Loh Kah Seng – The Bukit Ho Swee Fire Part 2: Black Areas | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. By looking at life in the urban kampongs after WWII, Loh Kah Seng unpacks the myth that they were black areas. While there were poor housing, insanitation and secret societies, the kampongs were legitimate communities. There were many efforts towards self-help and gotong royong: celebrations of Chinese festivals, tontines and voluntary fire-fighting squads. Though jobs were few, kampong dwellers generally worked hard and sent their children to school, so they might find a way to a better future. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/gfItIHDwjSA Part 2 | https://youtu.be/hTsdQ4k9ZZ0 Part 3 | https://youtu.be/juGDEJU00Wg Part 4 | https://youtu.be/9pI3QbR76XQ Part 5 | https://youtu.be/1mNjqU7UTAM Part 6 | https://youtu.be/5CQqsV2PX_E 00:00 Introduction 01:36 Urban Kampongs as Black Areas 02:21 A Children’s World 08:08 Housing & Living Conditions 11:23 Battle for Space 16:22 Living with Pigs and the Dead 19:00 Samseng & Pai Kia 20:46 Wa m chai 22:17 The Kampong Economy 25:32 Kampongs as Communities 28:30 Education & Progressive Kampongs 29:49 Further Research 31:10 Outro My book, Squatters to Citizens: https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/squatters-into-citizens I’m Dr Loh KS, the people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com if you have any of these stories to share: • Old places or kampongs. • Communities – their way of life & culture. • Childhood & schools. • Work or business. Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ChroniclesofOldSingapore Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551786759344 Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/loh-ks TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lks992002 Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ Caveat: this is above all a podcast based on personal memory. As has been well-documented in oral history, memory is not always reliable and what is recalled here should not be taken as fact. However, as Alessandro Portelli noted, the subjectivity of oral history is also its great strength, and what is inaccurately remembered may point to how deeply meaningful the past is to people. #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore