“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – William Arthur Ward, American Writer
I received a message on my Facebook a few days ago from a former student of my late dad, Yee Mun Mow (余漫谋). She had attended the recent wake. A classmate who is now based in Indonesia is in town and wanted to meet with me. I agreed. Four of them met with my brother and I at a coffeeshop in Siglap, not far from where my dad used to live in. They were from Yock Eng High School in the 1970s.
The former student is an Indonesian. He had come to Singapore to study in the middle of Primary 4. My dad taught him Math. He shared that dad’s explanation was very clear and laid the foundation for him to do well in Math because he could understand the concepts. What other teachers would take weeks to explain, he understood in a single lesson. In Primary 5, dad taught him again, this time in Art and Moral Education. In Primary 6, he was their form teacher and Chinese teacher as well.
He shared that outside of his own dad, my dad was the one who influenced him the most. I was surprised. Dad only taught him for 2.5 years. He told us that dad taught widely, often beyond the syllabus but in a very clear manner. It inspired him to love the Chinese language. You have to bear in mind that he came at 10 years old to Singapore. The Chinese language was banned in Indonesia since the 1960s from the start of the Suharto’s administration until Suharto fell from power in the late 1990s. It was illegal to sell or distribute any materials with Chinese text in it. Yet he picked up the language fast and excelled in school. He went on to an English medium school, where he naturally topped the school in Chinese. He returned to Indonesia at the end of Secondary 2, where the language continued to be banned. He credited his continued interest in the language to the strong foundation that dad gave him. Other than that, he and the rest too shared that dad took an interest not just in their studies but also in their personal well-being. For another student, he advised her to apply to Nanyang Girls High because he saw the potential in her to do well. She made it to NYGH and remained grateful that dad took an interest in her future.
They shared old memories, including their visit to dad at his home and could even name the dishes that dad cooked for their dinner. They recall his old yellow-coloured round Fiat car and how dad dressed humbly. Dad was strict with his students, yet caring as a teacher.
We parted today’s dinner as new-found friends. One of them texted this to me shortly after:
一位好的老师 不在于他教学生的时间有多长 而在于 对学生好的教诲有多深 影响有多远
纪念我们敬爱的 永远怀念的 小学五、六年级（1975、76） 的华文老师 余漫谋先生
The above translates as a teacher who is good is not about how long he had taught the students, but how deep he had left the impressions and how far the influence had gone. It is heartening to know that dad’s influence had reached far and long. He may have taught them only briefly, but the fact that they sought me out to tell me these really touched me. Thank you.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,”
There are seasons for joy, and sometimes seasons of sorrow. Being in a large family, dad has his share of sorrow in his earlier years. His elder sister died in her 20s of childbirth after delivering her third child. The child was safe but the mother had lost too much blood and bled to her death. Two of his younger sisters (my 3rd and 6th aunt) died young – one of high fever as a toddler and another as a baby of illness. His 3rd brother was killed in a explosion in a factory near the goldsmith shop in Gopeng at around 10 years old – he was watching workers in a factory do metal work when a furnace exploded near him, causing over 80% burns. Otherwise, those on my dad’s side live to ripe old ages.
My mum’s side has a history of short life. Her dad – my granddad passed away in his sleep of heart attack at around 50. Grandma lived only a few years longer, dying also of heart attack in her sleep. Mum’s youngest brother, died at around the same age as his dad, also of heart attack in his sleep. My mum survived the longest, also suffering a heart attack but at 78 – long enough to see all her grandchildren being born. Mum had early stage dementia too a few years before she passed on. That resulted in some difficult moments for dad too.
The start of my parents’ later years in life was marked by a massive tragedy – the death of my elder brother in his mid 20s. Depression is real and sadly, can be deadly. It changed many things. Mum asked for the earliest possible retirement. Dad, ever the doer, continued to work for as long as he could. It hit them really hard as it would any parent who cares for their children. I think dad continued to blame himself throughout his life, though I do not think it was his fault.
Slowing Down
For the longest time, my parents never travelled beyond Singapore and Malaysia. Malaysia trips were almost always by dad’s driving. There could have been exceptions when I was a baby, because I had to travel between Singapore and Gopeng, where I was cared for. The doctors discovered quite soon after my birth that I had a hole-in-the-heart. Nevertheless, grandparents cared for me but I was told that I had to return to Singapore for medical checks as a baby, none of which of course I can remember. I was only told by relatives that I was the ‘lucky one’ who got to fly.
When I was in secondary school, dad helped mum’s brother with a housing investment in Singapore which he made some money. He rewarded my parents with a trip to Japan. My parents came back so happy with their first ever flying holiday to a faraway place. Thereafter, they travelled more extensively, during the long holidays, to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, New Zealand and Europe. When retired, they joined some gardening club and had a super long trip to China and the group kept in touch quite regularly back in Singapore until one by one, they grew old or passed on (We contacted one of the still surviving members of that group for the wake and she left a very emotional voice message in a teary voice for dad). China was their most regular destination. When I started working, I also managed to bring them on shorter trips to Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia. They also went with my siblings to many places such as NZ, Japan, HK, Korea, UK (where dad first experienced snow) and more.
He was a doting grandfather. He lived mostly with my brother’s children and helped them with their homework, mostly in Chinese and Art. He would helped them complete their art assignments like how he did for mum when they were still dating at TTC! He also helped occasionally with my children’s Chinese.
Dad, mum, 2nd uncle and his wife and my sister in New Zealand. It was a chanced meeting between dad and uncle as they both booked the travel with different tour companies. Must be the telepathy between brothers that got them to meet while both families were holidaying.
At Hong Kong Disneyland
At Jeju, 2015 with my brother’s children
Dad working on an art piece to help one of my nieces or nephew. His art was self taught.
Calligraphy by dad for one of his grandchild. He was naturally good with his handwriting.
The masterchef at work. He cooked till less than a month before he was rushed to hospital. Only tasty food came out of his kitchen. Mum hardly cooked, except for her specialty Hainanese chicken rice which we will get once in a few months.
Dad drove till he was around 85. We forgot to send him for the annual medical report necessary for elderly folks to continue driving and he decided not to drive anymore. He would often fetch his grand children around when he could drive.
The Celebrations
Dad and mum got to see their remaining three children get married and have a total of eight grandkids. Dad got to see his great grandson from my eldest daughter. In April 2023, he celebrated his 90th birthday with baby Isaiah, who was also celebrating his first month. He also got to see a second wedding of his granddaughter, my 2nd daughter. Whenever his children or grandchildren did well, you can be sure that he would go and tell relatives and you could tell how proud he was.
A growing tribe at first grandchild’s wedding
Tea ceremony at the wedding of another grandchild
A beaming newly minted Great Granddad on his 90th birthday
My graduation with MSc and birth of the first grandchild
First wedding of their children – that of my sister
Dad the Investor
Dad was always cautious. Grandpa and Grandma invested in shares, mostly blue chips in Malaysia and did well. Dad picked up investing and also had some good investments of Singapore and Malaysian blue chip companies. With the economic boom for Singapore and Malaysia in the 70s to 90s, many of his investments did well to see through his retirement and the occasional overseas trips. In his later years, he would chase FD interest rates in banks. Even at 90 before his final illness, he could remember exactly which FD would be expiring when.
When I started an internet education business in 2000, dad readily put in I think $80,000 into it with the pioneer group of investors. I was glad to be able to give him good returns when we sold the business 7 years later. Otherwise, he would never invest in any non-listed companies.
The Worrier
Dad worries over just about everything. It was like that when we were young and probably he grew to worry more as he aged. I recall when I was in secondary school and college, if I forgot to tell him that I would be late, he would start to worry by 9 pm. Several times, he dug up my telephone book (yes, in the old days we do not have handphones and we record house telephone numbers on small books) and start calling all my friends down the list to check if I was with them. When I passed driving and started using his car, sometimes I would go for late night drives with friends, particularly when free after National Service duties. He would sometimes be up walking the nearby streets trying to find me!
The grandkids staying with him all have their share of him worrying over their studies, their sleeping late and all things imaginable. Even with me in my 50s now, he continued to worry over the things that I do. It is just his way.
I think the one that got him the most worried was when I joined the Workers’ Party in GE2011 as its candidate for Joo Chiat SMC, the very ward that they had lived in. I suspected that he might have some objections so I waited till it was quite close for me to be introduced by the Party to the public to break the news to mum and him. Surprisingly, the initial reaction was almost nothing. It would have been a week or more later when my name surfaced in newspapers and I was interviewed by the TV that all the worst possible scenarios came to him. I got a call from him one night after CNA interviewed me. It started with him asking me to pull out. I told him that I could not as I had already been introduced to the public. Technically, nomination was not done yet and the election date not yet announced, so I could actually withdraw. But I felt it was irresponsible of me to do so after committing to the candidacy. He became more desperate in his tone, pleading at one stage with “我求求你…” (I beg you). He said that mum was worried and insisted to him to get me to pull out. He cited how many principals and teachers he knew of were imprisoned or lost their job. That would have included how he ended up filling a teaching vacancy in Lee Hua Primary in the early 1960s because seven from the school were terminated. It was most painful to hear dad pleading so intensely with me. I could only promise him that I would steer clear of things that could get me into libel suits or trouble.
Dad and mum were originally supposed to be on my list of assentors for nomination in GE2011. Every candidate would need a minimum of six voting residents in the constituency to support the nomination. He said he could not do it as mum would be worried. I told him I would be able to find enough assentors. Even in his state of worry on my participation, he offered to be made a backup in case on Nomination Day an assentor fail to show up. He even called me on Nomination Day to check if he was needed. We never had to.
Despite his huge worry over my participation, when the campaign started, he asked for our flyers and went around to give to neighbours whom he knew. He would take these to coffeeshops and give to the stall owners to tell them to vote for his son. A funny story was that I had also gotten a coffeeshop operator in Siglap enthusiastic about our campaign. When dad went to order food from him, the food operator whipped up my flyer and told dad to vote for me. Dad proudly pronounced, “That’s my son!”.
We had a day in which we would visit houses in his immediate neighbourhood. He asked for a WP blue volunteer T-shirt and insisted of going with me to find neighbours that he knew. Such was my dad – even in his worries, he wanted to see me do well and would do what he could.
Visiting neighbours during GE2011 with dad
Dad putting up GE2020 poster outside his gate at Opera Estate. He and mum never voted for any party until GE2011, when I contested in where he lived at. He had colleagues and acquaintances locked up without trial during Operation Coldstore. But since GE2011, he would put up our posters proudly outside his gate which I never asked him to. Dad the worrier who avoided politics like poison, yet proud to tell everyone to vote for his son and team mates.
A Song for Dad
Recently, I heard a Chinese song. I checked out its lyrics. It looked like it was perfectly written for us. We were fortunate that the hospital alerted us on his last moments to come as soon as we could, and gave us a private room. All of us gathered to say what we needed to him. We managed to play this song for him even as he was gasping for breath due to the havoc wreaked by the cancer in his lungs.
The father described in the song is one who is strong, who held up the family by what he did. Yet his hands are gentle and warm. The songwriter wished for time to slow down and not let father age. Watching my dad age and deteriorate so rapidly in the final months had been really painful for us. Dad had been relatively healthy, was walking about the neighbourhood on his own, and had beaten prostate cancer. All of a sudden, he became bed bound, sometimes not even able to feed himself. I feel, and we all felt, we could have done more for him. When I was young, dad was the person I looked up to. He was the strong figure of the house, no doubt strict with us to want us to do well. He was the capable one who could do so many things – cook, write calligraphy, recite poems, play all sorts of sports, take good photographs, drive long distances, fix stuff in the house, and find ways to make money to give us special treats. I wanted to do well to make him proud. Dad, you have spent your whole life worrying for us. You can rest in peace. We have all grown up. You have done what you could. Thank you.
Dad and mum got married in 1960, the same year they graduated from TTC, and became Chinese language teachers in different schools. Mum became expectant the next year. My mum’s dad visited them in Singapore and told dad to buy a house instead of spending a good part of the then-low teachers’ salaries on the rental house on Everton Road (That rental house is today a new condominium, and opposite to the community hospital that dad would eventually pass away in 64 years later). Granddad advised that they would soon have a child and perhaps more. Space will be needed. That was probably the best investment decision dad and mum made. They took a mortgage for a S$20,000 double-storey terrace house at Opera Estate in Siglap. Kg Chai Chee at the back of the house was literally a Kampung with pigs, chicken and vegetable farms until about 10 years after they had moved in. I remembered as a very young child, farmers coming to collect waste food from the back of our house and giving us eggs during Chinese New Year.
My sister was born in 1961, my elder brother in 1963 and I in 1965. Life was challenging for the young couple to teach full time and handle three children. They had to plan their teaching shifts so that one would teach morning and the other afternoon session (schools were double sessions in those days). Grandpa (on dad’s side in Gopeng) offered to look after me. I went off to live in northern Malaysia for over 2 years. I remembered nothing of my stay there other than from photos and what people told me of Gopeng. But my earliest memory of life was when dad and mum fetched me back from Gopeng, brought me to the Opera Estate house and told me that this is my new home and I was to live well with my sister and brother.
Dad with firstborn – my elder sister with his first car in his new house at Opera Estate
Dad with the first 3. Author is on lap. Looks like the age when I finally returned to Singapore to stay for good.
My earliest memory of the schools that dad taught in was Yock Eng High (in the primary section). Mum was then teaching in Kong Hwa Primary. Both were not too far from our home. I remember these because I attended kindergarten in mum’s school and dad would bring me and sometimes my siblings as well to school because he had to work and there was no one else to look after us. Hence, Yock Eng (now CDAC HQ in Tanjong Katong) was a regular playground for me. Sis attended Kong Hwa School, which was then a Chinese medium school. The education policy in Singapore was changing. Dad could speak a little English. Mum could not speak English. Dad recognised that for us to survive in the newly independent Singapore, we had to be good in English. So my brother and I were sent to St. Stephen’s, and we later followed everyone else in class to St. Patrick’s. Dad figured that if they could not teach us English, the school would. We would get sufficient exposure to mandarin at home. Sis however, continued in Chinese medium schools till she entered university, as she had already started from primary one.
