Although living as a child in the 70s was “tough”, Mdm Joanna Koh and her husband, Mr Desmond Leow, still looks upon their childhood in fond nostalgia.
Mdm Koh misses the kampung days when her extended family of almost 30 members lived under one roof. Everyday, she and her cousins would walk to school (Ming De Primary School) together and in the afternoon, they’d all offer up helping hands to the family’s noodle-making business.
In 1980s, the Housing Development Board took away her kampung. Her one big family was forced to resettle into separate family units. Her immediate family moved to Hougang.
Mr Leow remembers his an extensive pig farm, which made up a good part of his childhood but has since been developed into today’s Yew Tee neighbourhood. His family later moved, along with their pig farm, to Kampong Punggol.
“Everyday after school, we had to help with household chores and prepare the feed from scratch and give it to the pigs,” he said.
Today, their 16-year-old son can only imagine what it would be like to live in the kampung. “Now, my pig farm has turned into HDB flats,” said Mr Leow.
Mr Leow also recalls looking forward to the weekends, when he and his friends would head down to Punggol beach with their fishing nets. “Back then we didn’t have such sophisticated fishing tools. You cast a net and see what you get,” he said.
Now, much of the beach area has been reclaimed to build residential properties. Some of their best times were spent in the outdoors, picking rambutans and even “stealing” durians!
Mr Leow finds it a shame that so much nature has been compromised to make way for development. He noted a negative impact on education too. “Kids today don’t even know papayas are grown on trees. Many think they are found in the soil!” he said.
The family spends almost every holiday in the rural areas of Malaysia, so the couple can relieve their longing for the kampung days and that their son can get a taste of what the past was like.
Interviewer: Kelly Ng
Date: Mar 17, 2013
