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ISSUE 1 • 2015 www.peranakan.org.sg

EDITORIAL BOOKS ON THE COVER • 3 A Brilliant 50! 46 Sarong Kebaya (detail), 2015, Acrylic on canvas, 45 x 55cm. Awards & Accolades 50 The Babas Live On Photo courtesy of the artist. Specially painted for by Alvin Ong. The Peranakan FEATURES THEATRE 4 Peranakan Arts Festival 51 The LKY Musical 8 Lee Kuan Yew, Singaporean GSA’s Hidden Truth 16 8 Glorious Lives 20 50 Things Quintessentially EVENTS Peranakan 52 The Thrill of Conventions 53 Virtually Peranakan DALAM DAPOR Chingay Spectacular 30 Learning to Cook in Christmas Joy at Peacehaven 30 Post-Independence NOTICEBOARD 36 A Much-loved Legacy 54 Federation of Peranakan Associations CHAKAP CHAKAP New Members 38 Characteristic Panache Galore

ART CHAKAP HABIS 40 A Young Painter’s Promise 55 Grand Aunty Makes 42 A Love Affair with Canvas an Entrance An Eye for Detail 43 The Adoptee as Artist DIRECTORY 44 Moving Across Images 56 The Peranakan Guide, 20 45 Bespoke Sulam Singapore

THE PERANAKAN ASSOCIATION SINGAPORE President: Peter Wee • First Vice-President: Alan Koh • Second Vice-President: Chan Eng Thai • Honorary Secretary: Ee Sin Soo • Assistant Honorary Secretary: Gwen Ong • Treasurer: Angeline Kong • Assistant Treasurer: Edmond Wong • Committee Members: Monica Alsagoff, Gavin Chan, Linda Chee, Zan Ho, Emeric Lau, Adrian Tan, Raymond Wong • For enquiries please contact Peter Wee at +65 63451220 THE PERANAKAN MAGAZINE • Editor: Linda Chee • Assistant Editor: Emeric Lau • Associate Editor: Elisabeth Chan • Editorial Committee Members: Colin Chee, Bryan Tan, Melissa Yeow • Webmaster: Edmond Wong • Designer: Michelle Yap • Advertising Manager: Alvin Sng • For advertising enquiries, please contact Alvin Sng at 9839 8188. The Peranakan is published by The Peranakan Association Singapore, Raffes City PO Box 1640, Singapore 911755. Email:[email protected] • Printer: Lithographic Print House Pte Ltd. MCI (P) 138/10/2014

All reasonable efforts have been made to identify and contact copyright holders but in some cases these could not be traced. If you hold or administer rights for materials published here, please contact the publishers. Any errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. Copyright is by the publisher. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The Peranakan magazine and The Peranakan Association Singapore disclaim all responsibilities in the articles herein, and state that the views expressed in them, if any, are those of the writers and not theirs. They assume no responsibility for unsolicited materials or articles published herein and state that the writers are wholly responsible for the veracity and authenticity of their articles.

editorial a brilliant 50! e pay tribute to Singapore’s foremost Peranakan of our early independence years: our founding Prime Minister, LeeW Kuan Yew, who passed away on 23 March. Coincidentally, Mr Lee was a member of the Golden Jubilee Committee of the Straits Chinese British Association (forerunner of our Association) back in 1950 and also served as Honorary Secretary for one term. Since the founding of Singapore in 1819, have made signifcant contributions in many felds including politics, law, business and the arts. We highlight eight of the 50 pioneers selected by the Peranakan Museum. The Association will also honour these remarkable babas and nyonyas at our Peranakan Ball on 21 August. Early November promises exciting times. The Association will showcase the inaugural Peranakan Arts Festival and also host the 28th Baba Nyonya Convention. As you turn the pages, read about the 50 things that we consider most iconic to our culture. And how home cooks managed to expand our repertoire in the past 50 years. Thank you for your patience in waiting for this issue. In the previous issue, we had announced our intention to take a breather and to produce two issues instead of four in 2015. Our committee comprises volunteers.We hope you understand. Happily, we welcome two new members to our team: Elisabeth Chan, who joins us as Associate Editor to enhance copy, and Melissa Yeow, who will help manage our administrative tasks. We hope more babas and nyonyas will step forward to help our magazine or to contribute articles of interest. Enjoy our bumper issue! Linda Chee, Editor awards & accolades ick Lee has composed a new Peter Wee, our TPAS President, On 4 November 2014, leading National Day Parade (NDP) was feted with a Pioneer author Josephine Chia was awarded theme song, Our Singapore. Generation Tribute Award the Singapore Literature Prize for DThis adds to the classic Home which from the Ministry of Culture, Non-Fiction 2014 for her book, has become a much-loved song for Community and Youth on Kampong Spirit, Gotong Royong: Life all . Our Singapore looks 27 January 2015. This was in in Potong Pasir 1955 to 1965. This is into the future recognition the frst time and pays tribute of his that Singapore’s to the pioneers contributions most prestigious of Singapore and to the Arts literary prize has founding Prime & Heritage been handed Minister Lee Kuan Sector in out to works of Yew. Dick is also the Singapore. non-fction. creative director for this year’s NDP.

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f eature LEE KUAN YEW, S INGAP DR LEE SUAN Y E W F O NDLY RECALLS THE PERANAKAN UPBRINGING AND TRADITIONAL VALUES ESPOUSED BY HIS ELDEST BROTHER, LEE KUAN Y E W O R L KY AS HE IS POPULARLY KNOWN TO SINGAPOREANS. DAUGHTER, SHERMAY LEE, JOINS THE INTERVIEW OVER AFTERNOON TEA WITH NYONYA LINDA CHEE

A Peranakan Heritage Not surprisingly, he gave LKY an English name, ingapore’s late founding Prime Minister Harry, when he was born. Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) was born at home at “Lee Hoon Leong never went to England. But S92, Kampong Java Road, on 16 September through his business dealings with the British in 1923. He was the eldest son of Peranakan parents. colonial Singapore, he realised the British respected LKY’s father, Lee Chin Koon, came to Singapore at you if you spoke their language and followed their the age of fve; he was brought from Semarang by customs. They would look down on you if you were LKY’s grandfather, Lee Hoon Leong, who had been too chinchai (easygoing) or spoke patois (Baba Malay), appointed by sugar king Oei Tiong Ham to manage ” says Dr Lee Suan Yew, the youngest of three his shipping business in Singapore. Lee Hoon brothers and a sister. “The nyonyas and babas then Leong was a Hakka Peranakan from Singapore. His spoke proper English and adopted an anglicized wife, Ko Liem Nio, was an Indonesian Peranakan lifestyle, although they were very Chinese in their from Semarang. LKY’s mother, Chua Jim Neo, was a values.” Peranakan born in Singapore. She was the LKY’s father, Lee Chin Koon, was brought up in daughter of Chua Kim Teng, a Singapore Peranakan a well-heeled upper middle-class environment. As whose family came from . a young boy, he wore short pants with a jacket and handkerchief. He spoke with a crisp English accent. Growing Up in Colonial Times His genteel European manners were carefully Both of LKY’s grandfathers, Lee Hoon Leong nurtured. and Chua Kim Teng, were fashionably dapper in The fortunes of both families were adversely the colonial style. They favoured dressing in three- affected during the Great Depression. Fortunately, piece suits and hats despite the tropical climate. Lee Chin Koon had a secure job as a storekeeper Lee Hoon Leong was especially westernized and at Shell Oil Company. He was well regarded by his spoke English fuently. He went to school to Raffes employers and worked his way up to eventually Institution and worked as a purser on British ships. become a depot manager. Dr Lee relates, “My father

GAPOREAN (1923 – 2015)

was given a car, a chauffeur and a house, where we in patois. When it came to The frst cousins from sometimes stayed during weekends.” reprimanding the children, “my the maternal side at In 1945, Mr and Mrs Lee Chin Koon set up home in paternal grandmother Liem Nio the wedding of Dr Lee Suan Yew’s son, Lee a rambling bungalow at 38, Oxley Road. The house was scolded us in very fowery terms, Kern Tzen to Adelaine to become LKY’s residence for the rest of his life. like kurang ajar and sial,” smiles Manzano in 2009 at As a teenager, LKY spoke only proper English to Dr Lee. the Shangri-la Hotel. his family. He was 10 years older than Dr Lee and was Seated from left: regarded with brotherly respect. “He was not a chinchai Filial Piety Jimmy Seet, Vivien Seet (Mrs Lian), Irene “We were raised as Peranakans Seet (Mrs Ooi), the late He was always kuai... when we were young. During Freddy Lee, the late , we would soja Lee Kuan Yew, Monica precise, prim and proper. (kneel down) to wish our father Lee (Mrs Chan), Dr and mother. Then we got our Lee Suan Yew, Chia – Dr Lee Suan Yew Hian Neo (Ah Qui), ang pows (red packets). My father Chia Cheng Neo (easygoing) person,” Dr Lee says, adding that,” “He was would wear the silk baju with and Chua Gek Choo. always kuai (well behaved). The rest of us were more Chinese cloth shoes. When we Standing from left: playful. We played chatek, chongkak and marbles. grew older, however, we shook Arthur Seet and the LKY, on the other hand, was already serious. He was hands,” Dr Lee recalls. late Chua Choo Lim. studious, precise, prim and proper.” “My father kept up the ritual of ancestral worship. Eventually, the other Lee siblings – Freddy, Dennis, He stopped this tradition after the Japanese Suan Yew and sister Monica – also spoke less and less Occupation when we moved out of 28, Norfolk patois. They realised that speaking good English in Road. A number of us became Christians later so we school, during those years when students sang God would not touch joss sticks. My father respected our Save The King at morning assembly, was “important”. religious preference.” The elders, however, continued to communicate While Baba Lee Chin Koon was the stern

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disciplinarian, his nyonya wife Chua Jim Neo was the loving, nurturing mother. LKY was “very close to her.” LKY’s 1998 memoirs, The Singapore Story, give a glimpse of his quiet admiration for his mother during his growing up years and how, perhaps, he took after her in many ways: “A strong character with great energy and resourcefulness... Had she been born one generation later and continued her education beyond secondary school, she could easily have “Mak (grandmother) loved Above, Lee Kuan become an effective business executive. unconditionally. She helped many Yew in London “She devoted her life to people from all walks of life.” visiting his brother Lee Suan Yew, then Throughout the raising her children to be well- Shermay says proudly “Mak’s educated and independent a medical student interview, father IQ and EQ were very high. My at Cambridge and daughter would professionals, and she stood up grandfather’s mother was a good University. uphold etiquette to my father to safeguard their cook, so Mak had to learn to cook (adat) in relation to future. My brothers, my sister to prove her self-worth and capability. She did very older members of and I were very conscious of the family. Dr Lee well in whatever she decided to do.” refers to LKY as Kor her sacrifces; we felt we could Shermay points out that LKY and her grandmother (elder brother) while not let her down and did our “had similar values and mindsets as problem solvers. Shermay uses Tai best to be worthy of her and to They were both very family-oriented”. Pak (eldest uncle). live up to her expectations. Dr Lee remembers his mother going to the wet She refers to her “As I grew older, she began market, and young boys carrying her bags to the taxi. grandmother as Mak, consulting me as the eldest son grandfather as Yeye She would say, “Why do you do this? You must study and aunty as Ku Ma. on all important family matters, hard.” And she would help them get jobs. For ease of reading, so that while still in my teens, He adds that LKY was uhau (flial) to his parents. this article uses I became de facto head of the Chua Jim Neo died in 1980 and Lee Chin Koon passed English terms as far family. This taught me how to away 17 years later in 1997. as possible. take decisions.” Senior Lee was well looked after at the Oxley Dr Lee’s daughter, Shermay, residence until his august years. When he was in his recalls her grandmother as a person who was “very late 80s, he moved in with Dr Lee’s family. Being in capable, loving, wonderful, unbeatable, exceptional private practice, it was also easier for Dr Lee to take - she’s part of the reason why our family is what care of their father. it is today, and he is who he is,” referring to LKY. After the move, LKY and Mrs Lee would visit his A Fine Peranakan Palate Our interview with Dr Lee was a bottle of Shermay’s Cilicuka into a held over a large dining table little dish. “Squeeze the lime frst, it where his daughter, Shermay had gives the extra kick,” he advises. The organised a delectable afternoon tea combination is delicious. “The lime on nyonyaware. Shermay is herself a (lemo kasturi) is from my garden.” well-known Peranakan chef and Just like a Peranakan home, to have consultant. lime, pandan and belimbing growing “Come, let us eat. We can work later. in the garden. Makan frst,” invites Dr Lee. Babas and Dr Lee brings over a large plastic nyonyas are known to never let their bottle from a side table laden with guests go hungry. bottles and tins of nyonya cookies. I decide to try all three types of “Have some keropok,” with a broad fnger sandwiches on the platter – egg, smile on his face. bakwa (sweetmeat) and lengkong The most Peranakan trait about (spicy fsh foss). Dr Lee urges me to the family, says Dr Lee, is eating. try the sandwiches with the chilli chuka He remembers the lively family Colin Chee Dr Lee Suan Yew. (). I spoon out chilli sauce from gatherings when nyonya aunties

father at least once every month on Sundays, always her to send her other sons to ACS because of its at teatime about 5 pm, to “chitchat” and ask after his Christian values.” father’s health. Our father was very pleased that his “My mother was very perceptive. Besides patois and eldest son came to visit him regularly.” English, she spoke Hokkien, but not Mandarin. Way When their mother was alive, LKY would, “busy before my brother realized the importance of learning as he was, send one red packet to her every month.” Mandarin, she had said to me, ‘you are Chinese so you “He never forgot. My mother wouldn’t tell us how had better learn some Mandarin to keep your Chinese much it contained. It was uhau.” culture’.” Before he turned 16, Dr Lee attended Mandarin classes at Prinsep Street three times a week Education and Charity for a few years. Below left, Mrs Lee As a young boy, LKY lived with his paternal LKY was compelled to Chin Koon (Chua Jim grandfather Lee Hoon Leong, whom he much learn Mandarin at 32, when Neo) with three of her admired, in Katong. He pleaded with his mother to he was in politics. It was a grandchildren. From transfer him out of a Chinese school to Telok Kurau tough call as an adult but he left: Sherlyn Lee, Lee Wei Ling and Lena Lee. English School in primary one. “Mandarin was totally persevered. Dr Lee says with alien to me, and unconnected with my life,” LKY had admiration: “My brother was Below right, Mr Lee said in his memoirs. such a brilliant linguist – Chin Koon at his Consistently a top student, he entered Raffes English, Japanese to interpret birthday celebration Institution where he continued to excel. His brothers during the war, proper Malay at the home of his son, Dennis. From left: Mrs went to Anglo-Chinese School (ACS). Dr Lee explains, and Hokkien. Later he told Gloria Lee, Monica “My mother had consulted Yap Pheng Gek, who was a us that ‘to unite Chinese Lee, Lee Kuan Yew and teacher at ACS before he became a banker. He advised Singaporeans we must speak Sherlyn Lee.

would present their best dishes for Peranakan food,” adds Dr Lee. “The would gather on the frst day to savour everyone to enjoy. memory of my mother’s food, the his mother’s Peranakan food, and catch LKY’s Peranakan favourites were favours, came back. up over her freshly-baked sugee , his mother’s , gado gado and “He would ask my sister Monica, sugee cookies, kueh belanda (Dutch cake achar, all of which his sister Monica is ‘what have you got?’ She would send or love letters) and kuching (cat’s able to replicate. across nyonya food. Until he said, ‘It’s tongue). In later years, Shermay would For many years LKY went light troublesome, I don’t want to call you all send over to LKY’s house. on Peranakan because he was the time.’ He sent his maid over to her, His appreciation was expressed in a careful of the rich fat content in the to learn to cook Peranakan dishes.” simple “thank you.” santan (coconut milk). “At one time Disciplined as he was about what Shermay regarded LKY as a food he steered clear of mee siam because he ate, LKY was known to have a connoisseur. “My aunt Monica said he it has a lot of starch.” Disciplined sweet tooth. He could resist kueh lapis had an ‘astute tongue’. He had a fne to a fault, LKY adhered to a more (layer cake), which he considered too palate just like any good Peranakan. restricted diet of ‘western’ fare such sweet and rich. However, he made an A lot of people aren’t aware of that. as roast chicken and steaks. And exception with sugee cake “because For health reasons as his priority was sashimi, noticing that the Japanese he loved almonds,” reveals Dr Lee. It nation building, he followed an austere lived longer, healthier lives. was an indulgence at every Lunar New diet. Later on in life when he was “When he grew much older, Year celebration. relaxed, he was more nostalgic for the however, his palate remembered That was when the extended family favours of his mother’s dishes.”

