfunctional families. A pretty face and a Madam He roped in her fellow dance society can abandon its prejudice and be comely figure was all that women like Chan hostesses to set up the school. She became rational, they would understand that they could claim. But with the money they earned the chairperson of the school’s board of have misunderstood the art of dancing. and in the cabaret, they could make the lives of governors, while another dancer, Madam They are being cruel to cabaret girls due GLITZ the downtrodden slightly better. Xu Qian Hong, took on the role of accounts to their ignorance. If dancing is corrupted, On 27 August 1953,The Singapore head. Other girls from the Happy Opera then this negative image comes not from Free Press newspaper reported that the Society became board members. princely sum of $13,000 had been raised by Determined that the children should GLAMOUR the Singapore Dance Hostesses’ Associa- receive a free education, Madam He insisted tion in aid of the Nanyang University build- that no school fees would be collected from ing fund.3 This feat was achieved through the families. Whatever books and stationery several charity night performances that the children needed were also given free. The Untold Story of The "Lancing" Girls had been staged at various cabarets. The first enrolment in 1946 attracted about Unbeknown to many, Chan was part of 90 students. Operating out of a rented shop- These cabaret girls were better known for their risqué the efforts to help raise this money. She house at Lorong 14, Madam He named the stage shows, but some also donated generously to charity. (Facing page) A photo of five dance hostesses taken inside a cabaret in the 1930s. The women are dressed in Adeline Foo uncovers these women with hearts of gold. figure-huggingcheongsams with daring side slits that showed off their legs. They were an obvious attraction for men with their artfully applied makeup and coiffured hair-dos. Courtesy of Mr and Mrs Lee Kip Lee. (Right) The most famous “lancing” girl of all time was Rose Chan, a former beauty queen and striptease dancer, who joined the Happy World Cabaret in 1942. She was known for her daring moves on stage that Who were the so-called “lancing” girls The parks were a huge part of people’s included wrestling with a slithering python. All rights reserved, Rajendra, C. (2013). No Bed of Roses: The Rose Chan Story. Singapore Marshall Cavendish. 1 of yesteryear? They were the glamorous lives, and offered something for everyone (Below) Eurasian and Chinese dance hostesses of the New World Cabaret posing for this photo in the wdance hostesses from the cabarets of the in the family. In its heyday, some 50,000 1930s. Courtesy of Mr and Mrs Lee Kip Lee. “Big Three” worlds of entertainment in people could easily throng an amusement Singapore – New World, Great World and park in a single night.2 Happy World (later renamed Gay World) – By the late 1960s, however, as televi- who made a living from “lancing”, a local sion and other forms of entertainment mispronunciation of “dancing”. such as shopping malls, cinemas and From the 1920s to 60s, the “Big bowling alleys became more widespread Three” amusement parks grew in tandem in Singapore, these amusement parks Adeline Foo, an adjunct lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, is the author of The Diary with Singapore’s development, rising from went out of business. The New World site of Amos Lee series of children’s books. She humble wooden shacks and makeshift at Jalan Besar is occupied today by City is currently completing her first non-fiction kiosks to sophisticated playgrounds Square Mall, while the Great World site book, tracing the lives of women who worked offering restaurants, cinemas, cabarets, along Kim Seng Road was redeveloped into in the cabarets in Singapore between the orchestras and carnival rides as well as the sprawling Great World City shopping 1930s and 60s. Her book titled The 'Lancing entertainment such as Malay bangsawan, mall and residences. The Gay World site Girls' of a Happy World, published by Ethos Chinese opera, boxing matches, circus in Geylang has been zoned for residential Books, will be released in March 2017. acts and Western-style vaudeville shows. projects and is presently unoccupied.

02 03 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

ognised as the de facto working language, office secretary or a private tutor. But many of trousers in the same material. By the Madam Ong eventually left the cabaret more and more parents decided to send their of these jobs didn’t pay as well as that of a 1930s, however, wealthy Chinese women in three years later to get married. I asked children to English stream schools. Dwin- cabaret girl. So if a woman was good look- the upper social classes had turned to the her if she missed the glitzy world, she said dling student numbers at Chinese medium ing and money was a motivation, dancing cheongsam (which means “long dress” in no: "We were poor, I had little education, schools islandwide eventually sounded the in the cabarets provided a means to quick Cantonese), also known as qipao in Man- my mother was also a cabaret girl. It was death knell for the Happy School. and easy money. A cabaret girl could earn darin, as their preferred dress. a good job that paid well. It was something In 1979, Happy School announced anything between $200 and $1,000 a month. This adoption of the cheongsam soon I would never forget."17 its closure. By that time, the school had In comparison, a senior clerk working in cut across all segments of the Chinese Johnny Chia, in his 60s, a former amassed some $400,000 in savings, which the government back in 1952 would only population, with the elegant and form-fitting singer at the Happy World Cabaret whom the board donated to 10 Chinese schools and earn $280 a month.16 Clearly, some women dress worn as a symbol of strong feminine I interviewed, recalled the cabaret girls grassroots organisations.13 After 33 years, chose to work in the cabaret as dancing girls expression. The cabaret girls were no dif- he had known and respected: “They were another chapter was closed in the history because it paid well and few employment ferent. In their figure-huggingcheongsam so beautiful in their cheongsams! Many of of free schools for children in Singapore. opportunities were open to them. with daring side slits that showed off their them were natural beauties who wore little The origins of the Happy Charity legs, they were a sight to behold with their makeup. They loved music and they loved School may have been controversial – some The Glitz and Glamour of “Lancing” Girls artfully applied makeup and coiffured dancing. It doesn’t matter what I was singing, parents may have frowned upon a school hair-dos. After World War II, more women whether it was Western, Cantonese or Baba financed and run by cabaret girls – but the Looking good and well-groomed was part turned to wearing Western clothes, but Malay songs, they would know the steps.”18 good intentions of these women cannot be and parcel of the job of a “lancing” girl. there were those who remained faithful to From the late 1960s to 70s, the cabaret, denied. If not for Madam He and Madam Advertisements and pictures from newspa- the traditional cheongsam, and who now or “nite clubs” that they had evolved into, was Xu, many destitute children would not have pers published during the heyday of these wore it with a tighter fit. still the preferred place of entertainment Students from The Happy School posing for this group photo taken in 1961. All rights reserved, 潘星华. (主编).(2014).《消失的华校: 国家永远的资产》. 新加坡: 华校校友会联合会出版 received their primary school education in cabarets provide a peek into the fashion Were these attractive women working for the affluent. Thomas Wong, a master post-war Singapore. sense of the show girls. in the cabaret taken advantage of? Although tailor and owner of The Prestigious boutique The cabaret girls were probably influ- there was an assumption of a seamier side (with shops in Boat Quay and Yishun today) 9 the dancers, but the vice that tarnishes targeted in the Sook Ching massacres, Jobs for Women in the 1940s and 50s enced by fashion trends gleaned from enter- to the cabaret business, most of the people started off as an apprentice at West End the environment. To punish and shame the and many were taken away and executed tainment magazines. Like most women in I interviewed had mostly positive things to Tailors in High Street in 1963 when he was girls is ridiculous.”6 by Japanese soldiers. Chinese books were In my research, I was curious about alterna- Singapore, they would naturally look towards say about their experience. A former cabaret just 16 years old. The second founder of Happy Charity also not spared. It was estimated that some tive employment opportunities available to Shanghai and Hong Kong for inspiration, as woman whom I interviewed, Madam Ong His tailoring career in the subsequent School, Madam Xu Qian Hong, was a clas- 200,000 books were destroyed by the Japa- women between the 1940s and 50s when these cities were acknowledged as leading Swee Neo, shared: "I was 12 years old when years saw him working at various upmarket sic Cantonese beauty with a heart of gold. nese during this period.10 cabaret work was seen as an attractive job. fashion capitals of the time. my mother brought me into the cabaret. All An article in the Nanyang Siang Pau, dated In the face of this dire situation, Madam A quick search in the “Job Advertisements” What did Chinese women wear in I had to do was sit, chat and dance. I was big 10 June 1947, described her as “enchant- He and Madam Xu became actively involved page of local newspapers in 1948 listed the 1920s? The samfoo (or samfu) was the sized. No one could tell my real age. Cus- ing” and “energetic” by turns. Madam Xu in the running of Happy Charity School while several clerical positions available at the preferred casual attire, comprising a cotton tomers were kind. They never forced me to became a cabaret girl at 16, having been juggling with their evening jobs at the cabaret. National Registration Office of the colonial short-sleeved blouse with a Mandarin col- drink hard liquor. I would only drink Green forced by circumstances to help her father Faced with pressing challenges such as rising government (the work entailed issuing paper lar and frog-buttons, and a matching pair Spot or Red Lion orange crush.” support her younger siblings after her operational costs and the need to recruit more identity cards to citizens). mother died. She only had two years of teachers. The school decided in January 1950 Interestingly, a large number of women (Right) The cabarets at the amusement parks held popularity contests to attract the crowds. A book of four tickets Chinese education before she joined the to impose a monthly school fee of between were also employed as barbers. A Straits for $1 entitled the purchaser to cast one vote. The cabaret girl who received the most number of votes was declared dancing profession. As a widely sought $2.50 and $3.50 per student. Following this Times article on 23 October 1949 reported the winner. Lim Kim Geok (pictured here) was the winner of a popularity contest held at the Great World Cabaret in after cabaret girl, Madam Xu earned about move, the word “Charity” was dropped from that an estimated one-third of some 2,000 June 1937. The Straits Times, 10 June 1937, p. 12. $1,000 a month, and from out of her pocket the school’s name to reflect its new status, and Chinese barbers in Singapore at the time (Below) A New World Cabaret advertisement in the 28 September 1940 edition of The Straits Times announcing she would donate about half of her salary it was renamed The Happy School.11 were young women. It is likely that many the arrival of cabaret girl Poh Seow Chan from Hong Kong’s leading cabaret, Dance Palace. The Straits Times, 28 September 1940, p. 2. each month to the school.7 women entered the trade because other What these two women and their The Happy School Runs its Course jobs were hard to come by. Chinese men comrades did to keep children off the streets preferred to have their hair cut by women and give them a shot at a better life was truly For reasons that are not known, the two barbers because they were known to be admirable. The shortage of schools in the women founders subsequently left the careful and attentive. post-World War II period was even more school after 1950. The Happy School contin- A one-hour job that included a haircut, critical compared with the situation before ued operating out of its Geylang location until shampoo, shave and ear cleaning cost $2. the war. An article in The Straits Times on 1979. The school relocated once in 1947, from The average salary for women barbers at 23 November 1947 declared that “Singapore No. 24 in Lorong 14 to Nos. 67 and 69, after these Chinese hairdressing saloons was Needs More Schools”. it received financial help from George Lee, $100 a month. In fact, women had been The Japanese Occupation of Singa- the owner of Happy World amusement park. working as barbers even before the war.14 pore between 15 February 1942 and 12 In 1946, The Happy School started One lady barber was reported as saying that September 1945 had displaced education with 90 students. By 1959, its enrolment “men like to be attended by girls because and many other essential services, and had ballooned to about 600 students. Due we are more gentle with them. We talk and by 1947, there were approximately 90,000 to insufficient space at its Geylang prem- entertain them while doing our work, and children of school-going age.8 There was ises, lessons were conducted out of two even make them laugh sometimes.”15 serious overcrowding at schools, insuf- rented classrooms at the Mountbatten The limited jobs for women in the 1950s ficient facilities and a severe shortage of Community Centre.12 included seamstresses, sales assistants, teachers. While the situation in English Unfortunately, in the 1960s and 70s, the tour guides, cabaret singers and restaurant schools was bad, it was even worse in school witnessed a similar trend seen across waitresses. Many also took to working Chinese medium schools. all Chinese medium schools in Singapore. privately as domestic servants and washer- During the Occupation, Chinese As Singapore’s economy shifted towards women. If a girl was educated, there were schoolteachers had been systematically industralisation and English became rec- more options available to her, such as an

04 05 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

shops. He recalls clients from Malaysia and Lee, choreographer Mohd Najip Ali and cent of the cha-cha-cha dance era. When Where Fiction Mirrors Life Indonesia, which included businessmen director Ong Keng Sen would continue to asked why he set the story in a cabaret, as well as members of the political elite, headline the local performing arts scene Michael Chiang explained that the cabaret Singapore’s quest towards modernity in who would come to him to have their suits for several decades afterwards. The cast was “something nostalgic that was also the aftermath of World War II (1942–45) tailored. For after-dinner entertainment, featured actors such as Claire Wong, unique to Singapore.” Ong Keng Sen in a and its nation-building years was his customers would frequent two popular Ivan Heng and Jacinta Abisheganaden, commentary published in Private Parts and underpinned by a quick succession of haunts, the Flamingo Nite Club at Great who would all become familiar names in Other Play Things: A Collection of Popular steel-and-glass skyscrapers and fancy World amusement park and the Golden Singapore’s theatre fraternity. Singapore Comedies said, “… Michael’s shopping malls. But scratch beneath Million Nite Club at Peninsula Hotel. “It was Set in the 1960s, Beauty World tells plays are charged with a raw community the surface and a very different side of all respectable dancing. Everyone was out to the story of a small-town Malaysian girl, energy and pride which reverberates in Singapore emerges − reflected in the have fun and relaxation. The women were in Ivy Chan Poh Choo from Batu Pahat, who the theatre. His work crosses language and lives and loves of several characters dresses, and my customers in suit and tie.”26 travels to Singapore to uncover the mystery racial boundaries by celebrating our Singa- from fiction who struggled to make a of her parentage. Her only clue to finding poreanness rather than by dividing us.”27 living in the city’s seamier entertain- The Cabaret is Enshrined as a Musical her father is a jade locket inscribed with The cabaret of yesteryear Singapore ment spots. A selection of significant the words “Beauty World”, which leads her is indeed a celebration of our unique history works in the National Library’s collec- The cabaret isn’t just something only to join the seedy cabaret where most of the and identity. The cabaret was a product of tion tell an interesting tale of life in a older Singaporeans remember. Younger action unveils. Within the complex world of its time, and its indelible “Singaporeanness” bygone era. Singaporeans were given a peek into the scheming cabaret girls and lascivious men, was evident from the lives of the women Penned by the late Lim Chor Pee scene when Beauty World, Singapore’s Ivy has to find her feet and still remain true whom I was able to research and interview. (1936–2006), the plays Mimi Fan (1962) first English musical, was staged as part to her boyfriend Frankie. All of my interviewees spoke of the past and A White Rose at Midnight (1964) of the Singapore Arts Festival in 1988. The cabaret inspiration for the musical with a certain whimsical longing; even the centre on highly-educated male pro- Writer Michael Chiang, songwriter Dick was replete with music and lyrics reminis- former cabaret women whose lives had been tagonists entangled in relationships scarred by pain and struggle had shared with nightclub ladies.19 Set against the their bittersweet stories with quiet pride. backdrop of a modernising Singapore, A TheatreWorks production of Beauty World directed by Ong Keng Sen. It was first staged by Theatre- When asked if there was anything in Works in 1988 and toured Japan in 1992. Courtesy of TheatreWorks (S) Ltd. the plays explore an emerging Singa- their past they wished they had done differ- porean identity during the heady era ently, all the replies were negative. If these of socio-political changes in the 1960s. “lancing” girls had a chance to relive their First staged in 1962 at the Cul- lives all over again, they wouldn’t change a tural Centre (later renamed Drama thing. In spite of the underlying exploitation Centre), Mimi Fan, in particular, broke of women’s bodies and the seamier side of new ground as it was uncommon then cabaret life, theirs were inspiring stories of for non-expatriate-produced plays to faith, hope and, as we now know, charity. be staged in Singapore.20 Lim wanted his play to be as realistic as possible with colloquialisms that Singaporeans Mimi Fan, a seductive quest for love, escapism and courage, was a trail-blazer in 1960s Singapore Adeline Foo was awarded the National could identify with.21 He highlighted at a time when Western “drawing room dramas” took precedence over homegrown productions. Library’s Lee Kong Chian Research the significance of breaking away from Pictured here are Chan Fei-Loong, played by Lim Teong Quee, and Mimi Fan, played by then second- Fellowship in February 2016. This year law student Annie Chin. All rights reserved, Lim, C.P. (2012). Mimi Fan. Singapore: Epigram. the mould of "Western drawing-room article is the condensed version of her drama" in a 1964 article for Tumasek research paper submitted as part of journal, declaring that, “...A national pore was starting to get − and assert − a never forget. You will always blame the fellowship. theatre cannot hope to survive if it sense of itself as a nation” and projected me. Deep, deep inside.” keeps on staging foreign plays.”22 an unnerving anxiety especially as “... These seminal works − Lim’s two The eponymous protagonist from Merger with Malaysia had come and gone plays are widely seen as the first con- Ching (the Chinese term means “purge through no.: RSING S822 LIM; Lim C.P. (2015). A white rose Mimi Fan, a free-spirited and independ- and left in its wake a stark reality which scious attempts to create a Singaporean Notes cleansing”). It is not known exactly how many people at midnight. Singapore: Epigram. Call no.: RSING ent teenage bar girl, eventually leaves many were trying to analyse, understand theatre in English, and Goh’s debut novel 1 Foo, A. (2016, April 30). The ‘lancing’ girls from a glitzy died; the official estimates given by the Japanese is S822 LIM her lover, Chan Fei-Loong, an overseas and even project.”25 Amidst this gnawing was also a first in post-independence world. The Straits Times. Retrieved from Factiva. 5,000 but the actual number is believed to be 8-10 times 20 Tan, C. (2014, June 24). Five reasons why the play Mimi English-educated Singaporean who unease, the struggling protagonist found Singapore – reflect the plight of working- 2 Pleasure domes of the past. (1987, July 8). The Straits higher. Fan is a classic. The Straits Times. Retrieved from The Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. has returned home to work, at a time some degree of solace, albeit shortlived, class women who were plying their trade 10 Kua, K.S. (2008). The Chinese schools of Malaysia: Straits Times website. 3 Club aids cabaret girls. (1953, August 27). The Singapore A protean saga (pp. 31, 34). Selangor Darul Ehsan, 21 Yeo, R. (1982, March 28). Making us speak naturally. The when most women were expected to in the arms of his paramour, Lucy, who in shady nightspots. Were these women Free Press, p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Malaysia: Malaysian Centre for Ethnic Centre, New Era Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. find value and meaning through their earns a living entertaining men at Para- a collective reflection of the “quietly 4 王振春. (1990).《 根 的 系 列 之 二 》(p. 153). 新加坡: 胜友书 College. Call no.: RSEA 371.009595 KUA 22 Lim, C.P. (1964, January 1). Is drama non-existent in roles as wives and mothers. dise Bar. desperate” lives plagued by restless 局. Call no.: Chinese RCLOS 959.57 WZC. 11 潘星华.(主编). (2014). 《消失的华校:国家永远的资产》(p. Singapore? Tumasek, 1, 42–44. Call no.: RCLOS 805 T; Another memorable character But like the proverbial fallen woman anxiety and uncertainty in a nation that 5 王振春, 1990, p. 153. 140). 新加坡: 华校校友会联合会出版. Call no.: Chinese Yeo, R. (1982, March 28). Making us speak naturally. The 6 舞国的一朵青春何燕娜. (1947, January 25).《南洋 RSING 371.82995105957 XSD Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. who existed on the periphery of polite with a heart-of-gold, Lucy chooses to was at the time treading a rocky path to 商报》 [Nanyang Siang Pau], p. 12. Retrieved from 12 王振春, 1990, p. 149. 23 Goh. P.S. (1972). If we dream too long. Singapore: Island society is Lucy, the Singaporean bar girl leave Kwang Meng despite a keen affec- true independence? NewspaperSG. 13 王振春, 1990, p. 150. Press. Call no.: RSING 828.99 GOH who has an affair with the protagonist tion for him as she fears the judgment of a 7 快乐学校慈善舞后许千红访问记. (1947, June 10).《南 14 Kindest cut by women barbers. (1949, October 23). The 24 Koh, T.A. (2010). Goh Poh Seng’s If We Dream Too Long: Kwang Meng in the late pioneer writer less-than-forgiving society. In a poignant 洋商报》[Nanyang Siang Pau], p. 5. Retrieved from Straits Times, p. 9. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. An appreciation. In P.S. Goh. (2010), If we dream too long Michelle Heng is a Literary Arts Librarian NewspaperSG. Goh Poh Seng’s novel If We Dream Too scene where Lucy rebuffs Kwang Meng's 15 Women ousting men from barbers’ shops. (1937, (p. xii). Singapore: NUS Press. Call no.: RSING S823 GOH at the National Library, Singapore. She 8 Singapore needs more schools. (1947, November 23). June 6). The Straits Times, p. 28. Retrieved from 25 Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh. (2016, July 30). In search 23 Long (1972). offer of marriage, she echoes the social is a regular contributor to BiblioAsia and The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. NewspaperSG. of the great Singapore novel. The Straits Times. Writer and literary critic Kirpal mores of a largely conservative society has edited publications including Edwin 9 Following the fall of Singapore on 15 February 1942, 16 Pay talks: Clerks not satisfied. (1952, August 23). Retrieved from The Straits Times website. Singh notes that Singapore's first when she exclaims “...I know you men. Thumboo – Time-travelling: A Selected Chinese males between 18 and 50 years of age were The Singapore Free Press, p. 5. Retrieved from 26 Interview with Thomas Wong on 26 September 2016. post-independence English novel24 You will never forget about my past. You Annotated Bibliography (2012) and ordered to report to designated centres for mass NewspaperSG. 27 Ong, K.S. (1993). Introduction. In M. Chiang. (1994), Selected Poems of Goh Poh Seng (2013). screening. Many of these ethnic Chinese were then 17 Interview with Ong Swee Neo on 24 February 2016. Private parts and other play things: A collection was written “around the time Singa- say you can, but I know that you can rounded up and taken to deserted spots to be summarily 18 Interview with Johnny Chia on 19 February 2016. of popular Singapore comedies (p. 8). Singapore: executed. This came to be known as Operation Sook 19 Lim, C.P. (2012). Mimi Fan. Singapore: Epigram. Call Landmark Books. Call no.: RSING S822 CHI

06 07 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

served the religious and educational needs Dr Yeo Kang Shua is an Assistant Professor of the Christian communities.1 at the Singapore University of Technology Jules Dobbelaere Studio: A Timeline The Armenian Church of St Gregory and Design, and holds the inaugural Henri Dobbelaere the Illuminator on Armenian Street, St Hokkien Foundation Career Professorship *fl. 1860–85 in Architectural Conservation. Andrew’s Cathedral on St Andrew’s Road, the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd, the The Dobbelaere studio was es- Swati Chandgadkar is a stained glass conservator from Mumbai, India. She Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ, tablished by Henri Dobbelaere currently resides in Singapore. today a commercial complex known as of Bruges, Belgium (b. 1822, d. CHIJMES) and St Joseph’s Institution (now 1885) in 1860. Singapore Art Museum) along Bras Basah Road, St Joseph’s Church on Victoria Street Jules Dobbelaere and the Church of Saints Peter and Paul on fl. 1885–1916 Queen Street are some of Singapore’s most Jules Dobbelaere (b. 1859, d. 1916) historically significant Christian sites. (The took over the workshop when his chapels at the former CHIJ and St Joseph’s father Henri passed away in Feb- Institution have been deconsecrated and are ruary 1885. Under his watch, the no longer used as places of worship today.) workshop reached new heights All are Catholic institutions except in stained glass production and the Armenian Church and St Andrew’s acquired international fame. The Cathedral, which are Oriental Orthodox and windows at St Joseph's and CHIJ Anglican respectively. With the exception of were commissioned during this time. the Armenian Church, all are embellished Light can be soft, quiet, or at times dra- with stained glass windows. Justin Peene-Delodder matic, depending on the time of the day and The stained glass windows in this fl. 1919–29 year. Since time immemorial, builders have historic cluster provide more than just lused architecture to modulate natural light architectural interest. Many windows in Jules passed away in 1916 without and create emotional – and even spiritual these churches were “memorial panels” a male heir. In 1919, the workshop – experiences for people. bearing names of their donors in the par- passed on to Justin Peene, a dis- The use of coloured glass in building ish, and a number of these are stylistically tant cousin of Jules’ daughters. facades is a particularly powerful architec- similar. This observation has prompted He worked under the name Justin tural tool. Originating in the Gothic churches several questions: Who made these win- Peene-Delodder. of Medieval Europe, stained glass windows dows? Who commissioned them? Were continue to be used in contemporary times they made locally or imported? Weduwe Peene-Delodder by architects, often with striking results. Upon closer examination, the names fl. 1929–38 Ecclesiastical stained glass, in addi- of the donors are evident in many panels. Justin’s wife, Alice Delodder, con- tion to its aesthetic quality, served another Some windows also bear the signatures tinued the workshop after his function: to narrate Christian stories. During of the artisans or studios that produced death in 1929, producing windows the Middle Ages, these figurative windows them, as well as the year in which they under the name Weduwe Peene- were a means to teach the largely illiterate were made. Many of these windows were Delodder until 1938. congregations about the Bible and the lives made in Belgium and France, and date of saints. Stained glass windows tell other between 1885 and 1912, although some Andre Delodder-Peene stories too by shedding light on social histo- windows of later vintage can be found in fl. 1938–53 ries and patterns of patronage. The history these buildings too. of stained glass windows is thus rooted in Three studio signatures are fre- Andre Delodder, originally a cabinet Christianity as well as in architecture. quently inscribed on these window panels: maker, married Alice's youngest “Vitrail St Georges, Lyon, France” and “J. daughter, Simonne Peene. He began Stained Glass in Singapore Dobbelaere, Bruges, Belgium” in the CHIJ working with his mother-in-law in chapel; “J. Dobbelaere, Bruges, Belgium” 1936, and took on the family name two It is no accident that many of Singapore’s in St Joseph’s Church; and “Martin Pei- years later. His work appears under into early churches and Christian institutions ntre, Angers, France” in the Church of the name Andre Delodder-Peene. were clustered near the city centre. Located Saints Peter and Paul. The windows in St close to the “Ground Reserved by Govern- Andrew’s Cathedral and the Cathedral of Guy Delodder & son ment” and “European Town and Principal the Good Shepherd are unsigned, while fl. 1953–91 Mercantile Establishments” as seen in the the altar window in St Joseph’s Institution Andre’s eldest son Guy Delodder 1823 “Plan of the Town of Singapore” by – believed to have been taken down during took over the workshop in 1953. The Lieutenant Philip Jackson, these structures the Japanese Occupation (1942–45) – is now sudden death of Guy Delodder’s suc- regarded as lost.2 History cessor (one of his four sons) in 1991 Most of the windows at the CHIJ (Facing Page) Interior view of the chapel at the ended a tradition that had endured chapel and St Joseph’s Church were Drawings discovered in a Belgian archive help fill gaps in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) located at for five generations. the corner of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street. commissioned from the studio of Jules history of stained glass windows in Singapore. Yeo Kang Shua Designed by Father Charles-Bénédict Nain, the Dobbelaere. The Dobbelaere studio was * fl.=flourished chapel was completed in 1903 and consecrated Above information from the University on 11 June 1904. Photo taken in the early 1900s. established by Henri Dobbelaere in Wal- and Swati Chandgadkar reveal their findings. plaats, Bruges, in Belgium in 1860. Under of Leuven’s Documentation and Re- Arshak C. Galstaun Collection, courtesy of National search Center on Religion and Society. Archives of Singapore. his son, Jules Dobbelaere, the workshop

08 09 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature reached new heights in stained glass allows them to reuse these materials to tectural terms) of St Joseph’s Church on production and found fame beyond the create windows for other clients, making Victoria Street has beautiful ornamental shores of Belgium. minor alterations where needed. Some of and figurative stained glass windows, while Thus far, information on Dobbelaere’s the older and more well-managed studios two female saints are depicted in the tran- work in Singapore has been scant. As part meticulously catalogue their glass work. This sept windows. An article in the Singapore of our research, we located the online approach was adopted by many European Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser in archives of the Dobbelaere workshop in studios and workshops in the 19th and early 1912 mentions that “the picture glass is 2009, which rest with the Documentation 20th centuries when markets opened up and by J. Dobbelaere of Bruges” but does not and Research Center on Religion and Soci- glass makers began exporting their stained provide further details.5 ety at the University of Leuven in Flanders, glass overseas, especially to the colonies. With the exception of the “Sacr. Cor. Belgium (hereafter “Leuven archives”). As Cartoons, therefore, address many Jesus” (Sacred Heart of Jesus) window in the archiving and digitisation of these mate- crucial questions: where a window was the centre of the apse, signed “J. Dobb- rials have progressed significantly, more made, for whom, by whom, how, in what elaere, Bruges, Belgium 1912”, none of information has since appeared online. social setting, in what style, and so on. A the other figurative apsidal windows bear In early 2016, a formal request was cartoon is literally a window into a win- the studio’s signature. The other windows made to the university to access the archives, dow’s history. depicting “S. John Berchmans” (St John which include drawings – known as “car- Fortunately for us, the cartoons by the Berchmans), “S. Franc. Xav.” (St Francis toons” in stained glass work – of the windows. Dobbelaere studio have been preserved in Xavier), “Sta Maria” (St Mary), “Ste Joseph” Relatively little is known about the the Leuven archives. By comparing these (St Joseph), “S. Antoni” (St Anthony) and studio of Martin Peintre in Angers, France, cartoons with the stained glass windows in “Sancta Agnes” (St Agnes) are all unsigned. at this point. More information may surface Singapore’s historic buildings, we are bet- In the Leuven archives, we were in the future as historic materials are ter able to understand the history of these excited to find a Dobbelaere cartoon of the increasingly being made available online structures in relation to the stained glass triptych window dedicated to “S. Antonius”. pery and the depiction of the Infant Jesus (Above) Floor plan of the stained glass in the chapel of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. Courtesy for research, as with the case of the Dobb- panels as well as the communities who The cartoon clearly delineates the figure of with St Anthony, are all in place. The extant of Yeo Kang Shua. elaere studio. used these buildings as places of worship. St Anthony in the middle, with ornamental window’s only departure from the cartoon (Right) Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus (CHIJ) was a girls' school established at the corner of Bras Basah Road and Victoria Street in 1854 by French Catholic nuns. The Neo-Gothic chapel was completed in 1903 Of the three studios, Vitrail St Georges windows on either side. is in the name plaque. It reads “S. ANTONI and consecrated on 11 June 1904. The complex underwent extensive restoration works and reopened is by far the youngest. Founded by Joël St Joseph’s Church Comparing this drawing with the ORA P.N.” (“St Anthony, pray for us” in in 1996 as a commercial complex known as CHIJMES. Photo taken in the early 1900s. Lim Kheng Chye Mône in 1979, the French studio claims its extant window, it is clear that the design Latin), rather than “S. ANTONIUS” as in Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. lineage from the studio of Jean-Baptiste The five-sided apse (see text box on pages has been faithfully executed. The main the cartoon. Although the window does not Barrelon in Grigny, Lyon, which was estab- 12–13 for an explanation of these archi- ornamental elements, details of the dra- carry the studio’s signature, the cartoon is lished in 1852. Since 2010, the studio has proof that the window was made in Jules sept windows, and armed with further described the windows as “most artistic”.7 been headed by Joël’s son, Jean.3 This Dobbelaere’s studio. evidence from the Dobbelaere cartoons, we How then do we explain the origins of these (Below) An exterior view of St Joseph’s Church at Victoria Street, c.1912. The church was originally built by was the studio that undertook the stained the Portuguese Mission in 1853 to serve the Portuguese and Eurasian Catholics in Singapore. Then in 1912, The transept window depicting can safely conclude that all the windows of other windows, which bear a different glass restoration when the CHIJ complex it was reconstructed in the neo-Gothic style and reopened. Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. “Sancta Catharina” (St Catherine) is St Joseph’s Church were produced by the signature and date? underwent extensive restoration between (Right) Cartoon depicting St Anthony with the Infant Jesus – one of the windows on the apse-side of St unsigned, while the “Sancta Cecilia” (St workshop of Jules Dobbelaere. A few sets of cartoons from the 1991 and 1996 and reopened as CHIJMES. Joseph's Church where the sanctuary is located – designed by the studio of Jules Dobbelaere. Courtesy Cecilia) window carries the signature and Leuven archives can be linked in terms of of KADOC – KU Leuven. The project was jointly overseen by the date: “J. Dobbelaere, Bruges, Belgium CHIJ Chapel in CHIJMES theme and composition with the existing French architect Didier Repellin, and Ong 1912”. The cartoon of the St Cecilia windows on site: (1) one set of five cartoons and Ong Architects of Singapore.4 window is also kept in the archives, and Many publications cite Father Charles- for the apse; (2) one set of three cartoons the stained glass on site is a faithful Bénédict Nain, a French priest of the for the private chapel to the left of the The Importance of “Cartoons” rendition of the drawing, which includes Missions Étrangères de Paris (MEP) order, apse; (3) one set of three cartoons for the decorative elements and the dedication as the designer of the CHIJ chapel, with private chapel to the right of the apse; (4) We all know of cartoons as animated films “EX VOTO W.F. MOSBERGEN” (“An offer- stained glass windows produced in Bruges, one set of two cartoons for the clerestory or humorous comic strips found in print. But ing from W.F. Mosbergen”), presumably Belgium, by Jules Dobbelaere.6 Father on either side of the apse; (5) one set of in the art industry, a cartoon is a preliminary the donor. Nain had been appointed as the assistant two cartoons for the windows flanking a design made by an artist for a painting or It was not uncommon for studios parish priest at the Cathedral of the Good circular window in the gallery; and (6) one other types of artwork such as a fresco, or artists to sign just one window in a Shepherd in 1898. cartoon for the quatrefoil (four-cusped tapestry or stained glass window or panel. In cluster of windows. Even today, most However, there is no indication which panel) in the gallery. stained glass windows, a cartoon delineates studios put their stamp on just one win- of the windows at the CHIJ chapel were Comparing these cartoons with the the theme of the window, the exact drawing dow even if their contribution consists of produced by the Dobbelaere studio. Despite chapel windows provides some insights. (sometimes in colour), lead lines and all the several panels. Minor elements outlined the large number of stained glass windows stylistic details of the painting. In short, it in cartoons are sometimes omitted in the in the chapel, only two bear the signature Glass in the apse is a blueprint for the stained glass window, final work. This happens for a number “J. Dobbelaere, Bruges, Belgium”. Neither In the apse, all five extant lancet windows prepared by the glass artist for the client’s of reasons, one of which is lack of space of these are dated. are based on themes outlined in the Dob- approval, and used by the glazier who cre- during the execution. A closer examination of the stained belaere cartoons of these windows. ates the actual window. Researchers must therefore under- glass windows (see floor plan above) Three of the five apsidal windows Cartoons are typically prepared by the take a comparative study of stained glass complicates the story further. Several are direct adaptations of the Dobbelaere stained glass artist; the glazier often advises windows within the same building by exam- windows bear the signature “Vitrail St cartoons: The Nativity of Jesus (1C) “Pre- where lead lines should be added to ensure ining the painting style, glazing technique, Georges, Lyon, France”, and are dated sented by The Pupils of the Convent”; the panel’s structural integrity. The cartoon types of leads used, and the composition of “1994” – almost a full century after the The Presentation of Infant Jesus (1D) is then copied onto tracing paper in full scale the windows. These details help ascertain chapel’s consecration. We know stained “Presented by Benefactors of Manila”; to create a working drawing or “tracing”. the studio or artist behind the windows. glass windows were already in place when and Jesus’s Sermon at the Temple (1E) Studios will usually keep cartoons Looking at the style of the various the chapel was consecrated in 1904. A “Presented by A.G. Pertille”. None of and tracings for a pragmatic reason as it apsidal windows, as well as the two tran- newspaper account dated 10 June 1904 these windows is signed or dated, but the

10 11 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature cartoons confirm that Jules Dobbelaere The Dobbelaere signature is absent is their creator. in this stained glass triptych. Instead, both Understanding Church Architecture The other two apsidal stained glass the St Cecilia and St Clothilde windows windows located to the left of the apse are signed “Vitrail St Georges, 1994, Lyon, The footprint of a church is typically when facing it – The Annunciation (1A) and France”. The St Mary window is unsigned. laid out in a rectangle, Greek-cross The Visitation (1B) – are signed “Vitrail St In the private chapel to the right of – a square central mass with four Georges, 1994, Lyon, France”. Although these the apse, the triptych window is a faithful projecting arms of equal length – or two windows bear the signature of another realisation of the Dobbelaere cartoons Latin-cross cruciform plan. From studio and a more recent date, it is obvious without revisions: “S. Ludovicus” (St Louis, these basic forms, an apse, which that the theme and composition are based 3A) “Presented by A. De Souza”; The Death is a semicircular recess, may be at- on the original cartoons by Dobbelaere. The of St Joseph (3B) “Presented by E. De tached behind the altar to provide a only difference is in the donor panels. These Souza”; and “S. Carolus Bor.” (St Charles visual focus. now read as “Presented by a Benefactor”, Borromeo, 3C) “Presented by O.K.”. The whereas the cartoons bear the inscriptions latter bears the signature “J. Dobbelaere, “Presented by P.S.R. Pasoual” and “Pre- Bruges, Belgium”. The cartoons allow us sented by the Ossorio Family” respectively. to confidently attribute these windows to the Dobbelaere studio. Glass in the two private chapels In the private chapel to the left of the Glass in the clerestories A fanlight or “lunette” is a semicir- apse, we begin to see discrepancies in The cartoons for the two stained glass cular window over a door or window. It the triptych window. windows situated above the chancel at is also sometimes known as a transom The Dobbelaere cartoon shows three clerestory level shows two lancets: one window, especially when it is rectan- female saints: “S. Cæcilia” (St Cecilia, depicting The Flight into Egypt, and the gular in shape. left); Saint Mary (not named in the panel, other The Visit of the Magi. centre); and “S. Agnes" (St Agnes, right). Each window, however, comprises The main body of the church, which is by a step or altar rail, within which only the The stained glass windows on site follow a pair of lancet panels crowned by a known as the nave, is the area where the priests and their attendants are allowed. the cartoons in the placement of St Cecilia roundel and three small insets to form a congregation takes part in worship (called In Singapore, there are no churches with (2A) and St Mary (2B). But the cartoon’s St tracery. The cartoon’s themes remain, but a mass in Catholic churches or service in chancels – the space between the nave and Agnes has been replaced by “S. Clothilde” the theme of each window is now spread the Protestant tradition). the sanctuary that contain choir stalls or (St Clothilde, 2C) on site. over two lancet panels. The Visit of the A passageway to either side of the nave seats for the clergy. The drapery of the St Cecilia and St Magi (4A) is on the left of the apse, and that is separated by a colonnade of columns In the case of St Andrew’s Cathedral, Mary windows also differ from the car- The Flight into Egypt (4B) on the right. or rows of pews is known as the aisle. A the choir stalls are positioned behind the toons, as does the position of St Mary’s This change may have been the result of transept is the space that is perpendicular altar. In Catholic churches, the tabernacle hand. There are also fewer angels in the revisions to the architectural design of to the nave on either side of a cruciform. where the Eucharist9 is stored, is located St Mary panel than in the cartoon. the chapel, with the windows redesigned Beyond the nave typically lies the behind the altar. In most cases, an apse is All three windows now read “Pre- to adapt to the modified openings. sanctuary, usually separated from the nave the recess behind the sanctuary. sented by a Benefactor”, while the car- While neither cartoon indicates a toons clearly bear the donors’ names: donor’s name, The Visit of the Magi window “Presented by D. De Souza”, “Presented now reads “Presented by a Benefactor”, by M.C.F. De Souza”, and “Presented by while The Flight into Egypt is inscribed G. De Souza” respectively. “Presented by Cheoug Quee Tiam”.8

Triptych windows found in the side chapels at the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. From left to right: St Cecilia, St Mary and St Clothilde (left chapel); and St Louis, The Death of Saint Joseph, and St Charles The stained glass windows located Borromeo (right chapel). Courtesy of Swati Chandgadkar. at the apse are also referred to as apsidal windows. A lancet window (top image) is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. Such windows are typical of Gothic and neo-Gothic architecture. A triptych is typically a work of art that is divided into three sections. A triptych window (bottom) likewise has a set of three window panels.

Readers who are interested in reading more about church architecture may (From top to bottom) Greek cross plan of refer to How to Read Churches: A Crash Armenian Church, rectangular plan of St The clerestory denotes an upper are punctuated with windows. Windows Course in Ecclesiastical Architecture George’s Church (at Minden Road) and Latin level of the nave where the walls rise located in this area are also known as by Denis Robert McNamara available cross plan of Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. above the rooflines of the lower aisles and clerestory windows. at the [email protected]

12 13 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

(Left) The clerestory at the chapel of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus: The Flight into Egypt (left) and The Visit of the Magi (right). The original cartoons by Dobbelaere depict each of these scenes in a single lancet composition. The windows on site, however, are executed as a pair of lancets, with a small roundel and three small glass insets form- ing a tracery. Photograph courtesy of Carolyn Lim; cartoon courtesy of KADOC – KU Leuven. (Middle) Quatrefoil window in the chapel of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus: Full-colour cartoon (left) and the window on site (right), depicting St Anthony with the Infant Jesus. This window is found on the left side of the gallery facing the entrance. Cartoon courtesy of KADOC – KU Leuven; photo- graph courtesy of Swati Chandgadkar. (Bottom) Madonna and Child depicted on a glass window of the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. The authorship of this window cannot yet be ascertained. (Left) Cartoons for the fanlights or “lunettes” in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (left) and two of the windows as executed (right). Cartoons courtesy of This photo was taken in December 2010, when the KADOC – KU Leuven; photographs courtesy of Swati Chandgadkar. window was taken down for safekeeping by the (Right) Cartoon from the Dobbelaere studio (left) and a historic photograph of the altar window at the chapel of St Joseph’s Institution (right). This cartoon is authors with the assistance of Lawrence Chin and significant because prior to its discovery, the design of the window was unfortunately not documented in any form. The cartoon therefore provides a better Wee Sheau Theng. It has since been restored by understanding of what the lost window looked like. Cartoon courtesy of KADOC – KU Leuven; photograph courtesy of St Joseph’s Institution. Swati Chandgadkar and was reinstated in late 2016. Courtesy of Yeo Kang Shua. There are few written references to mentioned in the newspaper article. As toon depicts St Jean-Baptiste de La Salle the cathedral’s stained glass windows. the cartoons for the two figurative windows surrounded by pupils and members of the is also unknown if any repairs were carried One mention is found in a 1904 Straits were not found in the archives, their prov- laity, with Mary and Jesus appearing on the out after the war. Times article: “The Committee records enance remains indeterminate. mantle. The cartoon also bears the inscrip- Tunneling works carried out for the with gratification, the beautiful gift of a set tion “Presented by Joseph Chan Teck Hee”. construction of the Mass Rapid Transit of stained glass for the Church windows St Joseph’s Institution The Dobbelaere cartoon fits the form system in the 1980s also had an impact by Bishop Bourdon.”13 The windows are and thematic outline with what we can see in on the chapel. Newspapers record miti- not described further, making it difficult St Joseph’s Institution today houses the the old photograph. It is therefore reason- gation works undertaken to protect the to ascertain if the bishop’s gift comprised Singapore Art Museum. The chapel of this able to infer that the cartoon is of the historic fragile windows, which were “boarded solely of the fanlights, or if the gift included former school building was completed in stained glass window of the school chapel, with wooden frames and covered in net- the two figurative windows too. September 1912. However, owing to a delay and more importantly, that it was executed ting on both sides to try and protect them In the Leuven archives, we found in the delivery of the stained glass window, by the studio of Jules Dobbelaere. from damage.”12 Dobbelaere cartoons for the two different the chapel – which now bears few traces of The discovery of the Dobbelaere car- CHIJ’s stained glass windows were fanlight designs. One of the cartoons is a its ecclesiastical history – was dedicated toons in Leuven has provided valuable eventually restored in the early 1990s when colour reference for the two designs. Com- only on 20 November that year.14 insights into the lineage of Singapore’s the convent building, including the chapel, paring these cartoons with the fanlights in A modern glass and steel sculpture historic stained glass windows and sheds underwent restoration. The restoration of place today, there is little doubt that these now sits in the opening where the stained new light on their provenance. the stained glass windows was carried out windows were made by the Dobbelaere glass window would have been located. With by Vitrail St Georges of France. studio. The foliated design, composition, the exception of an old photograph of the As noted earlier, there are a number colour scheme and other painting elements chapel, which shows a faint silhouette of the The authors would like to acknowl- of discrepancies between the cartoons seen in the stained glass windows are an stained glass window at the end of the nave,15 edge Wee Sheau Theng, Carolyn Lim, and the extant windows, particularly in exact reproduction of the cartoons. very little is known about the provenance or Soon-Tzu Speechley and Martina the side chapel to the left. Some of these More importantly, one of the cartoons design of this historic window. A cartoon we Yeo for their invaluable help in the Glass in the gallery original drawing in glass, faithfully fol- windows now bear the signature of Vitrail is dated 1904, thereby confirming that the found in the Leuven archives helps further course of this research. Two sets of stained glass windows, each lowing a beautifully coloured cartoon by St Georges. It is possible that these win- fanlights were gifts from the bishop, as our understanding of this window. The car- composed of a pair of lancet panels crowned Dobbelaere. The panel includes the name dows were badly damaged by the 1990s by a roundel and three small insets to form of the donors “Presented by Mr Nash and required extensive reconstruction. History of a pioneer mission school for girls in Singapore 10 McNamara, D.R. (2011). How to read churches: A crash Notes (pp. 59–60). Singapore: Armour Publication. Call no.: course in ecclesiastical architecture. New York: Rizzoli a tracery, flank the circular window in the Family”. Interestingly, this quatrefoil was It is unknown at this point if Vitrail St 1 Buckley, C.B. (1902). An anecdotal history of old times gallery. They are based on Dobbelaere’s catalogued in the archives as a window Georges had access to the Dobbelaere RSING 373.5957 KON International Publishers; Lewes, East Sussex: Produced in Singapore: (With portraits and illustrations) from 5 Untitled. (1912, June 27). The Singapore Free Press and by Ivy Press. Call no.: 726.51 MAC cartoons, and have been reproduced faith- for the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. cartoons while undertaking the restora- the foundation of the settlement under the Honourable Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), p. 414. Retrieved from 11 Meyers, 2004, p. 60; Pilon & Weiler, 2011, p. 154; Kong, fully without revisions. The window on the This is likely to be a cataloguing error, we tion, or whether its work was based on the East India Company, on February 6th, 1819, to the NewspaperSG. Low & Yip, 1994, pp. 103–105. left is The Ascension (5B), with The Dove think, as the cartoon is undoubtedly for a what remained of these windows. transfer of the Colonial Office as part of the colonial 6 Meyers, E. (2004). Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus: 150 12 CHIJ chapel reinforced for MRT work. (1986, July 28). possessions of the Crown on April 1st, 1867 (Vol. I, pp. as Holy Spirit represented in the roundel. window at the convent chapel. years in Singapore (p, 52). Penang, Malaysia: The Lady The Straits Times, p. 11, CHIJ chapel’s stained glass 82–83). Singapore: Fraser & Neave Limited. Call no.: Superior of the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus. Call no.: windows are in danger. (1986, August 1). The Straits The lancets are inscribed “Presented by Events that had taken place during Cathedral of the Good Shepherd RRARE 959.57 BUC; Microfilm no.: NL 269 RSING q371.07125957 MEY, Pilon & Weiler, 2011, pp. 108– Times, p. 22; Aleshire, I. (1986, August 18). Experts warn a Benefactor”. The window on the right is CHIJ’s long but illustrious history provide 2 National Library Board. (2010) Former St Joseph’s 109; Kong, Low & Yip, 1994, pp. 59–60; Société Missions- of further damage to chapel windows. The Straits Times, The Holy Family (5A), with Our Lord in Glory further clues about these stained glass The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd has 14 Institution (Singapore Art Museum) written by Tan, Étrangères. (1917). Missions-Étrangères: Compte-rendu p. 10; Goh, J. (1989, March 27). Urgent repairs needed Bonny. Retrieved from Singapore Infopedia. des travaux de 1916 (p. 242). Paris: Séminaire des on CHIJ chapel. The Straits Times, p. 19. Retrieved from represented in the roundel. These lancets windows. One such event occurred on stained glass fanlight windows or “lunettes” 3 Vitrail Center. (n.d.). Présentation de l’atelier de Lyon read “Presented by L. Scheerder”. The As- 15 February 1942 when Japanese forces along the aisles and two figurative windows Missions-Étrangères. Not available in NLB holdings. NewspaperSG. et de son savoire faire. Retrieved from Vitrail Center 7 New convent chapel. (1904, June 10). The Straits Times, 13 S.C.C. lawn tennis tournament. (1904, May 14). The cension window is one of just two windows invaded Singapore. During an air raid, at the transepts. The fanlights are of two website; l'Institut Supérieur des Métiers. (2009–2016). p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Straits Times, p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. in the chapel that bears the signature “J. several bombs fell within the vicinity of the design typologies, while the figurative win- Vitrail Saint-Georges. Retrieved from Enterprise du 8 This is a spelling variation of "Cheong Quee Tiam". 14 Brown, F. (1987). Memories of SJI: Reminiscences of Dobbelaere, Bruges, Belgium”. convent, one of which damaged a number of dows depict the Madonna and Child and St Patrimoine Vivant website. 9 The tabernacle is the box-like vessel in which the old boys and past teachers of St. Joseph’s Institution, 4 Pilon, M., & Weiler, D. (2011). The French in Singapore: An St Anthony is the subject of the windows.11 Accounts of the bombings do not Joseph. All 16 windows are unsigned, with Eucharist – the consecrated bread and wine that is Singapore (p. 12). Singapore: St. Joseph’s Institution. Call illustrated history (1819-Today) (pp. 195–196). Singapore: partaken as the body and blood of Jesus Christ or as no.: RSING 372.95957 BRO quatrefoil on the left side of the gallery. mention which windows were damaged, nor neither studio signature, date nor donor Editions Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING 305.84105957 PIL; symbols of Christ’s body and blood in remembrance of 15 St. Joseph’s Institution. (n.d.). The SJI milestones. The window is a perfect rendition of the do they record the extent of the damage. It names inscribed on the panels. Kong, L., Low, S.A., & Yip, J. (1994). Convent chronicles: his death – is kept. Retrieved from St. Joseph’s Institution website.

14 15 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

Sue-Ann Chia is a seventh-generation descendant of Tan Tock Seng. She is a journalist with over 15 years of experience at The Straits Times and Today newspapers. She is presently Director at The Nutgraf, a boutique writing and communications consultancy.

In 1989, a large and elaborate grave on the grassy slopes of Outram Hill was “discov- ered” by Geraldine Lowe, a well-known iSingaporean tour guide. Overgrown with a tangle of weeds and covered in dirt, the decrepit tomb appeared abandoned. This was the resting place of Tan Tock (Facing page) Portrait of Tan Tock Seng, c.1840. Margaret Tan Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. Seng, who bears the distinction of having (Above) The first Tan Tock Seng Hospital, then called "The Chinese Pauper Hospital", was built on Pearl’s Hill in 1846. This 1848 watercolour painting by one of Singapore’s largest hospitals named John Turnbull Thomson shows its location between the Surgery and the Seamen’s Hospital on Pearl’s Hill. All rights reserved. Liu, G. (1999). Singapore: after him. Unfortunately, that is the only A Pictorial History, 1819-2000. Singapore: Archipelago Press and National Heritage Board. detail that most people know about the (Above right) This tablet was erected by the Committee of Management in 1854 to acknowledge the donations by Tan Tock Seng and his son, Tan Kim Ching,­ noted philanthropist – a forgotten pioneer, towards the building of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital. The tablet was installed on the hospital gate at Pearl’s Hill. All rights reserved, Lee, S.H. (1994). 150 Years of Caring: The Legacy of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Singapore: Tan Tock Seng Hospital. much like his grave. Lowe, who stumbled upon the grave during a heritage hunt, said in an interview, sailed south to Singapore in search of the “with no worldly goods, his only capital letters, penned in cursive English to the Brit- “It’s a shame that nobody is taking care of proverbial fame and fortune. He arrived in being industry and economy”, reported ish Governor, were always signed in Chinese the tomb. It is on an almost inaccesible 1819, shortly after Stamford Raffles had The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile and accompanied by his Chinese seal. It is slope in Tiong Bahru. Something should established a British trading outpost on the Advertiser newspaper in March 1850.8 very likely that he employed a secretary to be done about it.”1 swamp-filled island.5 But good fortune favoured the enter- write his letters in English.11 Since the rediscovery of the grave, Tan was one of the earliest immi- prising and those who were willing to work As Tan grew in stature and influ- Tan’s descendants have been tending to grants in Singapore, and in a matter of a hard in the fledgling port city that was ence, he was asked to help settle disputes his tomb and a major sprucing up of the few years rose to become one of the most teeming with opportunities. Soon after his between Chinese migrants. This earned site was carried out in 2009, according to a wealthy residents and a pioneer com- arrival, Tan set up a roadside stall selling him the title of “Captain of the Chinese”, and heritage report on Tiong Bahru.2 munity leader of the Chinese population. vegetables, fruits and poultry, bringing he became the first Asian to be appointed The pioneer’s great-great-grandson But his story is quite unlike those of his produce from the countryside to the city. Justice of the Peace by then Governor Wil- Roney Tan dismissed claims that his forefa- successful contemporaries. Within a matter of eight years, by 1827, he liam John Butterworth.12 ther’s grave was ever neglected. “Tan Tock In her book, A History of Singapore had saved up enough to open up a shop at According to The Singapore Free Seng’s grave was never lost,” the company 1819–1988, historian Constance Mary Boat Quay, where the Chinese community Press and Mercantile Advertiser in March director said in an interview in 2013. “The Turnbull wrote: “Most of the influential early originally settled. Tan’s big break came when 1850: “Much of his time was engrossed in truth is, my family and I always knew where settlers were already prosperous when he met J.H. Whitehead, a partner in the Brit- acting as arbitrator in disputes between his it was. Growing up, my dad used to bring they arrived [in Singapore] and did not fit ish trading firm of Shaw, Whitehead & Co. countrymen, and many a case which would me to the gravesite at Outram Hill once or the popular rags-to-riches success stories Through a combination of sheer luck and otherwise have afforded a rich harvest to twice a year.” He explained, “It was simply of penniless youths rising by hard work an astute joint venture in land speculation, the lawyers, was through his intervention not possible to adequately maintain a grave and acument to wealth and eminence. The Tan became a very wealthy businessman and mediation nipped in the bud.”13 From Pauper to 6 9 just once a year, adding “Which is why I Hokkien Tan Tock Seng was an exception.” and landowner. called a meeting of the family some years It is not known what Tan’s father did Tan’s impressive land bank included Locking Horns with the British back and said, “Let’s maintain it regularly, for a living in Malacca. Even though most 50 acres of prime space where the railway not just at Qing Ming. So now, there is a fund Peranakans were wealthy, Tan’s family was station at Tanjong Pagar was located as The year was 1844. Singapore “was a Philanthropist to maintain the gravesite.”3 said to be “not rich”. “Tan Tock Seng must well as swathes of land stretching from merchant’s delight” with “huge profits to Tan Tock Seng, who had six children – have been a poor youth, doing perhaps the Padang all the way to High Street and be made in commercial ventures”, “but three sons and three daughters – with wife odd jobs or even selling fruit, vegetables Tank Road. He also owned a row of shop- the streets of the island also reeked with The Tan Tock Seng Story Lee Seo Neo, has a remarkable genealogy and poultry in the market in Malacca to houses at Ellenborough Building. Together diseased and suffering people”, according that spans over eight generations with more help augment his father’s income to sup- with his brother Oo Long, Tan also owned to the New Nation in September 1974. than 2,500 descendents scattered across port the family. His mother would not have a nutmeg plantation and an orchard. The This prompted a sharply worded the globe.4 undertaken any employment as most nonyas 14-acre fruit plantation was located oppo- editorial by Wiliam Napier, editor of The [Straits Chinese ladies] were housewives,” site the old St Andrew’s Mission Hospital Singapore Free Press: “A number of dis- 10 Sue-Ann Chia traces the classic rags-to-riches story From Vegetable Seller to Philanthropist wrote author Dhoraisingham S. Samuel in in Tanjong Pagar. eased Chinese, lepers and others frequent of a vegetable seller turned land speculator who left a biography of Tan.7 Tan’s great-grandson Tan Hoon Siang, almost every street in town, presenting a Tan Tock Seng was born in Malacca in Tan’s elder brother Oo Long eventu- a rubber tycoon, said his ancestor could spectacle which is rarely to be met with a hospital named after him in Singapore. 1798, the third son of an immigrant father ally joined him in Singapore. The fate of his speak English – which made it easier for him even in towns with a pagan government, from Fujian province in China and a local two other brothers remain unknown; all we to hobnob with the elite British community and which is truly disgraceful in a civilised Peranakan (Straits-born Chinese) mother. know is that one of them went to China. What and expand his business contacts, but it is and Christian country, especially under the When he was 21, Tan boarded a ship that is certain is that Tan arrived in Singapore not known if he could write in English. Tan’s government of Englishmen.”14

