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The 1961 Kampong Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the Making of Modern Singapore

The 1961 Kampong Bukit Ho Swee Fire and the Making of Modern Singapore

The 1961 Kampong Fire and the Making of Modern

Loh Kah Seng

B.A.(Hons), M.A. (NUS)

This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of Murdoch University

2008

I declare that this thesis is my own account of my research and contains as its main content work which has not previously been submitted for a degree at any tertiary education institution.

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Loh Kah Seng

The 1961 Kampong Bukit Ho Swee fire (Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore)

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Burn, burn! Burn, burn, burn, burn…

The scorching rays of the sun Accompany the howling wind--- Ah! Rows of attap roofs suddenly dissolve in a sea of fire! Thick clouds of smoke, like a ferocious dinosaur, Engulf the skies!

Pi bo pi bo… Balls of fire and burning flames Extend themselves from the source of the fire in four directions With great force and power, Flashing brightly, and dancing through the air.

Ah! One by one, on the attap roofs, The wicked fire demon madly spins and leaps about! Countless columns of water Strike and spray on the fire demon like a silver whip;

However, With ease, the heartless fire demon roars in laughter!

Hua la la la… Walls crumble; Coconut trees fall… A sudden loud, deafening sound! What has exploded in the fire site? ----Terrifying!

Oh dear! Even that factory has caught fire, That school has turned into a plot of scorched earth, And those shops, markets and gardens Have all been engulfed by the brutal flames!

The fire displays its prowess And demonstrates its impenetrable force of destruction; A sea of humanity, The woeful cries of fleeing people resemble those of wailing spirits! Amidst all this confusion, Men, women, old, and young, Their faces are a sheet of pale: Some mourn the loss of decades of savings and property; Others weep by the streets, Uncertain of the whereabouts of separated family members!

Whether natural disaster Or human calamity, The hearts of thousands of fire victims Have been shattered by the cruel inferno.

‘Fiery Plunder’ by Tian Liu. Sin Chew Jit Poh, 2 June 1961.

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Abstract

By 1970, Singapore’s urban landscape was dominated by high-rise blocks of planned built by the People’s Action Party government, signifying the establishment of a high modernist nation-state. A decade earlier, the margins of the City had been dominated by kampongs, home to semi-autonomous communities of low-income Chinese families which freely built, and rebuilt, unauthorised wooden houses. This change was not merely one of housing but belied a more fundamental realignment of state-society relations in the 1960s. Relocated in Housing and Development Board flats, urban kampong families were progressively integrated into the social fabric of the emergent nation-state. This study examines the pivotal role of an event, the great Kampong Bukit Ho Swee fire of 1961, in bringing about this transformation. The redevelopment of the fire site in the aftermath of the calamity brought to completion the British colonial regime’s ‘emergency’ programmes of resettling urban kampong dwellers in planned accommodation, in particular, of building emergency public housing on the sites of major fires in the 1950s. The PAP’s far greater political resolve, and the timing of and occasioned by the scale of the 1961 disaster, enabled the government to rehouse the Bukit Ho Swee fire victims in emergency housing in record time. This in turn provided the HDB with a strategic platform for clearing other kampongs and for transforming their residents into model citizens of the nation-state. The 1961 fire’s symbolic usefulness extended into the 1980s and beyond, in sanctioning the PAP’s new housing redevelopment schemes. The official account of the inferno has also become politically useful for the government of today for disciplining a new generation of Singaporeans against taking the nation’s progress for granted. Against these exalted claims of the fire’s role in the Singapore Story, this study also examines the degree of actual change and continuity in the social and economic lives of the people of Bukit Ho Swee after the inferno. In some crucial ways, the residents continued to occupy a marginal place in society while pondering, too, over the unresolved question of the cause of the fire. These continuities of everyday life reflect the ambivalence with which the citizenry regarded the high modernist state in contemporary Singapore.

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Acknowledgments

Among the early responses to my PhD research outside of the Asia Research Centre, where I was based, was a common feeling that ‘the Bukit Ho Swee fire had nothing to do with the making of modern Singapore’. Upon the completion of this study, I am pleased to say that, in addition to having made a cogent argument for my thesis, even the sceptics have made some form of contribution towards my work.

I would first like to thank Jim Warren, my supervisor, who has been both mentor and friend. I am grateful for his untiring support for my research and writing, for alerting me to a variety of ways in which I could further develop as a scholar and teacher, and most crucially, for helping me consider what it means to be an academic and public intellectual.

I am also thankful to other staff of the Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, for their ideas and support, particularly Garry Rodan, Kanishka Jayasuriya, Carol Warren, Ian Wilson, and Tamara Dent. Tracie Pollin, Sit-ling Tull and Grant Stone, librarians at Murdoch, were extremely helpful. I wish to acknowledge, too, the Division of Arts and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Murdoch for the award of three research bursaries and scholarships which substantially aided my fieldwork in Singapore in 2006-2007.

I would like to thank the Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, for having me as a Visiting Scholar during my fieldwork. I benefited from discussions with a number of staff at NUS, particularly Chua Beng Huat, Brenda Yeoh, Ann Wee, Khairudin Aljunied, Kwa Chong Guan, Hong Lysa, Greg Clancey, Paul Kratoska, Natalie Oswin, Ngiam Tee Liang, Lai Chee Kian, Lai Ah Eng, Albert Lau, Huang Jianli, and Tim Yap Fuan. In my research, I am also grateful to Erik Holmberg, Joey Long, Mok Ly Yng, Lim Chen Sian, Stephen Dobbs, Michael Pinches, Richard Harris, Nancy Kwak, Alvin Tan, Edwin Lee, Tan Siok Sun, Sunil Amrith, Raymond Goh, Riaz Hassan, and Alan Smart. I also wish to acknowledge members of the Tangent, particularly Quah Sy Ren and Chan Cheow Thia, for agreeing to publish a special issue in their journal on my research on the Bukit Ho Swee fire.

My archival research benefited from the assistance of a number of institutions and their staff: Pitt Kwan Wah, Elaine Goh, Yvonne Chan, Rahmah Saini, Yap-Wong Hwai Fey, Ng Yoke Lin, and Jason Lim of the National Archives of Singapore; Yeong Yoon Ying and Tan Lai Kheng of the Prime Minister’s Office; Aline Wong, Tony Tan, Lau Chay Yean, and Albert Sim of the Housing and Development Board; Ang Bee Lian, Rao Ker Ee and Khor Su Min of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports; Ng Ching Huei and Iskander Mydin of the National Museum of Singapore; Othman Wok; J. M. Jumabhoy; and the Ministry of Home Affairs, Internal Security Department, Singapore Civil Defence Force, Ministry of Education, Subordinate Courts, Ministry of National Development, Public Works Department, National Council of Social Service, and MediaCorp.

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I owe a special thanks to my Member of Parliament, Maliki Osman, for helping me with access to the official archives.

Finding and speaking to former kampong dwellers was an entirely different sort of challenge, and my social and intellectual debts here are owed to another group of individuals and institutions: Lily Neo, Member of Parliament for Bukit Ho Swee-Kim Seng constituency; Lee Wai Ying of Bukit Ho Swee Court Residents’ Committee; Gerard Ee and his staff, past and present, of Beyond Social Services; Michael of Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society; Sister Molly Lim of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary; Oak3 Films; Yesterday.sg; and Michael Fernandez, Tan Jing Quee, Linz Lim, Nurul Asyikin Mohd Yunus, Mohd Kamal Jauhari Bin Zaini, Bob Sim, Jack Chia, Melissa Sim, Ho Chi Tim, Ernest Koh, Victor Yue, P. Chitty, Lim Chin Joo, Wui Swee Huan, Seng Yu Jin, Ten Leu-Jiun, Peter Lim Heng Loong, Javier Li, Elena Chia, Wil-kie Tan, Koh Soo Hoon, Eng Yee Peng, Chan Weng Kin, Edward Wan, Koo H. P., Qi Qian, Fiona Chen, and Seng Guo Quan.

My thanks in particular to Lily Neo and Lee Wai Ying for allowing me to place an open letter in Bukit Ho Swee Estate welcoming the residents to participate in my research.

I wish also to record my appreciation of working with Jane Jacobs and Stephen Cairns, of Edinburgh University, in their interviews with residents of Block 22 in July 2007.

Friends and former students assisted me considerably by transcribing some of my interviews, particularly Melissa Sim, Su Yuhan, Neo Xiao Yun, Jack Chia, Cindy Lim, Jacyln Tan, Lim Gui Hui, Gina Phang, and Fang Shihan.

