Life Memories of Chong Bong

Mr Chong Bong was recommended by the Singapore Chinese Teachers’ Union (SCTU) to the National Library Board (NLB) for memory interview as part of the Singapore Memory Project. In this interview, Mr Chong shared with us about his life stories, growing up in Singapore and how he turned from a Kampong boy to a teacher dedicated to education for next generation. ~ About Kampong Life ~ Mr Chong was born at Malaysia, Johor, Layang Layang, a small hometown on 15 May 1942. His father was from Sinai and he grew crops and ran various odd jobs. Although it was WWII period, his family was not affected by Japanese Occupation significantly because they did not really infiltrate into the kampong. Linking it back to Singapore, Mr Chong mentioned that Singapore kampong areas in Sembawang and Lim Chu Kang were similarly not much affected. In 1953, he moved to Singapore in a kampong called Hock Chun in Woodlands. While he watches Woodlands transformed from the kampong then to a developed neighbourhood, memories of kampong days are still etched in his mind. Kampong life was very simple with basic infrastructure. Life was tough then. Mr Chong attempts to paint his day-to-day life in kampong. Families lived in Attap houses made of wood — but they certainly were able to withstand rain. Toilets were made up of a hole dug and a simple shelter over it; water was from the well or nearby lake; and electricity was from generator. Some houses would combine to share one generator. He also mentioned about how he would need to wake up early at 5am to ride biycle from kampong to Woodland main road, and then take bus to Bukit Panjang Government High School. Education in kampong was far from today. In kampong school, there were no classes. In his primary school days (1953-1958), all the students of that cohort were in one class. Two teachers would manage the teaching for the whole Nan Chiau Primary School, previously situated at the Marsiling area. Hence, Mr Chong mentioned how it was a lot on the student’s ownership to study and try his best to learn. It also seemed that MOE teachers posted from city to kampong were also substandard. He recalled one incident where an English teacher from MOE seemed to be crazy as he was burning money notes (which are of high value then) in class. There would be major examinations in final year (now PSLE) and he remembered how students in P5 and P6 would shift the table from school to the dance stage opposite the temple to study harder. Instead of a single national exam, “PSLE” then was specific to the school. Students apply to the secondary school specifically and take their exams in December. Mr Chong went on to study at Bukit Panjang Government High (1958-1962). Then, there were 4 newly open Chinese school: Dunman High, River Valley High, Deneng Secondary, and Bukit Panjang Government High, which Mr Chong chose due to his proximity from his home. His favourite subjects were Chinese, Geography, Biology. History also became his interest later. ~ Education Years ~ Mr Chong was often the monitor of the class, but there was one student he remembers vividly whom he looked up to. He was a leader who would rally students for demonstrations. (There was hearsay that he later went into army and died from heatstroke.) The leader led the demonstrations in 1960/2. Mr Chong was part of the student demonstration where they refused to take exams. (霸考). They were against government change in education. Previously 3-year Secondary then 3-year High School was changed to 4-year then 2-year. Students felt that the government was removing the Chinese culture. They did not disturb the operations in school but went to TTC previously at Paterson Road at Orchard area. Demonstrations were spurred not by teachers but by students themselves. Looking back, Mr Chong felt that he had not exactly analyze the situation thoroughly and carefully, and was more of following the crowd and hearsay. Graduating from Secondary thereafter, Mr Chong went on to JC for 2 years (1963-1964). After high school, Mr Chong did a year of English study before furthering his University studies at the National University Taiwan (1966-1969) in Taiwan. For students from Chinese education background, most would either go to work in factories, enter the army/police, or further their study in University. Of course, latter is few. Mr Chong then explained why he went to Taiwan for education. Education previously was split between English and Chinese. NUS accepts English graduates only. Mr Chong, given his Chinese school background, was unable to apply to NUS. He learnt all his subjects except English in Mandarin. As for NTU (then 南洋大学), it had admitted many students who had influence from the communists. Notably, 2 of his friends, who were influenced by communist then were later removed from school; and one of them was imprisoned. Timely, he had relatives in Malaysia who applied to Taiwan. (Note: Actually government did not allow further studies to be at Taiwan and China due to fear of communist influence. However, due to merger then, he could go to Taiwan.) Mr Chong major in Library Science and History and eventually became the 1st university graduate in his kampong from Taiwan. ~ Dedicated to Chinese Education ~ After studying from Taiwan University, there was not much opportunity to start business in Singapore, nor was there any in taking up a white collar job, especially with Chinese education background. Only opportunities were mainly teaching and accounting. Hence, Mr Chong started at Teacher Training College (1970-1972), but he also enjoyed this field hence continued on for years. With that, he began teaching for 31 years at Nan Chiau Secondary (1973-2004). That year (1973) also marked his house shifting from the kampong in Woodlands to a flat in Clementi. Currently, not a single trace of kampong is left and they are all removed. Government started by building HDB Blk 1,2,3 opposite the kampong, which was later chased by the government. Nevertheless, some of his relatives are still staying at Woodlands. Back to his teaching career, Nan Chiau Secondary was under the Hokkien 会馆. Mr Chong taught Chinese and History. After English standardization in 1985, he taught only Chinese. Then, he also became Head of Department (HOD) for Chinese. Initially he earned only $300/month (equivalent of secondary school graduate) as Taiwan University degree was not recognized. In 1983, his pay was finally adjusted to that of degree after 10 years. From 1999 to 2001, Mr Chong was also designated Vice Principal. After his appointment, he was tasked to manage the school shift from Kim Yam Road to Sengkang now. ~ Changes in Singapore Education ~ Nan Chiau was previously a girl school with 2000+ students. Many schools then were either all-boys or all-girls schools. However, due to reducing student intake, it started to enrol male students. It was also part of integration programme then. Retrospectively, he felt that integration programme was a good policy as well. Progressively, he also saw how there was increase in importance in English. NTU (then 南洋大学) also shifted to teach in English rather than Chinese. Relevance of Chinese schools hence started to decrease. English standardization programme then evolved. Mr Chong felt that the evolution is certainly related to times and was also inevitable because Singapore needs to be aligned globally. He does not deem it to be good nor bad to have education in English or Mandarin — Mr Chong believed that it is highly dependent on the environment. He could not imagine how Singapore could be self-reliant if all of us are Mandarin-speaking. He recounted that there was opposition against English standardization then but he felt that it was not practical. Hence, he perceived English standardization to be a natural phenomenon. However, he commented how Chinese language now has little standing in education and no standard. Initially, Secondary 4 Chinese has good standards. Now, Secondary 4 Chinese is equivalent to previous Secondary 2 Chinese. Nevertheless, he also commented that maintaining and keeping the standard is not possible. While it is people’s choice in the standard of Chinese, he feels that such should still be retained in the education. He also mentioned about how students’ attitude towards Chinese is affected by their upbringing and environment at home. Family influence is thus very important. Finally, he still feels that Chinese language would still be relevant. Firstly, one would need to be adaptable in its communication — to be able to converse in both Chinese and English. Chinese language would definitely be useful because the Chinese culture is very deep and profound, and the China’s economy is on the rise. (Interviewed and written by Janice Soo of the National University of Singapore)