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in a common language, Mandarin. All races must the grandson of LKY’s brother, Dennis. Dr Lee’s wife, master their own language. English would be the Pamelia, and their two grandchildren who happened to common language in Singapore’.” be in London, were also present. “My brother had foresight. He also asserted that “He was very frugal. But when it came to education Mandarin was essential to do business in China - this and charity, he gave generously,” says Dr Lee, citing a was his thinking many years before China opened its donation of more than S$10 million for learning the doors to the world.” . “He believed in education.” The Mandarin language was to become LKY’s lifelong passion. Up till his last days in hospital, he A Strong, Caring Brother continued with Mandarin lessons. “His mind was LKY was always the leader. always working. He wanted to learn all the time.” However, he was more than an older brother to his Dr Lee says his siblings. “He sometimes talked like a father. But he brother’s love for his was never condescending. Instead, he advised us and Choo, the Nyonya Wife alma mater – Raffes he was always practical.” Dr Lee recalls with Institution and For instance, LKY had suggested that Dr Lee take amusement one loving aspect Fitzwilliam College up law at the Inns of Court in England and fnish of the special relationship in Cambridge within three and a half years. “My brother tried to save between LKY and Mrs Lee. University - was my mother’s money. But my passion was medicine.” “My sister-in-law was ever so “very deep”. LKY Dr Lee made it to Cambridge University. diplomatic. If he was eating was “a very loyal LKY infuenced his youngest brother to become chocolate cake, which he person” and an elocutionist. “I was 17 then. I was keen on public loved, she would say, ‘Harry, I donated to these speaking and was chosen to represent ACS at inter- think it’s too much. Can you two institutions and school contests. I had training from my teacher, the give me half?’ She never said also to education Reverend Doraisamy, who later became the bishop of don’t eat.” and charity. the Methodist church.” Mrs Lee, or Kwa Geok Choo “A lot of people Dr Lee says one experience was particularly was the third daughter of OCBC banker Kwa Siew Tee, did not know. He memorable. In 1951, the US daily Herald Tribune a Peranakan from Semarang, gave quietly.” sought student representatives from various countries and Wee Yew Neo, a Singapore After LKY’s to meet President Harry S Truman at the White nyonya. Dr Lee remembers death, Fitzwilliam House. The ACS principal then, Mr Thio Chan Bee, that Mrs Lee could cook College conducted selected him to compete against the other local nyonya food: “Before she got a memorial students for the golden opportunity to visit New York married she was using Ellice service for him. and Washington. Handy’s cookbook.” Mrs 200 Singaporean Dr Lee consulted his brother, who was already back Handy was the principal of students studying from London and practising as a lawyer. LKY thought Methodist Girls’ School where in Cambridge political questions would be felded and prepared him Mrs Lee had been a student. attended, including with knowledge on Nehru and Mao. “I still remember Christopher Eng, the hour-long chat in our living room.” Unfortunately,

Left, The newlyweds after registering their marriage in Singapore in 1950, with Kwa Geok Choo’s mother Wee Yew Neo.

Right, Mr and Mrs Lee at the home of his brother, Dr Lee Suan Yew during one Christmas Eve in the early 1990s. Between them is the portrait of his great grandfather, Lee Bok Boon.

politics was not felded at the interview. He lost to with a large platter of sashimi served Above left, a student from Saint Joseph’s Institution. When to him. “He took his time to savour Celebrating Lunar the dejected student came home, LKY smiled every slice with sips of fne Riesling.” New Year at a lohei encouragingly: “You can’t win every time you know, dinner with siblings and their spouses. you’ve got to lose sometime.” An Exceptional Character Clockwise from left: LKY and his bride, Kwa Geok Choo also took LKY’s serious, no-nonsense Dr Lee Suan Yew, Dr Lee out every now and then in his navy blue demeanour belied his dry wit. Mrs Eleanor Lee, Studebaker. “He wanted a change of diet. So he said In a recent facebook posting by Kwa Geok Choo, ‘Come, let’s go to Johor’. At that time we were one Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Freddy Lee, Mrs country. We used to frequent the food market in that went viral, he showed his Pamelia Lee, George Johor Bahru, which was famous for its and mee father’s telegram in 1958 using the Chan, Monica Lee rebus. He just loved this combination.” word “battleship” instead of “steam and Mrs Gloria Lee. boat” for dinner, to save words and money. It caught the public’s fancy Above right, Lee The Final Lap, With Family Kuan Yew with his and “battleship” became, for a while, LKY was very close to his wife, children and granddaughter Li the new moniker for steam-boat. Dr grandchildren. He made it a point for the extended Xiuqi as a toddler Lee nods, “His humour was not the at his Oxley Road family, including the families of his siblings, to come friendly banter but he had sharp and home one Lunar together during the eve and frst day of the Lunar intelligent wit. My brother was not New Year’s Eve. New Year. Chap Goh Meh (the last day of the New given to small talk.” Year) was the occasion to meet up with his cousins Dr Lee says that as Prime Minister then, LKY was when he was available. allowed to stay at Sri Temasek within the Istana. But Dr Lee says that having meals together on festive he only used the place to occasions and birthdays exercise or meet people were “the best days of our for lunch. “He was very lives together. LKY would He was very frugal. But careful about using state be most relaxed when he when it came to education and money.” was with the family.” LKY never believed in Sitting back in his charity, he gave generously. building up a personality dining chair, Dr Lee smiles cult. Dr Lee vouches that “he just believed in doing thoughtfully, “When he was at my home, we made good for Singapore and he and Rajaratnam couched sure to have food he enjoyed, like sashimi and it into the pledge: One nation, one people. Now, the cordyceps . The last time he was here he saw young say, ‘Wow, he did all that for us’.” us eating roast beef. We dared not offer him in case Raised as a Peranakan, the English-educated of indigestion. But he said, ‘Can I have a piece of LKY stayed true to his traditional Chinese roots till that please?’ And he enjoyed it. He fnished a whole the end. He had lived out by example the Confucian piece with no after effects.” values that were instilled in babas and nyonyas from Dr Lee says happily, yet with a tinge of sadness, young – values such as family unity, flial piety and “We had a marvellous time at my 81st birthday last education, which he believed were essential building October at Four Seasons Hotel. He stayed for much blocks for a strong, cohesive nation. of the evening. He was in a jolly mood. He was in I ask why LKY never admitted to his cultural good form. Towards the end of his life he had his identity as a Peranakan. Dr Lee feels it was his way good days. of expressing his cultural and even religious neutrality “Then he came to my home last Christmas Eve for nation building, adding that, “Even when it came to for a family reunion. His grandson, Yipeng, was here religion, he said, ‘Don’t try to convert me’.” too. We had a lovely time. My brother would not He was above all interests, a Singaporean. miss it. He could eat selectively.” Dr Lee shows us a photograph of LKY at the head of the dining table, All photographs copyright of Dr Lee Suan Yew.

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Impressions of LKY

Gavin Gareth Chan, a 30-year-old A Bridge Baba serving the grassroots in Marine Between Parade and Joo Chiat, refects on his encounters with LKY

Tw o knew him as Minister Mentor Lee. Worlds He was larger than life; more of a All the maternal (Chua) cousins I concept and an institution that I are very close. LKY was our eldest held in awe. Until I met him in person. cousin, nearly 20 years older than It was in 2007. I was a university student at a ministerial me. His mother used to host the forum with LKY. His frst order of business was to Chap Goh Meh dinners for all her establish which school I came from. Catholic High School, brothers and sisters, their children I replied. ‘A good school that embraces bilingualism. and spouses. After my mother, who Young man, how is your Chinese?’ He quizzed. Sheepishly was the last sister, passed away, LKY I answered that I seldom spoke it. ‘Work on your Chinese, insisted that the cousins continue it will be very important in your future,’ he added. with the Chap Goh Meh gatherings. At another chance encounter several months later, When he was the Prime Minister it LKY remembered our conversation. was a challenge for him to join us. We were so pleased that after he He quizzed me about my Chinese once retired and became Minister Mentor again. I replied to him in Mandarin. I he could fnally join us. He was a might have imagined it but I thought very warm, family man. he gave a nod of approval. That was the – Mrs Irene Ooi, frst cousin to LKY last time I would meet him in person. I would catch feeting glances of him I was 20 and a medical student in during public engagements but did not 1965. I remember Lim Yew Hock and have the chance to speak to him again. David Marshall as possible leaders but What struck me the most about LKY doubt they would have been able to was how he sought a personal connection accomplish what he did. The Plen and with those he came into contact with. other communists, first in the PAP and Even though he was the former prime minister, he treated then the Barisan Socialis, would have all as though we were his grandchildren. A little distant, driven us in a diferent direction. yet warmly affectionate. At the same time, his questions What I admire most about him is his dug deeper and belied his concerns - education of the intelligence reflected in his analysis of young, for the future of Singapore. And the unyielding situations, political and administrative. conviction to be, at least, bilingual. He had the ability to do what was Just like our Peranakan forefathers, LKY emphasized necessary to meet his goals. Sometimes the cost could be high but as a leader the signifcance of having the ability to communicate with he knew the buck stopped with him. For the West and East. He spared no effort to impress upon that I respected him even when I did the younger generation the importance of being a bridge not always agree with him. between two worlds. He had the foresight and moulded – Dr Jenny Lee Soon, retired public Singapore to exemplify the best of both worlds.” health professional

It was sometime in the 1980s when LKY was fying out of Singapore. The aircraft had an engine snag. He was an exceptional LKY had to wait in the VIP room instead of going straight individual. One of a kind. As into the aircraft as usual. I gave him the facts and updated a Peranakan I would like to him continually during the 20-minute delay. He accepted believe the cultural environment it and did not make a fuss. It struck me that if you did of his upbringing had a lot your work well, there was nothing to be fearful of him. to do with what he became. – Sally Chan, then-Chief of Passenger Relations, Singapore Airlines Naturally the community is proud to claim him as our most My parents have always described LKY as a great outstanding Peranakan. He man, a great leader of Singapore. And I grew up (I was was certainly not perfect, and I 11 years old in 1965) listening to his fiery speeches. think he stayed in politics far too I was in awe of him. It’s because he was tough on everyone that we became so disciplined, so self reliant long for Singapore’s good, but and so successful. Singapore is what it is because Knowing that he was a Peranakan struck me of him and his team of national with nostalgia. I realized that LKY must have relished pioneers, many of who were also his mother’s sambal dishes. She would probably be Peranakan. calling out in Baba Malay to come get some kueh she – Peter Lee, independent scholar and just finished steaming, and he would be replying in honorary curator of the NUS Baba House our patois! – Mrs Yvonne Khoo, a nyonya who grew up in Singapore

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Tan Tock Seng..

Oei Tiong Ham.

Low Kway Song and wife.

gloriousWe joIn THe PeranaKan MuSeuM In ceLebraTIng our relivesMarKabLe PIoneerS – Here’S a SeLecTIon froM 50 LIVeS

b. – born d. – died 8 TAN JIAK KIM (Singapore b.1859–1917d. Singapore) Tan Jiak Kim was the grandson of pioneering philanthropist Tan Kim Seng. He joined Kim Seng & Company and served on the Straits Legislative Council, the Municipal Commission and the Chinese Advisory Board. In 1900, he founded the Straits Chinese British Association (now known as The Peranakan Association Singapore) and served as its frst president. A strong ally of the British, Tan helped to organize the Straits Chinese volunteer division and generously donated to the British military. He attended the coronation of King George V in 1911 as a representative of the Straits Settlements. In 1912, he was made Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Tan was also a strong supporter of education. He contributed $12,000 to help start a medical school in Singapore.

TAN TOCK SENG (Malacca b.1798–1850d. Singapore) Born in Malacca, Tan Tock Seng arrived in Singapore in 1819, the year it was established by the British. He began as a produce seller before building his fortune as a land owner. Tan was a leader of the Hokkien community in Singapore and, in 1839, led the establishment of the Thian Hock Keng (Temple of Heavenly Blessings), the oldest Chinese temple in Singapore. In honour of his public service, Tan became the frst Asian Justice of the Peace. He is most remembered as the founder of Singapore’s frst hospital for poor Chinese, contributing $7,000 at the request of Governor William Butterworth. The hospital was re-named in his honour in 1850.

OEI TIONG HAM (Semarang, Java b.1866 –1924d. Singapore) Oei Tiong Ham took over the running of his Tan Jiak Kim. father’s company Kian Gwan and expanded it into LOW KWAY SONG the Oei Tiong Ham Concern. The conglomerate (Singapore b.1889–1982d. Singapore) had a diverse portfolio, though much of its profts Low Kway Song was a self-taught artist who was in the 1890s came from the opium trade. Oei later known for his portraits of prominent members of acquired a number of sugar cane plantations and society in Singapore and Malaya. As a member of the mills, and by 1900, his company was the leading Singapore Amateur Drawing Society, he organized sugar producer in the Dutch East Indies. In 1920, and participated in exhibitions in Singapore and Oei moved from Semarang to Singapore. His Malaya. He was also a cartoonist for the Eastern charitable contributions included $150,000 to Illustrated Review. He was reportedly the frst Raffes College, and in 1910 he donated the land Singapore artist to receive a four-fgure sum for a for the building of Tao Nan School. commission, the portrait of Oei Tiong Ham in 1927.

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LEE CHOO NEO (Singapore b.1895–1947d. Singapore) Lee Choo Neo was the frst female physician in Singapore. She was notable for breaking away from the traditional domestic roles of Peranakan women at the time. Educated at the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School and Raffes Girls’ School, she was the frst Straits Chinese woman to obtain a Senior Cambridge Certifcate in 1911. She would go on to study medicine at the King Edward VII Medical School in Singapore and opened her own clinic in 1930. Lee also took a keen interest in Malay drama, and in 1912 she wrote, co-directed, and acted in the three-part comedy Mustapha, presented at a Red Cross beneft in Victoria Theatre. Together with other prominent Peranakan women of the day, Lee co-founded the Chinese Ladies’ Association (now known as the Chinese Women’s Association).

TAN CHIN TUAN (Singapore b.1908 –2005d. Singapore) Tan Chin Tuan was a notable banker, taking on important leadership roles at the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation, which was an amalgamation of Chinese Commercial Bank, Ho Hong Bank and Oversea-Chinese Bank. Tan was responsible for developing OCBC’s successful strategy of blue-chip investments during periods of economic uncertainty. As a public fgure, Tan worked closely with the British government for gradual self-government, served as Municipal Councillor in 1939, and was appointed to the Advisory Council of the British Military Administration in 1945.

Dr Lee Choo Neo. MRS SEOW PECK LENG, NÉE IRIS CHUA SENG KIM Low was also a founding member of the Merrilads (Singapore b.1911– 2007d. Singapore) Musical and Dramatic Association, a popular Iris Chua (Mrs Seow Peck Leng) was the Peranakan performing arts group started in 1923. country’s frst female opposition member of the SONG ONG SIANG Legislative Assembly, serving one term from 1959 (Singapore b.1871–1941d.Singapore) to 1963. She also founded the Siglap Girls Club (now known as the Singapore Women’s Association) Song Ong Siang was the frst Straits Chinese to help underprivileged girls, and served as its from Malaya to receive a British knighthood (1936) president for 37 years. Mrs Seow was educated at and was committed to reformation within the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School and Raffes Girls’ Chinese community in the Straits. He was the School, and was a teacher and principal for a great second Queen’s Scholar from Singapore, studying many years. She represented the Mountbatten law in Cambridge. Song was a member of the Straits constituency for the Singapore People’s Alliance Legislative Council and represented the colony at (SPA) and in her time there, proposed legislation Edward VII’s coronation in 1902. In 1894, he started to outlaw polygamous marriages. This eventually the frst romanized Malay newspaper in Singapore, led to the passing of the Women’s Charter in 1961. Bintang Timor, which lasted only one year. Together In 1965, she retired from politics to concentrate on with fellow Peranakan Lim Boon Keng, Song social work. was responsible for several progressive projects, particularly the Straits Chinese Magazine and the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. One of his most Text for this article is derived from the catalogue of ambitious publications was One Hundred Years’ Great Peranakans: 50 Remarkable Lives – an ongoing History of the Chinese in Singapore, a detailed exhibition at the Peranakan Museum. See page 56, survey of Chinese life in Singapore and a key source The Peranakan Guide. for researchers today.

Tan Chin Tuan.

Song Ong Siang.

Iris Chua Seng Kim (Mrs Seow Peck Leng).

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To mark Singapore’s jubilee in our own way, The Peranakan magazine identifed 50 things that embody our multi-hued culture. We came up with a veritable feast for the fve senses. Nyonya Linda Chee mulls over our choice picks THIngS QuInTeSSenTIaLLY PeranaKan

the taste of ambrosia With so many naysayers out there, choosing just ten of the most iconic Peranakan foods is like opting to walk on a bed of nails! We closed our eyes and vouched for our favourite dishes here.

Babi pongteh. Photo by Colin Chee Photo by

Ayam buah keluak.

Ayam buah keluak 1 This is a classic Peranakan dish that is so sedap! (delicious!). The frst spoonful hits your palate all at once – spicy, salty, tart, slightly sweet and umami. Every family claims to have the best recipe. Some say the original dish had and not chicken, as Peranakans ate mostly pork. Perhaps it frst appeared in , where we get most of our nuts from, and later became popular in Malacca when Javanese Peranakans married into Malacca families. An anthropological study would be most valuable. Photo and dish by Keith and Melinda Chee Keith Photo and dish by

. kepiting. Photo by Colin Chee Photo by Photo by Raymond Wong Raymond Photo by

Babi pongteh (stewed pork with gravy) 2 Belly pork, potatoes, bamboo shoots and black mushrooms are cooked with a sauté of fermented taucheo (soyabean) and to create a full-bodied . Some families add chicken. The gravy can be soupy or thick and dark, almost like a sauce. The best way to eat pongteh is to tear a green chilli into it and stir a touch of sambal belachan into the gravy. Chelop (dip) a slice of crusty French loaf and pop the gravy-soaked morsel into Tan Clement Photo and dish by your mouth. Heavenly!

Popiah (spring rolls) 3 No other dish compares with popiah for community bonding. The whole of Malacca and Singapore comes together to help out with the peeling, slicing, chopping, Pong tauhu. frying…preparing from morning till evening for days, before we come together for just as many days to break the eating record– lu makan berapa biji? (how many did Itek tim (braised duck soup) you eat?) The Peranakans are unique in using crepe-like 6 My father just loves itek tim served with generous kulit telor (egg skin wraps). Except for my family and lashings of brandy (the anglophile touch), torn green our close relatives, I have not seen anyone else serving chilli (local) and freshly squeezed lemo kasturi (Malay). popiah with home-made buay cheo, a sweet sauce made This is a robust duck and pork trotter soup which the from four, gula Melaka and dark soya sauce. Teochews call kiam chye ark (salted vegetable duck) and add serngboey (preserved plum) for tartness. We Bakwan kepiting (crab meat ball soup) Peranakans have been clever 4 If small fower crabs (kepiting lenjong) are used, their to add assam poey ( red shells are a pretty sight foating in this wholesome, skin) and belimbing yet delicate soup. It was always a treat when I was a for the extra tang. Colin Chee Photo by child when my mother would serve this dish on festive occasions. The day before, my two brothers and I would be at the dining table, busily shelling freshly-steamed crabs and in between, stealing a morsel or two of the sweet, white fesh. We helped to mix the minced pork with the crabmeat, stuffng half the amount into the crab shells and shaping the remaining half into balls. Such are the delicious memories shared by siblings.

Pong tauhu ( ball soup) 5 Pong tauhu is said to be the everyday, more economical, variation of the bakwan kepiting. Malacca nyonyas sometimes call this tepong tauhu. Mashed tauhu (frm tofu) and minced pork or prawns are mixed and shaped into balls and cooked in a soup made with sautéed taucheo and garlic. Belly pork (samchien bak) strips are added to enrich the soup. My family uses fresh fsh paste instead of pork – it is a healthier and no less enjoyable variation that I have been enjoying since childhood. Itek Tim.

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Hati babi bungkus. Photo by Linda Chee Photo by

Chap chye.

Chap chye (mixed vegetable stew) Olivia Xu Photo and dish by 7 After the heavy feasting on Chinese New Year’s eve, chap chye is our comfort food the morning after, for overworked tummies. The very economical cabbage is the dominant ingredient in what was originally a Hokkien stew. Chap chye uses many dried foods such as black mushrooms, bok jee (wood ears), kim chiam (lily buds), taukee (soya bean sticks) and sometimes tanghoon (glass noodles). Nyonyas cook it Sambal jantong pisang. with sautéed taucheo and garlic, adding prawns, belly pork and fsh balls.

Hati babi bungkus (wrapped pig’s liver) 8 My Makmak’s (maternal grandmother) hati babi bungkus was the best. No one made it like she did. She had a secret recipe for rempah panas (spice powder) that elevated her hati babi to ambrosial heaven. This cute little old lady who smoked and drank brandy until her late 80s also made the best tapeh (sweet glutinous wine). Once a year I Linda Chee Photo by Rumah Bebe. Dish by would spend the whole afternoon with Makmak in the kitchen to chop pork and dice pig liver, wrap the mixture into ‘pingpong’ balls with pang sek eu (pig’s caul), then steam and fry them into cholesterol-flled wonders - a heart patient’s nightmare!

Sambal jantong pisang (banana ‘heart’ salad) 9 Peranakans are practical and make good use of what comes from the garden, like jantong pisang - actually the banana fowers found beneath the bract of the whole inforescence that constitutes a giant banana bud. The jantong is steamed and tossed with a gamut of ingredients including sambal belachan, lime, cucumber, belimbing, serondeng (toasted shredded Nasi . coconut), fried garlic and , prawns and sliced red chillies. Finally, a luxurious topping of coconut seven or eight herbs. They include daon kunyit cream. The poor man’s version is sambal timun ( leaf), daon lemo perot (kaffr lime leaf), serai (cucumber salad). (lemongrass), bunga kantan (torch bud), timun (cucumber), kachang botol (wing beans) and kachang (rice with raw vegetables) panjang (long beans). Nasi ulam is adapted from a 10 The seriously classical nasi ulam is reputed Malay dish. White rice is spiced with sambal belachan to contain 17 different kinds of fresh aromatic and tossed with the herbs. Flaked fsh - chencharu, herbs according to a Malacca Peranakan lady, but selar or parang - is usually included. Prawns are also in Singapore terms it is usual to muster only about sometimes added. Meats are absent.

colourful insights Peranakan culture is renowned for its rich palette of colours, textures and extravagant fnishes. Photo by Angeline Kong Photo by Courtesy of Main Wayang Courtesy of Main

Kasot manek. Photo by Linda Chee. Kasot from Rumah Bebe Linda Chee. Photo by

Sarong kebaya.

Batik. Sarong kebaya 11 To the uninitiated, by fne needles looping tiny wrapping the sarong and pinning faceted glass beads onto the kerosang (brooches) onto the canvas or cotton fabric. kebaya is a notoriously sweaty The colours are jewel-like. challenge. Tips from inexpert The motifs can range from users: Wrap the sarong around traditional, like fowers, and create two or three deep to unconventional like Tali pinggang. pleats at the inner end or the Mickey Mouse. ft will not enable you to walk comfortably. Hold your breath and ow. y L tie an old nylon stocking around oll M of your waist if you are not confdent y es rt that the sarong will hold up. u o Then secure tightly with the tali C pinggang (silver belt). Secure your Photo by Linda Chee kebaya front with three large baby safety pins before replacing each one with a kerosang. Practice The size of a bibik’s gold kerosang makes perfect. was an indicator of the family wealth and status. The bigger and Batiks the more embellished with intan 12 The best batiks are known (unfaceted diamonds) - sampay to originate from Indonesia. The mata buta! (blinding!) - the higher colours and motifs distinguish up the ranking. the specifc village they come from and even the master batikmaker Tali pinggang who designed it. Many books have 15 The tali pinggang (chain- been written about batiks. The link silver belt) has intricate latest is Peter Lee’s tome, Sarong patterns that are totally concealed Kebaya (see page 46). Indeed Kerosang when worn under the baju serong. batiks have a fascinating history! panjang. But with the more revealing kebaya, the buckle peeps Kasot manek Kerosang out at the waist, continuing from 13 Come to the east coast and 14 In the old days, the the kerosang the ostentatious visit Rumah Bebe or Rumah Kim nyonya’s baju banjang, like that display of ornamentation. Once in Choo. You will see students of all of my great grand-aunt Tan Geok a while you may spot an outsized ages and races learning to stitch Kim Neo (above), had no butang gold buckle and wickedly wonder kasot manek (beaded slippers). (buttons) and was fastened by if the nyonya had beneftted from Intricate patterns are brought to life three kerosang serong (brooches). an unknown inheritance.

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ee a Ch ind L y b oto Ph

Nyonyaware.

Nyonyaware Gone are the days when 16 Weddings. hard-pressed Peranakan families and Belinda Quah Courtesy of Roy sold their inheritance in baskets to the karang guni man. Good pieces silicate and calcium carbonate. of original Peranakan porcelain My Makmak used to plaster her are hard to come by these days. face white with a layer of bedak Prices have reached exorbitant and then clean off the excess with levels for rare artifacts. Kamchengs, a handkerchief until her skin chanaps, plates, cups, vases… showed a fresh, pink glow. I use it reproductions are being made in to clean my silver jewellery. China to meet popular demand. The tarnish comes off instantly, Some are of very high quality. like magic!

Gelai tutop Weddings 17 In the old days, gelai tutop 19 Elaborate 12-day (glass bell jars) enclosing glittery wedding celebrations to signify metallic tinsel and fgurines wealth and status are a thing of were popular among well- the past in our chepat chepat (fast- heeled anglophile Peranakans. paced) lifestyle. Where can you They purchased or made these fnd the elaborate sedan chairs ornaments for the bridal chamber. and bearers these days? However, Inside the glass are English Peranakan-themed weddings or Chinese fgures of animals, with the couple in traditional fowers, fruits and foliage arranged costume are in vogue as babas Shophouses. in a whimsical manner. Gelai and nyonyas become aware of Linda Chee Photo by tutop are still collected although their heritage. The simplifed Shophouses they are rarely seen in Peranakan celebration usually lasts not more 20 Different cultural homes these days. than three days. infuences merge in the ornate architecture of over 6,000 conserved Bedak sejok shophouses (tiam chu in Hokkien) 18 This square box and residential terrace houses of bedak sejok (literally, (pai chu) seen in certain parts of cold powder) with a Singapore. Popularly associated fair skinned beauty with the Peranakans, many were on the lid has been also lived in by other ethnic groups in production since such as the Arabs, Banjar and the late 19th century. Chettiars. These houses typically It is still produced in feature high ceilings, airwells and Tangerang, Indonesia, wooden upper foors as ‘cooling’ using magnesium Bedak sejok. buffers against our tropical climate.

udang geragau, belachan should be roasted or dried in the sun before use. But beware of upsetting your neighbours. The bau amis (stink) spreads for miles.

P

h

o

t o Chinchalok

b

y

C Fried fsh never tasted

o 24

l i

n so good without this appetite

C h

e enhancer. My father could polish e off a couple of deep-fried ikan chencharu sumbat chilli bawang puteh (stuffed with chilli paste and garlic) and plenty of white rice when he had his chinchalok served with sliced shallots, red chillies and lime juice. Some Peranakans spike this concoction of fermented Bunga rampay. udang geragau, dry cooked rice and salt with brandy. Lagi shiok!

Pho to b y O ng J in T eo n the fragrance of home g Did someone mention that Babas like to kentut (break wind) around the house? From the pungent to the sweet-smelling, our culture takes the prime position.

Bunga rampay (potpourri) (torch ginger bud), daon kesom 21 The bunga rampay comes ( leaf), daon kemangi ( from a Malay custom. Peranakans leaf), daon kunyit (turmeric leaf) like to have bunga rampay as a and daon salam () for Belachan. traditional touch at weddings and , and nasi ulam. other festive occasions or in the Just a few sprigs of any herb room for a nice fragrance. when steaming white rice would It is essentially a potpourri be divine! of many wangi (sweet-smelling) materials. These include shredded Belachan pandan (screwpine) leaves and 23 Aiyee, kusmangat, fowers such as jasmine, rose and lu nyonya tak tau makan chempaka, additionally scented sambal belachan? (you with perfume, patchouli being are a nyonya but don’t a popular fragrance. eat sambal belachan?) Shredded lemo perot Aunties and uncles (kaffr lime) rind lends look in mock horror at a fresh, citrusy smell. my niece for not being true to her heritage. Aromatic Indeed, Peranakans 22 herbs from Malacca or Penang Peranakans use plenty also fercely dispute the of herbs to produce merits of their hometown complex favours in belachan, a.k.a. Peranakan their foods. Imagine ‘cheese’. Made from plucking fresh from your fermenting crustaceans or herb garden daon lemo perot (kaffr lime), bunga kantan Chinchalok.

Bunga kantan. Colin Chee Photo by

f eature a touch of dexterity The babas and nyonyas have Sambal a certain deftness of hand, petai. whether it be in gambling, Brylcreem embroidery, or reining in the 28 For that all-day shine and hold, use Brylcreem! Sounds recalcitrant young. Tumis rempah. Photo by Ong Jin Teong Ong Jin Photo by familiar? This clean-smelling old- school grooming pomade gave Tumis rempah (stir-frying virile, young Babas visions of 2 5 the spice paste) achieving the desired silver screen Rempah to the Peranakans is like Clark Gable hairstyle. Remember pesto to the Italians, only more your father and uncles in their potent. The strong aroma of the high-waisted long pants and rempah frying in hot oil never fails starched white shirts with rolled- to make me sneeze. A good nyonya up sleeves? They slicked on sticky cook is discerned by the way she pomade until not a hair was out uses the ladle to tumis (stir fry) of place. Then after a shower, wet rempah. A sizzle must be heard hair towel-rubbed, they would look when the rempah mentah (raw) is electrifed! poured into the kuali, instantly absorbing the oil. The rempah is just English lavender talcum about ready when it pechah minyak 29 powder (throws out the oil, that is, when Both my nyonya mother and the oil exudes to the surface). She mother-in-law insisted on using only knows when the rempah is ready by Yardley talc and soap by Yardley Cherki cards. the garing (crispy) smell when the of London in their younger days. fragrance rises. Women of their generation loved Cherki the refnement of English-made 31 Cherki was so popular for Sambal petai toiletries. gambling that the British colonial 26 Kentot busok, kenching government outlawed the game at the kuning (smelly fart, yellow pee) aptly Joss sticks turn of the 20th century. Many bibiks describes the potency of these bright 3 0 These bring back delightful were cherki addicts who neglected green almond-sized antioxidants also memories for me when children their families. They pawned jewellery known as stink beans. Peranakans could stay up late on the ninth day and lost small fortunes. Those caught love their petai raw or tossed into of the Lunar New Year to pai Ti gambling were hauled to jail in Black a rich sambal gravy to be eaten Kong seh (pray to the Jade Maria vans - a sight that inspired with plenty of rice. Emperor on the deity’s the hugely successful 2002 theatre birthday). The altar table set production Bibiks Behind Bars (see 4711 Eau de up in our garage would be page 6). Cherki was modifed by the 2 7 Cologne laden with colourful fruits Peranakans from an old Chinese My 87-year old father used to and Peranakan food served leaf game known as daun cherki. The splash this German-made in even more colourful cards have many Hokkien and Baba “water from Cologne” nyonyaware. The Malay words. on his face and sandalwood joss neck, every morning sticks emanated a Chongkak before work and every woody fragrance 32 Growing up in 1960s evening before dinner. throughout Singapore, our cousins would A throwback to British the house, later converge in our house – a large colonial times, it was overpowered by the bungalow in a rubber estate - during one of the imported- metallic smell of the holidays. The mothers cooked from-England toiletries frecrackers that were and fathers enjoyed a tipple. The popular among anglophile joyfully set off. children played endless games. We Babas for its fresh, cooling became ninjas (remember Shintaro?) fragrance. 4711 Eau de darting around the rubber trees, Cologne. Photo by Heath Yeo Heath Photo by Photo by Neezhom Photographic Photo by

Chongkak. Sulam. Polished blackwood furniture.

set of raw granite ‘appliances’ Sulam (embroidery) – the batu giling and batu lesong 35 I remember my mother - to grind wet spices. Today, few skillfully pedalling her treadle local households use the heavy Singer sewing machine every batu giling to grind rempah. I afternoon when I was a young have turned mine into a décor girl. As I watched over her item. But I still use the lesong to shoulder, the needle would dance crush ginger, peppercorns and effortlessly, threading exactly over salt. Somehow, the food tastes the traced sulam (embroidery) better. The unevenly crushed patterns. Colourful fowers and spices release more favour than butterfies would come alive ingredients cut fnely in a blender within the wooden hoop. Delicate or processor. net-like patterns emerged as she carefully snipped out the fabric. Polishing blackwood Like her, young nyonyas made 34 furniture their own kebayas. Sadly, that era Photo by Tan Kuning Tan Photo by When we were younger, my has passed. Working mothers like rubbed rubber seeds to ‘burn’ brothers and I had to clean our me neither inherited the passion each other, or played chongkak. blackwood living set a week or so nor the skill. Instead of glass marbles, we used before the Lunar New Year. We cowrie shells. Chongkak was a had a system. First, wrap a lightly Carving chanap fowers popular pastime among Malays damp cloth around a chopstick. 36 This is a vanishing art in and Peranakans up to the 1970s. Then poke the ‘mini-mop’ Singapore and . Happily, through every gap in the intricate young Lee Yuen Thien (below) of Batu giling and carvings to remove the dust. Give Bukit Berendam, Malacca, who is 3 3 batu lesong (granite roller a good overall wipe - your chair only all of 28 years old, has been and mortar & pestle) is clean, ready to be applied with conscientious enough to acquire In the old days, every beeswax or tung oil and polished the skill and demonstrate it to Peranakan kitchen had its own twice till glossy. others willing to learn.

Photo by Ong Jin Teong

Batu giling. Carving chanap fowers. Photo from Lee Yuen Thien Yuen Photo from Lee

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Eating with fngers 37 As children, we would eat with our the sound of the fngers at home like the Malays. Forks and spoons were reserved for special occasions when nyonya Baba David Neo’s we had guests. The correct etiquette is to put the love of patois rings deep in his thoughts. food at the tips of the fngers and push it towards Bantering from Kuala Lumpur… the mouth daintily. Simply putting the food into the whole of the hand and stuffng it into the Patois or Baba Malay mouth is not considered halus (refned). 41 After living two and a half decades abroad, my ear aches to hear Baba Malay! It was great to converse in patois Siseh with lain orang embok-embok when I was helping to start 38 rambot, the Peranakan Association of Australia (PAA) in Melbourne chochok sanggol some years ago. Now that I am based in Kuala Lumpur, and (combs and hairpins) Malacca being just two hours away, speaking patois never Bibiks used to comb fails to liven me up. It makes me feel so at home. their hair back so tightly over their scalps Accents (Baba Malay versus Bahasa Malay) until their hairlines 42 Dengair baik-baik yeh (listen carefully): Learning receded. The sanggol Bahasa Malay in school, I came home and asked my (chignon) was the grandmother, “Mama, mana pisau (where is the knife)?” crowning glory of every She responded swiftly: “Pisau…lu apa? Anak Melayu, yeh?” bibik. Never attempt (“What are you? Son of a Malay?”) At my cousin’s Malay to touch a bibik’s class, her che’gu (teacher) wrote on the board: ULAR (snake hair – she has spent in Bahasa Malay) and pronounced it; my cousin raised her much time gelling it. I hand and said, “salah, Che’gu. Ulair…” remember my paternal grandmother, Chee Melatah and charok Kim Puay Neo (left), 4 3 (exclamations, usually of vulgarities poked three large gilt when startled, and swearing) hairpins into her tiny As a little boy, greying chignon. I used to creep up behind my Paper folding grandmother 39 Peranakan women recycled their cherki with a blown cards after these became worn out from frequent up bag and pop play. When they were not gambling, bibiks and it just to hear nyonyas would skilfully fold the cards with Mama melatah origami-like precision to produce pretty paper and charok, which lanterns, fowers and animals to present to their a well brought friends. up, bertapi-tapi (refned) Baba Rotan (the cane) such as I daren’t 40 Siap pantat! (Prepare your butt!) – repeat! But gone Every baba remembers mother’s lethal weapon are the days when from their boyhood days. From experience, the one would have a thinnest rotan produces the deadliest whack good chuckle over (rembat or sebat). TPAS president Peter Wee, now the unabashed in his 70s, admits being caned for disobedience. bibiks’ brazen charok-charok banter — it still tickles me TPAS frst vice-president Alan Koh, 61, laughs when they come to mind! over his many canings – “I was quite naughty”. Richard Tan, 60, creative director of Main The nyonya’s sharp wit and tongue Wayang, vividly remembers the rotan was always 44 It used to irk me when I could not fnd something “gantong kat blakang pintu dapor” (hung behind and asking my mother, her response would be: “lu charek the kitchen door)…on standby!” Kuala Lumpur barang pakay mata ka pakay mulot (do you look with your Peranakan association president Cedric Tan, who eyes or your mouth)?” Her (and the nyonyas’) wicked turns 50 in June, says of the merah merah or ‘red’ sarcasm and wit are what I miss terribly these days. I still stripes on his legs: “Depending on the crowd…it vividly remember her critical comment of a newsreader was shameful with the girls and relatives or cool on television: “Tengok mulot dia macham geledak abis idung with your schoolmates.” dia pesak sekali!” (Look at how wide her mouth and fat her

nose is!” This exclamation gets lost in translation). Or, Cherita dulu her remark of the mother of my sister’s ex-boyfriend 47 kala (stories singing in church: “Dengair mak dia nyanyi macham from the olden days) itek gila (His mother sings like a crazy duck)!” Sam Pek Eng Tai (Butterfy Lovers) Tumbok lesong and the Sam Kok 4 5 (pounding of the mortar and pestle) (Romance of the Three I used to hear and read that Kingdoms) were two nyonyas of old could great Chinese classics gauge your culinary that were translated skills by just listening into Baba Malay and g n o to how one tumbok became very popular. e

T n lesong. I could not i Sam Pek Eng Tai is J g comprehend this n the tragic folktale

O

y logic until I heard

b about star-crossed

o t

o a non-Peranakan lovers who became h

P Chinese (whom united as butterfies we referred to as only in their afterlife. Cheena gerk) tumbok It was beautifully adapted for the stage by the late lesong! Now I know playwright Felix Chia in the 1980s. — betol tak ada (there is no) rhythm mia! Keronchong 48 What is more soothing Chinchang sama iris alus-alus (chopping and lembut (directly translated 46 and slicing fnely) as ‘soft’, an If you grew up in an extended Peranakan family, aesthetic valued you would be used to the hustle and bustle in the by the Malays and kitchen. It was always heartwarming to be involved Peranakans that in the communal cooking at Botan House (my captures agility mother’s rumah abu, or ancestral home on Neil Road, and form) than mentioned in Lee Kip Lin’s The Singapore House pp. lagu-lagu (tunes 172-173). But my Ee (maternal aunty) begged to differ, of) keronchong, remembering the melodrama she often witnessed: which used to lull “The nyonyas are full of colour… they will laugh and me to sleep. In cry in the kitchen!” Laugh and cry in the kitchen we vogue from the did. As children it was horror to our ears when my 1920s through 1960s, this genre of music originated mother decided to masak poh pia sama chia satu dunia in Indonesia and till today is much loved by the (cook popiah and invite the whole world)! The next Peranakans. three days entailed endless chopping and slicing for the rempah popiah (flling) that would fll a periok satu Panton (poems) budak kechik boleh masok (the huge aluminium pot 49 I miss Kong Cho’s (great grandfather’s) grand that could ft a little child)! There goes our playtime… birthday and ronggeng (dancing) parties at Botan Even my blind Dad was recruited to persiang taugeh House when Mama would always sing the dondang (pluck the roots off the beansprouts)! sayang and engage in repartee with clever verses in panton… She had a book of panton that she would faithfully consult to keep her mind sharp.

Ramay-ramay, laojiat-laojiat (gather 5 0 together and make merry — again, somewhat lost in translation)

Photo by Ong Jin Teong Ong Jin Photo by For me, the greatest thing about being Peranakan is the hospitality. To ramay-ramay, laojiat-laojiat at the slightest excuse is what we live for, especially having grown up with Kong Cho’s (great grandfather’s) lavish parties… I can’t afford to throw such costly parties but I fnd every excuse to masak (cook) and chia orang makan (invite people for a meal) so that we can ramay-ramay, laojiat-laojiat sama makan sampay gila Chinchang sama iris alus-alus. (and eat like mad)!

dalam dapor learning to cook in post-independence Singapore NYONYA LINDA CHEE REMINISCES ON GROWING UP WITH CUTTINGS AND COOKBOOKS NEXT TO HER STUDY TABLE

Singapore was in dire straits after independence in 1965. The young nation had been cast out of Malaysia. The British armed forces were moving out East of Suez, threatening high unemployment. Money was tight for the local populace during those early years. It was a luxury to dine in the few fancy restaurants like Troika or Cathay. Schoolchildren invariably went home for their meals before hawker centres made eating out affordable decades later. Home cooking was thus an essential routine of daily life. English-educated Peranakan housewives and their daughters, or sons who liked to cook, honed their culinary skills largely from local cookbooks, magazines or newspapers. It was also a time when girls learnt the domestic sciences in school.

, puffs, bubor cha cha, banana hoon here’s your sugar?” a stern Mrs kueh and a Eurasian curry called fsh moolie. But Wan remarked as she bit into for the most part, we were taught how to prepare the rock bun. My partner, Teo Lee W“ English food. In anglicised fashion, we cooked our Huang, and I were mortifed. We had overlooked this frst French toast; fried eggs sunny side up; and essential ingredient. Our eyes fell to the ground. baked marble cake, scones and shortcrust biscuits, Three golden rock buns dotted with dark raisins fell where we rubbed lumps of butter into four with from the corner of my tray onto the cold foor. None cool fngers until they looked like breadcrumbs. We broke. Our shortcrust wonders were rocks indeed. learnt how to cream butter and sugar until glossy Lee Huang and I muffed giggles but quickly shut with a wooden spoon, in a Green’s mixing bowl up. Mrs Wan was not amused. made in England. So much for beginner’s luck. It was my frst cookery lesson at Raffes Girls’ Secondary School (RGS). I was in Secondary One in 1970. But I was undeterred by that humbling start and loved my cookery classes every Tuesday. Our bible was Let’s Learn to Cook, authored by Mrs Christina M C Fones in 1970. Our principal was the cultured Miss Evelyn Norris, much feared and much loved by many. All Secondary One and Two classes had to undergo domestic science training. We had to become profcient in skills that would make us good wives. From the single-storey Home Economics Block along Anderson Road, long demolished since, Mrs Fones and Mrs Wan taught gingham-aproned teenagers how to cook, sew and keep the house and kitchen in proper order. For reasons that I had no clue then, we also attended technical class, where we commuted to Swiss Cottage Secondary School for two years to do woodwork and metalwork. It was fun sawing and drilling, and probably good for nation building. But to me it was largely a waste of time. I was more interested in cooking. Just a small pile of the Armed with our orange compendium, my classmates recipes I had amassed and I learnt to cook local favourites such as chicken over 40 years.

learning to cook in post-independence Singapore I opted for domestic science as a subject for ring stoves in my ‘O’ levels. Instead of struggling with the pure her straight-cut sciences like physics and chemistry, I breezed cheongsam and through two years of planning menus and cooking pumps. lavish meals. It was a joyous episode of building up My copy of my foundational skills in Western-style cooking. Mrs Fone’s I discovered that successful roasts and bakes classic was long depended on precise ingredients and temperatures, gone when we in contrast with the agak agak (estimating) style moved house. of Peranakan cooking that I picked up from my The one you see mother, Low Suan Neo. here is a dog- I had found my element with the oven. eared collectible Swiss rolls, sandwich , , éclairs, kindly lent blancmange and the spiffy trife – these mouth- to me by my watering ang mo were demystifed in the friend, Low school kitchen. Western cooking was so methodical. Whee Hoon. Even with sauces. To this day, whenever I cook Thumbing a stew, I still see in my mind’s eye Mrs Wan through the stirring four into melted butter in a saucepan to pages and reminiscing her French Who can forget demostrate a roux. As she added the milk a little at toast days, Whee Hoon is inspired to Let’s Learn a time over gentle heat, keeping the roux perfectly try out at least a couple of recipes, to Cook, with smooth, the girls would be covertly admiring our like our famous rock buns! its brilliant elegantly dressed teacher, standing between the orange cover? Yellowed Cuttings My apprenticeship at home began at my mother’s side as her sous chef. I assembled ingredients and sliced them meticulously – a must! – before I could graduate to frying rempahs and cooking whole dishes. Besides the home kitchen and formal study at RGS, I had few

A smattering of yellowed recipe cuttings that remind us of the lifestyles in post-independence Singapore.

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other avenues to learn to cook. Black-and-white television aired news, comedies, wrestling and the Andy Williams Show. I could not understand cooking programmes in Chinese on Rediffusion. If my mother did not venture to community centres for cooking classes, neither did I. Our treasure trove came from magazines and newspapers. I have to thank my mother for instilling in me a passion for collecting recipes. Since I was a toddler, she had been subscribing to the UK-based Woman’s Own, Woman and the local Her World magazines, later adding Female. After poring over them from front to back, she would cut out the recipes neatly and compile them in plastic fles. Or paste them in large foolscap exercise books, the ones that came with speckled black covers taped in red at the spine. My mother copied recipes in cursive British-style longhand, in a mix of patois and ungrammatical English that only Peranakans could understand. With measures like genggam (handful), jari (thumb- sized) and mangkok (cupful). “Aiyee, ya juga,” she would say as she gleefully recorded cooking tips or short cuts revealed by this auntie or that grandauntie from Singapore and Malacca. Holidays were the best time of the year. We cousins would bunch together and play the whole day or persiang taugeh (pluck the roots off the bean sprouts) while a cacophony of our nyonya mothers gossiped as they prepared popiah or mee siam in the backyard of our house. I have duly documented my mother’s precious versions during school holidays, we had Cuttings from of Peranakan dishes, many of which were handed plenty of time on our hands at Her World in down from my grandmother. I have also kept home. I designed my own recipe the 1960’s. Ellice Handy was important recipes from my late mother-in-law, Ada book when I was 13 years old. The cover was lovingly wrapped perhaps the frst Law (Mum Ada), such as for curry powder, local celebrity chef. and butter cake, which is my husband Colin’s all- in Reynold’s aluminium foil time favourite. with a giant cut-out of a in the middle, Before the days when half of Singapore few out surrounded by smaller cut-outs of dishes. Many

of the recipes were copied by hand. Just the other day I dusted it from a corner of my bedroom. The foil has discoloured and deteriorated with age. It looks amateurishly silly now. Still, my book was a carefree schoolgirl’s work of art. Every long holiday break until I was in Secondary Four, I would be at the verandah of our terraced house using my father’s white Olympia typewriter to copy recipes from the magazines. In the process I mastered speed typing, later becoming the fastest on the keyboard at the School of Journalism in Times Organisation (now Singapore Press Holdings). As a schoolgirl, I While thinking about what to write for this Female magazine was also copiously typed out article, I remembered keeping a pile of cuttings very popular among home cooks. recipes from British hoping that I would try out a recipe or two when Its recipes commanded such magazines. It was I had the time. Trust a working mother to say that. infuence that a host of annual a great way to Fortunately, Colin did not send them to the recycle cookbooks were spawned for practise typing. bin. One of my yellowed Her World cuttings, dated more than a decade. These were November 1961 (when I was just three years old), eagerly snapped up as soon as they rolled off the carries Ellice Handy’s famous Siamese Curry recipe press. to “whet your appetite”, along with recipes for The Straits Times and New Nation as well as Boiled Vegetable and Coconut Milk Sambal, Crab their Sunday editions, are equally to be credited Curry and Dried Curried Chicken (Malayan style). for rolling out thousands of recipes for home cooks Her World was then known for its extensive through the decades. These newspapers brought fame spread of local recipes. One important column to numerous regular contributors, many of whom that carried on for many years in the 1960s was went on to author cookbooks. Besides the doyenne “Malayan Kitchen”. Ellice Handy, they included Joan Frois, Elizabeth Jay, Aloyah Alkaff, Wendy Hutton and Peranakans such as Terry Tan, Tan Lee Leng, , Lee Geok Boi, Margaret Chan and Sylvia Tan.

Iconic Cookbooks Ask any ardent home cook about Peranakan recipes and chances are that she or he would own Photo by Tan Koon Siang Koon Tan Photo by a copy of the iconic Mrs Lee’s Cookbook by Mrs Lee Chin Koon, who was none other than the mother of our founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (see pages 11 and 36). It was frst produced in December 1974 and reprinted over a dozen times by popular demand. Hers was probably the frst compilation of traditional nyonya recipes in an easy-to-follow style for budding cooks. Another timeless classic frst produced in the 1970s, in two thick volumes, is Singaporean Cooking by Mrs Leong Yee Soo, who happened to be the sister of Mrs Lee Chin Koon. Besides Peranakan recipes, her book added household staples from Chinese, Eurasian, Malay and even Indian kitchens. But way before Mrs Lee’s or Mrs Leong’s books My mother, Low appeared, culinary history was Suan Neo, and made when the seminal My Ng Kim (maternal Favourite Recipes was published aunty) Bong from by Ellice Handy in 1952 to raise Malacca cooking lunch at home funds for Methodist Girls’ School during my wedding where she was the principal. Mrs celebration in 1980. Handy pioneered Singaporean

dalam dapor

Iconic titles that are a must-have for every Peranakan cook - Mrs Lee’s Cookbook and Singaporean Cooking.

It is so convenient to buy curry powder from many sources in recipes that were Singapore and Malacca now. Her inexpensive, recipe will be passed down to my nutritious and son, Keith, and daughter-in-law, unpretentious. She Melinda, who makes the world’s was said to be the frst best French soup. They are to give accurate measures well matched – he does the mains, and timings. Her only such as excellent steaks, and book is a gem prized by she, the starters and , like grandmothers, mothers and raspberry panna cotta. their daughters. Keith learnt much from watching A best seller even now, celebrity chefs who show their Mrs Handy’s colonial-era mettle on food channels on recipes refect the eating television and clips on google and lifestyles from the 1930s to youtube. These chefs cook from the 1950s: From Duck Pot anywhere around the world and Roast, Date and are highly entertaining as well. For Savoury Brinjal Sandwiches tasting the actual food, he can pop to Coconut Candy, Pie Tee, into any of the fne restaurants that Curry Devil, Mee Siam, are commonplace in Singapore the Fried Curry Puffs and even global city. Melinda is a hospitality Soup. Many of my management graduate from mother-in-law’s dishes so Adelaide trained in the classroom loved by our family originated kitchen. Married for over a year, the from Mrs Handy’s book. young couple has begun working When Mum Ada was cash- together on Peranakan staples strapped in the 1970s, raising such as babi pong teh (see page 20), a young family, she modifed Mrs Handy’s aromatic Female magazine sambal timun and bakwan kepiting. curry powder into her own version and sold them in was renowned for My daughter Olivia, who works its annual series in Brisbane, recently concocted packets. I am sure that like Mum Ada, Mrs Handy’s of cookbooks book has blessed many other people in more ways featuring recipes a mean sambal jantong pisang than one. I know of at least one Peranakan culinary from a plethora of using ingredients available from celebrity who still swears by her recipes such as sources including Chinatown and the Vietnamese Hainanese (spiced roast pork). home cooks, markets. She posted an image restaurants and of the dish (see page22) on one of hotels. The Next Generation our Peranakan food chat groups I have not found any need to replicate Mum on facebook, earning much praise from aunties and Ada’s curry powder with my trusty Sumeet grinder. uncles there. As a nyonya mother, I am gratifed.

dalam dapor a much-loved legacy Even the most experienced nyonya cooks swear by Mrs Lee’s Cookbook. The late Mrs Lee Chin Koon (Chua Jim Neo) authored this Peranakan classic in 1974 when she was already 67 years old. She had a mission to pass on to “the younger people in Singapore” recipes that were handed down for several generations within her family. We reproduce her recipe for Mee Siam, a favourite dish of her eldest son who was Singapore’s founding Prime Minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Mrs Lee’s Mee Siam (Fried rice noodles served with a spicy coconut gravy) As retested by Mrs Lee’s granddaughter, Shermay Lee.

600g (1 packet) beehoon (rice vermicelli) 600g medium-sized prawns 150g kuchai () 400g (2 pieces) taukua (frm tofu) 10 lemo kasturi (calamansi limes) 160g udang kering (dried prawns) 300 ml oil 8 eggs 570 ml water 600g taugeh (bean sprouts)

Rempah: 300g bawang merah (shallots) 15 red chillies or 60 dried chillies 3 tbsp belachan () 3 tbsp oil

Gravy: 300g taucheo (salted soy beans) 800 ml santan (coconut milk, using 150g grated coconut and suffcient water) = 1 small pkt Heng Guan Coconut ‘Cream’ (250 g) 1 medium-sized onion 4 tbsp sugar

Preparation If dried chillies are used for the rempah, soak them in hot water. Soak the rice vermicelli (in cold or tap water) for 15 minutes then drain. Add prawns to boiling water then simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. Shell, devein then halve prawns lengthwise. (Freeze the shells for use in other recipes). Hardboil the eggs. Remove and allow to cool. Shell then slice into

Copyright of Shermay Lee. Used with permission. Lee. Copyright of Shermay wedges. Cut chives into 2 cm lengths.

(Discard the light green and white portion, which is about 5 cm from the base). Cut the frm tofu into 3 cm strips and halve a much-loved legacy the limes. Pound/grind the dried prawns until fnely minced. Rinse the bean sprouts. Remove roots, leave the caps. Prepare the rempah. Deseed then roughly chop the soaked fresh chillies. Peel and roughly chop the shallots. Pound/blend together with the prawn paste and oil. It should have a creamy orange texture. Prepare the gravy. Lightly pound the salted soybeans, if whole beans are used. Peel and thinly slice the . Prepare the coconut milk by soaking the grated coconut in the water for a few minutes and squeezing the pulp dry through a muslin cloth or sieve.

Method In a pot, add salted soybeans, coconut milk, onions and sugar. Place pot over the stove, but leave the fame off. Heat a wok over a high fame until it smokes. Add the oil. Add the tofu then lower the fame. Stir-fry in batches until light golden brown but still soft in the centre. (Avoid overcooking as it will become rubbery). Remove and drain. Leave about 200 ml oil in the wok then stir-fry the rempah. After 5-10 minutes, add the dried prawns and continue frying for 1-2 minutes. Remove 4 tablespoons of the mixture and set it aside in a small serving dish. Serve it on the side for those who want their Mee Siam spicier. Stir-fry the mixture for about 15-20 minutes or more, until it turns a deep golden brown and the oil has separated. Scoop out 5 tablespoons of the rempah and place it in the pot with the gravy ingredients. Over a medium fame, allow the gravy to simmer (uncovered) for about 30 minutes. Once it has thickened slightly, keep it warm over a very low fame. Add 570 ml water to the remaining rempah in the wok. Stir thoroughly and bring to boil. Add the bean sprouts and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the rice vermicelli then lower the fame. Using cooking chopsticks or tongs (to prevent the vermicelli from breaking), turn the rice vermicelli and bean sprouts over in the wok. This helps the riace vermicelli to cook evenly and mixes all the ingredients. Dish the rice vermicelli out onto a large serving plate or onto individual plates. Garnish with the fried tofu, chives and prawns. Arrange the sliced eggs and limes around the edge of the dish. Serve the gravy in a separate bowl. Pour the gravy over the rice vermicelli just before eating.

chakap chakap

BABA REFLECTS ON A REWARDING ACTING CAREER IN A DIALOGUE WITH NYONYA LINDA CHEE. characteristic panache

You have been acting since1974. all gone. I have about a performance. Has being a Peranakan infuenced no knowledge of What is important you to become an actor? Baba Malay or any is my own appraisal I’m not conscious of any overt decent knowledge of of what I’ve done, Peranakan infuence on my decision Peranakan culture. A what I can improve to become an actor. I would call lot of this stems from on, what was good, my parents - my father was born in my father’s belief what was bad. I’m China and my mother was a seventh that his Chinese only interested in generation Peranakan - modern, roots were a thing getting better and being the frst in their families to of the bad old past that will continue for go to university. There were always and that English a lifetime. books, overseas newspapers and was the language of magazines around the house. And the future. Here was What motivates you there was music, my dad being a man who could as an actor? Who is an audiophile. But being modern speak Mandarin your inspiration? meant dispensing with tradition, as well as all the At this time of my which meant I was never infused with dialects. I’m not sure life, what matters either Chinese or Peranakan culture. how my mother felt. is an interesting The closest I got to that is a visual Of course my mother In the 2004 movie Perth, Kay role, and if possible memory of what my grandparents spoke to Mak only Tong’s lead performance as something different wore. My father’s Hokkien parents in the patois and deranged taxi driver Harry from what I have wore fared foodwater pants and with her siblings as Lee won wide acclaim from done before. Rather Chinese tunic tops. My mother’s well. So the patter flm critics. than emulate anyone, Peranakan parents couldn’t have was always within the inspiration for a been more different. Grandfather earshot, but never spoken to me. part comes from within - which is a usually wore a white baju tutup There was never pressure to learn strange mix of learnt technique, work outft and Mak (grandmother) would the Peranakan vernacular. and life experience and imagination. always be in a sarong kebaya. So my Only my wife, Sylvia, has hung DNA is somewhat fused between the onto a few traditions. Every time Which medium do you enjoy most - two. I’m really not sure where my there is a wedding in the younger stage, television or flm? inner urge to become an actor came generation, she insists on a tok Television and flm have more of from. All I know was I discovered a panjang (‘long table’ feast) during a place for me. Stage, when you’re buzz going on stage which was both the celebrations. The Peranakan young, gets your adrenalin going. But physical and intellectual. Association Singapore is doing a flm and television are more intimate. fne job. Perhaps it is the conduit I enjoy the interior work required Do you feel Peranakan and in for passing down the traditions. for the screen. Stage work has to be what aspects? projected, so there’s a barrier to the I feel Peranakan because of How do you feel about receiving character’s inner life. The camera tries my almost total inability to speak acclaim for your performances? to pick up what’s inside a person. Mandarin or Hokkien! Now that must Acclaim is a side issue, because be in the blood. it is only accorded by the eye of the What was it like acting in the beholder. I am critical about what I long-running serial Growing Up Do you think our culture is do, so I take praise very cautiously (1996 -2001)? sustainable? and fnd criticism more useful for Growing Up was one of the best In my life and family, it’s almost the future. I try to be very objective times I had in my career. Working

Dubbed as Singapore’s , character actor Lim Kay Tong has turned in scintillating performances in all three mediums - television, stage and flm. He has starred opposite and Pierce Brosnan in his long flm career and is a board member of Theatreworks, which he co-founded in 1985. The ex-rugby national is happily married to popular cookbook author, Sylvia Tan. characteristic panache

Above, Kay Tong as our late founding Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, in the famous press conference scene from the SG50 movie, 1965. (Photograph is by courtesy of Blue3 Pictures and mm2 Entertainment).