I am deeply indebted to my family, to Si Wei and Mr Brown, and to friends who fed me and showed other forms of encouragement, both tangible and otherwise, throughout my journey of discovery and recovery of the past: Stephii Chok (who also proofread my thesis), Elaine Llarena, Lynn Seah, Tan Teng Phee, Henry Chen, Carolin Liss, Brian Tai, Yasuko Kobayashi, Luky Djani, Jay Ram Adhikari, Lim Cheng Tju, Kay Gillis, Kurt Stenross, Ang Cheng Guan, and Ng Eng Ping.

Finally, this study would not have been possible without the memories, reflections and social contacts of my interviewees, many of whom treated me with both seriousness and kindness in remembering a momentous event in their personal pasts. By detailing their life stories with empathy and imagination, I hope to acknowledge their important role in this research, and in the making of modern Singapore.

LKS April 2008

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Contents

Abstract iii Acknowledgments iv Tables ix Maps x Photographs xi Abbreviations xv Glossary of Terms and Phrases xvii

Introduction 1 Fires in History 3 Documents and Memories 11

Chapter 1 Movement into the Margin 17 Between Staying and Moving 21 Increase in Family Life 25 Exodus from ‘Pigeon Cages’ 34 Negotiating Family and Workplace 39 Direct Arrivals 48 Mobile Families and ‘Unscrupulous Racketeers’ 53

Chapter 2 ‘Black Area’ 59 Origins 61 Fire, Bombs and Sentries 64 The Shadow Economy 70 Community of the Living, the Dead and the Pigs 89 The Pai Kia and the Children 99

Chapter 3 A Roar from the Oppressed People 113 Transforming ‘Old Singapore’ 114 Representations 118 Sanitation and Surveillance 126 Demolition and Dishousing: The Work of the Municipal Commission 131 and the City Council Clearance and Resettlement: the SIT Response 136 Planning and Zoning 144 Resistance and Mobilisation 153 Bukit Ho Swee and Hong Lim Pa Sat 166

Chapter 4 With Wood and Attap Came Fire 173 The Kindling Kampongs 174 Million Dollar Fire: Kampong Bugis, 1951 183 Scene of Indescribable Confusion: Lorong 3, 1953 185 No to Non-combustible Attap Roofing: Aljunied Road, 1953 186 Festival Fire: Kampong Tiong Bahru, 1955 188 Six Dead: Kampong Koo Chye, 1958 189 The Voluntary Kampong Fire-fighting Squads 190 Friday 13: Kampong Tiong Bahru, 1959 194

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Living with Fire 197

Chapter 5 Fire Emergency 205 ‘Not prepared to live far from their work’, Kampong Bugis, 1951 206 ‘14-day wonder’, Geylang Lorong 3, 1953 210 ‘Units of this type should in future be built only in rural areas’, 213 Aljunied Road, 1953 ‘Permitted to rebuild accommodation themselves within the fire area’, 217 Kampong Tiong Bahru, 1955 ‘Happy to return to their former neighbourhood’, Kampong Koo Chye, 220 1958 ‘The opportunity to clean up the area must not be lost’, Kampong 230 Tiong Bahru, 1959

Chapter 6 The Unprecedented Inferno 251 174-A Kampong Tiong Bahru, about 3 pm 251 Beo Lane-Bukit Ho Swee [Road], from 3.30 pm 260 Or Kio Tau-Havelock Road, from Roughly 4.30 pm 275 Delta Estate, about 5.30 pm 284 Arc of Destruction 286

Chapter 7 State of Emergency 295 Fire Site 295 A Maelstrom of Activity at the Relief Centre 299 Operation Shift 318 The Big Singapore Debate 324 The Anger and the Rumours 329

Chapter 8 Nine Months 343 ‘A war on the all too familiar ogres and giants’: The PAP’s Public 343 Housing Policy, 1960 ‘You cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs’: The HDB’s 353 Managers and Architects ‘A God-sent opportunity’: Emergence of Bukit Ho Swee Estate 358 End of a Fatal Experiment: The Emergency Housing of Bukit Ho Swee 378 ‘A planned new city will be built’: The Making of Modern Singapore 386

Chapter 9 Change and Continuity: 1962-2008 401 The Flats: Revitalisation and Modernity 402 Becoming Good and Loyal Citizens 417 ‘Tong Kor’: Work and Resignation to Poverty 424 The Estate beyond the Law 434 The Gangs and the Socially Detached Youth 443

