Born 1949 Grew up in the leather shoe business and built his business supplying leather. Currently retired. “I was born in Singapore in 1949 and stayed in a shophouse on Malabar Street in Bugis (小坡). My childhood was usually spent outdoors, playing with my four siblings in the back alleys. We also listened to Rediffusion and sometimes watched TV. It was black and white then, of course! Our neighbours were from all sorts of dialect groups. There were Hakkas, Hainanese, Cantonese, Hokkiens, but somehow everyone could speak and understand each other’s dialect. My father arrived in Singapore when he was 13 and has been in the leather shoe business since. When I was born, my father was importing leather from Europe and supplying it to local shoe and handbag makers. He also exported leather to neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Nowadays we don’t think of having things made in Singapore. But back then, small factories or home-based cobblers were making shoes by hand all over Singapore. Bugis and Middle Road area had more than 10 shoe retailers. Hakkas in the shoe business came mostly from Malaysia. Shoemakers used to hand-make shoes with only a few simple tools. But later on, some started using simple equipment such as a hydraulic press to cut leather. Apart from shoe making, other Hakka trades included cane furniture making, metal works, pawn shops, traditional Chinese medical shops and shirt-making. When I was studying, I was already helping my father with his business. The shoe making industry was at its peak in 1960s. Local shoemakers exported their shoes to other countries in the Middle East. I decided to leave school at Sec [Secondary] 4 to help in the family business in 1966. I helped with things like accounting and unloading goods. I remember seeing goods tarnished by water during transportation because the shipments coming in that weren’t kept in containers then. Such incidents were rare though. In 1974, I started my own own leather supply business. I rented a house along Aljunied Road at S$500 per month for 3,000 square feet as a makeshift shop and warehouse. I started peddling leather to furniture makers as not many furniture makers used leather to make sofas then. When the economy started getting better in Singapore in the 1980s, more Singaporeans could afford leather sofas. Those who were leather suppliers in Singapore knew each other and we all had cordial relationships. We even had a ‘Shoe Makers Association’ (靴业商会) where members would play mahjong in the evenings and gather for Lunar New Year’s celebrations. However, this association closed down a few years back as the number of shoemakers has diminished since 1980s.”