I am not sure how long dad taught at the small Wen Xuan Primary at Neil Road. It was not for very long, because the school was small, enrollment was dwindling and dad felt it was better to move to a bigger school. An opportunity opened up in a turbulent Singapore. The principal and 6 teachers at Lee Hua Primary at 7th mile of Yio Chu Kang road were terminated or imprisoned for being involved in alleged communist activities. That was in the early 1960s and some could have been those imprisoned without trial during Operations Coldstore. They were members of the Barisan Sosialis, which was competing for power with the PAP as a split away group. Dad filled one of the teaching vacancies. Hence his aversion for politics. He never told any of us how he and mum voted in each general election when as kids, we pestered them after each GE to ask. I only knew after I had entered politics myself, ironically in the camp that he feared most because he saw for himself colleagues whose lives, careers and sometimes even families were destroyed due to being in opposition politics. He never voted for any political party – he and mum spoiled every one of their votes because they were afraid of being accused by whichever that won if they voted otherwise. It was only when I took part in the GEs that they made extra effort to make sure that they crossed only once and where my name was.
The old Yock Eng High – image from a 1972 yearbook
From a Yock Eng High’s 1972 year book – as a Primary 6 teacher. I remembered dad teaching mainly in Pri 6 or upper levels while mum taught the lower levels at Kong Hwa School.
One of several continuing education courses dad attended while teaching
A new birth – mine, and a reason to go to the photo studio
A final addition to the family and a reason to be at the photo studio again – birth of my younger brother in 1972
Dad taught for a long time at Yock Eng High, until it was about to become a secondary only school in 1985. I think he was transferred to Jln Daud Primary, a government school, which soon merged into Jaya Primary and then into East Coast Primary. After retirement, he continued to teach as a relief Chinese teacher in nearby schools and did examination invigilation in schools and in Temasek Polytechnic.
I am not too familiar with his work because he does not talk very much about it at home. I overheard him once complaining to mum about being passed over for a promotion into a leadership position, perhaps a Senior Assistant or some HOD type of position. I sensed that he had the ambition to go higher but remained a teacher. One of the subjects he would usually teach was art, because he was naturally good with his hands. He taught himself art and was good with calligraphy. Some of his more enthusiastic students would even come to our house to do cooper tooling and other more hands-on art that needed more time. I remember one, around my age, who was not particularly good with his academic subjects. However, he was good with his hands and loved to come to our house to do his pieces. He was one of those that took more years to graduate from primary school. After he had left school, he continued to visit us especially during Chinese New Year. He did well and became the owner of a motor oil distribution company somewhere in Defu Lane. I believe that his was one of the lives my dad had touched and changed. Two of his students (around my age) read his obituary and came to the wake. They shared that dad made a great impact in their lives when they were just 12 years old, helping them realise their potential.
Dad was also the one who saw to our studies. He was strict and no-nonsense. It was fearful whenever my marks dipped below 35 (out of 50) in any of my tests. Initially, I could put the blame on my uncle who was living with us for distracting me from my studies. But when uncle returned home to Gopeng, my excuse was gone and I worked extra hard to ensure that I stayed off dad’s scolding or the occasional canning. Thankfully, my results picked up and I stayed relatively out of trouble. Despite his strictness, he also had a soft side. My youngest brother, 7 years apart from me, came as the baby of the house. The three of us were still schooling, and youngest bro was looked after by a nanny (奶妈) in Chai Chee, walking distance from our house. Whenever youngest bro was sick, dad would go over to Chai Chee to look after him after settling things at home, so that 奶妈 could do her housework. It was from this nanny that my brother picked up Hainanese. Ironically that was the mother tongue of my mother but we never learnt it until we had to speak with youngest bro who could only speak Hainanese when he came home for the weekends.
Mum was quite different from dad. She was contented to just teach, manage less responsibility and opted for early retirement, especially after the death of my eldest brother. She was in Kong Hwa for an even longer period that dad was at Yock Eng and spend a remaining short time of her career with a now defunct primary school in Geylang where the Singapore Badminton Hall now stands. The main benefits we got from mum’s work was she was a librarian for many years with the school and we had endless supply of Chinese books to read. My favourite were the comics ones. The rest were too tough!
Family Treats
Even with four children to manage without any domestic helpers (other than regular part-timers who came occasionally to wash clothes and another to clean the house), dad found time to give tuition, not many, just a couple of students each week. Whenever he got paid, that was the time for treats at the Pasar Malam (night market, which we had in Opera Estate along the canal long ago) or Dim Sum at some nice restaurants. Those were expensive in those days when teachers’ salaries were low. Still, we got to go to restaurants like Oasis in Kallang, Neptune in town, revolving restaurants and a few nice ones which I cannot remember the names. Dad can cook well and when he eats out, it must be at a place where the food is as good as his cooking.
Even at home, dad would be the chef. Every dish was delicious. Even in his old age, he could tell when cooking was off and exactly what was needed to fix it. I remember him to be usually the one doing the afternoon teaching and coming back to rush out the meals. When we were a little older (I was in primary 3), we had to take turns to wash and cook the rice first as the rice would take too long to cook when dad came back. We also had to wash the dishes after meals, not the favourite things for kids to do of course.
The best treats were the drive out to interesting places. We did not have money to fly in those days because air tickets were expensive. Dad’s car was well used, not just for work but also to drive us out to visit places in Singapore or Malaysia. We went to many interesting places in Singapore, such as Nantah campus, Seletar Reservoir Rocket Tower, MacRitchie Reservoir, Zoo, Changi Beach, etc. Dad the photographer would capture these moments, first on his antique twin-lens reflex camera and later on a Nikon FE Manual (which became my camera when I got interested during Junior College). The best were the long drives out to Malaysia to visit relatives (mum was from Muar and dad from Gopeng, but we had many relatives elsewhere too in Penang, KL and JB). In those days when there were no multiple lane highways, we would go on the old highways all over. Places that we have been to are too many to list, including all over Penang, Gopeng, Ipoh, Cameroon Highlands, Genting, Frasers Hill, Muar, Kota Tinggi waterfalls, KL, Port Dickson, etc. He had good stamina to drive all alone with three and later four noisy children behind. Much to mum’s annoyance, I was the naughty one constantly asking him to cut (i.e. overtake) cars and trucks. Overtaking was tricky on the old highway as you will need to drive into the opposite direction.
We did not have many toys. Dad’s cars stayed long in the family until repairs became too high or later when COE was introduced and it became just 10 years per car. My childhood was filled with many of these wonderful memories of special treats and family trips which I am thankful for and which I have learned to model to give to my own children. For this, I have to thank dad for it.
Author with dad in either Cameroon Highlands or Frasers Hill, photo bombed by big brother
On one of our many drive treats – this author as usual, would be the one who was often distracted and looking elsewhere
All kids onboard, ready to explore the back lanes of Gopeng
Batu Caves – How could I forget the climb up and down
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
This series of posts is written as dad lay critically ill in hospital with 4th stage lung cancer that has spread to different parts of the body (Update: Dad passed on just as I published this post around 155pm on 12 January 2024). He had lived a good, long and relatively healthy life. At 90, he would still walk the neighbourhood on his own, albeit weaker since recovering from prostate cancer 5 years ago. His mind was still sharp and alert even in hospital, dulled only recently because of the heavy dose of morphine to mask the pain.
The cancer came suddenly. He felt pain in the chest and hands and some general weakness in early November 2023. We thought it was just part of aging. Then in late November, the pain became unbearable and he had breathing difficulties. We rushed him to A&E where they found the left lung totally filled with fluid and started draining it. Four days later after most of the fluid had been drained, a CT scan confirmed large tumours deep in the left lung. A few scans of other parts of the body showed that it had spread to the brain and liver, and perhaps more as other parts were not scanned. Only palliative treatment was feasible given his age.
Dad was born on 7 April 1933 in Gopeng, Malaysia. He had lived a full life – he lived through the war as a young teen who had to look after young siblings, had a chinese-education at a time when socialist ideas were rampant in Malaysia, came to Singapore to work as a young adult, married, had four kids, a handful of grandkids and a great-grandson and other adventures. He had told us some stories occasionally over the years. I took the chance to talk to him further when he was still sharp in the mind and lying in hospital.
There is a season for every activity under the sun. When you have lived 90 years, surely there were many activities. These posts aim to document these to celebrate his life.
Early Years
Dad’s immunisation at 11 months old
My grandpa with 1st aunt (passed away from a difficult child birth of 4th child in her mid 20s), 2nd uncle (being carried) and dad (in bicycle)
Dad is standing, second from left. He is a natural athlete who can play just about any sport and great at running and jumping.
Dad, front row 2nd from left with trophies. His ancestorial home in Gopeng used to have cupboards filled with all his trophies. I remembered being thoroughly impressed with dad’s prowess when I was a child visiting Gopeng and seeing those trophies.
The Yuk Choy team. Dad is at the back, 5th from left
Home for great grandparents, grandparents, dad and even me (for the first 2 years of my life) in Gopeng. The shop still exists but is modernised and run by my cousin from youngest uncle’s side. Grandma in picture – she lived till around 90.
Dad was the second in a large Cantonese-speaking family with 11 siblings, and the oldest son. My grandpa (dad’s father) had come from Kaiping （开平）, Guangdong province to Malaysia with great-grandpa when grandpa was still a child. It was part of a wave of immigrants from southern China at a time when China was experiencing famine, war and all sorts of hardship. Grandpa later went back to China to marry grandma who was betrothed to him. I was told guys in their village would marry girls specifically from another nearby village, almost always by arranged marriage. I recall being told that grandma was like between 16 to 18 when she got married and came to Malaysia. Not long later, she had her eldest daughter, and a year or so after that, my dad.