Chapter 10 Memory, Myth and Identity 457 The Making of a Myth 459 Romancing the Kampong, Rebooting the Estate 477 Undying Rumours 485

Conclusion 491

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Appendix Localities and Residents of Kampong Bukit Ho Swee 497

Bibliography 507

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Tables

Table 1.1: Components of Population Growth, 1881-1931 22 Table 1.2: Components of Singapore’s Population Growth, 1931-1970 28 Table 1.3: Migration Statistics in Singapore, 1947-1953 29 Table 1.4: Population and Economic Characteristics of Urban 46 Kampong Dwellers Table 3.1: Kampong Inspection by the City Council, 1949-1960 128 Table 3.2: Number of Dwellings in Urban Kampongs in 1948 & 1958 130 Table 3.3: Distribution of Population under the Master Plan between 149 1953 and 1972 Table 3.4: Redistribution of Attap Population under the Master Plan 150 Table 3.5: Tolerated Attap Areas 150 Table 3.6: Selected Clearance Areas 151 Table 3.7: Urban Planning Districts in the Master Plan, 1955 152 Table 3.8: Clearance Areas by Priority, 1955 153 Table 4.1: Number of Fires, Fire Risk & Fire Damage in Singapore, 175 1930-1965 Table 4.2: List of Kampongs in the City Area in Order of Fire Risk, 177 1954 Table 4.3: Main Causes of Fires in Singapore, 1949-1970 182 Table 4.4: Fire-Fighting Squads in Urban and Rural Kampongs 191 Table 5.1: Possible Housing Sites for Emergency Housing, 1958 229 Table 8.1: Type and Pace of Construction of Bukit Ho Swee Estate, 369 1961-1965 Table 8.2: Demand for Bukit Ho Swee Phase II Contract I Flats, 1962 383 Table 8.3: Demand for 1-Room Communal Flats, 1962 384

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Maps

Map 1.1: Urban Kampongs in Singapore c. 1955 18 Map 1.2: Percentage Increase in the Population of Singapore 34 Municipality, 1936-1947 Map 2.1: Localities of Kampong Bukit Ho Swee, 1960 60 Map 6.1 Path of the 1961 Kampong Bukit Ho Swee Fire 261 Map 8.1 The Building Phases & Housing Blocks of Bukit Ho Swee 370 Estate Appendix Map 1: The Beo Lane-Bukit Ho Swee [Road] Locality, 1949 497 Appendix Map 2: Si Kah Teng, 1949 499 Appendix Map 3: Or Kio Tau, 1949 501 Appendix Map 4: Havelock Road below Ma Kau Thiong, 1949 502 Appendix Map 5: Hong Lim Pa Sat, 1949 504

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Photographs

Plate 1.1: Wooden houses built over a river in Singapore 20 Plate 1.2: Raised wooden houses in an urban kampong in Singapore, c. 20 1960s Plate 1.3: The children of Kampong Bukit Ho Swee, c. 1960 33 Plate 1.4: Children and youths at the Malayan Chinese Association 33 shophouse Plate 1.5: Ah Kong and Tua Pui Mah, with my parents, c. 1969 38 Plate 2.1: Tay Ho Swee 62 Plate 2.2: Kampong Bukit Ho Swee, 1948 72 Plate 2.3: Kampong Bukit Ho Swee, 1958 73 Plate 2.4: Bicycles and cars on the one-way Havelock Road 77 Plate 2.5: A provisions shop located on the ground floor of the MCA 77 shophouse, c. 1950s Plate 2.6: The empty space behind the MCA shophouse, c. 1950s 78 Plate 2.7: Large pig feeding at an interior road in Kampong Bukit Ho 84 Swee, c. 1960 Plate 2.13: A dilapidated toilet constructed of bricks and plank in the 92 Bukit Ho Swee area Plate 2.14: A pig waits near a toilet in the Bukit Ho Swee area 92 Plate 2.15: Young men at the MCA shophouse, c. 1950s 107 Plate 2.16: Young men outside a provisions shop at the MCA 107 shophouse, c. 1950s Plate 3.1: A dilapidated wooden house with attap roof in the Bukit Ho 124 Swee area Plate 3.2: Discarded household items lie in open space in the Bukit Ho 125 Swee area, 1947 Plate 3.3: Uncleared rubbish in the Bukit Ho Swee area 125 Plate 3.4: An uncovered drain with stagnant water in the Bukit Ho 126 Swee area Plate 3.5: Free-ranging pigs feed among the wooden houses in the 126 Bukit Ho Swee area, c. 1930s Plate 4.1: Ho Kok Hoe’s impression of the 1959 Kampong Tiong 196 Bahru fire Plate 5.1: Prototype emergency housing at Kolam Ayer 212 Plate 5.2: The Kampong Koo Chye Fire Rehousing Scheme 228 Plate 5.3: The 3-room terrace houses of the Kampong Tiong Bahru Fire 244 Site Phase I

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Plate 5.4: The 1-room emergency and 2-room flats of the Kampong 244 Tiong Bahru Fire Site Phase II Plate 5.5: The completed SIT emergency housing of the Tiong Bahru 245 Fire Site Scheme, October 1960 Plate 5.5: Ongoing construction at the Tiong Bahru Cemetery Scheme 245 (Ma Kau Thiong), October 1960 Plate 6.1: A family fleeing from the fire at Tiong Bahru Road 256 Plate 6.2: A fire engine is immobilised on the side of the road amid the 259 surging crowd Plate 6.3: The inferno rages in the distance as onlookers observe the 262 dark clouds of billowing smoke Plate 6.4: Sweat-drenched men attempt to establish a fire break by 264 demolishing a wooden house Plate 6.5: Residents move their belongings as the flames, visible in the 269 background, approach Plate 6.6: Men carry bulky furniture up the hill, while others rush in the 270 opposite direction to render assistance Plate 6.7: Another group of young men, carrying a heavy cupboard, 270 reach the foot of Ma Kau Thiong Plate 6.8: Onlookers are clearly visible inside the partially-completed 272 block of emergency flats at Ma Kau Thiong Plate 6.9: Fire victims guard their families’ possessions at the foot of 272 Ma Kau Thiong Plate 6.10: The flames and towering clouds of smoke are visible from 273 the foot of Ma Kau Thiong Plate 6.11: An aerial view of the fire as it heads north towards 273 Havelock Road Plate 6.12: The fire, driven by a strong wind, changes direction and 274 moves northwest from Beo Lane towards Delta Estate Plate 6.13: Beo Lane after the fire 274 Plate 6.14: Fire-fighters and policemen attempt to control the fire- 277 fighting effort Plate 6.15: A shop on the ground floor of the MCA shophouse gutted 278 by the flames Plate 6.16: Inspecting the damage to the shop 278

Plate 6.17: A lorry belonging to ‘广源兴’ company in Bukit 283 Ho Swee drives away the family’s possessions along Zion Road Plate 6.18: The fire has reached Delta Estate 285 Plate 6.19: Safe from the fire but heart-broken 287

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Plate 6.20: Koeh Sia Yong depicts a family’s grief in ‘失去家园’ 288 (‘Lost Homes’) Plate 6.21: Artist Liu Kang’s painting on the sorrow of Chinese 288 families who had lost their homes in the inferno Plate 7.1: Fire victims search through the debris at the fire site 297 Plate 7.2: Families with buckets search in the charred ruins 297 Plate 7.3: Tan Geok Hak’s Singer sewing machine, still being used, in 298 her flat in Bukit Ho Swee, 2006 Plate 7.4: Fire victims at the relief centre 302 Plate 7.5: Boys and girls bathe at the standpipes installed in the relief 304 centre Plate 7.6: A British army blanket, held by Jack Chia, still in the 304 possession of Tan Geok Hak, 2006 Plate 7.7: Relatives and friends wait in queue at the gate of the relief 305 centre while the fire victims wait within the school compounds Plate 7.8: Registration at the relief centre 307 Plate 7.9. The Pepsi-Cola Factory at Havelock Road and the PAP Delta 312 Branch jointly set up a stall at the relief centre to raise funds Plate 7.10: Nestle Company provides hot drinks for the fire victims 312 Plate 7.11: Lee Ah Gar’s relief card issued by the Social Welfare 316 Department Plate 7.12: A woman with toddler recalls her tragedy and reviews the 318 uncertainty of life in the future Plate 7.13: Operation Shift 321 Plate 7.14: A family of five, assisted by two students of River Valley 321 Middle School, prepare to enter their temporary HDB flat Plate 8.1: Artist Tan Choo Kuan’s impression of the rapid rebuilding of 362 the fire site Plate 8.2: Roy Chan with author at Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, 2007 366 Plate 8.3: The official opening of the newly-completed modern 368 emergency housing at Ma Kau Thiong Plate 8.4: The emergence of Bukit Ho Swee Estate, November 1962 371 Plate 8.5: The southern half of Bukit Ho Swee Estate, April 1963 372 Plate 8.6: A picture of Bukit Ho Swee Estate taken from the direction 372 of Delta Estate Plate 8.7: The 6-storey 1-room emergency flats of Block 3 along Jalan 383 Bukit Ho Swee Plate 9.1: Png Pong Tee with author at her home, 2008 404 Plate 9.2: The proximate spot where the 1961 inferno started, 2006 413

