Dear reader,
Letters to the editor. Thank you, Vignesh Ramachandran, who’s based in Dubai, for your thoughtful response to “My authoritarian brain”, Linette Lim’s essay last week. Vignesh, in a few short lines, validates the author’s thesis, defends the systemic flexibility he believes Lee Kuan Yew left behind, and expresses hope for Lawrence Wong’s Forward Singapore agenda. Read it; and if so inclined, write your own response, to anything at all at Jom.
A flavour of Jom. Some of you have asked whether you can share essays with your non-subscriber friends. It may not always be apparent, but we’ve actually published almost 50 essays outside the paywall. And we’ve now consolidated some of our favourites on a single page. Do share this with them, and ask them to consider a subscription.
Patrons’ dinner, September 25th. Jom now has over 40 “Patrons”, those on our highest membership tier. They help us keep the lights on. We’re having only our second annual Patrons’ dinner in a few weeks, a key benefit of this tier. It’ll be a chill event—wear what you want, come and go and eat and drink and talk cock as you please. If you’ve been considering upgrading your membership, now’s the time.
“Singapore This Week”. In our weekly digest, we discuss the Workers’ Party’s first ever POFMA order; the worries SMEs have about extended maternity and paternity leave; the parallels between the Singapore model and the Rwanda model; Benjamin Seet, collector of paper-based military artefacts; two plays that look at the intersection of class, race, and politics; the prospects for Oatside, the Singaporean oat milk company; and more.
Essay. “From Punggol with love: tracing the origins of the Hougang Spirit”. Today's essay is by Kelvin Yap, a former sports journalist and editor. Many Singaporeans know about Hougang partly because of its politics. Low Thia Khiang of the Workers’ Party (WP) first won the seat in 1991, and it’s remained with the party since—the only constituency in Singapore to have spent more time under the opposition than the ruling People’s Action Party since independence. Who are these rebellious residents?
Through Kelvin we learn that the close bonds between residents there trace their origins to the late 1800s-early 1900s kampungs of the north-east. It was a time when our island actually comprised two distinct worlds: a densely-populated urban centre surrounded by plantations and farmland, where many still lived off the land.
“Yet, to understand these bonds we must consider not only the area’s socio-economic milieu, but its ethno-linguistic and religious moorings. The mushrooming of kampungs in the north-east was accompanied by the growth of the most distinct group that persists till today: the Teochew Catholics.”
It’s a story that mixes Catholic missionaries with the mythology of a musician, Wak Sumang, who founded kampung Punggol; that stretches from Parliament to the pig farmers of the north-east; that contrasts the inadequacy of British colonial urban policies with the clinical efficiency of Lee Kuan Yew’s government; and exposes a tension between a rural and an urban Singapore that seems quaint.
“HDB moved quickly. By 1964, just four years after the public housing program was launched, nearly one in five Singapore residents was living in a flat. By 1980, two in three were. Resettlement was a much-needed policy—conceived and executed brilliantly…However, the policy’s broad, nationwide thrust meant that the kampung folk—those living in far-flung areas away from the port and its economy—were forced into giving up the freedom of living off the land and being in nature. A nation-wide policy that was a godsend for the urban world was disastrous for many in the rural.”
The dispossession of Singapore’s rural residents, including those who’d been living a more sea-based life, has been a motif of much recent academic and artistic inquiry, and Kelvin’s piece finds its place amongst them. It’s a bittersweet story, especially that last section, where I found myself questioning our urban life but also rejoicing in the persistence of communal bonds and the human spirit.
It’s also a deeply personal story: Kelvin’s Teochew family hailed from kampung Punggol and operated the eponymous Yap Boatel until they were also resettled in 1994. I know, given his proximity to the place and its people, he struggled for two years over whether or not to even write it. We’re grateful that he’s shared it with all of us, and in finding the resolve, perhaps himself exhibited some of that Hougang Spirit.
I hope you set aside some time this weekend to read it.
Jom baca,
Sudhir Vadaketh
Editor-in-chief, Jom
Behind Jom’s art, with Charmaine Poh
This week, alongside Kelvin’s beautiful family archival images, we licensed a photograph of Hougang from Darren Soh, one of Singapore’s most well-known architectural photographers. I met Darren over a decade ago, when I attended a workshop of his. His dedication over the years has made him one of the key chroniclers of our built environment. Think of any Singaporean neighbourhood, and more likely than not, Darren has a photograph of it. One of the pleasures of my job is in learning and appreciating the practices of various artists, and then applying this knowledge such that the Jom reader gets to re-discover Singapore in a new light.
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