Great grandpa started a goldsmith shop. Grandpa tried various work besides helping at the shop. I was told he once sold fish. Unsold fish, probably the worst ones, were eaten by the family. Somehow dad learnt to cook, extremely well. Being the eldest son, he had to do household chores which include cooking. You have to cook well to mask the taste of bad fish! Grandpa (or perhaps it should be great-grandpa) eventually settled on setting up a goldsmith shop though I am not sure when. Probably it was after WW2.
Dad’s large immediate family at his wedding – Great grandpa, Great grandma, Grandpa, Grandma and 7 siblings (4 more had passed away) and (I think) one cousin, the eldest daughter representing my deceased 1st aunt
Dad and mum (extreme left) with great grandma, grandma and grand dad, and my sister and brother
Dad was not yet 9 when Japan invaded Malaya (the predecessor of Malaysia) in December 1941. My grandparents already had 2 sons and 5 daughters by then (though 3rd aunt died as a baby). The entire family ran into the jungle but soon came out when Malaya surrendered. As the eldest son, he had to take care of the youngest siblings in the jungle – 5th aunt was still an infant at that time. During the Japanese occupation, they returned to school but dad said the teachers were not teaching seriously. They had to be taught Japanese. Whatever the teachers could learn of the language themselves, they then taught the students. No one treated school seriously. Dad once told his grandkids that once, Japanese soldiers came to his house looking randomly for Chinese men who could be of threat. My grandpa hid behind the toilet door. Grandma pretended to be doing things in front of the toilet, blocking the door. When the soldiers asked who was inside, grandma and dad told them that there was no one and they left.
After the Japanese surrender in 1945, students returned to their normal school. He completed primary school in Gopeng and went to Yuk Choy for high school in nearby Ipoh. Most were overaged, including dad. Dad was excellent in sports. He represented his school in many sports. He was the interschools champion in long jump and triple jump and held the record at around 21 feet and 41 feet for both (current world record is 29 feet and 49 feet). He also did the sprint at a bit over 11 seconds.
When dad was in high school, there was a movement for students to go back to China. That was in the 1950s when the communist party took control of China and there were strong nationalist sentiments. Some of dad’s classmates planned to move to China, some against their parents’ wishes. Grandpa heard about it and locked dad at home until those who had wanted to leave had left. But I doubt dad actually intended to defy his father and go China because he is the type that avoids risks. Grandpa probably wanted to be very sure of it.
By that time, the goldsmith shop was doing well with the tin mine boom in Perak – my aunt told me the boom started around 1952. Dad said that he helped to sell in the shop and picked up some Tamil words because Indians were regular buyers of gold. He even picked up some skills in making gold necklaces and piercing ears for ear rings. With the shop and economic boom, life became better.
Dad finished high school in 1955 at 22 because of delays due to the war, and taught for around 3 years at his alma mater primary school in Gopeng, where grandpa was a board member of the school (grandpa was already doing better financially then with the goldsmith shop). Dad ended up in the same class as 2nd uncle (2 years younger than him) due to the war. After their high school, both wanted to register for a course to learn English. When registering, the office told them to go away because the school would not accept them. Uncle got up to leave, but dad pulled him back. Dad told uncle to stay and persist because he must make them agree. They spoke earnestly again with the office and were admitted.
Dad said he wanted to go Singapore to study at Nantah (Nanyang University) but grandpa objected, saying that it was not recognised by the government. So he applied to the Teachers Training College (TTC, now known as NIE) in Singapore. He was accepted, so he resigned from his teaching position to go Singapore. Dad led the way for his brother and later 5th sister to come Singapore. He was the first in their family to seek his fortune here.
[Additional post after wake: Dad the Playful Yet Loving Big Brother: At the funeral wake, my aunts and uncle told us more stories of dad as a big brother. My impression of dad has always been one who is strict and non-nonsense. I never realised that he had a playful streak in him, often teasing the younger siblings. Sometimes they would chase him when angry with the teasing, but they could not catch dad who was naturally athletic. Like all youngsters, he got into fights with his elder sister too. I finally realised that my naughtiness and playfulness might have come from dad! But they all told us of how dad looked after them well as a big brother, leading the way in many things. When he started working and returned home each holiday to Gopeng, he would bring them things that they liked. When dad later got married and had a house, at various times, his younger siblings stayed in Singapore at our house when they came here exploring their future. 2nd uncle and his wife moved to live with dad when they were newly married, until they bought their own place. I recall youngest uncle, 5th and 8th aunt also staying for quite an extended period in our house when I was in primary school. Often when whole families came for short holidays, our living room would be filled with mattresses for them to sleep on.)