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Plate 9.3: A mix of unchanged private and redeveloped public 414 architecture, 2006 Plate 9.4: Block 34 along Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, 2006 414 Plate 9.5: Flats in Taman Ho Swee selected for en bloc redevelopment, 415 2006 Plate 9.6: Ongoing construction of new HDB flats for residents in the 415 locality affected by the SERS, 2008 Plate 9.7: The unrelenting pursuit of architectural modernity in 416 Singapore, 2007 Plate 9.8: The massive Tiong Bahru Plaza, a multi-purpose ‘one-stop’ 416 shopping mall, 2007 Plate 9.9: Ong Chye Ho’s ‘pillar space’ at Block 79, Indus Road, 2006 418 Plate 9.10: HDB flats along Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, built after the 1961 419 fire, 2007 Plate 9.11: Mothers and their children socialising in the day in the open 427 space behind Block 48, Beo Crescent, c. 1980 Plate 9.12: The 1-room flats of Block 33, facing each other across a 432 common corridor, 2006 Plate 9.13: Block 48, Beo Crescent, at the edge of Bukit Ho Swee 437 Estate Plate 9.14: Jalan Bukit Ho Swee 437 Plate 9.15: The children of ‘NC’ at Block 44, Beo Crescent, c. 1980 451 Plate 9.16: In the foreground, walking away from ‘NC’, are the ‘street 451 children’ of Bukit Ho Swee Estate, c. 1980 Plate 9.17: Author on a swing at Taman Ho Swee, c. 1970s 455 Plate 9.18: Author at a playground just outside Block 28, Jalan 455 Membina, c. 1970s Plate 10.1: Ng Hoot Seng, 2006 457 Plate 10.2: 1-room flats along Jalan Bukit Ho Swee 462 Plate 10.3: The Bukit Ho Swee fire exhibit at the Civil Defence 472 Heritage Gallery, Central Fire Station, 2006 Plate 10.4: The Bukit Ho Swee fire exhibit at the HDB Gallery, HDB 473 Hub, 2006 Plate 10.5: The intersection of historical event, education and social 473 memory Appendix Plate 1: The Beo Lane-Bukit Ho Swee locality, 1958 498 Appendix Plate 2: Si Kah Teng, 1958 500 Appendix Plate 3: The Or Kio Tau locality up to Ganges Avenue, 1958 501 Appendix Plate 4: Havelock Road below Ma Kau Thiong, 1958 503

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Appendix Plate 5: Hong Lim Pa Sat, 1958 505

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Abbreviations

ARP Air Raid Precaution BH Berita Harian BHSFNRF Bukit Ho Swee Fire National Relief Fund BHSSSC Bukit Ho Swee Social Service Centre BMA British Military Administration CC City Council CC ABSD City Council Architect and Building Surveyor’s Department CC ED City Council Engineer’s Department CC HD City Council Health Department CEO Chief Executive Officer CID Criminal Investigations Department CO Colonial Office DOE Department of Education EDB Economic Development Board FD Fire Department FMS Federated Malay States FO Foreign Office gpm gallons per minute GRC Group Representation Constituency HB/HDB Housing and Development Board MC Ministry of Culture MCA Malayan Chinese Association MCP Malayan Communist Party MD Medical Department ME/MOE Ministry of Education MOF Ministry of Finance MLW Ministry of Labour and Welfare MLGLH Ministry of Lands, Local Government and Housing MND Ministry of National Development MP Member of Parliament MRCA Monthly Review of Chinese Affairs MT Malaya Tribune

