V. Maheantharan – Remember Our Port Workers & Singapore Polytechnic | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. V. Maheantharan studied at the University of Southampton on a government scholarship before being posted to the Singapore Polytechnic. There, he oversaw many innovative programmes which made the polytechnic an exciting alternative to the university, which it was unfortunately not allowed to develop into. He talks about the need to acknowledge the roles of both the port workers and the Singapore Polytechnic to Singapore’s development. Part 1 | https://youtu.be/YWFhceJ81mY Part 2 | https://youtu.be/y7Jr8CfDWso 00:00 Nautical Studies at University of Southampton 08:55 My Father Struggled with Containerisation 13:06 Tanjong Pagar is Unrecognisable 16:49 Acknowledging the Port Workers 20:23 Singapore Polytechnic in Singapore’s Development 26:13 Polytechnic & Industry 31:48 Turning the Polytechnic into a University 36:41 The Polytechnic has Become Sexy 43:28 Acknowledging the Polytechnic and its Students 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