Dad’s graudation from Yuk Choy – many students were overaged, including him due to the Japanese occupation, during which they were not learning anything meaningful in school.
The Hard Road to be a Teacher in Singapore
Dad had a rough time in Singapore. When he came in 1958, TTC wanted to rescind the letter of offer because he needed to be attached to a school in Singapore. His application was mistakenly accepted because TTC thought that the school he was teaching in was in Singapore. Dad was anxious. He had resigned from his position to seek his fortune in Singapore. He told grandpa. Grandpa had a fellow board member of the primary school, also from Gopeng who happened to be travelling via Singapore to Australia to see to his daughter’s further study. With grandpa’s introduction, dad met this gentleman to get him to refer him to the then-Minister for Education, Chew Swee Kee, who was also from Gopeng. The gentleman wrote a letter for dad. Dad took the letter and camped outside the Minister’s office until he got an audience. I was later told by an aunt that dad had worn out the soles of his shoes looking for the Minister – he must have made several trips there to find him. The Minister listened to his story and asked dad to choose from one of two schools. Dad chose Ama Keng Primary because it had accommodation for staff and he wanted to save money on rental. The Minister wrote on the back of the recommendation letter and dad went off with the letter to the school and became a temporary teacher at Ama Keng.
Unfortunately, the position was only for three months and the school had no vacancy after that. Dad was without a school and in danger of being kicked out of TTC again. Dad went to Minister Chew once more. The kind Minister referred him to Wen Xuan primary, a now=defunct smallish school in shop units along Neil Road and was hired. His place in TTC was saved again, thanks to the Minister and to dad’s tenacity.
A letter for dad and his younger brother (just 2 years younger) to go for a teaching qualification test in Ipoh. Both started off as teachers in Gopeng. 2nd Uncle later studied at Singapore Polytechnic and ran a successful QS company in Singapore until he retired. Dad remained a teacher.
Finding His Soulmate at TTC
At the first lesson as a trainee in TTC, the lecturer was walking around the class and saw my dad’s notes. Dad had fantastic handwriting (I never inherited this gene) and was meticulous in taking notes. The lecturer took up his notes and praised him in front of the class. Right after class, my late mum came up to him to borrow his notes. She stuck with him throughout the two years of TTC – she knew who she could rely on to complete her assignments! Dad told us that for the optional subject, he had wanted to choose Physical Education, because he was an excellent athlete and would surely excel in this. But his then-girlfriend, my mum, persuaded him to do art instead so that she could do the course with him. Dad said for each assignment, he had to do two submission pieces, one for himself and one for her. Thankfully, dad has a talent for art too! He also had a talent for photography which he picked up with a twin-lens reflex camera that my mum’s dad gave to him.
Dad graduated two years later from TTC and married mum right after graduation. They stayed at a rental house along Everton Road next to his school at Neil Road as their first martial home.
Mum attended Nantah before joining a school to teach and attend the TTC course, where she met dad on the first day of lesson and stuck together throughout their studies and got married at the end of the 2-year course.
Mum’s certification to be a fully qualified teacher after 2 years at TTC
Dad and pictures of mum
Serving tea during marriage to Great Grandpa and Great Grandma
A piece dad did in his later years for one of my nieces to help her in her art homework
Video made by my daughter for grandpa, played throughout his funeral wake
When I first started active cooked food distribution during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic on 7 April 2020 in Marine Terrace, I did not realise that it will just continue to grow and grow. This has been thanks to all the enthusiastic local volunteers who have sustained the operations.
From one location, it grew to two, with the second at the rental flats of Eunos Crescent. At our peak, over 400 packets of cooked food were distributed daily. Initially, a small group of us not living in the area went daily to see to the collection of food delivered by food charity Willing Hearts, and to give to residents who would queue up to take these from around 7am in the morning. Soon, we found residents there willing to take over these tasks. The operations became much easier to sustain with local volunteers but it does need these committed residents to get up early and organise the giving. These volunteers took turn to cover one another. There has been not a single day of break since 7 April 2020 till today, through all weekends, all public holidays and even when Covid-19 was at its peak and several of our volunteers were themselves ill. The volunteers just covered one another to keep it going.
Distributing cooked food and other items at Eunos Crescent
Then in late 2021, I was introduced to donated and rescued vegetables. This involves collecting from various sources that have secured donated and rescued food and we were to give to communities where there might be greater need for these. Having already a steady based of food recipients and a good team of volunteers on the ground, we gave it a try, initially using my MPV car or other borrowed vehicles to transport once a week on Saturday afternoons from the distribution point to Eunos Crescent.
Then, we were alerted to a daily source of donated rescued vegetables and if we wanted to be one of the recipients for once a weekday night. So we increased our distribution in Eunos to two times a week. Again, the volunteers were enthusiastic and the operations went about without fuss, benefitting some 60-80 families for each distribution.