Left, The Tay family in Above, Kay Tong and Sylvia the award- at their tok panjang wedding winning serial, dinner at home in 1983. Next Growing Up, to them is playwright Michael set in the 1960s Chiang, who frst introduced to 1980s. Kay Tong to Sylvia.

regularly day in and day out for six wife could see I was getting frustrated As a founder of TheatreWorks, years taught me much about screen and urged me to strike out full time are you satisfed with how theatre acting and building a character for as an actor. has progressed in Singapore? the medium. If there is another That was the best advice and show The theatre scene has developed worthy series I would not hesitate. of support I could only have dreamt tremendously. However performance I have, post-Growing Up, enjoyed of, but it was real! My marriage and standards vary. I think a proper working on The Pupil. But it only being an actor are all I can ask for. apprenticeship is necessary to get lasted two seasons, even though it Maybe if the acting work dries up, I the basics right. But we are always in picked up a couple of awards at the will return to writing. But then this is a hurry. Aspiring artists want to get Asian Television Awards. someone who loves Samuel Beckett! somewhere fast without dwelling too long on the fundamentals. You were once a journalist in The What advice can you give to We started TheatreWorks to give Sunday Times and New Nation. aspiring local actors? ourselves work and it’s heartening Would you have made a good From my experience as an actor to see so many more practitioners journalist if you were not acting? - work very hard on your audition doing so much more. What is deeply I was a journalist for nearly fve piece. Strive to be better than anyone encouraging is that I meet young years and I enjoyed the writing. else going for the part and get the actors who have bravely ventured out Perhaps I was fortunate the press job! Easier said than done and luck and are earning a living from acting in was going through a tough time - does play a part, but you have to the most pragmatic way - doing both the Anson by-election, the rise and make the most of that when it does commercial and artistic work. fall of the Singapore Monitor. My come your way.

a rt a young painter’s

The Holy Family (150 x 200cm) is painted in acrylic and oil on linen. It was commissioned to be a stunning visual compendium of cultural references: the poh kia ee, the Virgin’s kasot manek, her udang galah tinted sarong kebaya, Joseph’s sarong, a mother-of- pearl chair, the belimbing tree and the potted plants.

promise BABA BRYAN TAN SITS DOWN WITH ALVIN ONG TO DISCUSS HIS INFLUENCES AND ASPIRATIONS AS A PAINTER

hen I heard I was to interview Alvin Ong, a prodigious local painter and youngest winner of the UOB Painting of the Year award in 2005 at the age ofW 16, I immediately imagined someone who had been cooped up for too long in a room without showering. Someone who always had smudges of paint pigments on his fngers and clothes. But the person who turned up at my doorstep was quite something else.

As a fellow contemporary aged 27, Alvin is the of his godparents’ house.“This place has a special perfect depiction of the boy next door. Affable and place in my heart, because it holds many memories of unassuming, he smiles seriously as he recounts his family events. It was very organic and eclectic. Antique humble beginnings growing up. furniture and photos sat casually next to their modern “I’m not Peranakan by descent, but I spent a lot of counterparts. For me it is a way in which memories are time with my godparents and their extended family layered on top of one another.” who are Peranakan. I assimilated a lot of aspects of Fast-forward to the present, and Alvin describes a the culture growing up with them,” he recalls. “My recent privately commissioned piece, The Holy Family paintings are a record of social memory, stories that I for a Peranakan home. Looking past the religious think are worth preserving.” subject matter, one discovers the painting to be a One of his earlier sketches featured the living room stunning visual compendium of cultural references: the poh kia ee, the Virgin’s kasot manek, her udang galah tinted sarong kebaya, Joseph’s sarong, a mother-of-pearl chair, the belimbing tree and the potted plants. All of these combine to conjure a world perhaps only familiar to an older generation. Alvin talks about the Bukit Brown cemetery; witnessing its subsequent redevelopment prompted him to interrogate his roots and the price we pay for development. In Search of Tanah Airku is a recent work in which many of these thoughts come together. This work features what seems to be an exhumation amongst a gathering of fgures. I probe into its slightly dark and morbid elements and he nods wryly in acknowledgement, “My paintings may seem a bit melancholic and nostalgic, but sometimes I think death and loss isn’t something to be pantang (superstitious) about, because they are part and parcel of life.” When asked about the parallels to Peranakan culture, whether discovering what is past and forgotten is a way to move forward, Alvin wholeheartedly agrees. “Culture and In Search tradition are our anchors of Tanah Airku in a changing world,” he (125 x 180cm). muses. “But at the same Painted in oil on time not static, because of canvas in 2015, it the people who inherit it features what seems to be an exhumation and continue to sustain amongst a gathering it.” Alvin is now reading of fgures. fne art in Oxford.

a rt a love affair with canvas an eye FINGER PAINTER NYONYA ADELINE YEO CELEBRATES THE BEAUTY OF LIFE IN THE VIBRANCY OF HER WORKS. SHE ALSO PAINTS BLINDFOLDED, AS NYONYA for detail LINDA CHEE MARVELS

eeting Adeline Yeo recently Adeline is quick to declare that for the frst time was like her path to success has not been a Mchancing upon a ray of bed of roses. “You need to be very, sunshine in your living room. Her very strong mentally and you need effervescence brims over. She squeals to have friends who support you with giggly delight. And holds your in many ways.” Adeline’s strong arm like an old friend. I cannot help network has been crucial “and I do but smile at her brightness. Her everything myself. My sixth sense, personality dominates her works: intuition, effciency. And most of exuberant, confdent and joyful. all, the presence of a higher being. Adeline’s transition from public Art is spiritual. I am Christian but I relations consultant to full-time understand what fengshui means.” painting was fast-tracked, and Her works have surpassed a rather serendipitous to discovering her unusual benchmark. “Chanel has roots. Her frst painting was of a always been my inspiration. She phoenix, as part of a fashion show once said, ‘My passion will challenge that was Peranakan infuenced. convention. I told myself that one It became the design motif for a day, my art will be the same, or if not yonya Carolyn Law gown. That was in 2010. The trendy more, than the price of a Chanel suit. never really was in touch fashionista felt a calling to follow her I have achieved that.” Nwith her Peranakan self passion for art. Adeline hopes to “build an until about two years ago. Adeline has not looked back since. empire and a legacy”. Her ambition She says: “I was always Her fve solo exhibitions as a fnger is to “be globally recognized and surrounded by the culture. But I did not take notice of it until I painter promptly sold out. She often to be a highly valued stock in the recently reconnected with a few paints blindfolded for charity. Her marketplace.” By then, she smiles, family members whom I never works are inspired by themes of love, “every single stroke would have to knew existed. After the start of journeys, dreams, visions and her be measured in its entirety.” my studio ARThaus, I also got to own life. know more people who showed me how colourful Peranakan culture is.” It helped too that when Carolyn was a child she was already exposed to the culture. “I was brought up by my nanny who was a Peranakan. She would make traditional kueh kueh (desserts) during Chinese New Year. She wore the sarong kebaya and cooked traditional Peranakan food. These are memories that will stay with me forever. “When I was older and lived with my parents, family gatherings on my dad’s side were always interesting. They all spoke in a smattering of English, Malay, Hokkien or just simply Baba patois,” says the young and Chandelier (36x36 inches in acrylic on canvas) was earnest painter, who is armed done while blindfolded. Showing her dare, Adeline once with a masters in Fine Art completed a blindfold painting in one minute. majoring in oil painting.

BABA COLIN CHEE IS an eye IMPRESSED WITH ART the adoptee TEACHER NYONYA C AROLYN for detail LAW’S LATEST WORKS as artist THE SERENE FLORALS OF SYDNEY-BASED ARTIST GABBY MALPAS’ PAINTINGS BARELY HINT OF THE STORIED LIFE SHE HAS LED AS A TRANSRACIAL ADOPTEE, BABA EMERIC LAU DISCOVERS.

“ he road less travelled” is a work has exploded with “Asian- phrase often used by artists ness”. She terms it Chinoiserie, Tto describe the course of in reference to the romanticised, their lives. For Gabby Malpas, however, Western view of Asia that was that choice was made for her. initially developed for Europeans. Malpas was born in 1966 in Malpas is fascinated by the fusion Auckland, New Zealand. She lived or rather, profusion of Eastern and in the United Kingdom for 14 years Western elements in Peranakan culture. and has been in Sydney since 2003. She frst encountered Peranakan Ethnically, she is “100% Chinese” objects in Malaysia, and was also although the revelation that she introduced to Indonesian batiks which wasn’t white, like the rest of her she fnds the most beautiful fabrics in adoptive family, occurred fairly late: the world. She purchased a Peranakan “I did not see myself as Asian at all teapot in Penang and it stars in many of Carolyn painted Genesis - a couple until I hit my late teens”. Hers was a her paintings. Cross-cultural elements in Peranakan wedding costumes - “closed adoption”, meaning that there permeate Malpas’ artwork in a manner in oil on canvas on two panels, each were no real avenues for the adoptee that may seem jarring to purists; 48 x 18 inches. Her current series or birth family to contact each other. of artworks on a Peranakan theme quite unwittingly thus, she challenges After a couple of unsuccessful has sold very well. stereotypes. Titled “I Will Not attempts, Malpas was reunited with She would Love You Long Looking at her paintings of her birth mother – also an artist - in love to exhibit in Time”, this vibrant the Peranakan bridal couple 2004. This was the start of a healing Singapore and is setting with nyonyaware and kamchengs, Carolyn muses: process that continues today. keen to see how combined watercolour, “I particularly like extremely Knowing her full ethnic heritage gouache and pencil on an Asian audience Arches paper. detailed work. Peranakan has made a huge difference in her reacts to her work. 57cm x 76cm. ceramics, clothing, fashion artwork and life attitude: Malpas’ accessories and even are replete with minute details and favours, and are laborious to produce. Peranakan colours are striking yet subtle in their blends.” Her art is remarkable in the very fne details that she has managed to painstakingly document on canvas. In the fowers, the animals, birds and geometric patterns. Carolyn started Arthaus, an art school in June 2011. Her students read like the United Nations: Brazilian, Indian, Japanese, Dutch, German, French, Swiss, Australian and British, amongst others. The youngest is four years old and the oldest, about 65. Carolyn is busy planning for an exhibition in 2016 featuring only contemporary Peranakan works.

a rt

moving across images AWARD-WINNING SHERMAN ONG EXTOLS TO AMIT PRITAM HIS LOVE FOR THE CAMERA AND THE THEMES THAT MOTIVATE HIS WORK

hotography, flmmaking and storytelling: momentum through The photograph above is Sherman Ong expertly uses these mediums photographing people. part of Sherman’s Spaces to express and showcase his interest in the “They are more complex series and was shot at the P Basel zoo in Germany as emotionally layered human condition and its surrounding environments. during winter where the Sherman was born in 1971 in Malacca. Growing people compared to animals elephants are brought up as a seventh generation Peranakan, he fondly and nature,” he clarifes indoors to protect them recalls his time in school and how his classmates pensively. from the cold. It was part used to describe him. “They used to call me orang Sherman subsequently of a series of works that developed an interest in won for him the prestigious China, bukan China 2012 ICON de Martell or OCBC because of videography and flming Cordon Bleu Photography my mixed descent moving images. He was Award. and the fact that exposed to world cinema I didn’t speak when he volunteered as an usher at the Singapore Chinese. I found it International Film Festival. “I started to have an strange for a short interest in flms and how I could use the power of time but eventually, I moving images to tell my own stories.” just got used to it.” Sherman’s visual style is focused on forming Sherman had narratives based on the themes of origin, migration cultivated an affnity and diaspora. His work, which has been showcased for capturing visuals across the world, touches on the human aspects of through the lens life, death, love, hope and the relationships which after his father people forge owing to their particular environments. presented him with Sherman has travelled the world and honed his his frst Kodak craft in artist residences from Hanoi to Fukuoka to camera when he Dar Es Salaam. In 2012, he won the prestigious 2012 was 10 years old. ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu Photography Award “My interest in imagery started when I started taking for outstanding achievement in his feld of art. His photographs of my pets including dogs, cats and current showcases include a series of documentary fsh. Photographing them was also a way for me to video installations, titled Islands in Between, that can understand them and nature better,” he muses. be viewed at the National Library Building as part of As he grew older, Sherman gained further the Geo|Graphic series.

bespoke sulam BABA HEATH YEO LOVES TO EXPERIMENT – HIS ONE-OF-A-KIND KEBAYAS ARE WEARABLE FANTASIES. BABA EMERIC LAU INTERVIEWS THIS DEDICATED EMBROIDERER.

aba Heath Yeo struggles to qualify motifs, richly shading them into life. Heath wears himself when asked if he is Peranakan. Technically speaking, embroidery his own sulam His paternal grandmother is tionghoa was but one method of garment creation, displaying B his fne handiwork. Peranakan from Indonesia, but his mother is embellishment, alongside beading, Singaporean Chinese, “so I guess I’m half”. His lacework and applique. What made it special was growing-up memories include seeing the sarong his recollection of his late grandmother donning worn often at home, listening to the adults converse her beautifully embroidered (sulam) kebayas and how in patois and inhaling the aromas of nyonya cuisine different the effect was when compared with its use wafting out from the kitchen. on more contemporary fashion. Heath embarked on a journey of sorts – researching books, museums, antique stores and even consulting friends who had vintage kebayas. Sadly, his grandmother’s kebayas had been buried with her. Heath found a teacher in Madam Moi of Kim Seng Kebaya who imparted the art of embroidering kebayas to him. He experiments with designs. His facebook wall sports a photo of supermodel Christy Turlington printed on a kebaya – a commendable attempt to evolve away from traditional expectations. Heath believes that the kebaya form will change. He has a strong affnity for traditional methods, including sulam produced When he was enrolled Above, an on a manually- at St Anthony’s Primary elaborate two- operated Singer sided sulam School, his parents selected (embroidery) sewing machine Malay as his second of goldfsh - an for its singular language. But he was auspicious motif uniqueness, but “reunited” with the Chinese - embellished also acknowledges class after his mother gave with kerawang, that industrial- or fne ‘cutwork’ up, as he “cried and cried, embroidery scale machines can wondering why I was singled where holes are embroider kebayas out to learn Malay.” cut out after at a faster pace Heath studied Fashion the embroidery and in ever more Design at Lasalle College work to create a sophisticated designs. lace-like effect. of the Arts. When working “Kebaya sulam as a designer of formal and deserves its place evening wear, he started to White cotton alongside traditional learn embroidery techniques. voile with techniques such as Each design had to be hand- scallop lace Indian embroidery drawn to ft the garment, applied in and hand- and he was charmed by the layers for a embroidered Chinese wave effect. simplicity of how needle and silk – above all, it is thread could render various unique to us.”

