Loh Kah Seng – The Bukit Ho Swee Fire Part 6: The Rumours | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. How did it start? Historian Dr Loh Kah Seng looks at the evidence for the most controversial part of the 1961 Bukit Ho Swee fire: the rumours that the government wanted to remove the kampong for public housing. 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 03:00 Researching the Rumours 03:51 Arson? 09:28 The Historical Context 10:25 The Thinking Behind the Rumours 15:20 Police Investigation 16:58 40 Years Later 21:58 Wild Talk 23:59 My Professional Opinion 26:49 Debating the Rumours 30:53 Further Research 32:17 Outro My books, Squatters to Citizens: https://nuspress.nus.edu.sg/products/squatters-into-citizens Controversial History Education in Asian Contexts: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203753491/controversial-history-education-asian-contexts-mark-baildon-kah-seng-loh-ivy-maria-lim-g%C3%BCl-i%CC%87nan%C3%A7-junaidah-jaffar 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