16 17 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

Something had to be done and soon. a sum of 2,000 Spanish dollars – the cur- Tan’s tenacity in building this hospital Tan Kim Cheng). The latter followed in his Consul-General. He was the Hokkien Huay In May 2016, news of the sale of a bun- For several years, demands had been made rency of the time – when he died in January not just for the Chinese, but for all races, father’s philanthropic footsteps and has Kuan’s first chairman and donated gener- galow at 9 Cuscaden Road, home of the late on the British to devote more resources to 1844. To make the hospital a reality, Tan was clear. Nothing was going to stop him, a road named after him in Tiong Bahru.26 ously to improve health and education in Tan Hoon Siang, made the headlines – an help the sick and destitute in Singapore, but topped it up with another 5,000 Spanish not even the government. This younger Tan, who took over his Singapore. Tan Chay Yan, the first rubber indication perhaps that not all the wealth had it was largely ignored.15 Finally, in 1834, the dollars from his own pocket.18 On 25 May 1844, the foundation stone father’s business and expanded it to include planter in Malaya, also funded the construc- been fritttered away. The house and its 25,741 government relented and imposed a tax on This initiative, however, likely embar- for the hospital, then called “The Chinese rice mills in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) tions of schools and medical facilities.31 sq-ft plot of land was sold for a whopping the sale of pork, using the proceeds to build rassed the British government in Bengal, Pauper Hospital”, was laid at its original and Siam (Thailand), was instrumental in Tan Chay Yan’s son, Tan Hoon Siang, $145 million in May – one of the highest ever a Chinese Poor House. However, when the India.19 They accused the Chinese community location at Pearl’s Hill. Tan was the founder expanding and moving “Tocksing’s Hospital” who took over his father’s business, con- paid for a private property in Singapore.35 British later needed more space to house of having an agenda, going so far as to sug- and financier of the hospital, affectionately to Balestier Plain in 1860. The hospital, bear- tributed to charity as well as to botany by Great-grandson Tan Hoon Siang, the rising convict population, it decided to gest that a new tax be levied to construct nicknamed “Tocksing’s Hospital”. Although ing his father’s name, eventually shifted to producing a new hybrid orchid.32 Hoon who headed several rubber companies in convert the poor house into a jail.16 the hospital instead of graciously accepting the building was completed in 1846, it only its current site on Moulmein Road in 1909.27 Siang’s cousin, Tan Boo Liat, a strong sup- Malaysia, was also a chairman and director Meanwhile, attracted by the oppor- the donation.20 operated as a hospital from 1849 onwards Apart from financing and building the porter of Chinese revolutionary leader Sun of Bukit Sembawang Estates until his death tunities in Singapore, Chinese immigrants In response, Tan rallied a group of as the government used it as a temporary hospital, Tan Tock Seng was also a found- Yat Sen and president of the Singapore in May 1991. He was a keen botanist, and a began to arrive in large numbers, turning the prominent residents, including Europeans, convict jail in the intervening years.23 ing leader of the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuomintang, initiated the setting up of the misthouse at the Singapore Botanic Gardens island, especially the Chinatown enclave, into who sent a petition to the government, out- Kuan clan association, which was set up Singapore Chinese Girls' School. Both Kim was named after him.36 a cesspool of diseases, including malaria, lining the sentiments of the community. The Lineage and Legacy in 1840 and still exists today. It provided Ching and Boo Liat are buried at the Bukit With this sale – the house will be cholera, smallpox, leprosy and tubercolosis. petition raised several key points. assistance in securing accommodations, Brown Cemetery.33 demolished and the land zoned for hotel George Francis Train, an American visiting First, the Chinese community was A year later, on 26 February 1850, Tan died jobs and burial services for early Chinese Beyond these few famous names, little redevelopment – commercialisation seems Singapore in the mid-19th century, described anxious to build this “Pauper Hospital”, of an unknown disease. He was only 52. immigrants to Singapore.28 else is known about Tan Tock Seng’s lineage. to have swallowed the humanitarian spirit the desperate situation of the new migrants: not to please their European masters but His fortune was rumoured to be a princely Around the same time, Tan also con- At a ceremony to launch the commemora- of Tan Tock Seng. The only visible sign of his “Captain Hays says the examination to ease the suffering of their clansmen. sum of 500,000 Spanish dollars, which was tributed funds towards the building of Thian tive book of Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s 150th altruism is the hospital bearing his name. of passengers on board the junks that Second, while it was “absolutely necessary” shared between his widow, three sons and Hock Keng Temple at Telok Ayer Street. anniversary in 1994, some of his descend- Like many other philathropists of his take them off to the ship is too revolting to build this hospital, there was no need for three daughters.24 Singapore's oldest Hokkien temple, the ants were present. time, Tan and his peers gave generously to for description. All men over 35 years, or the British to profit from its construction by The 19 March 1850 edition of The centre of worship for the Hokkien commu- Great-great-grandson John Tan causes that would benefit society through who, after they have been stripped stark the imposition of taxes. Third, the govern- Straits Times reported that “his remains nity, was gazetted as a national monument (grandson of Tan Chay Yan), who runs several education and healthcare. But unlike other naked, show the least sign of disease upon ment should ensure that there is no further were removed to the place of burial, with on 28 June 1973.29 family companies, told The Straits Times: pioneers who had roads named after them, their persons are rejected, and these poor importation of sick and destitute people into much pomp and pageantry, followed by a Tan’s illustrious descendents, such “The first thing people ask when they find Tan was special in that he was the only one creatures brought a long way from the the colony. And, finally, the government large concourse of mourners and spec- as the aforementioned son Tan Kim Ching, out that you are a descendant of Tan Tock to leave behind a hospital named after him – interior of China by ‘crimps’ of their own should “afford their countenance and sup- tators, including many of the European grandson Tan Chay Yan (who also has a Seng is, ‘Oh, he must have left you billions ensuring that his legacy will be remembered nation – who get $10 for bringing down port” the cause.21 community, who enjoyed his friendship road named after him in Tiong Bahru) of dollars, where is it?’”34 not only by his descendants but also by future all of what they term healthy cattle – are In his book, An Anecdotal History of while alive and paid the last tribute of and great-grandsons Tan Boo Liat and “That's not true. Over the years, the generations of Singaporeans. turned ashore to perish of starvation or Old Times in Singapore (1902), Charles Bur- respect by following his remains to the Tan Hoon Siang, carried on his legacy as descendants mismanaged and squandered Unfortunately, it is a heritage that is die a lingering death by exposure.”17 ton Buckley commented: “The Government place of interment".25 prominent merchants and philanthropists the wealth, the war took its toll, and so by becoming increasingly brittle. Given Singa- As health conditions deteriorated had been slow to recognise the necessity There was no mention of where Tan in the community. the time it came to our generation, we had pore’s penchant for acronyms – most people on the island, the saving hand came from of providing a hospital and… it was… left was originally buried, but his grave was Tan Kim Ching was made the first to make it on our own.” Beyond what has know Tan Tock Seng Hospital today as TTSH the Chinese community. A kind-hearted to generous-minded individuals to do what eventually moved to the current site on Siamese Consul in Singapore by King been recorded publicly, “very little by way − one fears that future generations could merchant by the name of Cham Chan Sang they could to alleviate the necessities of Outram Hill, a plot of land bought by his Mongkut in 1863, and later in 1885, King of documentation or material belongings become even less familiar with the forgotten started a fund for a hospital by bequeathing the sick poor.”22 eldest son Tan Kim Ching (sometimes spelt Chulalongkorn elevated his title to that of has passed down the family”, he added. pioneer and his legacy to Singapore’s history.

11 Dhoraisingham & Samuel, 2003, p. 23. 25 Untited. (1850, March 19). The Straits Times, p. 4. Retrieved Decorations made by patients were used to brighten up the wards at Tan Tock Seng Hospital during the Christmas of 1949. All rights reserved, Lee, S.H. (1994). Notes 12 National Library Board, 2008; Tan Tock Seng and from NewspaperSG. 150 Years of Caring: The Legacy of Tan Tock Seng Hospital. Singapore: Tan Tock Seng Hospital. 1 Quek, F. (1989, January 28). Photo display to honour the war on diseases. (1974, September 26). New 26 Dhoraisingham & Samuel, 2003, pp. 52,79. Singapore pioneers. The Straits Times, p.15. Retrieved Nation, p. 7. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. 27 Dhoraisingham & Samuel, 2003, pp. 55–59. from NewspaperSG. 13 The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile 28 Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan. (2015). History. 2 Graves of Tan Tock Seng, Chua Seah Neo & Wuing Advertiser (1835–1869), 1 Mar 1850, p. 1. Retrieved from Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan website. Neo. (2013). Our Heritage: Tiong Bahru, (pp.18–19). 14 New Nation, 26 Sep 1974, p. 7; Straits Times special 29 National Library Board. (2010). Thian Hock Keng Retrieved from National Heritage Board website. feature: Towky forced hand of govt. to build hospital. written by Tan, Bonny. Retrieved from Singapore 3 Sivanathan, N. (2013, September/October). Lessons (1961, December 7). The Straits Times, p. 9. Retrieved Infopedia. of a forefather. Lifewise, (47), p. 23. Retrieved from from NewspaperSG. 30 Tiong Bahru Estate. (2007, August 28). Tan Kim Ching. National Healthcare Group website. 15 New Nation, 26 Sep 1974, p. 7. Retrieved from Tiong Bahru Estate blog. 4 National Library Board. (2008). Tan Tock Seng written 16 The Straits Times, 7 Dec 1961, p. 9. 31 Cheong, K. (2014, July 28). Tan Tock Seng’s descendants by Tien, Jenny. Retrieved from Singapore Infopedia; 17 The Straits Times, 7 Dec 1961, p. 9; Buckley, celebrate Tiong Bahru link. The Straits Times, p. B3. Sivanathan, Sep/Oct 2013, p. 23. C.B. (1902). An anecdotal history of old times in Retrieved from Tan Tock Seng Hospital website. 5 National Library Board, 2008; Dhoraisingham, K.D., & Singapore (Vol. II) (p. 408). Singapore: Fraser & 32 Dhoraisingham & Samuel, 2003, p. 91; The Orchid Samuel, D.S. (2003). Tan Tock Seng: Pioneer: His life, Neave. Call no.: RRARE 959.57 BUC Society of Southeast Asia. (2014). Our history. Retrieved times, contributions and legacy (p. 9). Kota Kinabalu: 18 New Nation, 26 Sep 1974, p. 7. from The Orchid Society of Southeast Asia website. Natural History Publications (Borneo). Call no.: RSING 19 In 1830, the Straits Settlements – comprising 33 Ee, J.W.W. (2009, August 2). Concerted effort to 338.04092 KAM Singapore, Malacca and Penang – was made a keep site in good condition and preserve memory of 6 Turnbull, C.M. (1989). A history of Singapore, 1819– residency of the Presidency of Bengal under the Singapore's pioneer. The Straits Times, p. 14. Retrieved 1988 (2nd ed) (p. 14). Singapore: Oxford University governor-general of India based in Calcutta, India. from NewspaperSG. Press. Call no.: RSING 959.57 TUR-[HIS] 20 New Nation, 26 Sep 1974, p. 7. 34 Loh, S. (1994, September 4). Following in the footsteps 7 Dhoraisingham & Samuel, 2003, p. 4. 21 New Nation, 26 Sep 1974, p. 7. of a giant. The Straits Times. p. 9. Retrieved from 8 The Singapore Free Press. (1850, March 1). The 22 Buckley, 1902, Vol, II, p. 410. NewspaperSG. Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser 23 The Straits Times, 5 May 1956, p. 9; Song, O, S. 35 Whang, R. (2016, May 24). HK tycoon buys Cuscaden (1835–1869), p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. (1923). One hundred years’ history of the Chinese in bungalow for $145m. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved 9 National Library Board, 2008; When lepers roamed Singapore (pp. 62–63). London: John Murray. Call no.: from Factiva. the streets. (1956, May 5). The Straits Times, p. 9. RCLOS 959.57 SON 36 Koh, J., & Whang, R. (2016, April 5). House of Tan Tock Retrieved from NewspaperSG. 24 The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser Seng's kin could fetch $170m. The Straits Times, p. 4. 10 National Library Board, 2008; Dhoraisingham & (1835–1869), 1 Mar 1850, p. 1. Retrieved from Factiva. Samuel, 2003, p. 23.

18 19 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

British, Australian and New Zealand expat counters behind them. Each fabric shop had springing up in Queenstown and Toa Payoh, wives would be dressed in foreign fashion long tables with bales of fabric". as well as in landed properties in private imports. These were only available from a Colour and prints galore! This must estates all over Singapore. handful of boutiques in Singapore. explain why the polymath creative director Standard tailoring charges then were Fashion entrepreneur Judith Chung, still exhibits a fondness for riotous prints $6 for a dress without lining, $12 with lin- who was a fashion reporter for The Sunday and colours in his dapper personal style. ing and $20 and above for tailoring with Times in the 1960s, still remembers one According to Metro’s Executive Chair- expensive materials like chiffon, lace, satin, owner of such an exclusive establishment: man, Wong Sioe Hong, her father Ong Tjoe silk and voile, as well as for long gowns. the arresting Doris Geddes, an Australian Kim thought it would be a smart move to A Singer or an Elna sewing machine was who ran The Little Shop at the Raffles Hotel be the only fashion retail shop surrounded not only indispensable to every household; from 1947 for 30 years. According to the 1967 by a row of wholesale fabric stores when it was also regarded as a prized family heir- Olson’s Orient Guide, her speciality was he founded his single-unit store on High loom – to be passed down the generations. “high fashion with an exotic touch” as she Street in 1957. He called it Metro, after his Just like the one Gloria Barker – wife of was a dressmaker as well as a retailer of first store in Indonesia, and he was proven Singapore's first Law Minister, the late E.W. “fine imports” from Asian craft to European right when he had to expand to the unit next Barker – inherited from her mother, accord- couture dresses. door to capitalise on his booming business. ing to her interior decorator son, Brandon. Geddes' shop had upped the ante for Wong recalls: “He was literally a one- Brandon Barker was a part-time 1960s Singapore tremendously in 1957 when Eliza- man show – owner, buyer, operator. It was model in the 1960s so his mother taught beth Taylor, who was visiting Singapore with a small store – only 8,000 sq ft. Metro was him how to cut and sew his own clothes. FASHION her third husband, film producer Mike Todd, the first department store to import fabrics Thanks to this, he was able to make Oxford wore a fitted strapless dress of Geddes’ own from the US. My father was the first to bring bags, those loosely fitted trousers with wide design to a Raffles Hotel dinner. According in lace from France and silk from Italy.” legs, for himself, when he found that those to a report in famoushotels.org, Taylor was In the 1960s, tailoring shops abounded made by professional tailors “never quite fit THE LEGACY OF overhead screaming at Geddes the day after in central Singapore, from Tiong Bahru to right”. Barker got so good at dressmaking, because the dress had split at the seams Tiverton Lane off Killiney Road. But many he could even sew gored skirts – a popular MADE-TO-MEASURE in the middle of dinner. Not one to lose her an enterprising home-based dressmaker fashion item back then – for his younger cool, Geddes had reportedly retorted: “You could also be found in the new HDB flats sister, Gillian, also a part-time model. should not have insisted on this dress, it was too small for you, I told you so!” (Right) Metro founder Ong Tjoe Kim at his Metro High The changing face of fashion in Tailor-made Street office in the mid- 1960s. Courtesy of Singa- Singapore is the subject of a new book For most Singapore-born ingenues and pore Press Holdings. their society matron mums, like Carol de (Below) The hustle and called Fashion Most Wanted. This extract bustle of Christmas shop- recalls how the advent of TV impacted Souza and her mother, made-to-measure ping at Metro High Street was the name of the game in the local fash- in 1962. Courtesy of Metro. new fashion trends in the 1960s. ion stakes. Their clothes-shopping routine would entail trooping to the grande dame of department stores in Singapore – Rob- insons at Raffles Place – for its McCall's and Butterick paper patterns. A trip to a bookshop or an Indian-run five-foot-way (pedestrian walkway) maga- zine stand could also arm one with maga- zines such as Burda, Lana Lobell, So-en, A model wearing a creation from Janilaine, one of Singapore’s most prominent made-to-measure clothing shops in the1960s. Courtesy of Singapore Press Holdings. Vogue or Women’s Weekly, just to name a few, with the best pictures of the new trends. Following that, the next stop would be High Street to dig through bales of materi- The neighbourhood dressmaker who She ought to know. From her teenage als at Aurora, Metro, Modern Silk Store and relied on paper patterns and her pedal- years until store-bought fashion became S.A. Majeed. If you still could not find the powered Singer sewing machine, the readily available in the 1970s, de Souza right fabric, there was also Chotirmalls or texacting Shanghainese tailor who draped had to rely on tailors for all her sartorial Peking Silk Store on adjacent North Bridge the body and crafted by hand, the Indian needs, from career clothes to her wedding Road. And People's Park in Chinatown, as tailor – immaculate in a crisp white shirt trousseau. And they never let her down. well as night markets all over Singapore, Fashion Most Wanted: Singapore’s Top and spotless dhoti – who arrived at your When she took all her Singapore-tailored where de Souza recalls that she and her Insider Secrets from the Past Five Decades was written by John de Souza, Cat Ong doorstep to take your measurements. outfits with her to Houston, Texas, where mother would always end up buying “bags and Tom Rao. All three authors cut their These were the “magicians of style” in she had moved to in 1981, “the cheongsams and bags of fabric – more than what we teeth on Singapore’s fashion scene in the Singapore half a century ago. from Mode-0-Day were always a hit with went looking for”. 1980s as writers and editors for The Straits Says retired personal assistant Carol the guys!” As a 10-year-old accompanying his Times as well as leading fashion and beauty de Souza: “They only needed to see a photo In the early 1950s, when the local 29-year-old tai tai mother Elizabeth Lee on magazines such as Her World, Elle and from Vogue or another magazine in order retail scene was still undeveloped, the her shopping trips in 1966, Dick Lee can still Marie Claire. They continue to keep a pulse to turn out a dress that looked exactly like various ethnic groups would don their own vividly recall that “the old Metro (High Street) on the ever evolving fashion scene today. the photo.” cultural garb, while the Eurasians and had fabric counters in front, and cosmetics

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London Calling mentation, thanks to a flourishing world the epicentre of the global youth-quake. economy and unimaginable breakthroughs So it was no wonder that the grooviest of Paris might have been the fashion capital – from the first man walking on the moon 1960s fashion boutiques – including the that used to dictate clothing trends to an to the invention of the Concorde and the “mini skirt" creator, Mary Quant's flagship adult audience, but musician and former world's first successful heart transplants. shop – were congregated there. disc jockey Vernon Cornelius says that Television was launched in Singapore in In 1966, Carnaby Street was splashed London became the 1960s youth capital 1963, and the first person to appear on on the cover of Time magazine, sealing of fashion. He remembers young people screen was Minister for Culture S. Raja- London’s credibility as the capital of cool. dressing up “according to what was going ratnam, who declared: “Tonight might Among the many Singaporeans who noted on and the music of the time”. well mark the start of a social and cultural Time’s report and were quick to flock there It signalled “the start of style con- revolution in our lives”. Indeed. was Alice Fu, who later became the first sciousness for Singaporeans”. Everyone One of the first types of programmes head buyer of Tangs (formerly C K Tang) wanted to imitate the hairstyles and look televised that evening was a variety show from 1982 to 1996. In the late 1960s, as a of musicians from Cliff Richard and The into which fashion and lifestyle elements secretary at a travel agency, she could get Shadows (neatly combed back hair, skinny would eventually be incorporated. Featured discounted air tickets to London. “So I took suits) to The Beatles (heavy fringes, Flower would be the young nation's first generation my mum to London. We told ourselves we Power caftans with beads) and The Rolling of homegrown fashion stars. had to see Carnaby Street, and we bought Stones (longish hair, psychedelic styles). Freelance hairstylist Francis Raquiza Mary Quant halter tops, chunky platform Youths became what he calls “free- who had trained under Roland Chow, shoes, high boots, and maxi dresses,” form and individualist in their dress, aping Singapore's most celebrated hairstylist- she recalls. [the West] in a sense, but not copying cum-fashion designer of that era, can Fu was inspired by her Carnaby Street exactly. We took ideas, sort of improvised never forget that as there was only black- experience of affordable fun fashion but something and made them our own”. But as and-white television then: “It was strange was put off in Singapore, having to visit The Ibrahim sisters (from left) Fatimah, Rabiah, Carol and Faith preparing for a lunchtime fashion show at the Island Ballroom of Hyatt Hotel in the late times were still tough in the days of a newly when (Roland) demonstrated and talked men's tailors like Kingsmen to make bell 1960s. Courtesy of Singapore Press Holdings. independent Singapore, he adds that most about what lipstick colour would match bottoms, Khemco’s for shirts and other young people like himself had to save for what colour dress – and everything on the assorted tailors for mod dresses, mini- weeks or months to array themselves in screen was black and white!” skirts and hot pants. She told herself, why Rabiah and Her Sisters Fashion Pioneer If Phila Mae Wong was ahead of her mod looks as a “sincere form of expressing In 1967, it was reported that 50 per- not open a shop with like-minded friends? time, it was because she had been trained our own identity”. cent of British women's fashion sold was So, together with two partners, Tan Beng If Ah Geok made “magic” creating Singa- The Ibrahim sisters were not the only by the best – her mother, none other than The Swinging Sixties was indeed a to the 15 to 19 age group. Carnaby Street, Yan, who later founded the Tyan fashion pore's earliest off-the-peg kaleidoscopic fashion beacons in a Singapore that was the indomitable Eunice Wong, who was time of youthful exuberance and experi- in London’s Soho district, was identified as group, and a girlfriend named Joanna, they 1960s styles from magazine pictures, experiencing a cultural awakening with a not only one of Singapore's successful launched the Saturday's Child fashion label. no one else was better at modelling and fervency to modernise, driven as it was by Grand Prix drivers of the 1960s, but also an “It was meant to emulate the ready- marketing such free-wheeling looks as a rapidly evolving socio-political climate. unstoppable one-woman entrepreneurial (Left) Roland Chow demonstrating his to-wear London look and we had to ‘design’ the decade’s most iconic pin-up girl, In a 2015 Straits Times report, archi- machine. In the 1950s, Phila Mae’s grand- hair creation “Incroyable”, a new short hair-do to go with shorter hemlines, all our own clothes – hipster pants, halter Rabiah Ibrahim. That is unless, of course, tect Tan Cheng Siong, who designed the father opened the Lee & Fletcher trading October 1958. Courtesy of Singapore tops, mini dresses – based on what we saw they were her equally fashionable and iconic conservation Pearl Bank Apart- company along Orchard Road (where the Press Holdings. in magazines. I remember we had the tailor famous sisters and partners, Carol, ments in 1976, said that even as a youth Concorde Hotel Singapore now stands). (Below) Two outfits from Roland from Trend moonlighting for us. Her name Fatimah and Faith. in the 1960s he had the awareness that Emulating her father, and always Chow’s summer collection, May 1966. Courtesy of Singapore Press Holdings. was Ah Geok,” she says. Faith Ibrahim put Singapore’s name Singapore had “always wanted very badly reflecting her impeccable taste and grasp on the international modelling scene when to be modern”. of the changing life and times, Eunice Wong she became Pierre Cardin's house model Modern would certainly have was to open her own chain of retail shops and was known as Anak in the late 1960s. described a young Phila Mae Wong when as soon as she came of age. Perhaps to After marrying the 13th Duke of Bedford, she was about to set off to the US for her help promote her father’s Elna sewing she became the respectable London­-based university studies in 1961. In her teens, machines, she first opened two ready-made Lady Russell. she had already become a competitive and custom-tailored fashion boutiques in According to Rabiah Ibrahim, whose bowler, balance beam gymnast and one of Shaw Centre and at Fitzpatrick's supermar- father was a doctor, her siblings and herself Singapore's champion water skiers. As a ket (where the new wing of Paragon now “had travelled more than most of her peers, little girl, encouraged by her mother, she stands) and named them Elna Boutique. and never wanted to follow the crowd”. This would re-design all her dolls’ clothes so As hairstyles changed from bouffant “hel- was not confined to only their dress sense. that they would look more modern. mets” to sleek swingy, geometric styles, After becoming a mother of three sons, Before Wong could graduate from she also opened two hairdressing salons she still found the time and energy to run university, she became an associate buyer at High Street and in Cathay Building. her flourishing fashion empire of Trend for her mother’s fashion imports shop By 1965, realising that jeans were on boutiques for more than 20 years, guided by named Vanity Fair at Raffles Place, and even the cusp of becoming ubiquitous for the her sense of “adventure, creativity, glamour started her own boutique, The Look, within younger generation, Eunice Wong ventured and fun”, as she put it, in the 1991 annual her mother's store, promoting affordable into a unisex Jeans East West shop at 104 edition of Her World magazine. sportswear-inspired American brands as Orchard Road (near the Lee & Fletcher head At its most successful, there were also well as London's youthful Carnaby Street office at the Concorde Hotel) with her son, Trend shops in San Francisco and Hong style. In 1963, she explained to Her World Phila Mae's brother, Vincent. He used to Kong. By the 1980s, when she migrated to reporter Doreen Chee that “Paris fashion make his own tie-dye T-shirts to sell with Perth to become a Bible teacher and sold can be the very epitome of elegance but the California West brand of jeans that they her Trend business to fellow fashion entre- it is for the elite upper strata of society. stocked. “All his girlfriends were slaves,” preneur Chan Kheng Lin, it had become a American fashion is more practical and Eunice Wong recounts, “they'd do tie-dye 23-store, multi-million-dollar business. more saleable”. T-shirts for his shop. Their target market

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was rich kids who could afford to pay $30 In the Mood for Cheongsam (Right) Tangs cashiers at the start of their shift in for jeans at that time, it was a lot of money”. the late 1960s. Photo: Courtesy of Tangs. Still fresh with ideas, Eunice Wong The fashion revolution of the 1960s would (Below right) Former Grand Prix champion driver and fashion pioneer Eunice Wong and her favou- opened not one but two eponymous life- all but wipe out the appearance of tra- rite Triumph sports car, late 1950s. Courtesy of style and gift shops in Orchard Road. A ditional garments such as the sari and Phila Mae Wong. final home furnishings shop on Orchard sarong kebaya at events other than wed- Road – sandwiched between C K Tang and dings. But it was a completely different Fitzpatrick's, where the new Glamourette story with the cheongsam. gowns as well as cheongsams for a new designer boutique was opened by Siauw Phila Mae Wong's thrice-married generation of society ladies such as Paige Mie Sioe (more popularly known as Mrs aunt, the late Christina Lee – voted by Vogue Parker. She told The Straits Times that she Choong) in 1958 – helped to transform magazine as one of the most beautiful had two cheongsams tailored at Mode-0- Orchard Road from a laid­back street of women in the world in 1965 – had a part Day in 2015: a red lace cheongsam for her sprawling cemeteries and fruit plantations to play in this. She was the youngest of the 40th birthday and a customised pink lace into Singapore's premier shopping haunt four beautiful daughters from the illustri- one for the Chinese Women's Association's over the course of the 1960s. ous Lee family while Phila Mae's mother, 100th Anniversary Charity Gala. Named after its fruit tree plantations Eunice, was her eldest sister. At the time For young career girls and the trendy and nurseries, Orchard Road was bor- when her looks were celebrated by Vogue, young scions of well-to-do Singapore fami- dered by monsoon drains that invariably Christina Lee was married to cinema mag- lies, the holy grail of 1960s fashion were overflowed into the roadways. This caused nate Loke Wan Tho and the celebrity couple Biba and Mary Quant of London. Quant is decades of flooding every Christmas, which was often captured in the headlines – he immortalised today as the originator of the coincided with the year-end monsoon in a sharply-tailored Western suit, she in miniskirt, while Barbara Hulanicki’s Biba rains, until its glitziest makeover in the a gorgeous cheongsam. fashion emporium on Kensington High noughties transformed it into the modern The 1960 hit Hollywood movie, The Street was dubbed the sexiest shop in the retail wonderland, with wide pedestrian World of Suzie Wong, starred Nancy Kwan world by London's Daily Mail newspaper. boulevards, that it is today. wearing a series of cheongsams with thigh- Today, Biba's signature style would be Back then, from Orange Grove Road high slits. The movie turned the actress into described as being a blend of Mary Quant's to Scotts Road, impressive expatriate an international pin-up girl, who quickly mod look with Laura Ashley's floral fashion homesteads used to alternate on both became known as the “Chinese Bardot”, and Topshop's edgy style. sides of the road. Facing the new three- in reference to the 1960s French screen storey C K Tang store – that had been siren Bridgette Bardot. Choong and Sons constructed in 1948 on a former nutmeg Together, the Asian cinema mogul's plantation – was the Tai Shan Ting Cem- stunningly beautiful wife and the Hollywood An appetite for modern 1960s fashion not etery (where Ngee Ann City and Wisma movie star-turned-sex symbol gave a fillip only spread among the women throughout Atria now stand). to the cheongsam, which has made it much Singapore, but to the men as well. Even After C K Tang was up and running, coveted by the stylish set, Western or Asian, kampung boys dressed like peacocks in fashion boutiques such as Antoinette and ever since. colourful fashion, with collarless jackets Buttons and Bows, stocking imports from With the advent of air-conditioning in and pants that flared over boots with high England and Europe, opened on Orchard Singapore, Christina Lee started to design heels, just like the girls. Shirts or ties be- to the next big thing – the trend for ready- Road too. Steadily thereafter, such retail her own Western-style coats, jackets and came vividly printed and lapels got more to-wear clothing. Fashion Most Wanted: Singapore’s Top In- and lifestyle “action” continued to sprout stoles to complement her cheongsams. exaggerated as trouser legs widened. Before long, Mr Choong was retailing sider Secrets from the Past Five Decades between Scotts Road and Killiney Road. Taking her cue from the sensational mini- Clothing became increasingly “unisex” jersey-knit men's shirts from the Parisian is published by Straits Times Press. The Equatorial Singapore obviously had skirt of the 1960s, and Roland Chow, who as men and women shopped at the same Montagut label at Caprice and Mrs Choong 160-page illustrated book retails for $35 enough numbers of the glamorous jet set had also designed a mini cheongsam, the boutiques for similar-looking items or had had brought in Biba, Bill Gibbs, Jean Muir (excluding GST) and is available at major living on its shores to have its own furrier hemlines of her own were fashionably them made by the same tailors. This is why and Mary Quant to Glamourette. However, bookshops and online bookshops such as shop Ali Joo, which used to be located in cropped at thigh level. when Siauw Mie Sioe’s husband Francis their younger son Jacob K.H. recalls that www.stpressbooks.com.sg and Amazon. the original Heeren Building at the cor- As for designer Thomas Wee, learn- Choong received a parcel of “flower power” it was when designers experimented with The book is also available for reference ner of Orchard and Cairnhill roads. Cozy ing how to make exquisite cheongsams ties from his eldest son K C, who was study- shiny new waterproof materials with a and loan at Lee Kong Chian Reference Corner Cafe nearby was where dating from his Shanghai-trained tailor mother ing in London in the 1960s, he decided to try futuristic look using PVC and Perspex to Library and branches of all public librar- couples went for Western meals. The at the age of 14 may have been his entry and sell them in his Caprice men's shop in create “Wet Look” fashion that his parents ies (Call no.: RSING 746.92095957 DES defunct Prince's Hotel Garni, just after into the world of dressmaking, but it was Ngee Ann Building on Orchard Road. found they had hit upon their bestsellers and 746.92095957 DES). Bideford Road, held afternoon tea dances a wedding gown that Thomas had created When they sold out, it was the sign that of the 1960s. for young people to rock and roll, jive and for his then supervisor’s wedding that led he and his wife needed to change their busi- cha-cha-cha the afternoon away. to his serendipitous switch from working ness from traditional tailoring to retailing At the spot where The Centrepoint as a pharmacy dispenser to becoming a off-the-peg fashion imports from leading References stands today was the popular Magnolia fashion boutique assistant. His first retail European brands of the day. In 1958, Mr and De Souza, J., Ong, C., & Rao, T. (2016). Fashion most Ruzita Zaki. (Interviewer). (1996, February 13; 1996, Milk Bar, where the baby boomers in posting was at Flair Boutique along Tanglin Mrs Choong – as the husband and wife team wanted: Singapore’s top insider secrets from the February 28). Oral history interview with Vernon The word “modern” aptly describes these cover Singapore were weaned on milkshakes, Road (where the St Regis is now). were better known as – had been prescient past five decades. Singapore: Straits Times Press Christopher Cornelius [Transcript of Recording No. girls, who were ahead of their time in the 1960s. Pte Ltd. Call no.: RSING 746.92095957 DES 001711, Reels 15, 16, 17]. Retrieved from National ice-cream sundaes and banana splits. The That was, Thomas points out, Singa- enough to close their Seasons Shanghai Lee, V. (2015, November 16). The Life interview with Lim Archives of Singapore website. From top: Sybil Schwencke, who went from current site of Orchard Central was once pore's original fashion street before it was tailoring shop in Middle Road to open being a flight hostess to a beauty guru; Phila Chong Keat. The Straits Times. Retrieved from Factiva. The Most Famous Hotels in the World. (1986–2016). Mae Wong, who inherited her love for fashion an open-air carpark that transformed overtaken by Orchard Road in the 1980s. Glamourette, the first luxury multi-brand Olson, H.S. (1967). Olson’s orient guide. Philadelphia, Raffles Hotel: Famous guests. Retrieved from The from her entrepreneurial mother; and Chan nightly into a kerosene-lit hawker centre A few doors away from Flair were House boutique in Singapore, at Fitzpatrick’s. They New York: J.B. Lippincott Company. Not available Most Famous Hotels in the World website. in NLB holdings. See Foon, who was arguably Singapore’s first with some of the most delicious local of Hilda and Mode-O-Day; the latter is already had an inkling that Orchard Road Singapore's own Twiggy Rabiah. (1991). In Her Powell, P.& Peel, L. (1988). 50s and 60s style. Grange World Annual 1991: 30 years of style (A special supermodel. All magazine covers courtesy of food fare. In 1978, it was closed down by still operating today within Tanglin Shop- would become fashion's most happening Singapore Press Holdings. Books, Quintet Publishing Ltd: Groovy Gear. Not anniversary issue). Singapore: Times Publishing. the government due to hygiene concerns. ping Centre, making wedding and evening street in Singapore, and were catching on available in NLB holdings. Call no.: RCLOS 052 HWA

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In the flickering light of the candles, the men The Chinese missions in Malacca had the region. Six trained printers came along with the Lord's Prayer appended and Dr relentlessly worked the press. Their bodies opened that same year6 with the objective to operate the press, four more workers Watts' First Catechism – were published slicked with perspiration, and staving off of becoming the LMS base for mission- than requested, thereby inflating the in May 1817 during Thomsen’s absence. hunger and sleep, they continued tirelessly ary work in China. At the time, China was monthly expenditure of the Malacca station. The manuscripts were sent to “an excel- through the night. As the handpress could closed to foreign trade and was antagonistic Upon seeing the press from Seramp- lent Malay scholar”, Major J. McInnis of not cope with the demands of printing this towards Christian missionary work. Robert ore, Munshi Abdullah noted: “The Malay the 20th Regiment of the Bengal Native massive work, Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Morrison, a pioneer missionary in China, letter-types… the likes of these as well as Infantry in Penang, for review before being iKadir, the learned Malay teacher and trans- had earlier sent his colleague William other printing apparatus I have never seen published. Thomsen returned to Malacca on lator, had worked non-stop over two days to Milne to head the Malacca mission station. in my life before. When I saw them I was 29 December 1817, sadly bereft of his wife. cast additional Malay font types to complete Before long, a few schools and a Chinese amazed to think how the inventiveness and While he was in England though, Thomsen the job. The item in press was believed to printing press had been established in ingenuity of man have produced machines pursued further training in printing, and be Stamford Raffles’ Proclamation of 1 Malacca. In formulating his plans for the to do such work.”9 returned with files and borers to make new January 1823, likely the earliest publication station in the Malay Archipelago, Morrison Academic Ibrahim Ismail notes that font types, along with old English metal printed in Singapore.1 envisioned that there be “... that powerful the new press was used for all Malay pub- types that he recast into new fonts.12 Munshi Abdullah, with the assistance engine, the Press.”7 lications produced in Malacca “except for Thomsen quickly immersed himself of a young Eurasian called Michael, printed Upon his arrival in Malacca, Thomsen title pages with large Jawi letters, which in the work of the missions, reopening the 50 copies of the work in English and 50 in was introduced to Munshi Abdullah who were printed from woodcuts”. The Jawi Malay school, starting a new school for Malay. It was three in the morning by the helped guide him in his understanding of calligraphy was likely the work of Munshi Malabar Indians, distributing Christian time the documents were ready and these the Malay language. It is through Abdullah’s Abdullah, while the engraving of the title tracts and running a very active printing were distributed around town as instructed autobiography, Hikayat Abdullah (Stories on wood was done by experienced Chinese press. Milne noted Thomsen’s abilities in by Raffles. The founder of Singapore had of Abdullah), that the earliest picture of typecutters from the Chinese printing press teaching youths and his natural delight in insisted that the settlement’s laws be Thomsen was formed.8 Thomsen spent in Malacca.10 doing so. Later, Thomsen’s contemporary published by that morning, the first day of his early months in Malacca mastering Unfortunately, Thomsen did not see Samuel Milton, who was also a missionary, the New Year.2 the language, beginning with the transla- the arrival of this press as his wife’s illness would comment that Thomsen had “an Likely working alongside these men tion of the Gospel of Matthew based on the led to his sudden departure for England on excellent talent for composing in the English that same night was the Danish missionary, Batavia-Dutch edition of 1758. 12 September 1816. However, he left behind and Malay language, hymns, short prayers, Reverend Claudius Henry Thomsen, who is two Malay manuscripts that were ready for lessons and other elementary books well 13 credited with bringing Singapore’s first press Printing in Malacca printing. In the meantime, Munshi Abdul- adapted to the capacity of children”. with him when he arrived in the settlement lah was taught by the English Protestant In fact, one of Thomsen’s earliest pub- on 19 May 1822. Besides printing Singapore’s In November 1816, more than a year after missionary, Walter Henry Medhurst, who lications14 was A Spelling Book (1818), likely earliest known English works, Thomsen Thomsen first set foot in Malacca, the press arrived in Malacca in June 1817,11 to set the used in the schools and one of the earliest would forge the path as a pioneer printer and font types for English and Arabic text types and operate the printing press. Malay textbooks to be printed in the Malay of Malay and Bugis translated works in the arrived from Serampore, West Bengal, Thus, the first Malay books in the Peninsula. Another first in Malay printing Malay Peninsula, long before better known which was then the main type foundry for Malay Peninsula – The Ten Commandments was Bustan Arifin (1821–22), the first Malay missionary printers of publications in Malay, such as William G. Shellabear and Reverend (Facing page) Danish missionary Reverend Claudius Henry Thomsen is credited with producing some of the earliest Malay-language publications in Singapore Benjamin Keasberry, arrived on the scene. and the Malay Peninsula. All rights reserved, Milner, A.C. (1980). A Missionary Source For a Biography of Munshi Abdullah. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 53(1 (237)) 53, 111–119. (Below left) Munshi Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir was an accomplished Malay scholar and the “father of modern Malay literature”. He helped guide Claudius Henry Preparations for the East Thomsen in his understanding of the Malay language. Illustration by Harun Lat. All rights reserved, Hadijah Rahmat. (1999). Antara Dua Kota. Singapore: Regional Training and Publishing Centre. Thomsen was originally from Holstein, (Below right) The Chinese and English printing offices in Malacca where Thomsen’s printing press was likely co-located with the English press. Missionary CLAUDIUS Lower Saxony,3 and trained at the Gosport Sketches XXVIII, January, 1825. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Seminary in England in 1811 where he mas- tered the study of classical languages and subjects such as geography and astronomy. HENRY Knowing that he was going to be posted to the newly established mission station in Malacca, Thomsen began learning Malay4 and Dutch, with the expectation that Malacca THOMSEN would revert to Dutch rule in time to come.5 Recently married, Thomsen set sail A Pioneer in Malay Printing with his wife for the East in April 1815 under the auspices of the London Mission- ary Society (LMS) – a non-denominational Danish missionary Claudius Henry Thomsen Protestant society founded in 1795 in England – arriving in Malacca five months produced some of the earliest Malay-language later on 27 September. publications in Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. Bonny Tan sheds light on this pioneer printer. Bonny Tan is a former Senior Librarian with the National Library, Singapore. She is a frequent contributor to BiblioAsia magazine.

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Some Key Publications by Claudius The New Testament of our Lord and Henry Thomsen Saviour Jesus Christ in Malay (Kitab Al-Kudus, ia-itu, Injil Isa Al- Masihi atau Segala Surat Testament Bustan Arifin: Malay Magazine Bahru) (1831) (1821–22) [Call no.: RRARE 225.59928 BIB; ­Microfilm no.: NL 27664, NL 9717] This is the first Malay magazine to be published in the Malay Peninsula. A Thomsen began work on translating the quarterly edition with about 30 pages New Testament of the Bible into Malay when per issue, it was written for a Malay he realised that the stocks of his Calcutta readership and covers a wide range edition was running low. He devoted 12 to of subjects such as history, biography, 15 months of fulltime work to carry out the philosophy and religion. It followed the translation, and finally printed 1,500 copies framework set by an earlier periodical – in June 1831, noting that this event “will form the Indo-Chinese Gleaner. Missionaries an era in the Malay Mission”. The British and Samuel Milton and Thomas Beighton Foreign Bible Society contributed 800 sicca regularly wrote columns for the maga- Rupees for its publication.22 The National zine, the former on astronomy while the A group of Bugis men posing for a photograph below their house built on wooden stilts, c.1890s. Courtesy Library, Singapore, has the first edition of of National Archives of Singapore. latter profiled heroes of history and the this rare publication. Christian faith. It became popular and was even read by the royal families in magazine published in the Peninsula and December 1822 and January 1823, and pos- the Malay Peninsula. However, only six A Code of Bugis Maritime Laws targeted at Malay youths. Other publications sibly using the handpress that Thomsen had issues were published between January (1832) include An Alphabet, Syllabrium and Praxis in brought with him to Singapore.26 [Call no.: RRARE 343.5984096 COD; 1821 and April 1822 as Thomsen left for the Malayan Language (1818); A Vocabulary of In February 1823, Thomsen proudly Microfilm no.: NL 6400] Singapore soon after.15 the English and Malayan Languages (1820) as reported to the LMS that they were now The National Library, Singapore, has a copy well as various religious tracts and textbooks. “printing in English & Malay & have a small The Psalter, or Psalms of David, with of this publication edited by Thomsen and By 1819, the Malay printing press was type-Foundery & are doing bookbinding. the Order for Morning and Evening published in 1832. It contains the Bugis under the full charge of Thomsen who Government has been pleased to honour our Prayer, Daily Throughout the Year maritime laws in the Bugis script with employed 12 youths – eight boys and four little press… with the printing of all public (Puji-pujian iaitu Segala Zabur Daud English translations as well as an appendix girls – to work as bookbinders, printers and documents both in English & Malay – one Terbahagi atas Jalan Seperti yang of vocabulary terms. Although Thomsen’s illustrators.24 The printing press was, how- of the lads composes in English and one Dipakai oleh Sidang Perhimpunan translation was criticised as not being ac- ever, a much smaller enterprise in terms the Malay – one is Pressman – one does (Top) The Sermon on the Mount is the longest and one of the most often quoted teachings of Jesus from dalam Gereja lagipun Beberapa Doa curate, the publication was well received as of size and financial resources compared type cutting & another bookbinding… ”.27 yang Dipakai Sehari-hari Pagi dan the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible. The translation by Claudius Henry Thomsen is one of the earliest far away as Bengal and was subsequently with the Chinese press. By 1820, Thomsen Some historians have implied this was Petang) (1824) extant Malay publications printed in Singapore. [Call no.: RCLOS 221 PUJ] (Above) The National Library's copy of The New Testament of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in Malay. translated and published in French in 1845, had married Mary Ann Browne. the same press brought by Medhurst to Thomsen spent 12 to 15 months translating the New Testament into Malay, and printed 1,500 copies in June 1831. German in 1854 and Dutch in 1856.23 Penang. Thomas Beighton, the missionary Thomsen was recorded as the trans- (Bottom right) The National Library holds a copy of A Code of Bugis Maritime Laws, which was edited to the Malays in Penang, was new to the by Thomsen and published in 1832. The publication was subsequently translated into French, German Printing in Singapore lator in this publication printed at the and Dutch. Malay language, and was likely unable to ­Institution Press in 1824. The homily The LMS was established in Singapore in make use of the press for the community and prayer book in Malay was used dur- October 1819, a few months after the found- as efficiently as Thomsen could. Thomsen printed in Singapore. It provides insights The Substance of our Saviour’s Sermon ing Sunday services in Singapore, and is ing of the settlement. Samuel Milton was most probably took the press in 1821 when into how Malay was used in Malacca and on the Mount Contained in the 5th, 6th & a translation of the one commonly used the first head of the Singapore mission. he visited Penang and brought it to Singa- Singapore in the early 19th century. The c. 7th Chapters of the Gospel According in Anglican church services. A sample Thomsen left Malacca for Singapore pore the following year.28 only known complete set is found at the to St Matthew (1829) of this published translation was given on 11 May 1822 and arrived on 19 May, The press was invented by well-known National University of Singapore Library's [Call no.: RRARE 226.9059923 SER; to Raffles who commended Thomsen Microfilm no.: NL 21277] although academic Anthony Haydock Hill printer, Peter Perring Thoms of the East Singapore/Malaysia Collection. for the quality of its translation.16 (A.H. Hill) suggests that Thomsen and India Company, while he was stationed at The third edition published in Singa- This is a Malay translation of Jesus's Munshi Abdullah had visited Singapore Macau. Originally used for printing wood pore in 1833, entitled A Vocabulary of the core teachings as found in his Sermon earlier, likely after June 1819. Thomsen blocks, the small press had a board and A Vocabulary of the English and English, Bugis, and Malay Languages: on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. immediately aligned himself with Raffles roller, and cost no more than six Spanish Malayan Languages (1827) Containing About 2000 Words, is one of The booklet begins with a single-page [Call no.: RCLOS 428.1 VOC (photo- who commended the former’s proficiency dollars. The press was later modified by the last works Thomsen would print in orthography of the Malay language as copy of an incomplete version)] in Malay. Both men agreed to establish a Thomsen so that it could operate metal Singapore. The Bugis manuscript had lan- used in the text and concludes with a press, with Raffles stating: “I look with types and work with adapted Malay fonts, The word-list of 2,000 words is one guished for several years until a donation non-biblical six-stanza poem on the great confidence to the influence of a well- allowing it to print at least eight pages, up of the earliest collaborative works by of 30 Spanish dollars was made by a friend means to salvation. conducted press in this part of the East”.25 from the original four.29 It was this modified Munshi Abdullah and Thomsen, compiled of Thomsen’s to defray the printing cost.18 Thomsen is believed to be the trans- Between August and October 1822, handpress that was most likely used to print sometime between 1815 and 1816.17 It was An enlarged and improved edition was lator of the booklet and author of the Milton and Thomsen held discussions to some of Singapore’s earliest publications. It first published in Malacca in 1820 to aid printed by Evans in Malacca and Penang poem, having completed a translation obtain presses for the new settlement. was only after the press had begun opera- visiting foreigners in communicating with in 1837,19 with the profits used to raise 400 of the Gospel of Matthew in 1821 while On 8 December 1822, Milton travelled to tions that Thomsen made a formal request the locals and used as a teaching tool by Spanish dollars for building a new wing for in Malacca.21 Calcutta, India, to acquire printing presses on 17 January 1823 to operate printing Thomsen at his Malay school. The second the Anglo-Chinese College in Malacca. This booklet is the earliest extant and returned only in April the following year. presses in Singapore. Approval was given edition was published in Singapore in The Vocabulary continued to be printed in Malay publication printed in Singapore and As Raffles did not expect to remain long in by Raffles on 23 January.30 1827, likely the first vocabulary guide Singapore as late as 1860.20 is found in the National Library, Singapore. Singapore, he instructed Thomsen to begin By mid-1823, there appeared to be two printing in Milton’s absence, likely between groups running different presses at the same

28 29 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

a forgotten pioneer of Bugis translated several Portuguese Bibles and Testa- of 1835, the ABCFM outlined the unique works. His interest in the Bugis language ments... While Mr T was busily engaged position Singapore had as a printing centre: probably arose while he went onboard in distributing these in the cabin, I was ships and boats to distribute Christian surrounded by a crowd of Chinamen on “… Printing establishments should be tracts during the trading season and deck, most of whom could read, and were placed at the great central points of noticed the influx of Bugisprahu , a small very grateful for the books… My bundle trade and intercourse, in order that sailing boat used by the Bugis in the Malay was soon exhausted, for there were about they may become Manufactories Archipelago. Thomsen published his first fifty persons in all.”40 of Books and Tracts, and Depots Bugis tract in 1827 after having recruited Although weighed down by respon- whence they may be issued and a competent transcriber in Buginese for sibility, Thomsen remained hospitable carried abroad to the myriads who are the publication of the material.38 Although and welcoming to overseas visitors, as waiting to receive them. For such an the Bugis tracts were not considered good described by visiting missionary John Evans: establishment, Singapore presents translations and he never quite achieved “Our arrival being reported, the Rev Mr peculiar advantages, in respect his dream of translating the Bible into Bug- Thomsen immediately came out in a boat to climate, security and frequent inese, his English-Malay-Bugis Vocabulary to meet us, and compelled us to leave the intercourse with all the ports on that (1833) and A Code of Bugis Maritime Laws ship that night, it being then eight o’clock, part of the continent and the islands (1832) are some of the earliest works in and go with him. Mrs Thomsen received us of the Indian Archipelago.”45 41 Likely the Chinese printing press used in Malacca the Bugis language. with much pleasure … .” in the early 19th century. Brightwell, C.L. (1874). Thomsen’s “crowning achievement”, Some academics, such as Ching Su, Thomsen had set the foundations for time. The one operated by Milton at his home of Genesis in Chinese in a letter to George So Great Love: Sketches of Missionary Life and however, as academic Ibrahim bin Ismail suggest that Thomsen left Singapore in a printing press in Singapore, producing began printing in June 1823 and served the Burder, treasurer and secretary of the LMS, Labour. London: John Snow and Co. Courtesy of notes, was his translation of the New Tes- ignominy, having sold off the Mission Press works in the local languages at a time when Wikimedia Commons. Singapore Institution. It was much larger com- dated 23 September 1822. He also had plans tament into Malay based on the Calcutta to the American Board of Commissioners many of his contemporaries had switched pared with the handpress run by Thomsen, to print pamphlets and later the New Testa- edition. With the help of the Anglican padre for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) without the their attention to China. His grammar who was printing for the LMS. Both presses ment in Siamese. However, no mention is of the English and Malayan Languages in Robert Burn, Thomsen devoted much of his permission of the LMS, and then resigning books, vocabulary guides, Bugis-language also printed works for the government.31 subsequently made of these publications and Malacca in 1820, and it likely became the time translating the work between 1830 from the LMS soon after returning home to works and Malay scriptural translations, Unfortunately, it was unsustainable to so it is assumed that they were never com- first published vocabulary in Singapore when and 1831. With funding from the British England.42 In truth, Thomsen had offered although not perfect, were reprinted beyond run two separate presses and when Milton pleted.33 Academic Leona O’Sullivan holds reprinted by Thomsen in 1827.36 and Foreign Bible Society, he printed 1,500 to sell the press to the LMS at the Penang his lifetime and paved the way for similar left the mission in 1825, his printing press the view that printing in Singapore began with Thomsen used the publication as a copies of the publication in June 1831.39 station but they were unable to pay a higher works to be published under pioneers such was handed over to Thomsen. Thomsen the publication of Raffles’ Proclamation of 2 teaching tool at the Malay school in Malacca price than what the ABCFM could, all par- as Keasberry, and later, Shellabear. More 34 had three large buildings constructed at December 1822, while Bastin records that it as well as to help improve his own Malay Departure from Singapore ties fully aware that the press was worth importantly, the humble printing press the junction of North Bridge Road and Bras is Raffles’ Proclamation of 1 January 1823.35 vocabulary. Additionally, Thomsen used the much more than the 1,500 Spanish dollars stirred in the locals an interest for the Basah Road, on land owned by Anglican The Mission Press under Thomsen vocabularly as a framework to expand his By the end of 1833, Thomsen was near ex- that the ABCFM had offered.43 Thomsen left printed word, and opened up new vistas priest Revered Robert Burn, to house the published not only government resources, knowledge of the Bugis language, with the haustion and could do nothing else except Singapore on 10 May 1834 on account of his for them to explore. printing press, its workmen and stores.32 but also various Christian tracts and third edition incorporating Bugis transla- concentrate on printing. He had been the wife’s affliction with cancer. She died soon bibles as well as school textbooks. While tions of the Malay words. This was one of only missionary in town for some time and after their arrival in England in October, and in Malacca, Thomsen had instructed Munshi the last publications Thomsen produced in spent the past years distributing tracts on a the following month Thomsen resigned First Publications in Singapore The author wishes to thank Dr John Abdullah to create a Malay word list to which Singapore but the Malay word-list continued daily basis, besides running the press and from the LMS.44 Bastin and Reverend Malcolm Tan The title and date of the first publication he would supply the English translations. to be published as late as 1860, long after managing the school and other services. The ABCFM had ambitious plans for reviewing this article and sharing printed in Singapore cannot be ascertained. Keen to learn English, Abdullah produced his death.37 Missionary Jacob Tomlin described it thus: for printing in the region, and thus their their valuable insights. Milton mentioned an early attempt at printing 2,000 words after a month’s work. This Besides making initial inroads into “I made several visits with Mr T to the acquisition of Thomsen’s Mission Press. a periodical and an exposition of the Book wordlist was published as A Vocabulary Malay publishing, Thomsen stands as ships, prahus, and junks and gave away In their report in the Missionary Register

some time in the 19th century, it was part of Denmark. Missionary Society (pp. 43–44, 48). MA Thesis in 18 Noorduyn, J. (1957). C. H. Thomsen, the editor of “A 26 O' Sullivan, 1984, pp. 74–78. [Raffles wrote on 5 National University of Singapore. (2011, September 6). Notes This is why Thomsen is sometimes referred to as Library and Information Studies, School of Library, Code of Bugis Maritime Laws”. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, January 1823 that he had “a press going in English & The Singapore/Malaysia Collection. Retrieved from 1 Bastin, J. (1981). The letters of Sir Stamford Raffles to German and at other times, Danish. Archive and Information Studies, University College Land- en Volkenkunde, 113(3), 238–251, pp. 246–247. Malay”. See Bastin, 1981, p. 17.] National University of Singapore website. Nathaniel Wallich 1819–1824. Journal of the Malaysian 4 According to A.H. Hill, Thomsen was in the Dutch London. Call no.: RSING 686.209595 IBR; Gallop, A.T. Call no.: RUR 572.9598 ITLVB 27 Byrd, C.K. (1970). Early printing in the Straits 37 Noorduyn, 1957, p. 248. Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 54(2 (240)), East Indies prior to his arrival in Malacca in 1815 and (1990). Early Malay printing: An introduction to the 19 Proudfoot, I. (1993). Early Malay printed books: A Settlements, 1806–1858 (p. 13). Singapore: Singapore 38 O’Sullivan, 1984, pp. 82, 102; Noorduyn, 1957, p. 248 1–73, pp. 52–53. Call no.: RCLOS 959.5 JMBRAS. had likely picked up Indonesian Malay there, which is British Library Collections. Journal of the Malaysian provisional account of materials published in the National Library. Call no.: RSING 686.2095957 BYR 39 The National Library, Singapore, has a copy of this [Bastin notes that Regulation No. 1 – “A Regulation distinct from the Malay spoken in the Peninsula. This Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 63 (1 (258)), Singapore-Malaysia area up to 1920, noting holdings 28 O' Sullivan, 1984, p. 86. first edition. for the Registry of Land at Singapore” – was printed may account for Thomsen’s claims in having prior 85–124, p. 95. Call no.: RCLOS 959.5 JMBRAS. in major public collections (p. 550). Kuala Lumpur: 29 O’Sullivan, 1984, pp. 86, 90; Ching, 1996, pp. 112, 40 Tomlin, J. (1844). Missionary journals and letters (pp. that same day on 1 January 1823 and Abdullah’s knowledge of the Malay language and Abdullah’s 11 Harrison, B. (1979). Waiting for China: The Anglo- Academy of Malay Studies and the Library, University 126–127. [On 27 November 1832, Thomsen returned 293–294). London: James Nisbet and Co. Call no.: suggestion that it was the regulation on the prohibition frustrations in teaching him the language. See Hill, Chinese College at Malacca, 1818–1843, and early of Malaya. Call no.: RSING 015.5957 PRO this small wooden press to Penang at the request of RRARE 266.3 TOM of gambling was most likely wrong as this was printed Jun 1955, p. 291. nineteenth-century missions (pp. 30–31). Hong 20 Ching, 1996, p. 150; Harrison, 1979, p. 125; Proudfoot, the LMS.] 41 The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle some time later in May 1823. Some academics report 5 Milner, A.C. (1981, June). Notes on C.H. Thomsen: Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Call no.: RSING 1993, p. 550. 30 Bastin, 1981, pp. 52–53 (Vol 12, p. 165). (1834). London: Frederick Westley the publication date as 31 December 1822 as printing Missionary to the Malays. Indonesia Circle, 25, p. 45. 207.595141 HAR 21 For more information on the publication, see Ong, E.C. 31 Ching, 1996, p. 158. and A.H. Davis. Retrieved from Hathi Trust Digital began the night before as described in the Hikayat Call no.: RCLOS 959.8 IC 12 Ibrahim, 1980, pp. 44–45; O' Sullivan, 1984, p. 71. (2016, January–March). A Christian sermon in Malay. 32 O’Sullivan, 1984, pp. 78–79; Ching, 1996, pp. 159–160. Library website. Abdullah. Leona O’Sullivan mentions a proclamation 6 Philip, R. (1840). The life and opinions of the Rev 13 O’Sullivan, 1984, p. 73. BiblioAsia, 11(4), 96–97. Call no.: RSING 027.495957 [Milton left the mission but not Singapore, remaining 42 Ching, 1996, pp. 161–162, 164. written on 2 December 1822. See O' Sullivan, L. (1984). William Milne, D.D. missionary to China (p. 197). 14 Many of Thomsen’s works were translated with much SNBBA-[LIB]; O'Sullivan, 1984, p. 72. there until his death in 1849.] 43 O’Sullivan, 1984, p. 80; Ibrahim, 1980, p. 82. The London Missionary Society: A written record Philadelphia: Herman Hooker. Call no.: RRARE help from Munshi Abdullah. 22 Ibrahim, 1980, pp. 80–81. 33 Ching, 1996, pp. 63, 154–155, 445. 44 Thomsen’s connection with the LMS ceased of missionaries and printing presses in the Straits 266.02341051 PHI 15 O' Sullivan, 1984, p. 73. 23 Noorduyn, 1957, pp. 241–243. 34 O’Sullivan, 1984, p. 74. thereafter and little is known of his further Settlements, 1815–1847. Journal of the Malaysian 7 Morrison, E. (1839). Memoirs of the life and labours 16 Church Missionary Society. (1825). Missionary register 24 Ching, S. (1996). Printing presses of the London 35 Bastin, J.S. (2014). Raffles and Hastings: Private endeavours or even death date. See Whitehouse, Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 57 ((2 (247)), of Robert Morrison (Vol 1, p. 355). London: Longman, (Vol. 13, p. 387). London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday. Missionary Society among the Chinese (pp. 127–128) exchanges behind the founding of Singapore (pp. J.O. (1896). Register of missionaries deputations, 61–104, p. 74. Call no.: RCLOS 959.5 JMBRAS) Orme, Brown, Green and Longmans. Call no.: RRARE Retrieved from Hathi Trust Digital Library website. [PhD dissertation]. London: University College of 216–217). Singapore: National Library Board and Etc 1796–1896 (p. 30). London: London Missionary 2 Hill, A.H. (1955, June). The Hikayat Abdullah. 266.02341051092 MOR 17 Bastin, J. (1983). The missing second edition of C.H. London. Retrieved from UCL Discovery website. Marshall Cavendish Editions. Call no.: RSING Society. Retrieved from Hathi Trust Digital Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic 8 Hill, Jun 1955, p. 17. Thomsen and Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir’s English and 25 Hill, Jun 1955, p. 18; Raffles, S. (1830).Memoir of 959.5703 BAS Library website. Society, 28 (3 (171)), 3–354, pp. 165–166. Call no.: 9 Hill, Jun 1955, p. 112. Malay vocabulary. Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford 36 The only known complete work for the 1827 edition 45 Church Missionary Society. (1835). Missionary register RCLOS 959.5 JMBRAS 10 Ibrahim bin Ismail. (1980). Early Malay printing in the the Royal Asiatic Society, 56(1 (244)), 10–11, p. 10. Call Raffles(pp. 536–537). London: John Murray. Call no.: is found in the Singapore/Malaysia Collection at (Vol. 23, p. 95). London: Seeley, Jackson & Halliday. 3 Today, Lower Saxony is part of Germany although for Straits Settlements by missionaries of the London no.: RCLOS 959.5 JMBRAS RRARE 959.570210924 RAF the National University of Singapore Library. See Retrieved from Hathi Trust Digital Library website.

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pore Volunteer Corps (SVC) – the precursor with green-and-white mosaic tiles and was Party on Britannia of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) framed by a grass verge lined with multi- – whose history dates back to 18541. All of coloured umbrellas. A children’s paddling The British Empire may have been on from the heritage buildings are pre-World War pool and fountain were located at one end, the decline after World War II with its II, save for the NAAFI Britannia Club at but most striking of all was the set of three colonies, including Singapore, agitating the corner of Beach Road and Bras Basah diving boards, perched 3-, 9- and 15-ft above for independence, but life for the British Road that opened in 1952.2 Renamed the the surface of the glistening pool.6 forces at the Britannia Club was one end- SAF NCO (Singapore Armed Forces Non- The three-storey clubhouse created less social whirl. Its activity and social Commissioned Officers) Club in 1974, this is quite a stir when it first opened. Designed calendar published in The Singapore Free where generations of soldiers in Singapore by the Hong Kong-based British architec- Press was jam-packed with events like would unwind and enjoy their rest and rec- tural firm Palmer & Turner, the post-war tombola nights, variety shows, drama reation hours until the curtain came down Modernist structure with its rust-coloured and cabaret performances, ballroom and on its history some 26 years later.3 tiled façade and pitched green roof was a quickstep dance classes, billiards and bold counterpoint to the Victorian-style beer drinking contests. The NAAFI Britannia Club Raffles Hotel opposite. One of the highlights announced soon The fittings inside the clubhouse were after its opening was a “bathing beauty In some ways, Beach Road Camp and the luxurious and it was clear that no expense contest for Miss Britannia 1953” in which legacy of the SVC have been overshadowed had been spared: timber parquet strips, “servicewomen and servicemen wives … by the NAAFI Britannia Club next door: the mosaic and terrazzo for the flooring, wall parade round the swimming pool in their siren call of beer, swimming and billiards, skirtings embellished with Italian marble, smartest swimsuits”.8 The club’s annual among the club’s other comforts, being concealed overhead lighting and plush Christmas and New Year’s Eve balls were louder than the call to take up arms. For furniture. The club’s facilities were equally naturally highlights of the calendar with club the British armed forces personnel who top-notch: on the ground floor was the tickets sold out weeks in advance. served in Singapore in the 1950s and 60s, air-conditioned pub and main restaurant Britannia Club holds a special place the Britannia Club was where some of their with a dance floor of polished teak. in the hearts of many former British ser- fondest memories of Singapore were forged. In addition, there was an al fresco vicemen and women. Carol Traynor, who The club was declared open on 17 cafeteria, and a hairdresser and sports served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps December 1952 by Malcolm MacDonald, the shop. Upstairs was an open-air terrace (WRAC) in Singapore from June 1966 to British Commissioner-General for South- hugging the entire length of the building April 1967, together with her friend Jenny east Asia. “The Far East’s most luxurious and providing “a splendid grandstand view Nelson, recalls her time at the club: “We club for the British fighting forces of land, of the swimmers and the pool”. Arranged used to frequent the Britannia Club after sea and air” was what the Singapore Free around the terrace were the lounge bar, our shifts at Tanglin Camp, taking along Press reported on its opening day. The billiards room, table-tennis room and a a wicker basket packed with food, suntan clubhouse took 14 months and $1.275 mil- music room with a piano. The third floor was lotion and books together with a little lion to build – which was no small change reserved for offices and meeting rooms.7 battery-operated record player. How lovely at the time.4 Members of the SVC benefited too as they were allowed access to the club. (Facing page) A 1969 photo of the NAAFI Britannia Club on Beach Road. The clubhouse was officially The building was funded by the British opened by Malcolm MacDonald, the British Commissioner-General for Southeast Asia, on 17 December Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), 1952. It took 14 months and $1.275 million to build. Lim Kheng Chye Collection, courtesy of National which at its peak operated recreational Archives of Singapore. clubs, food and beverage outlets, shops and (Below) A 1960s aerial view of Beach Road (left) with Raffles Hotel (extreme left), Nicoll Highway (right) and Marina Bay (extreme right). The Britannia Club with its Nuffield Swimming Pool stands on the right supermarkets wherever British servicemen side of Beach Road. Lim Kheng Chye Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. and their families were stationed. The old NAAFI Shackle Club, likely located where the War Memorial Park stands today, had clearly outgrown itself by this time, and a more sophisticated recrea- The much-loved NCO Club on Beach Road Beach Road is a fine example of a street tional club was needed for the thousands of that meshes the new with the old. Along British servicemen and their families living was a favourite downtown R & R spot for off- this reclaimed stretch of land is a fasci- in Singapore, as well as for visiting Allied bnating mix of low- and high-rise buildings forces who called in from time to time.5 duty soldiers. Francis Dorai charts its history. from different eras, influenced by ethnic, With the SVC headquarters next door, the Victorian, Art Deco and early Modernist elegant Raffles Hotel opposite and a prime and post-Modernist architectural styles. downtown spot facing the shimmering sea Dominating the far end of Beach beyond, deciding on the location of the new Road, just opposite Raffles Hotel, are the club must have been an easy one. glass-encased twin towers of South Beach. In fact, Nuffield Swimming Pool – What is unusual about South Beach is the named after the British philanthropist and cluster of low-rise pre-1950s structures that founder of Morris Motors Company, Lord have been preserved by the developer and Nuffield – had been completed a year before Francis Dorai has worked for over two decades in publishing, both as writer and editor in tastefully integrated within the complex of the clubhouse was ready and became the a broad range of media, including The Straits Times, Insight Guides, Berlitz Publishing, futuristic towers. focal point of the building. It was one of Pearson Professional, Financial Times Business and Editions Didier Millet. He is the author Most of these early Modernist struc- Singapore’s first Olympic-sized pools, at 50 of several books, including South Beach: From Sea to Sky: The Evolution of Beach Road. tures are closely connected with the Singa- m long and 20 m wide. The pool was lined

32 33 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

that forced the newly independent country Ex-national serviceman Aloysius Lim, A wide range of activities and courses to come into its own. Without Britain to fall who stepped into the freshly minted club in was organised for NCOs and their families back on, the Singapore government had to April 1974 recalls: “I went like ‘Wow!’. The and at heavily subsidised rates. In 1978 for adopt a series of tough economic measures facilities were first rate and you couldn’t instance, according to the in-house maga- to put the country on track. beat the downtown location. Even the zine The NCO, the following were offered senior officers were envious that such a to members: a 10-session copper tooling Enter the NCO Club posh facility was given to us lowly NCOs. course for $15; 12 social dancing classes by It was the perfect place to meet up with my “Mr Sunny Low of Poh San Studios fame” The Britannia Club closed on 30 April 1971; army buddies on the weekends. We would for $15; fashion design over 12 sessions by the pool was drained and the doors and have a couple of cheap beers at the Bar- “the talented Mrs Raja from the Adult Edu- windows shuttered. The poolside picnics, rel Lounge, walk over to the nearby Satay cation Board”; a 12-session music course the rambunctious parties and the laughter Club at the Esplanade for dinner and then for children by “Mrs Koh Teck Lee of the vanished, and a lone jaga (watchman) was watch a late-night movie at the old Capitol Yamaha Music School”; and eight classes hired to guard the desolate premises. Its Theatre in Stamford Road. Everything was on magic tricks for $10. closure marked the end of the colour and within walking distance.”17 More and more enrichment courses gaiety that British military life had brought Membership numbers, both men were held over the years. By the 1980s, to Singapore.14 and women, grew steadily over the years. there was everything from sewing and A year later, the government negoti- By the time the club celebrated its fourth skin care to language classes – Mandarin, ated with NAAFI to buy out the Britannia anniversary in March 1978, it already had Japanese, French – and courses on how to Club and the 63,000 sq ft of prime real 25,282 members. use a computer and basic car maintenance. estate it sat on. The idea at the time was to convert the premises for public use, but with defence being a priority, a decision was made to turn it into a recreation centre for non-commissioned officers (NCOs) of the Singapore Armed Forces and their families.15 The government spent $236,000 (Above) Carol Traynor (top), who served in the Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) in Singapore from June 1966 to April 1967, and her friend Jenny Nelson sprucing up the premises, and on 17 March (bottom), used to frequent the Britannia Club after their shifts at Tanglin Camp. They would sunbathe on the terrace above the pool with the blue sea in the 1974, the newly refurbished NCO Club was distance. To them, life in Singapore was like being on a permanent holiday. Courtesy of Carol Traynor. officially opened by Minister for Defence (Right) Nuffield Swimming Pool at the Britannia Club – named after the British philanthropist and founder of Morris Motors Company, Lord Nuffield – had been Goh Keng Swee. A fancy club in the middle completed in 1951, a year before the clubhouse opened. It was one of Singapore’s first Olympic-sized pools. Courtesy of Editions Didier Millet. of downtown with an Olympic-sized pool, food and beverage outlets, and recreational those days were! We would sunbathe on scaled back. On 18 July 1967, the Labour facilities was much welcomed by soldiers the terrace above the pool with the blue government announced plans to withdraw working in military units scattered in the Be My Pin-up Girl sea in the distance and music blaring its troops in Singapore by 1975 – only to rural outskirts of Singapore.16 from our portable record player. Coming revoke this six months later and bring the Lim Phai Som, the first president of Suddenly for a few weeks in March from blustery and cold England, we loved date forward to 1971. The news was met the club from December 1973 to April 1974, 1956, Wrens, Wracs and Wrafs – ac- Singapore’s balmy tropical weather. It was with much handwringing in Singapore. had only five months to get the club ready ronyms for British servicewomen in like being on a permanent holiday.”9 The sudden pullout by the British meant a before the big opening day. After being left the army, navy and air force – at the The offspring of British servicemen severely weakened Singapore, which was derelict for nearly three years, the club was Britannia Club started primping and recall blissful times spent at the club. Most still heavily dependent on Britain for prop- in shambles when renovations began in preening themselves. The reason: of these servicemen and their families lived ping up both its economy and its defence.12 October 1973. But Lim and his team man- NAAFI in Britain had launched a world- in rural Changi, Serangoon Gardens and Singapore’s first batch of national ser- aged to restore the shine back to the club wide “Beauty in Uniform” competition, Sembawang because of their proximity to vicemen was still in training in 1967, and the before it opened. and the winner could find herself the British bases. Driving to the Britannia Club British military bases had been powering Truth be told, the facilities of the NCO pin-up girl for homesick British ser- downtown was a weekend treat for the chil- the local economy – the cost of maintaining Club were quite spartan on opening day. vicemen all over the world. Soldiers dren. John Harper, whose father served as the Singapore Naval Base alone was 70 mil- Compared to what the British forces had were encouraged to send photos of Warrant Officer at the RAF Changi and Tengah lion pounds a year. In addition, thousands enjoyed at the Britannia Club, the Singapore servicewomen in uniform to the NAAFI bases from 1957–59, remembers the monthly of Singaporeans, including domestic maids soldiers were only served by a handful of office in Britain. excursions to the club: “The first stop would and shopkeepers, depended on the British hawker stalls – selling local fare such as The Straits Times reported, invariably be the magnificent swimming pool. forces for their livelihoods.13 The newly chicken rice, wonton noodles and rojak – a rather tongue-in-cheek on 20 Febru- Dad would head off to the bar to meet other independent Singapore had a raft of issues Snack Bar, the Barrel Lounge, Billiards ary 1956, that “British troops at the servicemen while mum would keep an eye to grapple with – high unemployment, Room, Reading Room and, of course, that Britannia Club Singapore approved on my two brothers and I as we swam in the inadequate housing and pitiably low cash magnificent swimming pool. But still, it was enthusiastically when told of the com- pool – making sure that when we leapt off the reserves – and this announcement could a place to call their own – and the downtown petition… Said Private James Love of highest diving board, which at 15 ft seemed as not have come at a worse time. location was undeniably superb. the King’s Own Scottish Borderers: tall as the Eiffel Tower at the time, we would But the process had started and there ‘First-class idea. I haven’t been here resurface from the water!”10 was no turning back. As a compromise, the long, but I’ve already met a couple of Something for Every NCO British agreed to extend the deadline for lasses who could give any film star a (Top) The NCOs were a sporty bunch, representing the club in water polo matches, swimming competi- withdrawal from March to December 1971. It cost the NCOs little to join the club: regu- run for her money. I am going right out Exit Britannia tions, soccer, badminton and hockey tournaments, and marathons. Courtesy of MINDEF. Singapore had inherited Britain’s rule of law lars paid $1 a month in membership dues (Above) In the 1980s and 90s, the NCO Club organised events such as tombola nights, barbecue nights, to buy myself a camera!’”11 In the late 1960s, Britain’s economy entered and the infrastructure it set up, but it was and their national service counterparts Christmas and New Year parties, social dance lessons, music and swimming classes as well as cultural a difficult phase and its defence budget was the sudden British withdrawal of support paid 50 cents or $1 depending on their rank. performances for members. Courtesy of MINDEF.

34 35 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

Over the years, 15 the NCO Club was Notes renovated and upgraded several times. The 1 The history of the SVC was featured in the article “Beach Barrel Lounge was moved to a different Road Camp and the Singapore Volunteer Corps”, which location with a live band providing entertain- appeared in Vol 12, Issue 2 (July–October 2016) of BiblioAsia magazine. ment; the al fresco hawker stall area by the 2 Yue, R. (1952, December 17). Million dollar club house to poolside was converted into a gym; the Cosy open today. The Singapore Free Press, p. 1; Yue, R. (1952, Corner started featuring Karaoke Nights December 17). It’s one of the nicest clubs in the East. The in addition to its regular Dance Nights; Singapore Free Press, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. an air-conditioned cafeteria serving local 3 Britannia Club for public use. (1973, April 28). New Nation, p. 6; HDB to give reservists preference. (1974, March 18). and Western food was added; a jackpot The Straits Times, p. 17. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. machine room (called “fruit machines” in 4 Yue, R. (1952, December 17). Million dollar club house to a throwback to Singapore’s colonial past) open today. The Singapore Free Press, p. 1; Yue, R. (1952, and a video games arcade supplemented the December 17). It’s one of the nicest clubs in the East. The Singapore Free Press, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Billiards Room; and a basketball court and 5 Shackle Club opened. (1947, July 3). The Straits Times, multi-purpose hall, the latter for tombola p. 7; New centre for troops: Work starts on new Forces nights and performances, were built.25 club. (1951, July 10). The Straits Times, p. 7. Retrieved from But the most ambitious addition to the NewspaperSG. NCO Club was the value-for-money SAFE 6 Nuffield pool may be ready in June. (1951, April 6). The Straits Times, p. 4; ‘A boon’ to the forces. (1951, Superstore (see text box) where army, December 20). The Straits Times, p. 6. Retrieved from airforce and military personnel could buy NewspaperSG. SAFE Supermarket for Super Savings Richard Chung, who was a national and they could cart home a brand new groceries and household appliances at 7 Yue, R. (1952, December 17). It’s one of the nicest clubs in service guardsman in 1980, recalls having 24-inch Grundig colour television set In early 1973, Minister for Defence Goh bargain prices. the East. The Singapore Free Press, p. 2. Retrieved from to show his SAF 11-B (the military identity from Germany. NewspaperSG. Keng Swee mooted the idea of setting card) before making his purchase: “We In 1977, the SAFE supermarket in 8 Beauty show for the troops. (1953, May 16). The Straits up a special shop where SAF person- bought beer even if we didn’t drink beer. It Dempsey closed, and the outlet at the The End of an Era Times, p. 4. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. nel and their families could purchase 9 Interview with Carol Traynor. was that cheap. Some rascals would buy the NCO Club was rebranded as SAFE Centre, discounted goods such as groceries and Due to restructuring, the term NCO was 10 Interview with John Harper. beer, sell it off to friends and relatives at a stopping its sales of groceries altogether 11 Forces look for a pin-up girl. (1956, February 20). The electrical items. dropped from the SAF lexicon and changed higher price and pocket the difference. Of to focus on electrical goods and furniture. Straits Times, p. 7. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. The concept was inspired by the to Warrant Officers and Specialists on 1 July course it was illegal, but who was to know?”21 In the early 1980s, SAFE closed 12 The Commons defence debate: The decision to pull out so-called PX (or Post Exchange) stores 1992. Thereafter, the NCO Club was renamed is final. (1967, July 29). The Straits Times, p. 6; All out by The SAFE people must have figured this its NCO Club store and opened a SAFE in American military bases, where both the SAF Warrant Officers and Specialists 1971. (1968, January 17). The Straits Times, p. 1; Campbell, out, which was why each soldier was only Centre in Chin Swee Road. The company active and retired military personnel (WOSE) Club on 22 March 1994, but its func- W. (1971, October 30). Pull-out. The Straits Times, p. 14. allowed to buy one carton a month. would eventually be sold and renamed Retrieved from NewspaperSG. could buy food and basic household tions remained largely the same.26 In July 1974, as the oil crisis wors- SAFE Superstore in 1989, expanding 13 The Naval Base – big town with a civilian future. (1968, July items at marked-down prices. The idea However, with Beach Road Camp ened, the Dempsey Road outlet was perhaps too quickly over the years before 8). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. could not have been more welcome in The NCO magazine. Top: May 1980, Vol. 5, No. 1. earmarked for redevelopment in the mid- 14 Future of closed down Britannia Club being discussed. opened to all civil servants, but without it went out of business in 2003.23 Above: Nov 1981, Vol. 6, No. 2. Courtesy of MINDEF. 1973 as Singapore had been battling 1990s, it became clear that the occupants of (1971, October 29). The Straits Times, p. 10. Retrieved from access to the cheap beer. Over the years, NewspaperSG. with runaway inflation triggered by the the NCO Club and Beach Road Camp would the grocery sales were eclipsed by sales of 15 Chin, U.W., & Yeo, J. (Eds.). (2015). The Chevrons global oil crisis. Events like tombola nights, barbecue eventually relocate elsewhere.27 electrical goods. In the late 1970s, Setron celebrates: Our journey, our vision. Singapore, p. 9. A non-profit business arm of the nights, excursions, picnics and cruises In 2000, the last battalion at Beach Retrieved from The Chevrons website. and Grundig television sets, Hotpoint military was set up called SAF Enter- throughout the year were well patronised, Road Camp moved out and a year later, in 16 HDB to give reservists preference. (1974, March 18). The and Acma refrigerators, Singer sewing prises, or in short, SAFE. The intention and Christmas and New Year parties October 2001, the SAF WOSE Club relocated Straits Times, p. 17. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. machines, Akai and Telefunken hi-fi stereo 17 Interview with Aloysius Lim. was for these no-frills SAFE stores to were always a highlight in the calendar. to a new clubhouse at Boon Lay Way with a sets – brands that have vanished over 18 Cheang, C. (1973, December 21). Joint effort food firm to pass on the savings accrued from rent- In December 1991 for instance, the New new identity. The clubhouse was officially the years – were all the rage, and getting curb inflation... The Straits Times, p. 11. Retrieved from free premises and bulk purchases to Year’s Eve “Dance Night” only cost $25 per opened on 8 February 2002 by Tony Tan, NewspaperSG. these items for that new HDB flat was a military personnel and their families.18 couple – for drinks, entertainment, a lucky who was the Deputy Prime Minister and 19 Super-mart opens its doors to govt staff. (1974, July 29). much-cherished dream.22 The Straits Times, p. 13; From humble army stores to Within months of the announce- draw and door gifts. Minister for Defence at the time. Its new To make the electrical products afford- award-winner. (1996, April 27). The Straits Times, p. 2. ment, two SAFE supermarkets opened, Every club anniversary in March would identity, THE CHEVRONS, signifies the able, SAFE introduced a low-interest credit Retrieved from NewspaperSG. one at Dempsey Road Camp and the be celebrated with a huge Family Carnival. V-shaped stripes worn by all Warrant 20 From humble army stores to award-winner. (1996, scheme for public sector employees and other at the NCO Club. Apart from air- In the 1980s, quite a few of these took place Officers and Specialists.28 April 27). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from military personnel. They only had to agree conditioning, the supermarkets had at the Mitsukoshi Garden in Jurong or Big NewspaperSG. to pay a small initial downpayment and 21 Interview with Richard Chung. none of the luxuries one would find in an Splash in the east coast, both sprawling the balance in 12, 18 or 24 instalments, 22 Civilians make full use of SAFE. (1974, July 31). New Orchard Road store. SAFE did give the outdoor water theme parks where NCOs This is an abridged version of the Nation, p. 2; From humble army stores to award-winner. downtown stores a run for their money and their families would gather for a day chapter “1854–2001: History of Beach (1996, April 27). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. though – selling groceries, basic furniture (Top) The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) es- of revelry and feasting. Road Camp and NCO Club” from the 23 From humble army stores to award-winner. (1996, April like PVC sofas and dining chairs as well as tablished SAFE supermarkets at the Dempsey The NCOs were a sporty bunch – book South Beach: From Sea to Sky: 27). The Straits Times, p. 2. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. small electrical items like hairdryers and Road Camp and NCO Club, selling food and basic representing the club in swimming com- The Evolution of Beach Road – by 24 Chin & Yeo, 2015, pp. 12, 14. household items at discounted prices to military fans at significantly discounted prices.19 petitions, soccer, badminton and hockey Francis Dorai and published by Edi- 25 Chin & Yeo, 2015, pp. 11, 13. servicemen and their families. The biggest draw 26 Chin & Yeo, 2015, p. 15; The SAF Warrant Officers Soldiers and their families was the duty-free beer, which sold at less than half tournaments, and marathons (or road relays tions Didier Millet for South Beach descended on the supermarkets in as they were known then) – in addition to Consortium in 2012. The South Beach and Specialists Club. (2002). The Chevrons: Forging the retail price. Courtesy of MINDEF. closer ties (p. 7.). Singapore: Author, Call no.: RSING droves on the weekends. Snaking queues (Right) Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for being artistically adept. The club’s Indian development, designed by the British 355.346095957 CHE Defence Goh Keng Swee visits the SAF Enterprises also formed for the duty-free beer, which and Chinese dance troupes had an active architecture firm Foster + Partners, 27 Yap, E., (1996, April 14). Not quite the Golden Mile but (SAFE) supermarket at the NCO Club during its sold at less than half the retail price. In calendar of performances. The club mem- was launched in December 2015 and there’s hope. The Straits Times, p. 3. Retrieved from official opening on 20 December 1973. Ministry of NewspaperSG. the 1970s and 80s, the NCO Club became Information and the Arts Collection, courtesy of bers were also a generous lot, organising comprises a luxury hotel, offices, 28 Chin & Yeo, 2015, pp. 18, 20; DPM Tan stresses need to synonymous with cheap beer.20 National Archives of Singapore. dinners and outings for senior citizens and apartments and retail space. maintain harmony. (2002, February 9). The Straits Times, 24 disabled children living in homes. p. 5. Retrieved from NewspaperSG.