books SARONG KEBAYA: Peranakan Fashion in an Intercon BABA COLIN CHEE EXPLORES THE HYBRID WORLD OF THE NYONYAS AS TOLD BY BABA PETER LEE

can only describe Peter illustrated books about the sarong Chia’s book The Babas on Page Lee’s tome as monumental. kebaya to date. 50). Instead, will it simply evolve IMonumental in its singular, like a resilient social organism passionate pursuit of the sarong Sarong Kebaya, a Dying through its assimilations with kebaya. Monumental in its Community or What? other cultures, as it did in the research. Monumental in the rarity The book is one man’s private past, into something different yet and subject of its illustrations. journey to discover the origins of the same because it has retained Monumental in its 352 story-telling his Peranakan community. The parts of its cultural uniqueness pages in a weighty volume. And a journey may have started with a and peculiarities? monumental nine years to write simple search for the story behind Only time will tell. and produce. this once iconic attire for the In the meantime, simply enjoy For the past fve years, the Peranakan nyonya in Southeast this well-written if scholastic book. editorial team of The Peranakan Asia – the sarong kebaya. As a reader aptly describes, magazine had asked the author But his intellectual curiosity “the book itself is a heroic each time they met at his Bukit and “dissatisfaction with the endeavour with a lot of references Timah family home, “Are you histories of the Peranakan world, for the scholastically minded to fnished with the book yet, Peter?” and by the way the Peranakan follow up. Not every theory put up community will meet with agreement but any describes itself” – critic will have to plough through like Peranakan jati the references to nit pick with or pure Peranakan any credibility.” - sparked a search that extended the What is in a Name? initial study of the Indeed, as the author will have sarong kebaya into it, a name is nothing to fuss about. an evolved history Peter writes, “As words travel of the Peranakan and mutate between cultures, as community from the they have over centuries across 16th century to 1950. the Indian Ocean, they leave And what is Peter’s signifcant trails.” conclusion from this Except that they do have search? “complicated histories.” Words He challenges, like baju, kebaya and sarong, “Can any community which describe a nyonya’s dress ever be characterized in Baba Malay, are actually the as having a fxed set results of the “circulation and of characteristics? shifting semantics mirroring the When did social cosmopolitan and cross-cultural history become conditions that created the A Eurasian a branch of Peranakan sarong kebaya.” His coy reply would be, “Not yet. family, Java, ca biology?” He discovered that Malay and There’s so much to do.” The next 1920s. Gelatin If this is true, Portuguese were the dominant silver print. thing we knew he would be away then perhaps there languages in the Indian Ocean in in the Netherlands, Portugal, India, is hope yet for the Peranakan the early centuries. They facilitated Malaysia or Indonesia in feverish community. the spread of ideas and words. pursuit of some fabled holy grail. It will not simply die away as Malay, as a trading language, It has been a worthwhile long its DNA gets diluted through was spoken in the Cape of Good wait for those in the know. The marriages with the larger Hope, western India and along the book is easily one of the best, community, as many Peranakan Chinese coast. As for Portuguese, if not the best, researched and elders fear (see review of Mr Felix the language of invaders during

ashion in an Intercon nected World

the sixteenth century, variants of it continue to be spoken as Papia Kristang in Melaka. Along with the spread of these languages, sartorial fashions and references of the time gained geographical traction. Allow me to condense the histories of the three Peranakan fashion words in Peter’s book. Baju - which today refers to clothing in general – was once used to describe tailored garments for the torso or upper body. The word has references in Persian, Portuguese, Indian, Sri Lankan, Chinese and Malay texts. Because the word baju also appears in the oldest Malay word list found in an early 16th century Chinese text in which various types of attire have clear Arabic and Persian origins, it is assumed the word baju has the same Arabic and Persian roots. The word kebaya, however, seems to have a less complicated story. Today it describes the a few Malay words that has spread short lace trimmed variant of into the vocabulary of other world the top once worn by Dutch languages. It originally referred women in Indonesia, and Malay to any kind of sheath or covering, and Peranakan women in the such as sarong bantal (pillow cover) late 19th century. They are still or sarong kris (kris scabbard). worn in a variety of styles and Unlike the kebaya which appeared materials. The word was existent in European colonial records during Dutch colonial times and much earlier, sarong is found in it was probably derived from the Dutch records of the 18th century Portuguese colonial word “cabaye” in Batavia or today’s Jakarta. which was used to describe a coat. These days, sarong refers to the Indeed, the Portuguese creole ubiquitous wrap around or body that was spoken in Sri Lanka dress for the quintessential Malay soon saw “cabaye” transliterated and Peranakan woman. into “kebaya” Indeed, the sarong kebaya frst Instructions in Sinhalese, came into its own as a symbol of accompanying a tracing with both words tropical colonial life during the paper pattern referring to coat. Dutch rule of the East Indies. But for kebaya Then the Dutch it is not unique to any particular embroidery, came east and community. It is a marvelous issued by Clarke kebaya became result of hybridity as cultural and Company of Paisley, what it is today. currents criss-crossed one another Scotland, 1950s. Sarong is one of over time. Peter aptly quoted art

books

Sarong kebayas dating back to the 1930s-40s. The kebayas were tailored in Indonesia. The sarongs were painted by renowned batik artists from Kedungwuni and Pekalongan. From the Peranakan Museum. Photographed by Chris Yap Chris Photographed by

therefore myths have held sway in the popular imagination. For example, one of the quasi-historical narratives about the origins of the royal family in Malacca, as recorded in the Malay Annals, perhaps written around 1612, has been appropriated to explain the origins of the Peranakan Chinese. Hang Liu, an imperial Chinese princess, was said to have arrived in Malacca with a retinue of fve hundred young men and women, who converted to Islam en masse… She herself married the sultan. This union is not corroborated by Ming histories…” Peter carries on: “Exactly how Peranakans have “mixed blood” has been imperfectly understood. That native-born Chinese women historian Finbarr Barry Flood Above, Chua Wan Neo were a rarity who described the phenomenon (seated centre), widow of outside China as the result of “people and things the pioneer rubber planter Tan Chay Yan, with her until the late having been mixed up for a very children and their spouses. 19th century is long time”. Toyo Studio, Singapore, well established. Like an intricate batik design 1931. Gelatin silver print. Therefore the with its minutae of whorls and curls. Collection of Sharron Chee Guek Kee. wives of the The Nyonya pioneering Right, Li Lihua, legend of Chinese migrants “An understanding of the Shanghai and Hongkong to the Malay development of Peranakan fashion cinema, in the Chinese Archipelago must is impossible without frst gaining flm Nyonya and Baba, have belonged clarity on certain critical issues Cathay, 1956. The sarong and kebaya had been to other ethnic about the Peranakans that have, strategically ftted to groups.” to date, remained nebulous, even accentuate her fgure. Peter went on to within the Peranakan community. quote travelogues, At the centre of these is the By asking these questions at books, references, studies of the identity of the Peranakan woman. the start of the chapter on Slave day to show that in days of old Who is the nyonya? When and how Girls and Heiresses; Mothers of All our Chinese pioneers married did she come about?” Peranakans, the author bravely gave slave girls and local women from his answer. the archipelago including Bali, He starts by Celebes, Sulawesi, Java, Sumatra, controversially and Guinea. From these pragmatic demolishing a beginnings, he builds the case long-held and for a community that started to much-loved look inward but grew in wealth, belief: sophistication and social status, in “Indeed the the milieu of growing urbanization very origins of and colonial exploitation of the the Peranakan region’s natural wealth, fast community are adapting to changes and even imprecisely transforming itself to ever changing perceived, and social and economic environs.

“Citizen living in Sarong Kebaya is published by the Batavia, with his Asian Civilisation Museum. Available wife”, 1670s. Georg at the Asian Civilisations Museum, Franz Muller. thePeranakan Museum and Select Books. Watercolour on paper.

books the babas live on BABA COLIN CHEE EXAMINES THE REPRINT OF A CLASSIC T I T LE BY BABA FELIX CHIA

his is the third print of Peranakan life as it was lived the late Felix Chia’s book, in Singapore and Malacca TThe Babas, which was during the late pre-war and highly sought after when it was early post-independence frst printed in 1980. A reprint was years. He takes the reader made in 1993, titled The Babas breezily through most Revisited, where the author revised aspects of life then. substantial parts of his original Many years from now text. The revisions accommodated this single book will serve feedback on his frst book, provided as a basic reference or clarifcations and expositions on record of what is and how lines of thought and opinions the Peranakan community taken, and expanded on material evolved, fourished and in the original text that he thought declined. More importantly, was necessary. it was written by one who Said a feisty Mr Chia in the lived that life. Mr Chia wrote Introduction to his 1993 reprint: with a passionate interest in “To retain the essence and charm the community. that the mega-hit TV series The of the previous edition, I have In Mr Chia’s last chapter on The Little Nyonya had on kick-starting chosen only the most interesting of Future, he unabashedly predicted interest in the culture outside this the old text and improved it with the community’s eventual dwindling community. Nor did the addition of new information…. extinction in Singapore. In 1993, he foresee the establishment of Upon recollecting the opinions and he may have been pessimistically Singapore’s Peranakan Museum criticisms of my books recently, prescient: and privately-owned Peranakan I realized that it would not be a “What of the present-day museums that have sprouted up in bad idea if I were to conduct an Babas? There is no future for them the region. Or the subtle infuence ‘autopsy’ on them and spearhead as a community, for they are fast of The Peranakan magazine inside further discussion.” disappearing with each generation. and outside the community. Mr Chia’s book provides a fairly The Babas who marry Nyonyas today He also did not live to see comprehensive and rare glimpse of do so more out of love than for the the formation of a federation of propagation of Babas and Peranakan associations in Southeast Nyonyas….A minority race Asia and as far away as Australia. which keeps dwindling Neither could he have anticipated cannot hope to survive. The the success of commercial sad fate of this dwindling enterprises such as Main Wayang race is perpetuated by the in mass-popularizing the culture in ignorance of Baba culture schools and the corporate world. among the young….The lot In an innocuous way, the success of the Singapore Baba now of social media, particularly is to be assimilated by those facebook communities such as around them; to continue The Peranakan (Nyonya and Baba) in their inherent nature of Clan, Perot Rumah – Peranakan Food integrating into different Culture, and Peranakan Material cultures, as their forebears Culture, has brought the community had so wisely done.” across the world a lot closer to their Unfortunately, Mr Chia cultural roots and to each other. didn’t have the beneft of The late Mr Felix Chia, I am sure, experiencing the impact would breathe a sigh of relief – for this extension. Baba Felix Chia’s paternal grandfather, Baba Chia Hood Sang, and his The Babas is co-published by the Estate daughters – Choo Neo ‘Lau of Felix Chia and Landmark Books. Cute’ and Poh Neo.

theatre

the LKY musical. not to be missed. THE LOVE STORY OF LEE KUAN YEW AND KWA GEOK CHOO

he Marina Bay Sands’ writer Meira Chand. MasterCard Theatres will Playing the key roles are local actors Thost its frst local musical Adrian Pang as Lee Kuan Yew; Sharon from 21 July this year for a limited Au in the coveted role of Mrs Lee; season only. Sebastian Tan as rickshaw puller Koh The LKY Musical by Metropolitan Teong Koo who saved Mr Lee’s life Productions has been three years in during the Japanese Occupation; and the making. It tells the love story of Benjamin Chow in his debut as activist our late founding Prime Minister Lee Lim Chin Siong. Kuan Yew and his late wife Kwa Geok At the musical’s introduction to the Choo. It also cleverly weaves in the media on 13 April, Dick said he was at socio-political drama of Singapore’s frst unsure how to pitch his music. It early independence years. could not be just like his usual musicals. Baba composed the He told The Peranakan: “Working with music, with London-based Laurence such a serious subject matter, I had to Olivier Award winner Stephen approach the writing carefully. Music is Clark providing the lyrics. Veteran used to convey emotions and situations. London director Steven Dexter, who This story had plenty of that, so it was last directed : Portrait wonderful to craft a dramatic score of an Empress, has where I could write from my heart Baba Dick says returned to direct without too many considerations of the music for this musical. The commercialism.” the multi-million creative team Sebastian Tan said in jest at the dollar production media conference that he would look is his “best score includes playwright to date.” Tony Petito and like a well-fed rickshaw puller. come discover the hidden truth GSA’S NEW PLAY PROMISES A REVELATION

or their annual Wayang do all she can Peranakan and to mark its to marry Daisy F105th anniversary, Gunong into the wealthy Sayang Association (GSA) is Lim family presenting a new work written by with the help of Alvin Teo. Udang Sebalik Batu – The matchmaker Bibik Hidden Truth promises an evening Taik Lalat. How that will tug at the heartstrings does she cause even as it delivers a potpourri of the split? Did amusing gags. Daisy really marry The plot centres around young into the lovers Daisy Tan and Jeff Koh, who Lim family? Who have known each other since they exactly knows were children. Jeff was brought up The Hidden Truth? by his single mother, Lian Neo, who You’ll have to go watch to fnd out! and Matthew Chen. Watch the slogged all her life so her son could The wayang is directed by Tony It is performed in intrigue to have a bright future. Eventually, Quek. The cast includes Audrey Tan Peranakan patois with split young Jeff secures a scholarship to study as Daisy, Eugene Tay as Jeff and a English subtitles. lovers. in England and has to be separated host of other experienced actors There are just three shows at from Daisy. Daisy’s stepmother, including Lee Yong Ming, Jessie the Drama Centre from 30 – 31 Bibik Guek Neo, plots to split the Cheang, Christina Wee, KT, Cynthia October so book your seats early. young couple due to their class Lee, Jeannette Chan, Frederick Tickets are available at all SISTIC difference and is determined to Soh, Alvin Teo, Ameline Goh outlets from August 2015.

e vents the thrill of conventions KL ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT BABA CEDRIC TAN IS ENTHUSED BY THE JAKARTA CONVENTION

hen Aspertina performances by the participating visited north From left to right, (Association of Peranakan associations and Jakarta for a The Peranakan- Peranakan Tionghoa closed with delegates dancing the whirlwind tour inspired fashion W show at the gala night away. Indonesia) was announced as of the old city night. the Jakarta host for the 27th The opening ceremony the and port. After next day at the host hotel, Grand the convention The Wayang Baba Nyonya Convention 2014, Potehi dolls on I was eager to sign up. Having Sahid Jaya, was followed by ended, some display. attended almost 20 conventions, simple-to-digest introductions delegates into the heritage of the local Javanese-style I can conclude with confdence headed to Chinese-icons in that inaugural events are usually Peranakans. Bapak Joseph ‘Aji’ Tangerang wayang kulit. remarkable. Chen Bromokusumo whetted where the First of all, it is proof that the our appetites in his talk on Persaudaraan Peranakan Tionghoa Peranakan community is truly Peranakan cuisine while Bapak Warga Indonesia (Pertiwi) had diasporic and diverse. Secondly, Hartono Sumarsono enthralled prepared a three-day programme the new host is likely to spare us with a visual feast of his vast covering historic Benteng, Bogor no expense to create an excellent batik collection. Prof Abdullah and Ciputat. In Benteng, I saw frst impression. Personally, it Dahana covered the history of rare batik masterpieces by doyen was the frst time for me leading Peranakan culture in Indonesia. Oey Soen Tjoen in the Heritage delegates from Kuala Lumpur During the break, delegates Museum. At Roemah Boeroeng we and Selangor as President of the shopped at the bazaar and left were feted with an astounding 111 PPBNKLS (Persatuan Peranakan satiated with bags of batik, types of local appetizers, mains, Baba Nyonya Kuala Lumpur & kebayas, books and handicraft. desserts and fruits. I recalled Selangor). Aspertina staged a spectacular familiar dishes like masak chin, On Friday, 28 November, we fashion show. Renowned masak sio and masak buah keluak. arrived in Jakarta and proceeded Indonesian fashion designers My experiences in Indonesia to dinner. The highlight was were roped in to share their have reaffrmed my commitment the traditional Wayang Potehi or Peranakan-inspired creations, to attend future conventions. I puppet show featuring the story such as Samuel Wattimena, love the thrill of stepping into of Seet Jin Kwee performed by Poppy Dharsono, Itang Yunasz, an unexplored room without any young and upcoming masters Geraldus Sugeng, Aff Syakur and inkling of what I will fnd within, of the trade, and to live music. Hendy Wijaya. and the ‘wow’ moment when The evening continued with On the third and fnal day, we something awesome sweeps by.

events

fact octogenarians! Topics range virtually peranakan from food to antiques to customs BABA NORMAN CHO EXPERIENCES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL and practices. MEDIA FOR…WELL, SOCIALISING! Earlier last year, someone posted an online review of the “ hy don’t you start a facebook group was conceived top 10 Peranakan restaurants in Facebook Group on in 2012. Singapore. This prompted our Peranakan material To my astonishment, there are group to organise a food outing. W Our frst meeting was at the culture?” a friend who knew my over 2,000 members registered passion for Peranakan artefacts in my virtual group today. I have Candlenut restaurant on 4 October cajoled me. With my experience discarded the notion of bibiks 2014. Already acquainted virtually, and knowledge from almost 30 behind the kuali with ladles it was effortless to warm up to one years of collecting Peranakan in hand; instead, the bibiks of another’s company. There were 20 antiques, she thought I deserved today are more often found of us in all. a wider audience! This was how surfng facebook on their mobile We have had three other outings the Peranakan Material Culture phones. A few members are in since: To the Peranakan Museum followed by dinner at True Blue Cuisine next door on 15 November; the Eurasian Association on 7 February where I gave a talk on Peranakan jewellery, followed by dinner at Quentin’s; and the latest on 18 April at Rumah Kim Choo where 30 members – including one from Malacca and two from Kuala Lumpur - learnt how to play cherki. The Peranakans’ penchant for parties and good food has never been a secret. We can look forward to more socialising and Learning to camaraderie through play cherki social media! at Rumah Kim Choo. christmas joy at chingay spectacular peacehaven

n 19 December 2014, The OPeranakan Voices (TPVs) brought Christmas joy to over 400 residents and their families at the Salvation Army Peacehaven Nursing Home for elderly patients. To witness joy in the faces of those hingay 2015 in Singapore’s jubilee year was in need of care was a the grandest parade ever organized! The Main truly meaningful way CWayang Company and the Eurasian Association to end 2014, offering a combined with the Vintage/Classic Cars Enthusiasts Group to present an enthralling spectacle on 27 and 28 timely reminder for us February. Over 100 babas and nyonyas young and old to cherish and celebrate dressed in traditional costumes took to the streets to precious moments with showcase the Peranakan culture. This mega multi-cultural our loved ones. event involved 11,000 performers.

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THE FEDERATION OF PERANAKAN ASSOCIATIONS

SINGAPORE PENANG INDONESIA The Peranakan Association State Chinese (Penang) Association Association of Peranakan Tionghoa Singapore (TPAS) / Persatuan Peranakan Cina Pulau Indonesia (Aspertina) Raffes City PO Box 1640, Pinaang Hero Building II Suite 902, Singapore 911755 13, Perak Road Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto 177A Contact: Peter Wee, President President: Datuk Tan Gin Soon Kav. 64 Jakarta 12870, Indonesia Email: [email protected] Contact: 604-2269560 Contact: Chairman Mr Andrew Susanto Tel: 65 6345 8544 Email: [email protected] Tel +6221 8317751 Website: peranakan.org.sg Fax +6221 8317731 Email: [email protected] KUALA LUMPUR & SELANGOR Gunong Sayang Association (GSA) Website: aspertina.org 50 Lorong 24A, Geylang Road, Persatuan Peranakan Baba Singapore 398574 Nyonya Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Peranakan Tionghoa Warga Indonesia Email: [email protected] (PPBNKLS) (Pertiwi) Fax: 65 6441 1569 Address: PO Box 3151, Pusat Serahan Yayasan PERTIWI c/o KING’S EEC Website: gunongsayang.com Subang Jaya, 47509 Subang Jaya, Jalan Baharudin No. 8 Selangor, Malaysia. Tangerang 15111 Association of Chetti Melaka Contact: Nyonya Nancy Peng, Hon. Banten – Indonesia (Peranakan Indians) Singapore Secretary Contact: Mr Udaya Halim, President 5001 Beach Road #08-09 Email: [email protected] Tel: +62215523880/ +62215526748 Golden Mile Complex Tel No: +6012-3151451 Email: [email protected] / info@ Singapore 199588 Website: http://www.peranakan-kl.org/ bentengheritage.com Contact: Mr Pono Kalastree Facebook page: PPBNKLS Offce: 6297 1229 To contact President, Baba Cedric Tan AUSTRALIA Mobile: 9678 1767 please email [email protected] MELBOURNE Peranakan Association MALAYSIA THAILAND Australia Inc MALACCA Thai Peranakan Association P.O. Box 1278, Hawksburn, Victoria, Persatuan Peranakan Cina Melaka 61 Satul Road, Muang District, Phuket Australia 3142 (PPCM) 83000, Thailand Contacts: Joseph Then, Secretary, at 149, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock Contacts: Dr Kosol Taenguthai at email [email protected] (Heeren Street), 75200 Melaka Website: www.peranakan.org.au. Contact: Ms Chin Siok Hoon, PJK email: [email protected]; (Hon Secretary) Ajan Pranee Sakulpipatana at email: [email protected], mobile: +66 SYDNEY Email: [email protected] Peranakan Association Australia 81 693 3576; or Piyarat Kulvanich at Website: www.ppcm-melaka.org (PAA) NSW Inc email: [email protected] or Tel: 012 6218 909 P O Box 3810, Marsfeld, Fax: 06 2837 215 mobile: +66 81 719 0967. NSW 2122 Australia To contact the President, Datuk Phua Fax: +66 76 258179 Contact: Evelyn Tan, President Jin Hock, please email phuajh@ Tel: +66 76 258124 Website: peranakanaustralia.org gmail.com. Website: Thaiperanakan.com Email: [email protected]

welcome durians galore!

A warm welcome to The association is organising a day trip to Johore for members to our new members! feast on durians. Eat to your heart’s content! All meals are included. You will also visit a mushroom farm and a 1. Melissa Chan Bee Cheng noodle factory and still have time for shopping. 2. Grace Katherine Kiong Date : 27 June 2015 (Saturday) Min Li Time : 7.00 am 3. Carolyn Law Yu Lin Pick-up point : Newton car park 4. Radiance Lee Kim Hong Meals provided : breakfast / Foochow noodle & fshball 5. Wong Hon Seng lunch / seafood dinner Cost : S$80.00 (inclusive of travel insurance and guide/ driver tips) Please email [email protected] to register.

chakap h abis grand aunty makes an entrance BABA BRYAN TAN JOINS THE YEOWS FOR A NIGHT OF DINNER AND GOSSIP

olly was not the kind to be easily frazzled. Despite spending her days Mjuggling cleaning, gardening, cooking and berating her reticent husband, nothing could interrupt her regimented schedule which she could not vary. It was 1985; she was in her prime and dressed to the hilt. She turned from the window and glared at Willie, who had managed to rumple his baju lokchuan and sat woolgathering on the sofa. “Willie! Toksa dudok lagi (don’t sit around anymore), come and stand here!” she hissed. At that moment, three loud raps came from the door. Smoothing down her kebaya, Molly pulled open the door with a beatifc smile on her face. “Kohpoh Chik, sua datang (you’re here)! Please come in!” As a daughter born of a mistress, Molly felt an unconscious need to present a faultless image to a member of the main family. Grand aunty had never looked upon her favorably, and had only grudgingly accepted her invitation to dinner. “Bok Neo, how long has it been? Your kebaya chantek (pretty) lah, I must say,” she eyed Molly up and down. Soh Bee Neo was tall and willowy at 74 years. Her eyes however, had the glint of frosted steel in them, and glanced around imperiously for any signs of shabbiness. “Oowa, kinajeet lu pasang kuat eh (you’re all dressed up), Willie?” She nodded coldly at Molly’s Tapi baik lah husband, her permed silver curls bobbing, subtly “ (but it’s good), Singapore is a better rolling her eyes at his creased baju. She stepped into place to live in. Jimmy is being posted to Germany; the house. “Thiam Hin, take off your shoes and masok I think he is to be promoted soon,” said Bee Neo ah (enter),” she clucked sharply. Grand aunty’s husband smugly. “You know , my poor Sophie is the only laki kawan was also very tall. He greeted Molly and Willie jovially. one who won’t leave me. Do you know any

“Grand uncle, how are you?” Molly enquired (male friends) who wants to marry?” Sophie had ayam buah keluak kebaya pleasantly. “Ko ko (older brother) Jimmy, long managed to get on her and kuah time no see! Cousin Florence and Sophie, you was sucking the (gravy) off her fngers. lah kawen must be hungry.” “It’s ok dear, Sophie will (marry) Grand aunty’s children were just like her in image eventually,” grand uncle interjected peevishly. and mannerism, but for one. Sophie was an oddity. Grand aunty was delighted with the food, and a Her hair was slightly tangled, her nails looked chewed glass of wine kept her spirits up. Even Sophie, who on and she refused eye contact with everyone. was usually sullen, ate voraciously and thanked Molly. They gathered around the dining table to admire A phone chimed from somewhere in the house. the feast Molly had prepared. Molly excused herself from the dining table and “Bok Neo, baik (good) lah, you remember gua suka disappeared into a room. An abrupt moment later, a makan hati babi bungkus” (I like to eat wrapped pig’s shriek came piercing through. Everyone stood up. Aiyee kusmangat. Dia nampat hantu ah liver). She observed approvingly, her tone softening. “ (goodness, Molly bowed her head demurely. did she see a ghost)?” Grand aunty Bee Neo wondered Grand aunty took her place at the head of the out loud. Molly came out looking as pale as death. table. “So how are your children? I heard Vera went to “Vera… Vera is pregnant!” *In the next episode, Molly Yeow makes a trip down Singapore to kerja (work). to Singapore! “Betul Kohpoh Chik (that’s right), she charek (looking for) a good job and a good man. But sad for me lah, All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. all my anak-anak (children) leaving me one by one to Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is go overseas,” Molly sighed. purely coincidental.

directory

THE PERANAKAN GUIDE • SINGAPORE MUSEUMS the Wee family (whose Katong and Joo Chiat. Once the nerve Peranakan Museum. See the world’s ancestor Wee Bin was centre of Peranakan life in Singapore. frst national Peranakan Museum a mid-19th century In its heyday it was the site of nearby with the most shipping magnate) grand seaside villas and elaborate comprehensive and since 1910. 157 Neil Peranakan terraced houses. The latter fnest collection of Road, Singapore. Tel: can still be seen in a walk along Koon Peranakan artefacts. 62275731. Visits are by Seng Road. Also visit Peranakan shops The boutique guided tours. Please call such as Katong Antique House (208 East museum examines the house for details. Coast Road) and Rumah Bebe (113 East the centres of http://www.nus.edu.sg/ Coast Road) as well as the great variety Peranakan culture in museum/baba/index.html of Peranakan Malacca, Penang and restaurants in the Singapore, and traces its links to as far Asian Civilisations Museum. The frst neighbourhood. as Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. museum in the region to display a wide http://www. 39 Armenian Street, Singapore 179941. range of artefacts from across Asia, visitsingapore. website:www.peranakanmuseum.sg the ACM not surprisingly has some com/publish/ Email: [email protected] important Peranakan treasures. The stbportal/en/ Tel: 6332 7591. Mary and Philbert Chin Gallery has home/what_to_see/suburban_living/ some lavish examples of gold jewellery, katong.html. Great Peranakans: Fifty Remarkable sireh boxes and other paraphernalia, Also http://www.myjoochiat.com. Lives some encrusted with diamonds, and fne 23 May 2015 to 31 March 2016, batik textiles from the north coast of Amoy Street and Telok Ayer Street. Peranakan Museum. Java, all made for the Peranakan market. One of the frst Peranakan enclaves, This exhibition 1 Empress Place, Singapore 179555, now occupied by restaurants and offces. celebrates the Tel: 6332 2982, Opening Hours: 9am to Many Peranakans from Malacca moved achievements of 50 7pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), 1pm to to this area as soon as the East India Peranakans such as 7pm (Mondays), Admission $8 (adults), Company began to lease out land for Tan Tock Seng, Lim $4 (senior citizens and students). sale. Boon Keng, and http://www.acm.org.sg Goh Keng Swee. Thian Hock Keng. The oldest Hokkien Merchants, statesmen, Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall temple in Singapore was founded in philanthropists, and The old Sun Yat Sen Villa reopened in 1821 although the present structure, writers – they have October 2011 after extensive renovations built without nails, was completed shaped Singaporean with a new name. Fitting tribute is only in 1841. The temple is dedicated life in signifcant ways over the past given to the former owners of the to Mazu, the Daoist goddess of the sea two centuries. Moreover, they have house, especially Teo Eng Hock, a son and protector of all seamen. Many of connected Singapore with the region. of Teo Lee, one of the pioneer Teochew the temple’s Peranakans have also been involved merchants in Singapore, together with patrons were in some of the most controversial his nephew Lim Nee Soon, were among Peranakan chapters in our history, from the loyal supporters of Sun Yat Sen’s pioneers, opium dealing and secret societies, bid to overthrow such as Tan to the political struggles around the Qing Tock Seng, independence. Their stories and the government. The who donated almost 200 objects from their lives exhibition shows $30,000 for renovations. He also will help visitors understand the how Singapore, founded the hospital named after him. evolving identities not just of the and the Chinese The Hokkien Huay Kuan, a community Peranakans but also of Singapore as community here organisation for Hokkien people in a whole. played an important part in this pivotal Singapore was housed at the temple moment of world history. Intimate and also helmed by Peranakan pioneers. National Museum of Singapore. The photos of family life, and of Teo Eng Thian Hock Keng, 158 Telok Ayer Street, museum’s Singapore History Gallery Hock’s nyonya mother, Mrs Teo Lee Tel: 6423 4616. pays tribute to the contributions of the née Tan Poh Neo (granddaughter of the pioneering Peranakans. On view are kapitan of Muntok), add charm and a Tan Si Chong Su. Built in 1878, Tan Si some outstanding artefacts, including Peranakan angle to the experience. 12 Chong Su is the ancestral temple of the the oil portrait of Lim Boon Keng, Tai Gin Road, Singapore 327874, Tel: Tan clan, and was founded by prominent old photographs, jewellery and sireh 6256 7377, Opening Hours: 10am-5pm Baba philanthropists Tan Kim Ching, sets, as well as the magnifcent carved daily. son of Tan Tock Seng, and Tan Beng wood hearse of Tan Jiak Kim, which Website: wanqingyuan.org.sg. Swee, the son of Tan Kim Seng. The is considered one of the 11 Treasures frst president of of the National Museum. National LANDMARKS the temple, Tan Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Blair Plain. A typical Peranakan Kim Tian, was Road, Tel: 63323659, Opening Hours: residential area around Spottiswoode a well-known 10am to 6pm Daily (Singapore History Park, Blair Road and Neil Road which Baba shipping Gallery), 10am to 9pm Daily (Singapore is worth a stroll. Visit Guan Antiques tycoon. The Living Galleries), Admission $10 nearby at Kampong Bahru Road, a temple consists of shrines for the (adults), $5 (senior citizens above 60), $5 treasure trove of Peranakan heirlooms. ancestral tablets of Tan clansmen, as (students, Nsmen), Free admission to the http://www.arch.nus.edu.sg/SOA/ well as altars to the clan deities. The Singapore Living Galleries from 6pm to design_studio/dds2b/blair/study/Blair. elaborate stone and wood carvings as 9pm. http://nationalmuseum.sg. html. well as the swooping ceramic roof fnials makes this one of the most elaborate Baba House. This heritage house goes Emerald Hill Road. Another interesting Chinese temples in Singapore, quaintly back in time to 1928. Experience what a residential district showcasing the located amid the gleaming towers of the grand Peranakan terraced house would best of eclectic Peranakan residential fnancial district. Tan Si Chong Su, 15 have been like. Formerly owned by architecture, just off Orchard Road. Magazine Road.