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MUP Main Upgrading Programme NAS National Archives of Singapore NC Nazareth Centre NFWP Nanfang Wan Pau NYSP Nanyang Siang Pau OHC Oral History Centre PA People’s Association PAP People’s Action Party PRO Public Relations Office PS Permanent Secretary RCS Radio Corporation of Singapore RG Record Group SADA Singapore Attap Dwellers’ Association SBC Singapore Broadcasting Corporation SCJP Sin Chew Jit Poh SCPA Singapore Country People’s Association SCSS Singapore Council of Social Service SERS Selective En Bloc Redevelopment Scheme SFA Singapore Farmers’ Association SFB Singapore Fire Brigade SFP Singapore Free Press SIT Singapore Improvement Trust SJRO Singapore Joint Relief Organisation SLAD Singapore Legislative Assembly Debates SM Singapore Monitor SPD Singapore Parliamentary Debates SPF Singapore Police Force SRRA Singapore Rural Residents’ Association SS Singapore Standard ST Straits Times SWD Social Welfare Department SWHDA Singapore Wooden House Dwellers’ Association TOL Temporary Occupation Licence UMSU University of Malaya Students’ Union

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Glossary of Terms and Phrases

本性不坏 ‘Their nature was good’ in Mandarin

半天 ‘Halfway into the sky’ in Mandarin

趁火打劫 ‘Taking opportunity of a fire to rob’ in Mandarin

吃什么头路? ‘What is your livelihood?’ in Mandarin

顶呱呱 ‘Very good’ in Mandarin

河水山 Bukit Ho Swee in Mandarin

黑区 ‘Black area’ in Mandarin

很自由, 很自在 ‘Very free, very carefree’ in Mandarin

轰轰的 ‘Hot’ in Mandarin

火不会认识你跟我 ‘The fire would not distinguish between you and me’ in Mandarin

见惯不怪 ‘You grow accustomed to what you frequently see’ in Mandarin

空前大火 ‘The unprecedented inferno’ in Mandarin

你们灾民住屋子一 ‘Are you fire victims living in the flats sure that you don’t have to pay rent?’ in Mandarin 定是不必付屋租吗?

上上下下 ‘Regulars’ in Mandarin

失去家园 ‘Lost homes’ in Mandarin

天阴之别 ‘Vast difference’ in Mandarin

我们没有路可以走 ‘We had no other roads to walk’ in Mandarin 了

乡村 Village in Mandarin

又是好象河水山 ‘Just like another Bukit Ho Swee’ in Mandarin

这种话你不可以说 ‘This sort of things you cannot say’ in Mandarin

终身注定 ‘Life is fated’ in Mandarin

最有人情味 ‘A warm place to live in’ in Mandarin

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ah long ‘Loan shark’ in Hokkien, an unlicensed moneylender who makes unsecured loans at high interest rates amah Female domestic servant ang chia ‘Red car’ in Hokkien, referring to the riot truck attap Thatched roof usually made of dried nipah leaves bang kali Hokkien corruption of ‘Bengali’ bee hoon vermicelli beo Temple in Hokkien bo bian ‘Hopeless’ or ‘no choice’ in Hokkien bo lang, bo lang, kin ‘No one here, no one, quick!’ in Hokkien bodoh ‘Stupid’ in Malay bo cheng hu ‘There was no government’ in Hokkien bo ho sor chai ‘Bad place’ in Hokkien bukit Hill in Malay chai tow kway Local light dish, stir fried with eggs and radish, also known as carrot chap ji ki Twelve-digit Chinese lottery chap lak lau ‘16 storeys’ in Hokkien, referring to a 16-storey building che lor ‘Find a road’ in Hokkien chee cheong fun Local light dish, cheng tng Local , fruits and seeds in a sweet syrup chin chai ‘Easygoing’ in Hokkien puff Local , fried with curry, chicken and potatoes di siao siao ‘Mischievous’ or ‘deviant’ in Hokkien For Seng ‘Fire City’ in , referring to the City Gas Works at Kallang and more generally to the locality char bee hoon vermicelli Thick, flat stir-fried in dark soy sauce with fish cake, cockles, and or gado gado Local vegetable salad served with sauce dressing gong ‘Stunned’ in Hokkien goo li Coolie or labourer in Hokkien gu ni te ‘Milk pigs’ in Hokkien gua ‘Evict’ in Hokkien Guanyin The Goddess of Mercy in Mandarin Ho Chui Sua Bukit Ho Swee in Hokkien

