Quek Siow Kai – Ships, Shifts, Sifus & Spyros Part 2 | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. Quek Siow Kai joined Gul Engineering and Singapore’s growing marine industry. He learned a lot there, but decided to leave for his own safety. Largely because management wanted to build and repair ships quickly, subcontractors and workers were often not aware of the dangers in a shipyard. This culminated in the 1978 Spyros explosion and fire – Singapore’s worst industrial accident. Nevertheless, there were experienced sifus in what was a Cantonese-speaking industry. They trained new workers and helped the industry succeed. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/3jZTCVuRunY Part 2 | https://youtu.be/LAjeRIhP-kA 00:00 Unsafety in the Marine Industry 07:41 The Push for Productivity 09:31 The Role of Management 17:08 Dangers in a Shipyard 25:55 The Spyros Tragedy 32:16 Sifus & Old Hands 43:24 A Cantonese Industry Inquiry Report on the Explosion and Fire on Board S.T. Spyros, 12th October 1978. https://www.nlb.gov.sg/main/book-detail?cmsuuid=119cee73-85f5-4555-997c-e73aa4b4ba31 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 me if you have questions or thoughts on Old Singapore or want to come onto the podcast: lohkahseng@chroniclesresearch.com 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