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(Facing page) Finding Francis: A Poetic TIES THAT Adventure and I Found A Bone and Other Poems were published in 2015 and 2016 respectively by Ethos Books. (Right) Staff of the Holy Innocents’ English School in 1937. Teo Kah Leng is the third person from the left of the back row. Courtesy of the Archives of the BIND Brothers of St Gabriel House in Rome. The Story of Two Brother Poets (Far right) Photo of Teo Kah Leng taken in front of Holy Innocents' English School c. late 1940s–early 50s. Courtesy of Anne Teo. An American Studies scholar unravels a decades-old mystery surrounding a bone fragment and uncovers a brotherly bond her teenage years from 1988 to 1994 when in 1931. But no further details of Teo could Leng (whose Christian name was Paul) her father, a former Panasonic employee, be traced following the publication of his was the youngest sibling. Kah Leng himself from beyond the grave. Michelle Heng has the story. was based here. last essay in the Raffles College Union had escaped the same fate because he Her interest in republishing F.M.S.R. Magazine in 1941. was not at home when his brothers were and making it available to the public grew. Undaunted, Ogihara-Schuck flew to hauled away by the Japanese soldiers. However, the endeavour was fraught with Singapore in the summer of 2014 to do Chia, a former pupil at St Gabriel’s problems from the very start as F.M.S.R. further research. The full details of her School, which was then a sister-school of was an "orphan work", and republishing it astonishing discovery are documented in the the Holy Innocents’ English School, was would not be possible unless its copyright article “On the Trail of Francis P. Ng: Author too young to read the entire poem but he status could be verified. No biographical of F.M.S.R.” in Vol. 10 Issue 4 (Jan-Mar 2015) recalled being drawn to “I Found A Bone” information about the author, Francis P. of BiblioAsia, the quarterly journal published because it was accompanied by an attrac- The Search Begins Ng, could be found and the premises of the by the National Library, Singapore.10 tive illustration of a tranquil landscape “I held the arm bone in my hand, book's London publisher had been bombed What happened subsequently is the with coconut trees framing a beach. The And let my warm tears fall; Dr Ogihara-Schuck, a Japanese national during World War II. stuff of detective fiction novels. Journalist poem, with the drawing, was published My brothers were slain at Ponggol Beach, who teaches American Studies and Japa- On probing further, Ogihara-Schuck Akshita Nanda picked up on the BiblioAsia in the 1955 issue of the Holy Innocents’ My brothers Peter and Paul.” nese at Technische Universität Dortmund in unexpectedly discovered that “Francis P. article, contacted Ogihara-Schuck and English School Annual.12 Germany where she resides with her Ger- Ng” was actually a pseudonym8 and that followed up with a report on the Japanese Chia had asked his sister to read the Excerpt from “I Found A Bone” man husband, first chanced upon F.M.S.R.3 the poet's real name was Paul Teo Poh academic’s search for a pioneering Singa- poem for him – its memorable themes of by Teo Kah Leng when she answered a call in December Leng, a primary school teacher who was porean poet who had disappeared during loss and despair in a war-ravaged Singa- 2012 for academic papers by the late Pro- born in Singapore in 1912. She found this World War II. The article, published in The pore touched him deeply – and etched in fessor Tatsushi Narita, a specialist on the vital piece of information in “The Song Straits Times on 22 February 201511 would his mind both the poem and its poet for works of the Anglo-American modernist of the Night Express”, the seventh sec- ultimately lead to a series of startling the next few decades. poet T.S. Eliot.4 tion of F.M.S.R. that had been published discoveries and, eventually, a touching The haunting poem about a man who When American Studies scholar, Dr Eriko On perusing F.M.S.R. at the British separately as a poem in the Spring 1937 family reunion. found his brother’s arm bone fragment at Ogihara-Schuck, embarked on the prover- Library, she was intrigued how this 10-part issue of the British literary journal, Life Punggol beach was one of the few clues bial journey of a thousand miles to find out poetic narrative about a train journey w and Letters To-day.9 linking Teo Kah Leng and Teo Poh Leng all she could about the elusive poet behind from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on the The Brother-Poets This breakthrough discovery of the as brothers. Sadly, it also confirmed F.M.S.R.1 – widely acknowledged as one of Federated Malay States Railways (FMSR) poet’s real identity enabled Ogihara- The Straits Times’ article headlined “Do the latter’s death during the Sook Ching the first notable works of English poetry by took inspiration from T.S. Eliot’s seminal Schuck to gather further information about you know Teo Poh Leng?” jogged the massacre at the onset of the Japanese a Singaporean writer – little did she suspect work, The Waste Land,5 using it as a liter- the author while working at her desk in memory of a reader by the name of Samuel Occupation – Punggol beach was one of that her research would unravel the mystery ary vehicle to call for the advancement of Germany. Tapping the National Library Chia. He contacted the reporter to tell her the sites where Chinese men had been of not just one but two long-forgotten poets. Malayan modernism.6 Board’s online resource, NewspaperSG, about his childhood recollection of a poem slain by Japanese soldiers.13 Ultimately, this would set in motion a Her initial idea to turn to Japan for her she found quite a few newspaper articles titled “I Found A Bone”, penned by a poet This was something that Ogihara- chain of events that would turn the dregs research was shelved upon discovering that with his name. named Teo Kah Leng, then a teacher at Schuck had earlier surmised; all traces of a family’s painful war-torn past into a much ground on the Japanese reception of Help also came from several other the Holy Innocents’ English School. Chia of Teo Poh Leng seemed to have vanished serendipitous “reunion” of two talented T.S. Eliot had already been covered.7 So she sources. Tim Yap Fuan, the Associate had correctly guessed that Poh Leng was after the fall of Singapore in 1942. As an brother-poets2 and the publication of two turned to the literary works of her “second University Librarian at the National Uni- Kah Leng's brother due to the similarity English-speaking teacher, Teo Poh Leng unique collections of poetic works. home”, Singapore – where she had spent versity of Singapore, tracked down Teo of their names. He further suspected that was most likely a target of the Sook Ching, Poh Leng’s essays that had appeared in Poh Leng was one of the two brothers, which saw many thousands of Chinese Michelle Heng is a Literary Arts Librarian at the National Library, Singapore. She has curated the Raffles College Union Magazine (Teo "Peter and Paul" mentioned in the final males being executed for their perceived a tribute showcase, Edwin Thumboo – Time-travelling: A Poetry Exhibition in 2012, and was a student of the college between 1931 line of “I Found A Bone”, who had died anti-Japanese stance.14 compiled and edited an annotated bibliography on Edwin Thumboo, Singapore Word Maps: A and 1933); and the University of Chicago's during the Japanese Occupation. When Ogihara-Schuck was told about Chapbook of Edwin Thumboo’s New and Selected Place Poems (2012) as well as the Selected archives shared with her a letter that Teo Peter was the Christian name of Teo the provenance of the poem “I Found A Poems of Goh Poh Seng (2013). had sent to an American poetry magazine Kee Leng, the elder brother, while Poh Bone” and the possible connection between

38 39 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / Feature

descent who lives in Germany. Her only Although Teo Kah Leng lost his two dreams he had, was shattered by the Sook link to Singapore was the six years she beloved siblings in the war and was sud- Ching. “It was really painful to read articles spent as a teenager in Singapore. denly thrust with the financial and moral about Raffles College students (including For Ogihara-Schuck, the most ser- responsibility of looking after his extended Poh Leng) graduating from college and endipitous part of her project was the families, Anne says that her father was looking forward to their future while not discovery of another pioneer Singaporean able to “help Uncle Poh Leng remain knowing what was going to happen to them poet –Teo Kah Leng – and the unpublished a poet even after his death” by literally some years later.”21 manuscript of some 50 poems that his immortalising him in “I Found A Bone”. Ogihara-Schuck was wistful when daughter Anne had inherited upon his Indeed, some of Teo Poh Leng’s poetry she came across a list of Sook Ching death in 2001. A year after publishing seemed to uncannily portend future tragic victims containing their names, ages Finding Francis, Ogihara-Schuck and war events even before he fell victim. “Uncle and addresses. The knowledge that so Anne launched Teo Kah Leng's poetry Poh Leng seemed to have believed in the many in Singapore had suffered at the collection, I Found A Bone and Other importance of forgiveness”, she adds.19 hands of the Japanese must have been Poems in August 2016, with Ethos Books Anne highlights Poh Leng’s poem “Time an uncomfortable memory. and the aid of a grant from the National Is Past” as an ode to forgiving past trans- She reveals: “I could recognise some Arts Council. gressions and moving on: “Time its neck of the addresses, so I ‘felt’ the reality of no more holds me in case. / Time is past: / the experience. It was the same feeling I The Redemptive Power of Poetry I move upon an earthless plane, / At last!” had when I saw the list of Jewish victims Reflecting on the grim events that of the Holocaust at the school where my For Anne Teo, the discovery of her late had cast a pall over her father’s youth husband teaches. As part of a school uncle and his published poems was proof and the remainder of his life follow- project, the students had researched on that her father and his brother were bound ing the Japanese surrender, Anne says former Jewish pupils at their school who by their mutual love for verse.17 Juxtapos- that even though her father’s “yoke was had been sent to concentration camps.”22 ing her father’s poems with that of her heavily laden with misery, despair, and In a fitting denouement of the tran- uncle’s, she suggests that their brotherly sorrow… he chose to exercise his right scendental power of the brother-poets’ bonds rose above the tragedy of war and to be ‘free’ by forgiving the perpetrators”. works, Anne writes in the concluding the Japanese Occupation through the She draws attention to her father’s poem essay of Finding Francis that “through redemptive power of forgiveness, as seen “The Cicada”, in which he penned these their poems, the brother-poets sought in the poem “I Found A Bone”.18 lines: “The past is gone. Let it be dead! / to unshackle themselves from a dreaded There are enough Christian motifs Call not to life its phantoms dread / With past through forgiveness, to foster hope in the poem to suggest this idea. It starts fearful shrieks and tearful cries”.20 in their lives. As Dad wrote in “I Found A and ends with Teo Kah Leng’s voice but For Ogihara-Schuck, her quest to Bone”, taking on the voice of his brother, Teo Kah Leng’s poignant poem, “I Found A Bone”, was published in the Holy Innocents’ English School Annual in 1955. This pencil drawing of an idyllic seaside switches to the persona of his younger uncover the life of Teo Poh Leng magni- ‘life is hope’”.23 landscape framed by coconut trees was firmly etched in the mind of Samuel Chia. He read the 22 February 2015 Straits Times article seeking the whereabouts of sibling, Teo Poh Leng, in stanzas 12 and 13 fied the “feel” of his powerful verses. The personal lives of the two brother- the elusive author of F.M.S.R. and provided the crucial link that Teo Kah Leng and Teo Poh Leng could be related, helping to solve a decades-long mystery about the as he recounts his tragic death at Punggol In an email, she revealed how she was poets and the Christian concept of forgive- poet’s identity. Courtesy of Montfort Schools. beach: “I am the way of life, your Hope… / emotionally affected by the untimely end ness and redemption articulated in Kah Know I am hanging on a cross / And Calvary of Teo Poh Leng, whose promising career Leng’s “I Found A Bone” – despite its tragic the two Teos, she knew she was on the brink Aside from being privy to the fact that approached several Singapore institutions is nigh”. as a poet, along with whatever hopes and ending – is an expression of that hope. of making a new discovery. She was already “Francis” was Poh Leng's Christian middle in the hope of creating awareness of this A poetic adventure. Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: Archives of Singapore. Call no.: RSING 940.530745957 aware that Teo Poh Leng’s Christian first name and “Ng” was his mother’s surname, long-forgotten poem. Notes RSING S821 NG TAN-[WAR]; Akashi, Y. (1970, September). Japanese name was Paul, and had deduced that “the the imagery of the Serangoon area portrayed Thus, when Ogihara-Schuck for- 1 F.M.S.R. was published in 1937 by the London publisher, 7 Personal email communication with Eriko Ogihara- policy towards the Malayan Chinese, 1941-1945. Chinese names Poh Leng and Kah Leng in F.M.S.R. sounded familiar to Anne as she tuitously turned to Pang for advice on the Arthur H. Stockwell. See Toh, H. M (2007). Introduction Schuck, 2016. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 1(2), 61-89, p. 67. sounded like a pair of siblings’ names”.15 had grown up in that district. republishing of F.M.S.R., he introduced her to Singapore poetry on Ars Interpres. Retrieved from 8 Only much later did Ogihara-Schuck discover Call no.: RSING 959.005 JSA “I Found A Bone” contained another clue to Fong Hoe Fang, the founder of Ethos Ars Interpres website; Pang, A., & Shankar, R. (Eds.). the origins of the pseudonym Francis P. Ng – a 15 Ogihara-Schuck, E. (2016). Editors’ introduction (pp. (2015). Editors’ introduction. In Union:15 years of drunken combination of Teo Poh Leng’s first and middle 6–8). In K.L. Teo, I found a bone and other poems. to the hitherto missing piece of the puz- Finding Francis is Published Books. Fong too was similarly enthused boat, 50 years of writing from Singapore (pp. 12–13). Christian names, Paul Francis, but in reverse order, Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 TEO zle: the poem included the fateful date, 28 by the discovery of this lost poet “who Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 UNI and his maternal family name, Ng. 16 Nanda, A. (2015, October 12). Work of lost Malayan February 1942, when Teo Poh Leng was On learning of Ogihara-Schuck's plans to was published on the same platform with 2 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara- 9 Teo, P.L. (1937). The song of the night express. Life and poet Teo Poh Leng republished after 78 years thanks taken away by the Japanese. republish F.M.S.R, Anne Teo proposed a writers like Robert Frost and W.B. Yeats”, Schuck & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic Letters To-day, 16 (7), 44. Not available in NLB holdings. to ST article. The Straits Times. Retrieved from adventure. Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: 10 Ogihara-Schuck, E. (2015, Jan-Mar). On the trail of Factiva via NLB’s eResources website. Meanwhile another person was simi- collaboration with her on the project. She and under his guidance, Finding Francis: RSING S821 NG Francis P. Ng: Author of F.M.S.R. BiblioAsia, 10 (4), 17 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara-Schuck larly piqued by The Straits Times’ article. also provided the much needed confirma- A Poetic Adventure, was published in 3 Ng, F.P. (1937). F.M.S.R.: A poem. London: Arthur H. 38–45. Call no.: RSING 027.495957 SNBBA-[LIB] & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic adventure. This was Anne Teo, the daughter of Teo Kah tion that her uncle had been dead for more October 2015.16 Stockwell. Call no.: RCLOS 821.9 PNG-[FRL] 11 Nanda, A. (2015, February 22). Do you know Teo Poh Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 NG Leng. Her father had died in 2001 at the age than 70 years, which meant that copyright Finding Francis is indeed an apt title 4 Tatsushi Narita was looking for participants in his Leng? The Straits Times. Retrieved from Factiva via 18 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara-Schuck of 92. Who was this Japanese researcher for the book had expired and now resided for this volume of Teo Poh Leng's works, panel discussion titled "T.S. Eliot: East and West" but NLB’s eResources website. & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic adventure. passed away before the conference convened. Although 12 Ogihara-Schuck, E. (2016). Editors’ introduction (pp. Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 NG trying to track down her uncle? She con- in the public domain. reflecting the painstaking two-and-a she had never met Narita in person, Ogihara-Schuck 6–8). In K.L. Teo, I found a bone and other poems. 19 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara-Schuck tacted Ogihara-Schuck and provided con- Another person who played a signifi- half-year mission that began in February attributes the start of her research on F.M.S.R. to his Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 TEO & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic adventure. firmation that Teo Poh Leng was indeed her cant role in this journey was the Singaporean 2013 and saw Ogihara-Schuck crossing last research effort before his death. Ogihara-Schuck’s 13 Ogihara-Schuck, E., & Teo, A. (Eds.). (2015). Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 NG uncle and that he had fallen victim to the poet and literary activist, Alvin Pang, who the globe from Germany to London and to paper was presented at the International Association of Acknowledgements (pp. 4–5). In F. Ng & K.L. Teo, Finding 20 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara-Schuck American Studies (IASA) conference in Poland in 2013. Francis: A poetic adventure. Singapore: Ethos Books. Call & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic adventure. Sook Ching massacre. As Anne had been had been aware of F.M.S.R. more than Singapore in her bid to unravel a thread in 5 Holden, P. (2009). Introduction: Literature in English no.: RSING S821 NG; Lee, G.B. (2005). The Syonan years: Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 NG born after her uncle’s death, she could only a decade before Ogihara-Schuck began Singapore’s literary history. What is even in Singapore before 1965 (p. 10). In A. Poon, P. Singapore under Japanese rule 1942–1945 (pp. 113–115). 21 Personal email communication with Eriko Ogihara- recall hearing about Uncle Poh Leng from researching it. After being introduced to more fascinating is that an obscure early Holden & S. G-L. Lim. (Eds.), Writing Singapore: Singapore: National Archives of Singapore and Epigram Schuck, 2016. her father and relatives. Although una- the original 1937 edition of F.M.S.R. – one of 20th-century Singaporean poet could have An historical anthology of Singapore literature. Pte Ltd. Call no.: RSING q940.53957 LEE-[WAR]; “Chinese 22 Personal email communication with Eriko Ogihara- ware of his work as a poet, she somehow five extant copies available in the world – by captured and engaged the imagination of Singapore: NUS Press; National Arts Council massacre” Japs hanged at Changi. (1947, June 26). Malaya Schuck, 2016. Singapore. Call no.: RSING S820.8 WRI Tribune, p. 1. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. 23 Teo, A (2015). Conclusion (p. 55). In E. Ogihara-Schuck instinctively knew that “Francis P. Ng” was former librarian Yenping Yeo of the National a foreigner such as Ogihara-Schuck – an 6 Ogihara-Schuck, E. (2015). Introduction (pp. 8–32). In 14 Tan, S., et al. (2009). Syonan Years, 1942-1945: Living & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: A poetic adventure. her uncle when she read F.M.S.R. Library, Singapore, in the early 2000s, Pang American Studies scholar of Japanese E. Ogihara-Schuck & A. Teo. (Eds.), Finding Francis: beneath the rising sun (p. 14). Singapore: National Singapore: Ethos Books. Call no.: RSING S821 NG

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We were shoved into queues. Then hurried forward, one by one. It was followed by more waiting outside a makeshift tent. Soon, we were standing there before our judges and executioners: a screening panel The of unfriendly soldiers and interpreters. This included some strange men who had their faces hidden behind hoods and spoke only in whispers but did a lot of pointing with their fingers. Those of us cleared after questioning were given slips of paper chopped with a SOOK seal. When they ran out of paper, they would stamp those cleared on their shirts or arms. These chops had to be preserved at all costs. Over the coming days they would be lifesav- ers: precious proof of screening clearance whenever Japanese soldiers checked us on CHING the streets or came to search our homes. February 15 marks the 75th anniversary of Here and there, someone before that the fall of Singapore. Goh Sin Tub recounts inquisition team would be dragged off and made to squat in a cordoned group below the horrors that many Chinese suffered at the the hot sun under the surveillance of sol- hands of the Japanese in this short story. diers with guns vigilantly trained on them. We thought they were people needing further screening or selected to do some work or other. We did not know that they were the ones who would never go back home. Granduncle took up the rear of our In December 1941, just as I turned 14, World The conquering Japanese troops had families who did not lose one or more rela- be given cause to stab or shoot us. Indeed, family group in the queue. I think he wanted War II descended on us in Singapore. Our arrived with horrendous baggage: memo- tives in that massacre, without doubt the we could hear screams now and then – and to make sure that all his family got through family was then living in a shophouse on ries of bloody encounters with the mainland darkest hour in our history. we could see bodies lying around, whether that Sook Ching filter. peaceful Emerald Hill, which suddenly Chinese in the still ongoing Sino-Japanese The day the Allied troops left was ... we could hear dead, ill or asleep we did not know. As we We did – all of us. became no longer peaceful, indeed more war. And they were sorely aware that the the signal for instant lawlessness and stepped around the screened entrance into He did not. like a battlezone. Our neighbourhood was Chinese in Singapore had been anti-Japa- chaos in the streets. My father saw how screams now and then – the open area of the camp, we were hit with a iclose to Monk’s Hill, an anti-aircraft artil- nese, staging demonstrations, organising looters, our own local people, went on a shocking scene: a panoramic sea of anxious lery site and therefore a target of enemy air boycotts of Japanese goods and raising rampage, breaking into vacated shops and we could see bodies faces. Fear, palpable as heartbeats of panic, attack. The din of that aerial bombardment money (the China War Relief Fund) to help and homes everywhere. He became anx- in all eyes. Frightened faces wherever we A clueless teenager who had grown up as so near was nerve-racking. We packed a few the Chinese on the mainland in their fight ious about our own home that we had left looked. And into that quagmire of terror- a sheltered child, I stood wide-eyed and bags and fled off to Granduncle’s house, a against invasion. And there were the Singa- unguarded. Not knowing how bloodthirsty lying around, whether stricken humanity we were at once engulfed, quavering like jelly before those Japanese relatively safe storehouse-cum-residence pore Chinese who took up arms against the and trigger-happy the occupying soldiers with that sinking sensation of being sucked inquisitors. That helped me. I was clearly in Philip Street in the centre of town. Japanese: volunteers with the British forces were, he rashly decided to rush back home dead, ill or asleep we did in, identity lost, now part of the world of the not worth their wasting time on. An inter- Then, on 16th February 19421 (Chinese as well as those MCP (Malayan Communist instead of reporting to the Maxwell Road helpless and the damned… preter passed me a stamped slip and told New Year’s Day of that year!), to our shock Party) diehards, who struggled against camp designated for our area. He would For hours we stayed in that hell-hole, me to scram. I quickly stepped out into the and dismay, the British capitulated and the them in the jungles of the Malay Peninsula. not risk the whole family going back with not know. squatting around in tight huddles, doing open street. Japanese army marched in. Led by the ruthless Kempeitai (Japa- him, but he agreed to take along Sin Chan, nothing, on the edge of hysteria from not Granduncle had given me strict On 17th February, our new masters nese Military Police), the victorious soldiers my 16-year-old elder brother. knowing our fate. instructions. Don’t hang around outside the issued their first public order in Singapore, went all out to screen the Chinese, however We were to remain ignorant till days now called Syonanto: all male Chinese hasty and slapdash the operation, to seek later about what happened to Father and adults were to report the very next day at and destroy anyone suspected of being Sin Chan after they left the safe haven of designated camps – under threat of “severe hostile, no matter how flimsy the evidence, Granduncle’s house. (Above) Japanese fighter planes began air raids punishment”, a phrase quickly to become no matter how many were fingered. This Meanwhile, Granduncle took charge of of Singapore on 8 December 1941. The first air raid familiar. Most of us presumed then it was operation was their infamous Sook Ching – a me. Together with his own son and his work- in the early hours of that morning killed 61 and injured 133 people. In the days to come, Singapore only for some kind of registration of people. haphazard sudden horror that slaughtered ers (whom he had always treated like family would see frequent air raids by the Japanese, But those concentrations of the Chi- possibly up to 50,000 Singapore people.2 members, even to the extent of providing sometimes several times a day before the British nese were actually for a sinister purpose. Indeed there were few Singapore Chinese them with meals and shelter in his home), he officially surrendered on 15 February 1942. The took us to report at the Maxwell Road camp. numbers that died were never fully documented. The camp was an unforgettable experi- Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria. Goh Sin Tub (1927–2004) wore many hats in his lifetime – as teacher, social worker, high- (Left) Painting of a scene showing Japanese sol- ranking civil servant, banker and property developer, and also as chairman of the Board ence, although we were only there overnight. diers herding Chinese men to be killed in the mass of Governors at St Joseph’s Institution. Although he had been writing since his school and At the barricaded entrance of the camp, execution known as the Sook Ching. According to university days, he only pursued it seriously after his retirement in 1986. Although Goh was we came face to face with the ugly face of the some estimates, as many as 50,000 Chinese men a prolific writer of short stories, he also wrote poetry and two noteworthy novels. In all, he enemy: uncouth and aggressive Japanese died during the bloodbath that took place in the days following the fall of Singapore on 15 Febru- published 20 books during his two-decade-long writing career, mainly about Singapore and soldiers, yelling loudly and brandishing its struggles during its transformative years. ary 1942. Chia Chew Soo Collection, courtesy of bayoneted rifles at us, clearly straining to National Archives of Singapore.

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Where were they? What to do? We go to my friend’s house. Stay there. Wait for was unguarded. As it was getting dark they Ching was also impurification for me: my could only pray – my mother with her me to come back!” thought they could take a chance and climb initiation, into the reality of a hard and A piece of paper bearing the Chinese character 检 (meaning “checked”). In calming joss-sticks (she was not a Chris- How could Sin Chan not worry? But over the barrier. cruel world. the days following the fall of Singapore tian then), I with the powerful prayers the what else was there to do? He obeyed Father Father climbed over to the top. He on 15 February 1942, Chinese men were Christian Brothers had taught me. and went to the crockery shop to wait. reached out with his hand to help Sin made to report to mass screening cen- Suddenly, they turned up at Philip Father later told Sin Chan what hap- Chan over. “The Sook Ching” was first published tres. Those who passed the screening Street – with a harrowing story of hide-and- pened to him. He saw trucks coming along At that moment their world nearly by Japanese soldiers were given slips in 2004 as part of Walk Like a Dragon, seek, and running for dear life, and finally to pick up those in the squatting group. He came to an end. There were soldiers around! of paper that were stamped with this a collection of short stories by Goh escaped from the Japanese. knew then he had to get out of there. He These yelled out at them: “Kora!” and more symbol and released. When the paper Sin Tub and published by Angsana slips ran out, some were stamped on The day they set out they had to pass noticed a monsoon drain near where the – words they did not understand. They were Books. In 2016, “The Sook Ching” their arms and shirts. Thousands of oth- through Japanese barricades but they trucks were lined up. He delayed climb- not about to stay and find out what that ers, however, who did not receive these was reprinted along with other short reached our Emerald Hill home safely. ing up on to the trucks. He waited for his was about. They continued their run from stamps, were herded off to various sites stories by well-known Singaporean They found the house all right – or almost chance when the guards were not looking. the wall. One soldier opened fire. But they in Singapore where they were executed. writers in a new anthology called Writ- Chu Chin Lam Collection, courtesy of all right, as the house adjoining ours had That chance did not come till the very end were already over – and running off as fast ten Country: The History of Singapore National Archives of Singapore. been partially devastated by a bomb that when he was the last man in the group: he as their legs could carry them. Luckily, the Through Literature. Compiled and totally demolished the house next to it on then slipped quietly into the drain. He hid soldiers decided not to give chase. edited by Gwee Li Sui and published the other side! till everyone had gone. Then he climbed by Landmark Books, Written Country camp once you’re out of it. Don’t wait for the more news, devouring the old lady, flesh They had no food and had to depend out and made his way to his friend’s shop reconstructs the history of modern rest of our group. That could be dangerous. and spirit, till she became a shadow of her on the charity of neighbours. not far off. Singapore through 50 stories that cap- So at once I took to my heels, head- old happy self. Till she wept those lovely The soldiers came frequently to search Miraculously, Father had escaped the ture pivotal moments in Singapore’s ing for our Philip Street home. The trouble eyes of hers hollow and blind. all the houses. On one occasion there was a Sook Ching! Our family reunited, we decided to play it history. The 355-page book retails was that I was such a wimp and literally peremptory knocking, and just as Sin Chan Father and Sin Chan decided to find safe and not test any barricade till the need for $23.37 (excluding GST) at major not streetwise at all. I did not know my way opened the door a bayonet was impatiently their way to Philip Street. They had to hide for stamped clearances was over. bookstores and is also available for around that Chinatown neighbourhood. I got thrust in. My brother felt the coldness of and watch what was going on ahead of We stayed on at Granduncle’s place reference and loan at Lee Kong Chian lost and wandered about the streets, getting … just as Sin Chan steel right next to his cheek – a chilling them in case they came upon any barrier. for many days after that till the dust stirred Reference Library and branches of all more and more confused and frightened. I experience he recalls up to this day. Where they found people being checked up by that first wave of savage Japanese public libraries (Call no. RSING S820.8 must have been going around in circles for The people of Emerald Hill were for clearance chops they had to find other invaders had settled down. The barricades opened the door a WRI and S820.8 WRI). hours. There was nobody around I could ask ordered to report for screening. They routes – as Father did not have clearance. were removed, and it was less hazard- for help. Everyone was either still in the camp were to assemble at Ord Road, not far They came upon scenes of people being ous to make our homeward journey to or locked up behind their own closed doors. bayonet was impatiently off. Father and Sin Chan packed food and made to kneel on the roadside for hours. Emerald Hill. The few I saw, perhaps like me screened and other necessities on to a bicycle which they Those people were hit with the butts of The nightmare of that “purification Notes released, were in desperate hurry to get out thrust in. My brother felt pushed along. They did not get far. Their rifles. Prudently, Father and Sin Chan stayed through purge” has passed into history – 1 According to official accounts, Singapore fell to the of the streets – no one had time for a lost kid. bicycle was spotted by Japanese soldiers away from those roadblocks. unforgettable history. Japanese on 15 February 1942. The British surrender took place at the old Ford Factory in Bukit Timah, That was one of those times when the and snatched away from them – everything Finally, at River Valley Road near the For me personally, Sook Ching was where the Japanese had set up their headquarters. grace I received from school education by the coldness of steel on it too! old Great World Amusement Park, they no “purification through purge.” Yes, my 2 Following the fall of Singapore on 15 February the Christian Brothers taught me what to They reached Ord Road where they found a sandbag wall that they thought guilelessness had been purged – but Sook 1942, Chinese males between 18 and 50 years of do. I prayed. right next to his cheek… stayed for two days. Fortunately, there age were ordered to report to designated centres And my prayer was answered. were good people around who shared food for mass screening. Many of these ethnic Chinese were then rounded up and taken to deserted spots I heard someone calling out to me. It with them. From Ord Road they were made (Below) A drawing from Chop Suey, part of a four-volume book of illustrations by the artist Liu Kang that offers a rare insight into how people in Singapore were persecuted and tortured by the Japanese during to be summarily executed. This came to be known was Yeo Tian Chwee, one of Granduncle’s to march to Arab Street where their Sook as Operation Sook Ching (the Chinese term means Tian Chwee, thankfully saved from the Occupation years. This scene depicts an execution scene from Operation Sook Ching (or “purge through young workers. He too had been cleared. Ching camp was situated. cleansing”). Chinese males perceived to be anti-Japanese were rounded up and taken to deserted spots to “purge through cleansing”). It is not known exactly that Sook Ching purge, remained a main- He had headed for the safety of home at At Arab Street, Father was relieved be killed. All rights reserved, Liu, K. (1946). Chop Suey (Vol. I). Singapore: Eastern Art Co. how many people died; the official estimates given stay of the family, marrying the daughter by the Japanese is 5,000 but the actual number is once. When he found out that I was miss- to spot a friend who had a crockery shop (Right) Illustration and handwritten note by the artist Ma Jun (马骏) describing the display of severed of his boss, managing the family business, heads at the Cathay Building on 6 July 1942. All rights reserved, Tan, S. T. L., et. al. (2009). Syonan Years believed to be 8−10 times higher. ing he bravely went back into the streets there. He gave food and shelter to Father looking after the old lady and the rest of 1942–1945: Living Beneath the Rising Sun. Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. to search for me. and Sin Chan while they waited for their the family and workers. We reached home safely. Someone screening the next day. For myself, Sook Ching was the purge told us that although everyone else was Sin Chan was lucky. He was quite dark- of my childhood innocence. It was my first back, Granduncle was still not home yet. complexioned then. That fact might have encounter with evil… Tian Chwee immediately took to the streets saved his skin as he looked like a Malay – again to find out what had happened to him. without any fuss they cleared him stamping He did not return till he had to – it was get- him on the hand with their precious chop. ting dark and the Japanese had imposed Yes, he was lucky. He recalled a curfew after dark. What of my father and Sin Chan? school cadet corps friend of his, fit-looking He came home with sad news. Some- We were worried sick about them. like him – the young man stupidly came one had seen Granduncle: he was one of They had disobeyed the Japanese authori- to that same camp wearing his military- those pushed into the packed trucks that ties’ order: they had not reported to their looking cadet boots. He did not make it took away the uncleared… designated screening camp. Both had no out of the camp. Grandaunt cried but she never gave saving chop to safeguard them from deten- Father, tall and athletic-looking, was up hope. tion (or a worse fate) if caught without that fingered too. He was roughly pulled aside The days of Granduncle’s not coming precious proof of clearance. So we thought. and made to squat on the roadside with oth- home stretched into weeks, then months, Actually, both had also gone through ers in a group guarded by soldiers – those then years… another Sook Ching camp. not given stamps of clearance. And the vultures came, always bring- My brother had been cleared. His immediate concern was for his son. ing hope, always needing to be paid to get My father had not…but lived. He at once yelled to him: “Don’t worry. Just

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A New Exhibition Opens The Former Ford Factory – as the building is officially known − was gazetted as a national monument on 15 February 2006, following its conversion into a World War II exhibition space by its custodian, the National Archives of Sin- gapore (NAS). Memories at Old Ford Factory (MOFF), as the gallery was called, operated for Syonan a decade until it closed in February 2016 for a major revamp. Now, after a year-long refurbishment, the MOFF reopens as “Syonan Gallery: War and its Legacies” on 16 February 2017, featuring refreshed content and a new focus. Syonan or Syonan-to, meaning “Light of the South”, was the Gallery name given to Singapore by its Japanese rulers between 18 February 1942 and 12 September 1945. The gallery subtitle highlights a new area of focus for the exhibition by looking at the impact War and its Legacies of the war and the Occupation years, including (Above) “The Meeting of General Yamashita and General Percival” (1942), an oil painting by the immediate and longer-term legacies of this Saburo Miyamoto. All rights reserved. Tan, S.T.L., et al. (2011). Battle for Singapore: Fall of period on Singapore and the region. the Impregnable Fortress (Vol. 1). Singapore: National Archives of Singapore. (Facing page) Facade of the old Ford Factory on Upper Bukit Timah Road. Now converted Back in 1981, seeing the dearth of written into the Syonan Gallery. Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. records left behind by the Japanese administra- tion during the three-and-a-half years it occupied Singapore, the NAS, under its then Director Lily cords from the collections of NAS, the National Tan, “embarked on a project to collect oral record- Library, Singapore, partner agencies and private ings and to look for documents, photographs and collectors, this new exhibition aims to capture the all kinds of paraphernalia related to the war and diverse experiences of people who lived through the Occupation”.1 this crucial period of our history. More than three decades after Tan made The gallery features a wide range of mate- that call, the NAS has amassed a significant col- rial, from government records and oral history lection of personal records and oral histories on interviews to maps and records from private this subject. Over the years, many researchers collectors, including cherished personal docu- have been using these sources to reconstruct ments and artefacts from individuals who have authentic accounts that have significantly enriched kept these items all these years because of the A revamped exhibition space opens at the Along a relatively quiet stretch of Upper Bukit our understanding of life in Singapore during the memories – however painful or traumatic – they Timah Road, now dwarfed by high-rise con- Japanese Occupation. represent. Overall, the displays balance big- old Ford Factory in Bukit Timah, marking adominiums, stands the Art Deco façade of the The lack of sufficient documentation from picture overviews of major events interspersed the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore. old Ford Factory – built in 1941 and designed by this period, however, remains a persistent black with deeply personal stories and asides. the French structural engineer Emile Brizay as hole, which is why NAS continues the effort The first thing a visitor sees upon entry Fiona Tan details its major highlights. Ford Motor Work’s first car assembly plant in to collect oral histories and personal records to the lobby are displays that set the scene of Southeast Asia. relating to people’s experiences of the war and pre-war Singapore and highlights the history of Part of the original building was torn the Occupation. the Former Ford Factory. The exhibition space down when the area was redeveloped in the One such programme was the Call for proper is broadly divided into three zones: mid-1990s, but the main structure, housing the Archives in March 2016, which saw over 400 • Fall of Singapore: Outlines the events very spot where the British Lieutenant-General items donated by members of the public, some of leading up to that fateful moment where Arthur E. Percival surrendered to Lieutenant- which will be on display in the revamped gallery. British forces surrendered unconditionally General Tomoyuki Yamashita, commandant of NAS continues to welcome donations of historical to the Imperial Japanese Army in the Ford the Japanese forces, on 15 February 1942, has significance from the public so that these can be Factory boardroom. been preserved. preserved for the generations to come. • Becoming Syonan: Captures the diverse That fateful event was preceded by a week As we approach the 75th anniversary of the experiences of people during the Japa- of intense fighting, dubbed “The Battle of Singa- fall of Singapore on 15 February 2017, it is timely nese Occupation. pore”, between the combined British and Allied to revisit these memories and experiences. • Legacies: Highlights the various legacies of forces and Japanese troops after the latter made war and Occupation in Singapore, from the landfall on the northwestern coastline near the Highlights of the Syonan Gallery political and social changes that arose and the Johor Strait. Percival made the fatal error of ways we remember the war in Singapore today. assuming that the Japanese would attack from The revamped Syonan Gallery showcases the In total, there are over 200 exhibits on display Fiona Tan is an Assistant Archivist with the Outreach Department, National the northeastern coastline and had his firepower British surrender, the subsequent Japanese at the gallery. As it is not physically possible to Archives of Singapore, where she conducts research to promote a greater and soldiers concentrated along that front. The Occupation years, and the legacies of the war. cover all the exhibits within the confines of this awareness of its collections. rest, as they say, is history. Through oral history accounts and archival re- article, we highlight a small selection here.

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Fall of Singapore the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). In addition to raising funds through the Singapore Featuring the three intertwining narratives of China Relief Fund Committee, overseas Chinese Japanese military aggression, British defences also contributed their services. For instance, and the civilians in Singapore caught up in these over 3,000 people from Malaya and Singapore larger forces of empire and war, this section of the volunteered as drivers and mechanics, braving gallery provides visitors with fresh perspectives the treacherous 1,146-km-long Yunnan–Burma into what Winston Churchill – the British Prime Road, to transport military and aid supplies to Minister during the war years – proclaimed as the battle front. the “worst disaster and largest capitulation in Others like Lim Kheng Jun enlisted in the British history”. Chinese Military Academy (中央陆军军官学校) in 1939. Lim was trained in China as an intelligence Graduation yearbook of the Chinese officer, and later, as a police officer deployed to ­Military Academy Beiping and then Hainan. In March 2016, Lim One of the highlights of this section is a responded to the open call for archive materials graduation yearbook of the Chinese Military for the exhibition, bringing along his treasured Academy (1940), which belongs to 96-year-old copy of the yearbook as well as personal records Lim Kheng Jun. of his involvement in the Sino-Japanese war. Even before the war descended on South- as police stations and municipal buildings. by Taka Sakurai, formerly an officer with the (Left) Identity cards issued un- east Asia, the Chinese community in Singapore der the Defence (Security Regis- Japanese intelligence map of Singapore Japanese-owned businesses, such as shipping propaganda department of the Imperial Japanese had already been mobilised to help China in tration) Regulations donated by Another item of note – donated by Lim Shao Bin to lines, were also identified on the map, enabling Army. Sakurai produced these postcards based A.J. Tyler, Chin Sin Chong, David the National Library − is a Japanese intelligence the Japanese intelligence to identify locations on artists’ impressions of scenes of Singapore E.S. Chelliah and Victor Tan. map of Singapore. It is accompanied by a booklet with Japanese interest and spare them from after the fighting ceased. The postcards were Courtesy of National Archives with 83 key locations marked up in red. attacks during the invasion. then distributed to Japanese soldiers to com- of Singapore. (Middle) Such postcards and 4 As the Japanese military prepared to memorate their victory. paintings depicting scenes of advance into Southeast Asia, the chief planner Identity cards issued under the Defence war were distributed to Japa- of the Malayan Campaign, Lieutenant-Colonel ­(Security Registration) Regulations Becoming Syonan nese soldiers and exhibited in Masanobu Tsuji, hired Japanese who were liv- As the war in China waged on and hostilities in the newly conquered territories as well as in Japan to highlight ing in Singapore as informants. The Japanese Europe broke out, the British colonial admin- On 18 February 1942, Singapore was officially the might of the Japanese mili- military also sent “observation staff” to carry istration began to prepare the local population renamed Syonan-to. The Japanese Occupation tary. Donated by Taka Sakurai. (Right) Lim Kheng Jun pic- out espionage work in Malaya and Singapore in for the possibility of war in Malaya. Initially, the was a grim period in our history. From the acts of Courtesy of National Archives tured here with his graduation the late 1930s. preparations were subtle, such as familiarising state-sanctioned violence to grandiose promises of Singapore. yearbook at the public Call for This map and its accompanying booklet the public with air raid precautions and basic civil as part of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity (Top) Overseas Chinese cer- Archives event held at the Na- tificate of registration, 1942. tional Library Building on 12 contain annotated photographs of 83 key loca- defence skills, but from 1941 onwards, the war Sphere”, this section of the gallery showcases Donated by Ow Peng Hoong. March 2016. tions in Singapore town that were photographed preparations became more overt with screen- the experiences of people living under a new Courtesy of National Archives (Below) Lim Kheng Jun as a and documented by Japanese informants before ing of the population and recruiting locals to administration as well as the acts of resistance by of Singapore. young soldier in 1940 (second the war. These documents highlight important join the military. those who chose to fight back and make a stand. row, on the left), p. 117. commercial and government buildings, such In that same year, it became compulsory (Far right) Japanese intelligence map of the town of Singapore with for all non-military residents of Singapore to “Screened” stamp annotations marking out places carry identity cards under the Defence (Security One of the first actions by the Japanese military of Japanese interest. Donated Registration) Regulations.2 These cards – that in Syonan was a mass screening or dai kenshō by Lim Shao Bin. Collection of allowed the government to screen the population (大検証 ; “great inspection”), which the Chinese National Library, Singapore. for potential spies – were among the first ominous later referred to as Sook Ching (肃清). Such signs of the looming war. screenings to identify anti-Japanese elements in the population had been carried out whenever Japanese artistic impressions of occupied Japan conquered new territories in China. Three Singapore days after the British surrender in Singapore, Also found in this section of the gallery are sensō Chinese males aged between 18 and 50 were sakusen kirokuga (war campaign documentary ordered to report to screening centres − and in paintings). A few months before the fall of Singa- the confusion, some women and children went pore, the Japanese military administration started as well.5 to send prominent Japanese artists to various At the reporting centres, those who received parts of Southeast Asia to paint scenes of war a stamp with the character “検” (or “examined”) based on photographs or after talking to soldiers were allowed to leave. Some people brought on the ground. Overseas Chinese registration passes issued by These depictions of war, which took the form the Chinese consulate in the pre-war period and of postcards and paintings, were distributed to had them stamped; while others recounted getting Japanese soldiers and exhibited both in the newly stamped on their T-shirts, other personal identifi- conquered territories and in Japan to highlight cation documents, or even on parts of their body. the bravery of the military.3 One survivor recounted:“When I went home, There are five postcards and two water- I had the rubber stamp with the word ‘cleared’ colour paintings on display, donated to the NAS [‘検’] or something like that. I made sure that the

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stamp lasted as long as possible. So washing my Sketches by William Haxworth hands, whenever I took my bath, I got to raise Also worth seeing are the selection of sketches, my arm up to make sure the stamp there was drawn from a collection of over 300 that were not washed away… Wherever you go, you have secretly sketched by former police inspector to show your arm to the Japanese soldiers.”6 William R.M. Haxworth during his internment Apart from displays of such documents, at Changi Prison and Sime Road Camp. The the gallery also allows visitors to experience sketches depict the crowded and unsanitary first-hand accounts of Sook Ching survivors by living conditions at the camps, and capture the listening to oral history excerpts. internees’ decline in health and weight over time. Several sketches reveal Haxworth’s ability to find Case of Joseph Francis humorous moments and comic relief through Stories of deprivation, suffering and torture his art in spite of the difficult circumstances. were part of the fabric of the Syonan-to years, After the war, Haxworth rejoined the police experienced by both the local civilian population force and stayed there until his retirement in 1954. as well as British and Allied soldiers. In 1986, one year after he passed away, his wife One particular story stands out. On 27 donated his entire set of sketches to the NAS. September 1943, six Japanese oil tankers were destroyed at Keppel Harbour and suspicion fell Legacies of War and Occupation upon the prisoners-of-war (POWs) interned in Changi Prison, who were thought to have trans- On 5 September 1945, the British returned to mitted news to the raiding party. Singapore to great relief and rejoicing among the (Above left) Children's feeding centre in the post-war period. Ministry of Information and Joseph Francis, who worked as a driver people. However, the initial euphoria soon waned: Rounding off the final section of the gallery the Arts Collection, courtesy of National Archives of Singapore. for a Japanese inspector at the POW camp, was the wartime experience and the subsequent is a reflective space where visitors are encour- (Above) A poster written with blood and Chinese brush ink protesting the arrest of members caught for passing information and a secret problems the local population faced, coupled with aged to consider how they remember the war of the Malayan Communist Party in 1946. Courtesy of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Internal transmitter to the prisoners. In the ensuing raid the inability of the British Military Administration and its legacies. Security Department Heritage Centre. that took place at Changi Prison, many POWs (BMA) to deal with the issues competently, left the were rounded up for interrogations. Several people with a less rosy view of the British. Post-war policies undermine the British. While the demonstrations civilians too were arrested, including Francis, For six months after the Japanese sur- There were significant shifts in terms of social were ostensibly meant to commemorate the fall who was tortured by the kempeitai (Japanese render, Singapore and Malaya were run by the policy in the immediate post-war years. The of Singapore, the British authorities viewed it as military police) over a six-month period. interim BMA. People nicknamed it the “Black colonial government adopted a more involved an insult as it was on this day in 1942 that they had On his release, Francis required extensive Market Administration” because it was plagued approach to education, housing, health care surrendered to the Japanese. (Below) Records from the Brit- medical care and he eventually died in May 1945. by corruption and inefficiency. Nonetheless, the and social welfare in Singapore, in line with In 1948, the Malayan Communist Party ish Military Administration files After the Occupation, his brother and friends wrote BMA, despite difficult post-war conditions, did the moderate socialist approach of post-war abandoned the “united front” strategy of peaceful pertaining to the case of Joseph to the British Military Administration, describing in the best it could to restore public utilities and Britain. These moves were also part of the plan struggle and pushed for an armed struggle, lead- Francis. British Military Admin- to unite Singapore’s plural society in preparation istration files, File reference detail Francis’ contributions to the anti-Japanese services, distribute war relief, and ease condi- ing the British to declare a state of Emergency. 28/45. Courtesy of National resistance. On display at the gallery is Francis’ tions for business and social activities. for decolonisation. The ensuing clashes between communists and Archives of Singapore. driver’s license and the letter written by his friend, The legacies of war were manifested at A Department of Social Welfare, for the colonial government would have far-reaching (Below right) William R.M. Kenneth Tay, describing the “horrors of inhuman various levels − from grand British plans for instance, was set up in in June 1946 to continue consequences in shaping the post-war political Haxworth’s sketches depict punishment” that Francis endured at the hands of decolonisation and the social challenges of post- the BMA’s work of tackling the lingering social landscape in Singapore and Malaya. the harsh and cramped condi- tions at the POW camps. W R M his captors, that had reduced him into a pitiable war reconstruction to the political awakening of problems caused by the Occupation. The depart- Haxworth Collection, courtesy of “living skeleton”. the people across the political spectrum. ment set up free feeding centres for children, as Notes National Archives of Singapore. well as “People’s Restaurants”, where anyone 1 Foreword to The Japanese Occupation: Singapore 1942–1945. could buy a cheap and nutritious lunch for 35 (1985). Singapore: Archives & Oral History Department. Call no.: RCLOS q779.995957 JAP cents (later, 8-cent meals were introduced to 2 Public & security registration (1941, December 27). The 7 Syonan Gallery: War and help the urban poor). Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser (1884–1942), p. its Legacies 6. Retrieved from NewspaperSG. Poster to protest arrests of communists 3 Tsuruya, M. (2005). Sensō sakusen Kirokuga (War campaign documentary paintings): Japan's national imagery of the “Holy One of the most profound changes of the war and War”, 1937–1945, pp. 1–3 (Doctoral dissertation, School of 351 Upper Bukit Timah Occupation was the realisation that the British Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh). Retrieved from Road, Singapore 588192 did not have an inalienable right to rule Singa- University of Pittsburg website. pore. This political awakening coupled with the 4 Yeo, C. (Interviewer). (2006, June 30). Oral history interview with Mondays to Saturdays, success of the Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Taka Sakurai [Transcript of Recording no. 003068/03/03, pp. 9am – 5.30pm 61–64]. Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website. Army during the Occupation resulted in com- 5 W.K. (2001, April 11). Justice done? Criminal and moral munism gaining traction as a political ideology responsibility issues in the Chinese massacres trial Singapore, Sundays, in the post-war years. 1947, pp. 3–4 (Genocide Studies Program Working Paper No. 18, 12 noon – 5.30pm Written with blood and Chinese brush ink, Branford College, Yale University). Retrieved from the Battle of Manila Online website. this poster (see image above) was created as 6 Chua, S.K. (Interviewer). (1982, February 2). Oral history Daily guided tours are a means of protest against police raids on the interview with Heng Chiang Ki [Transcript of Recording No. available. Malayan Communist Party and other pro-com- 000152/08/02, pp. 20–21]. Retrieved from National Archives of munist organisations on the eve of the 15 February Singapore website. Visit www.nas.gov.sg/moff demonstrations in 1946. The communists had 7 Ho, C.T. (2013, April 3). Taking care of its own: Establishing the for more information. Singapore Department of Social Welfare, 1946–1949, pp. 12–13. organised the agitations as part of their plan to Retrieved from Academia website.