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hock chap ‘Complicated’ in Hokkien Hong Lim Pa Sat ‘Hong Lim Market’ in Hokkien, referring to Covent Garden hong kau ‘Christian’ in Hokkien Hungry Ghosts Chinese festival on the fourteenth day of the seventh lunar Festival month celebrating the spirits and ghosts leaving the lower world to visit the living hwei Local informal system of rotating credit, also called tontine ikan bilis Deep fried anchovies jaga Indian watchman jalan ‘Walk’ in Malay jin cham ‘Very difficult’ in Hokkien jit bang bua tia ‘One bedroom and half a living room’ in Hokkien, referring to an improved 1-room HDB flat kampong Village in Malay kangkong Local species of leafy green vegetables karang guni Local rag and bone collectors who visit residences door-to- door killer litter Litter thrown from a high-rise flat kong ‘Panicked’ in Hokkien kua tau lui ‘Protection money’ in Hokkien, fee which secret societies extorted from businesses kua liao du lan ‘If I see them, I get very angry’ in Hokkien kway Generic term for local light dish or snack lah Local colloquial term added at the end of sentence for emphasis Rice noodles cooked in coconut curry gravy, frequently with and cockles long sai Cantonese corruption of ‘alongside’, referring to shipyard cleaner longkang Drain in Hokkien lua hiong ‘Very impressive’ in Hokkien luan kong ‘Wild talk’ in Hokkien Ma Kau Thiong ‘Macau Cemetery’ in Hokkien, referring to Tiong Bahru Cemetery, formally known in Mandarin as Lu Ye Ting and in Hokkien as Loke Yah Teng Merdeka ‘Independence’ in Malaya Mid-Autumn Festival Chinese festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month celebrating family reunion. Also known as the

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Mooncake Festival Mukim Malay term referring to subdivision of a district Nanyang ‘The South Seas’ in Mandarin, referring to the Southeast Asian region ohayo gozaimasu ‘Good morning’ in Japanese Or Kio Tau ‘At the head of the black-painted bridge’ in Hokkien, referring to the part of Havelock Road before the Delta Circus otah Local snack, spicy fish cake grilled in banana leaf pah chiu chia ‘Robbery vehicle’ in Hokkien pai kia ‘Bad kids’ in Hokkien, referring to delinquent youth or gangsters pai mia ‘Has a hard life’ in Hokkien pang keng ‘Sleeping quarters’ in Hokkien, referring to common rooms shared by low-income Chinese workers in the Central Area parang Malay equivalent of the machete Po Tui ‘Town area’ in Hokkien, referring to the Central Area or Chinatown Qing Ming Festival Chinese festival to remember and honour one’s ancestors, which involves, among other things, the burning of joss sticks and paper. Also known as All Souls Day. Local fruit and vegetable salad served in thick dark prawn paste samseng ‘Gangster’ in Hokkien si ‘Die’ in Hokkien Si Kah Teng ‘Four-legged pavilion’ in Hokkien, local term for Kampong Tiong Bahru Sio Po ‘Small Town’ in Hokkien, referring to the part of the Central Area north of the Singapore River Local light dish, vegetable taman ‘Garden’ in Malay tau suan Local dessert, soft soya bean curd in sweet syrup tey gu ‘Earth bulls’ in Hokkien, local term for the Ministry of Health’s Hawker Inspectors Ti Kong The Heavenly God in Hokkien Ti Kong Tua Temple of the Heavenly God ti lam Mattress in Hokkien tikam tikam Local gambling game commonly played by children and youths

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tiao lau ‘Jumping off a building’ in Hokkien, referring to high-rise suicide toh poon Swill collection in Hokkien tong kor ‘Painful bitterness’ in Hokkien tongkang Local cargo carrying craft towgay Bean sprouts in Hokkien towkay Employer in Hokkien tu Local snack, rice flour with ground peanut or shredded coconut filling Tua Po ‘Big Town’ in Hokkien, referring to the part of the Central Area south of the Singapore River Tua Pui Mah ‘Fat Grandma’ in Hokkien twakow Light local craft for loading and unloading goods along the Singapore River ultra vires ‘Outside one’s jurisdiction’ in Latin. Wa m chai ‘I don’t know’ in Hokkien Wah Local term added at the end of sentence for emphasis Chinese dish with stuffed bean curd and other vegetables

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