Mr S Rajamanickam interviewed by Chan Kim Yin in May 2018
Memory#3: Chestnut Drive, Avenue and Lorong Kong Kuan (Almond Ave today) were laterite/dirt tracks in the 1950s
As you came from Bukit Panjang into Chestnut Drive, it was all orchard. They had Chiku trees, Mangosteen trees, and down on the right was a valley. And the Oehlers family – the Speaker of Parliament at that time(Sir George Oehlers; 1955 – 1963) occupied (a house) down in the valley. Except for that, all the rest was squatters. They were Bugis, the Boyanese on this side from the Celebes. Right beside my house -- now Almond Avenue – that was called Lorong Kong Kuan. Right in the front were Malay families. All were squatters. Right behind was where the Chinese (villagers) lived. They even owned Mercedes cars. They had lots of houses there, and if you walked, it brought you to opposite the Indian temple (at Bukit Panjang). I would drive my Morris Minor via Jalan Kong Kuan and go to this (Cheng Hwa) Chinese School which was at Cashew Road. It was a dirt / laterite road, with ups and downs (i.e., very bumpy). After the rain, your axle would break. I had a tenant -- an Australian who was driving a bog Hudson, an American car. Each time I came to collect the rent, he said: “I broke a leaf spring because the car went that way (i.e., flipped)”. I think it was after 1959, they started metaliing the road.