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国家图书馆收藏了不少二战前后华校的教科书， 提 一 提 ：本 书 特 点 琳 琅 满 目 ，有 幼 稚 园 的 、小 学 和 中 学 的 ，一 本 本 ，一 套套，虽然陈旧，也有残缺，但是小心翻阅，越看 • 毛笔字和硬笔字的分别，只是应用不同书写 越兴奋。这都是我国华校教育留下来的瑰宝啊！ 工具写出来的字。写字的方法，基本原理是大 同 小 异 的 ，如 写 字 讲 如今这些瑰宝将收入于2017年3月出版的《开卷 究 笔 顺 ，要 把 字 写 好 ， 有益·润物无声：新加坡华文教科书图示目录 就必须根据字的结构 (1902–2015)》，本人也受邀为此书撰稿。一次， 来 写 ，哪 笔 先 ，哪 笔 在翻查的过程中，突然发现一套《写字练习本》， 后 ，左 右 上 下 怎 样 布 供初级小学用，商务版，1936年初版，惊喜极了。 置……都 要 按 次 序， 好 像 建 房 子 一 样 ，才 大概是七十年代，华文老师不必批阅学生每周大 不 会 东 歪 西 倒 ，写 来 小楷的作业，学生似乎都解脱了。从此以后，有心 写 去 ，顺 笔 下 来 ，就 学习毛笔字的学生，成为了“书法学会”的会员。 像 流 水 顺 势而 下， 今时今日，科技发达，有了电脑和手机，很多人都 通 畅 无 阻 ，字 才 写 成了“一指神功”的高手，轻轻一按，你要的东西 得漂亮。 立刻出现在眼前，方便极了。但是，也有出现尴尬 根据本书所提供 的状况，当你身边没有这些工具的时候，要写的 • 的 写 字 方 法 ，如 果 字 ，想 不 起 来 ，想 起 来 又 写 不 出 来 。因 此 ，过 于 依 儿 童 认 真 学 习 ，耐 赖 科 技 产 品 ，不 知 是 喜 还 是 悲 心 练 习 ，不 但 可 以 这套《写字练习本》，内容丰富，条理分明，按部 掌握好写字的基本功，也能写出一手漂亮的字。 就班，学习有序。学生若能拨出一点时间来写字， 哎哟 1 说 一 说 ：课 本 背 景 不但对语文的学习有热情，对文化的了解有深爱， 也是一种艺术的享受呢！ • 本书专供儿童练习写字之用，故定名为《写字 练 习 本 》。 华文字真难写！ 看 一 看 ：书 目 资 料 • 本书共分八册，每册40页，适供一学期中每周练 书名：《 写 字 练 习 本 》（ 初 级 小 学 ）， 全 八 册 习两次之用。 编校：顾 志 贤 ，沈 百 英 Before the 1970s, students in Singapore were • 本书根据新课程标准编辑，内容选取实用材 required to submit “writing assignments” for 出版：商务印书馆 料 ，涵 盖 面 广。 Students in pre-1970s Singapore had to learn their Chinese lessons. These lessons trained 版次：1936年初版 bstudents to write the Chinese script in the 馆藏：新加坡国家图书，杨善才馆藏 (索书 the correct way of writing the Chinese script. correct form and sequence – by following a • 练习写字的内容有：标语、警语、自省语、布告、 号：RCLOS 495.111 XZL-[YOS]) set of rules based on type of stroke and its 广告、传单、通启、便条、请帖、留言、书信、儿歌、 Ho Phang Phow describes the painstaking precise order. Over time, with the changes in 新诗、故事、史话、物谜、字谜、格言、谚语、对 process of mastering this craft. the school curriculum, such assignments have disappeared, and unfortunately, along with it, 联 、宣 言 等 。 an appreciation for the fine art of handwritten Chinese script. • 有关写字指导法，如：执笔法、笔顺等，依程度 Back then, an eight-volume series pub- 深浅分编于各册中。 lished in 1936 was the recommended textbook for students to learn to write Chinese script in Singapore schools. Copies of these long-forgot- • 本书根据时令排列，并顾及前后联络。应用时 何炳彪 ，1964年毕业于南洋大学中文系文学士。1965至2000年任职于立化中学，担任中 ten assignment books have been preserved in 尽可自由采用，不必呆照顺序练习；尤其是设计 文教师、华文科主任兼文学史科主任、华文科部门主任等职位。曾任职教育部南区华文 the Chinese textbook collection of the National 的材料，更需要相机活用。 科主任以及教育部华文课程编纂员。所编辑的出版物包括多本学校特刊、海燕壁报、学 Library, Singapore – one of which is the focus 生作品等刊物。 of this article. More information on the collec- • 每册书后，附有写字标准、俗体字例，或碑帖举 Ho Phang Phow graduated from Nanyang University with a degree in Chinese in tion can be found in an upcoming publication 1964. As an educator, he held various positions between 1965 and 2000, including by the National Library entitled Pages That 例等参考资料。 stints at River Valley High School and the Ministry of Education where he was a Opened Our Minds: A Pictorial Catalogue of curriculum planner for Chinese as a second language. Ho has also edited several Chinese Textbooks in Singapore (1902–2015), 本书以毛笔字为主。 student works and anniversary magazines for schools and societies over the years. • Notes to be published in March 2017. 1 摘自“编辑大意”。

52 53 BIBLIOASIA JAN – MAR 2017 Vol. 12 / Issue 04 / NL Notes

读 一 读 ：课 文 内 容 练 一 练 ：写 字 小 贴 示

• 本书为引起儿童练习写字的兴趣，有些练习附 • 项 目 多，取 材 广，让 儿 童 提 高 了 练 习 写 字 的 兴 有插图，如第二册、第三张：图为日曆，练 习 写 的 趣。 字 ，即 有 关 日 、月 、火 、水 、木 、金 、土 。

• 通过写字，了解了写字的方法，如笔顺、结构等。

• 练习写字的格式也多变化，让儿童懂得和学习 掌握不同的要求，写出端正的字，如：格子小，字 要写得小；格子大，字要写得大；无格子，字体大 小 要 有 分 寸 。横 写 、直 写 ，一 样 要 掌 握 好 。

• 通过写字的练习，得到不少生活常识、待人处 事、学习修养以及各类实用文的写法等，如第三 册 、第 2 1 张“ 短 信 ”等 。

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The Raffles Hotel – which opened in 1887 and to be seen at – hosting lavish gala dinners with only 10 rooms – experienced its golden for events like birthdays, race days, weddings, age during the first few decades of the 1900s.­ anniversaries, debutante balls, and even the Immortalised in the writings of Joseph Conrad coronations of European royal families. and Rudyard Kipling, the hotel soon became the One of the things the Raffles Hotel excelled lodgings of choice among wealthy travellers, at was throwing a good party. The devil, as they tcelebrities and the literati, and even members say, is in the details, and this is where the Raf- of royalty. fles shone: its army of well-trained staff would Party Time at With two extensions added in 1890, the leave no plate empty and no glass unfilled in Palm Court Wing in 1894, the now familiar their bid to ensure that every guest left a party grand Main Building in 1899, and the Bras plastered, if not with drink, then at least with a Basah Wing in 1904, no other hotel in Singapore wide smile on their faces. could rival the Raffles for its luxurious rooms The opening of the Main Building at the and dining options. turn of the 20th century properly entrenched (Facing page, bottom) Postcard The Raffles became a gathering place for the Raffles as the venue to host a fine party. The view of the Raffles Hotel, c. 1900. the Courtesy of Professor Cheah Jin the island’s rich and influential – the place to see new marble-floored Dining Room “capable of 1 Seng and the Singapore Philatelic seating 500” was where many indulgent din- Museum. The National Library’s collection of menu cards from Raffles ners – supervised by two French chefs – would (Facing page, top) Drawing of the Jessie Yak is a Reference Librarian with the Rare be served by white-gloved waiters. façade of the Main Building. This Hotel provides an inkling of lavish parties and fine dining from Collections team at the National Library, Singapore. Menu cards from this period, such as the most recognisable extension of She majored in Chinese language and literature the Raffles Hotel was completed bygone days. Francis Dorai and Jessie Yak take a peek. at Beijing University and furthered her studies at one on 14 July 1917, featured gastronomic fare in 1899. All rights reserved. Liu, Raffles the University of Cambridge. Jessie is interested such as “Clear Turtle Soup, Baked Red Fish G. (2006). Raffles Hotel. Singa- in Chinese literature, the Chinese diaspora and the [in] Butter Sauce, Chicken en Aspic, Grilled pore: Editions Didier Millet. print culture of East Asia. Filet Steak & Sugar Peas, Faisan Roti [roasted (Below) Scenes of the lavish Din- pheasant] a l’ Anglaise, Iced Asparagus [in] ing Room that was “capable of Francis Dorai has worked for over two decades in seating 500”. The spacious Dining publishing, both as writer and editor in a broad range Mayonaise Sauce… [and] Wild Rose Ice Cream…”, Room on the ground floor of the of media, including The Straits Times, Insight Guides, among other delights. At the outdoor Palm new Main Building, which was Berlitz Publishing, Pearson Professional, Financial Court, after-dinner music would be played by declared opened in November Times Business and Editions Didier Millet. He is the the Band of the K.O.R (King’s Own Regiment). 1899, was where many extrava- gant dinners and parties were author of several books, including South Beach: In 1904, the Raffles introduced a novel From Sea to Sky: The Evolution of Beach Road. held. All rights reserved. Liu, G. form of entertainment – the Skating Dinner. To (2006). Raffles Hotel. Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.

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the accompaniment of a live orchestra, grown men and women put on roller skates supplied by the hotel and “… skated about with the utmost glee until 11 o’clock when the fun had to stop despite the great anxiety of the guests to prolong the rinking”.2 German author Hermann Hesse was clearly not bemused by the noise emanating from such a party on the night he spent at the Raffles. He recorded in his diary dated 29 October 1911: “the gigantic hotel is horrible acoustically and echoes like a drum in its vast corridors and stairways”.3 (Top) Revellers all dressed up at In the heady days before World War II, tick- a New Year’s Fancy Dress Ball ets for the legendary New Year’s Fancy Dress at the Raffles Hotel, c. 1930s.All Ball would be booked out weeks in advance. The rights reserved. Liu, G. (2006). Raffles Hotel. Singapore: Edi- first such party was held on 1 January 1911 and tions Didier Millet. was reported to be a resounding success by the (Top right) Postcard of Raffles press. The guest list was invariably European Hotel from the 1950s. Courtesy with the occasional moneyed Peranakan or of the Raffles Hotel and National Chinese making an appearance. Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board. The opening of the capacious grand ball- (Above) The capacious Raffles room in 1921 further heightened the attraction Hotel ballroom which opened of the Raffles Hotel. Lively tea dances from 5 to in 1921 – said to be the largest 7pm, and regular dance evenings and concerts in Asia at the time − was where dance evenings, concerts and became the mainstay of the social calendar, with musical shows took place. All music provided by the Raffles Hotel Orchestra rights reserved. Liu, G. (2006). under the baton of musical director F.A. Cooke. (Above) A selection of Raffles Hotel menu cards from the 1930s. From left, Raffles Hotel. Singapore: Edi- sumptuous offerings for breakfast (10 July 1934), lunch (8 February 1936) and The ballroom also added to the continuing dinner (5 July 1934). On the back of the 17 September 1936 menu card is the tions Didier Millet. popularity of the New Year’s Fancy Dress Ball, (Right) The English writer Rud- entertainment programme for the evening. Cocktail dances were held on Monday, yard Kipling (1865–1936) was so which remained a fixture until World War II. Now Wednesday and Friday evenings, while the Orchestral Concerts took over on taken with the dining options at there was a proper place to show off the quick- Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. On all six evenings, after-dinner dances took the Raffles Hotel after a trip to place at the grand ballroom until midnight (Sunday was presumably a quiet day step and foxtrot after the stroke of midnight, the at the Raffles!) By 1931, the hotel had fallen on hard times as a series of poor Singapore in 1889 that he moved dance floor only slightly overshadowed by the to write, “Feed at the Raffles business decisions by its Armenian owners, the Sarkies brothers, had left the Hotel and sleep at the Hotel de outrageous costumes revelers would turn up in. Raffles saddled in debt. Looking at these lavish menu cards, however, it is dif- l’Europe” (the latter was the The party atmosphere at the Raffles was ficult to imagine the financial difficulties the hotel was mired in. other notable lodgings at the clearly contagious, as British traveller Beatrice (Left) In comparison, the breakfast menu offerings some 30 years earlier on 9 August 1903 were decidedly more spartan. time). What Kipling didn’t know Borland observed during her stay at the hotel was that by 1900, the Raffles in 1933: “The truth of the matter is, it is impos- would overshadow the Hotel de l’Europe on all counts, including sible to lead a simple life at the Raffles Hotel, its rooms. All rights reserved. so you might as well join in the all-pervading Liu, G. (2006). Raffles Hotel. air of wicked gaiety”.4 Singapore: Editions Didier Millet.

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(Left and middle) Menu cover and specially crafted dishes to mark the coronation of their majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on 12 May 1937. It must have taken some creativity to come up with dishes that spell out the word “Coronation”. Pity that the chef decided on “Or real clear turtle soup with sherry” for the letter “O” instead of dishing out something obvious like oxtail soup. (Right) According to the book Raffles Hotelby Gretchen Liu, this menu was created for a dinner held in honour of Song Ong Siang, a Queen’s Scholar and author of the book One Hundred Years’ History of the Chinese in Singapore. 2

The Rare Materials Collection (Above) The Royal Society of St George was founded in 1894 with the aim of All the menus featured in this article were promoting "Englishness" and the English way of life in countries wherever the donated to the National Library, Singapore, by British had settled. The Singapore branch was founded in 1925. Sir Lawrence Roberto Pregarz, who was General Manager Guillemard, then Governor of the Straits Settlements, became a patron and life member of the society. Pictured here is the celebratory menu and programme of Raffles Hotel from 1972 to 1989. He is a for the society’s “England Day” menu on 6 May 1937. collector of historical memorabilia from the Raffles Hotel, and the author of two books: Memories of Raffles: 22 Years with a Grand Old Hotel and Raffles Legends and Stories. These menus are part of the National Library’s Rare Materials Collection. The collection – which is kept in a climate con- trolled facility on level 13 of the National Library − comprises over 11,000 items, mostly books and periodicals, but also materials such as manuscripts, maps, photographs, art prints and illustrations, as well as handwritten letters and documents. To provide access to the materials, the Rare Materials Collection is being digitised and made available on National Library’s BookSG website at http://eresources.nlb. gov.sg/printheritage. Microfilm copies are also available at level 11 of the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library (Singapore & Southeast Asian Collection) at NLB Build- ing. To view the originals, please email your request to [email protected]

(Above) The menu card of the Jubilee Dinner held on 6 May 1935 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary. (Above) Festive menu covers from Christmas and New Year’s Eve dinners in Whoever crafted this menu to spell out the words “Jubilee Dinner” must have Notes 1932, and Christmas 1936. really struggled to come up with the appropriate dishes. The letter “U” for 1 Liu, G. (1999). Singapore: A pictorial history, 1819–2000 (Far right) French fare was served for dinner on Christmas Day 1936. “Unless you prefer turtle soup with golden sherry” is rather lame and one (p. 123). Singapore: National Heritage Board and Editions wonders what inventive dessert dish called “Raffles” the chef had concocted Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING 959.57 LIU-[HIS] for the letter “R”! 2 Liu, G. (2006). Raffles Hotel(p. 49). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING q915.9570613 LIU-[TRA] 3 Liu, G. (2006). Raffles Hotel (p. 50). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING q915.9570613 LIU-[TRA] 4 Liu, G. (2006). Raffles Hotel (p. 82). Singapore: Editions Didier Millet. Call no.: RSING q915.9570613 LIU-[TRA]

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The theatre scene changed with the emer- put a huge dampener on Chinese theatre for gence of local playwrights such as Lim Chor the rest of the decade, although a few groups About the Exhibition Pee (1936–2006) and Goh Poh Seng (1936–2010). continued to perform regularly. “Script & Stage: Theatre Driven by a passion for literature and theatre, as in Singapore from the 50s well as a desire to see Malayan realities depicted The Flourishing 80s to 80s” is held on levels on stage, they went on to establish the first two 7 and 8 of the National local amateur English-language theatre clubs in The 1980s was something of a game-changer Library Building until 26 Singapore – ETC by Lim and Centre ‘65 by Goh. for local theatre, seeing several leaps in innova- March 2017. Both Lim, a lawyer by profession, and Goh, a doc- tion and quality in both script writing as well as A series of pro- tor, shared similar backgrounds, having received theatre production. grammes has been organ- their higher education in the UK. Practitioners and playwrights such as Kuo ised in conjunction with the Their works are considered as important Pao Kun, Stella Kon, Ong Keng Seng and Michael exhibition, including pub- milestones in Singaporean English literature and Chiang began writing and producing works that lic talks by playwrights, planted the seeds for a local English-language could stand up to foreign productions in terms directors and artistes; theatre scene – even as playwrights struggled of quality and critical reception with Singapore guided tours by curators; to find a “Singaporean voice” on stage. Lim’s audiences and critics. and school tours. For breakthrough Mimi Fan (1962), for instance, High-quality scripts and productions such more information, look is now considered Singapore’s first English- as Kuo Pao Kun’s groundbreaking The Coffin is up the website: www.nlb. language play. Too Big for the Hole (1985) and the multilingual gov.sg/exhibitions/ A new exhibition on Singapore theatre traces its growth The mid-1960s is often referred to as the Mama Looking For Her Cat (1988), and Stella Kon’s “Golden Age” of Tamil theatre in Singapore monodrama, Emily of Emerald Hill (1984) resulted from its nascent days in the 1950s when traditional art because of the proliferation of quality local scripts in several amateur theatre groups turning pro- and the large number of troupes staging Tamil- fessional – like Practice Theatre Ensemble (now forms were dominant, as Georgina Wong explains. language plays. known as The Theatre Practice), TheatreWorks However, the Tamil theatre scene was not and the Necessary Stage. without its problems. A small Tamil population in By the early 1990s, the local theatre scene Although theatre in Singapore has a relatively Chinese wayang (street opera) or bangsawan Singapore meant that audiences were limited and had come into its own, paving the way for new short history of some 60 years, with its founda- ­(Malay opera). While there was a revival of the- theatre troupes struggled to stay afloat. In spite of amateur theatre groups to emerge and contribute tions having been laid only in the 1950s, it is atre activity after the Japanese Occupation until this, Tamil theatre continued to grow and expand to the vibrant performing arts scene we see today made complicated by the fact that the various the 1950s, local playwriting was still very much into other forms of media such as the radio. in Singapore. acommunities who engaged with theatre in the in its infancy. Although there was a lack of good early days did so independently of one another. quality scripts from Malayan playwrights, this The Experimental 70s Thus, the Chinese, Malay, Tamil and English did not stop theatre groups from experimenting theatre scenes developed in parallel, relatively and regularly staging plays. Within the Malay community for instance, a new isolated within each community, and rarely crossed For post-war theatre practitioners, the generation of dramatists emerged in the 1970s boundaries until the 1980s when multilingual performance stage provided a platform to portray and began pushing the boundaries of Malay and multidisciplinary productions were staged. social realities and the clash of cultures. Theatre theatrical art forms. These playwrights were Therefore, any attempt to study and understand was also regarded as an agent for change and looking to create a new form of theatre that would Singaporean theatre as a unified whole is extremely action within the Chinese community in the 1950s. shape a unique identity for contemporary Malay challenging, and likely explains the dearth of Theatre activity in schools was often politically drama that was independent of Western influence. research and documentation on the subject. charged, and reflected the socio-political issues One innovative result was the incorporation of (Left) Programme booklet and “Script & Stage: Theatre in Singapore from and sentiments of the day. traditional Malay art forms, such as silat (Malay handwritten draft of Mama Look- the 50s to 80s” – which takes place on levels 7 and This was a time when the Chinese com- martial arts) into contemporary plays. ing For Her Cat by Kuo Pao Kun. (Below) Guests at the launch 8 of the National Library Building until 26 March munity viewed the British colonial government In general, the theatre scene in the 1970s of “Script & Stage: Theatre in 2017 − tracks the development of this art form as being biased against the Chinese-educated. struggled on several fronts. English theatre, in Singapore from the 50s to 80s” over four decades, from its inception and forma- Policies such as the National Service Ordinance particular, was badly hit by the withdrawal of on 27 October 2016. tive years in the turbulent post-war period of the (1954), the white paper on bilingual education British troops from Singapore. The expatriate 1950s and 60s to its growth and maturity in the in Chinese-medium schools (1953) and the community had made up the majority of theatre 1970s and 80s. All this would lead to a flourishing deregistration of the Singapore Chinese Middle practitioners and audiences since World War II. theatre scene in the 1990s and beyond. Schools Students’ Union (1956) were viewed by Tamil theatre struggled with small audi- The exhibition is by no means exhaustive, but the Chinese as infringements on their autonomy ences and talent pools from which to draw. Sev- seeks to give a general overview of the develop- and culture – and would result in violent street eral Tamil drama groups, including the Rational ment of theatre in relation to the social and politi- protests and riots. Drama Troupe, were forced to shut down in the cal history of Singapore through the performing late 1960s due to financial difficulties. arts collection of the National Library. Here are The Burgeoning 60s The Chinese theatre scene flourished for a Georgina Wong is an some pivotal moments in our theatre scene over while in the early 1970s. According to Kuo Jian Assistant Curator with Exhibitions & Curation the four significant decades. Up until the 1960s, English-language theatre in Hong, artistic director of The Theatre Practice, at the National Library, Singapore had been the preserve of the expatriate theatre venues would be packed with people Singapore. She is the lead The Turbulent 50s European community, staged by amateur groups watching plays that were often left-leaning. curator of "Script & Stage: such as The Stage Club and The Scene Shifters. In 1976, however, there was a crackdown on Theatre in Singapore from Pre-war theatre in Singapore was generally What little local English playwriting that existed leftist elements in the community and several the 50s to 80s". restricted to traditional art forms such as took place mainly in schools and universities. key theatre practitioners were detained. This

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Iconic Theatre Across the Decades literary association Angkatan Sasterawan ’50 (or ASAS ’50), the partnership saw ASAS ’50 providing quality scripts and Persatuan Kemun- The 50s ing staging the plays. This was not uncommon 家, Jia (Family). Adapted by 曹禺 (Cao Yu, in the Malay literary scene, where writers often 1910–1996) from the novel by 巴金 (Ba Jin, crossed over into drama and vice versa. 1904–2005 ). Presented by the Chung Cheng One of the founders of ASAS ’50 was the High School Drama Club, 1954 Singaporean Malay literary pioneer Masuri In 1954, Jia was staged at the Victoria S.N. Better known as a poet, Matahari Malam Theatre for 16 days to full houses, a milestone in was one of the few plays Masuri wrote in his Malayan theatre. Over 200 people were involved lifetime, along with Dari Curfew. Regarded as in the production, with each performance held a bold experimental work, Matahari is about over two nights and lasting more than six hours. an author who is confronted by five fictional Tickets were sold out within three days – a characters of his own creation, who express remarkable feat considering it was not a fund- displeasure at how their characters and sto- raising production. rylines are being written. The play was written in 1931 by the well- 寻找小猫的妈妈, Xunzhao xiaomao de mama known Chinese writer Ba Jin, who based it on (Mama Looking For Her Cat). Directed by Kuo his childhood years in Sichuan province, China. Pao Kun (1939–2002). Staged by the Practice Jia exposes the dark, repressive side of a feudal Theatre Ensemble, 1988. References Chinese family through the lives of three broth- Till today, Kuo’s iconic work, which he 柯思仁 [Ke, S.R.]. (2013).《戏聚百年: 新 ers. The play highlights the oppressiveness of 加坡华文戏剧 1913–2013》[Scenes: wrote in 1988, is considered as one of the most the old social system in China, and how a young A hundred years of Singapore influential productions in Singapore’s theatre generation tries to break free from it. Chinese language theatre history. The production was performed by a 1913–2013 ]. 戏剧盒: 新加坡国家 博物馆. Call no.: Chinese RSING multiracial ensemble who used four languages 792.095957 QSR The 60s and three Chinese dialects on stage: English, 周宁. (主编) [Zhou, N. (Ed.)]. (2007). Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Hokkien, Cantonese The Elder Brother. Goh Poh Seng (1936–2010). 《东南亚华语戏剧史》[History and Teochew. The actors also employed non- Produced by The Lotus Club, University of of the Chinese theatre in verbal expressions such as body movements Southeast Asia]. Xiamen: 厦门 Singapore, 1966 and gestures to explore the widening language 大学出版社. Call no.: Chinese The staging of The Elder Brother is cited as RSING 792.0959 HIS divide in Singapore. the first time Singlish was used on a public stage. Don, R., et al. (Eds.). (2001). The world The play examines the consequences of Goh, who wrote the play in 1966, was a novice encyclopedia of contemporary language policies in Singapore, resulting in theatre: Asia/Pacific. London: playwright at the time, experimenting with differ- Mama, who speaks only Hokkien, becoming Taylor & Francis. Retrieved from ent forms of the English language to find a fit that estranged from her English-speaking son. Googlebooks website. would properly represent English as it was used Krishnan, S. (Ed.). 9 lives: 10 years of Singapore theatre 1987–1997: and spoken in Singapore. The characters in the Essays. Singapore: The Stage. play use a mix of English and Singlish on stage. The 80s Call no.: RSING 792.095957 NIN Mohamad Nazri Ahmad. (2000). Seni அ翁埍埁 ퟀ翍翁 அண்达சாம ி Adukku Emily of Emerald Hill. Stella Kon (1944–). Persembahan Drama Melayu Veetu Annasamy (Annasamy: A Flat Dweller). Directed by Max Le Blond,1985. Moden. Bangi: Penerbit Universiti ꯁ鏁மை தாசꟍ Puthumaithasan (P. Krish- This was a breakthrough for English-lan- Kebangsaan Malaysia. Call no.: nan, 1932–). Broadcast on Radio Singapura guage theatre in Singapore when it was staged in Malay R 899.282 MOH Oon, C. (2001). Theatre life: A history from 1969–70. 1985 with Margaret Chan in the lead role. Written of English-language theatre in Adukku Veetu Annasamy is a radio drama in 1982 while Kon was living in Edinburgh, UK, Singapore through The Straits series written by P. Krishnan (also known as the play has been produced well over 50 times in Times (1958–2000). Singapore: Puthumaithasan) that was broadcast weekly from Singapore, Malaysia and around the world. The Singapore Press Holdings. Call 1969 to 1970. Thanks to several repeat broadcasts monodrama is influenced by Kon’s Peranakan no.: RSING 792.095957 OON Sikana, M., & A. Raman Hanafiah. between 1975 and 1985, the play captivated radio (Straits Chinese) heritage, and draws inspiration (2008). Sejarah kesusasteraan audiences for almost 20 years. It revolves around from her childhood home on Emerald Hill and Melayu moden: Drama. Kuala Annasamy, a man who observes and comments on the life of her maternal grandmother. Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan the lives of the people living in his housing estate, All the scenes in Emily are performed by Pustaka. Call no.: Malay R 899.28209 ABD with his wife Kokilavani. It is noteworthy for its a single actress, who mimes and interacts with Sarma, S.S. [எ. எ. சர்뮾]. depiction of the everyday lives of Singaporeans. unseen characters on and off stage. Its simplic- (2004). நாடக믍 நடத் 鎿ன�ோ믍 ity was considered avant-garde for its time, but [Nāţakam naţattinom]. what was most innovative was the play’s use of The 70s ச ிங்ꯍꯂர: எ. எ. சர்뮾 language. Emily’s ability to switch seamlessly [Cinkappūr: Es. Es. Carmā]. Call no.: Tamil RSING 894.8112 SAR Matahari Malam (The Night’s Sun). Masuri from Singlish and a mix of Malay and Hokkien to Varathan, S., & Sagul Hamid. (2008). S.N. (Masuri bin Salikun, 1927–2005). Staged proper English with a clipped British accent held Development of Tamil drama in by Persatuan Kemuning Singapura, 1978. audiences in thrall. It also set the standard for Singapore. Singapore: Singapore Written as a collaborative effort between an authentic Singaporean voice to be expressed Indian Artistes Association. Call no.: RSING 792.095957 VAR-[SRN] the drama group Persatuan Kemuning and the on stage in the following decades.

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