I was pulled into a bigger network of community volunteers. A small group of likeminded active community volunteers decided to pull money together to buy a 15-foot container truck to support the operations of the now daily collection of donated and rescued vegetables. This resulted in the formation of The Red Collection (see: https://give.asia/campaign/donated-and-rescued-food-for-singapore#/ – do give and support to this cause to keep it going). Our project morphed into being part of The Red Collective’s combined efforts and I became a founding member of this new group.
Delivering in the 15-foot containter truck
Given my deemed ‘success’ at mobilising grassroots to volunteer to distribute and organise the giving, I was enlisted to help set up a new distribution point at Blk 534, Bedok North St 3 (Kaki Bukit), an area which I did not quite know the residents. Nevertheless, with some introduction of local leaders, we quickly established a network of volunteers and recipients.
My name is Ayushi. I am taking O levels this year.
For a while now, I’ve been volunteering, which I always craved to do. I believe that volunteering helped me use my skills to uplift the lifes of people/society who need a little help.
Now “Rescue Vegetable” is a mission for me. It made my personality and attitude better and now I can face everyday problems with more optimism and different approaches. To top it all off, the feeling of accomplishment I get really motivates me to continue doing this. Through this, I’ve learnt to change lives, mine and others.
Ayushi, one of the helpers at Kaki Bukit
To-date, I have helped to start another two more distribution points since March 2022 – at Bedok South and a couple of weeks later at Bedok North, using the same model of understanding the local residents, identifying the leaders and equipping them to organise the community while we ensure that volunteer drivers will collect and deliver vegetables, fruits and other items to them consistently at around the same time each week.
The Red Collective is supporting many other groups. Collectively, it now benefits some 16,000 people each week in over 20 distribution points across Singapore each week.
What I have learnt is that in each of these communities, there are residents willing to give of their time to support their community and it is important to identify, empower and support them. The Kampung Spirit is still alive in Singapore!
I took part in a web talk show organised by NUS School of Computing on 21 May 2021. The following were 4 questions posted to me earlier by the moderator of the talk show, Prof Terence Sim.
Education Technologies have rapidly improved in recent years. Examples include: online courses and virtual reality skills training. What do you think future Ed-Tech will look like?
EdTech had indeed gone quite far since the pioneer days on the late 1990s and 2000s when I was involved in first providing computer-based education for children, then as GM for the Kinderworld group of companies and then as founder of ASKnLearn (now Wizlearn). I have pioneer in the early days of floppy disk and CD-ROM to the first-generation Learning Management System (LMS).
Today, internet is pervasive and low cost, accessible on mobile devices anyway. It is available to many people at affordable cost. We have giant unicorn EdTech companies in China and India even ahead of those in the western world. EdTech is driven very much by the companies that can successfully raise fund and eventually have a viable business model, of course supported with ongoing R&D and open-source from academic and research institutions as well. There are always cool technologies being created but how Ed-Tech may be driven in future also depends on the viability of the research.
Technologies that have driven recent Ed-Tech include AI that analyses students learning for personalised learning, Bots to answer questions, immersive and augmented reality, Internet of Things and so on. In the end, how fast something can move and sustain depends on how commercialisable they can be. I was involved in the early days of augmented reality with schools and automated marking of essays. They were too costly then fifteen years ago. Content creation and training of the automated marking system were too expensive and long. Those companies that invested in these then could not survive ccommercially.
I see short and mid-term successful EdTech to involve:
Easily accessible via mobile learning, byte-sized, just-in-time learning. Also learning that can deliver results in exams, whether for students or for adult learning tied to certifications.
Content may be king, but if content can be easily created by users, then content owners may not always be king. Sharing platforms with mass user base that can deliver byte-sized learning content in intelligent way customised to learners’ preferences, even just for fun learning will do better than traditional content owners charging subscription.
Linked with devices through IoT, now better supported with 5G
Data-driven insights for personalised learning
Automated tools to support learning institutions (i.e smarter LMSes) and classroom interactions.
Declarations: I have some vested interests in three EdTechs
KooBits – Leader in Singapore Pri math content and moving now into Science as well. Huge bank of content and animated clips, gamify platform, some AI to provide customised learning content based on how students answer questions.
Miao Academy – Has a Miao Messenger Academic Bot that helps students with Math query including theories and definitions, and homework, and a Miao Math App that uses photo snapped by users to search for similar questions with solutions and learning points for any Math homework problem.
Explico.sg – Online diagnostic assessment for upp pri and lower sec, byte-sized modular learning based on weaknesses / what users want to learn. Trying to redefine the tuition market but providing learning for those concepts that students really need and at their convenient time remotely.
In the longer term, we could see on a comercialisable way:
Robots (I will talk more later. Right now too expensive and not smart enough)
Immersive learning. Right now, tools to support are expensive, not readily available and still costly to create content. But moving towards being ubiquitous now with mobile devices able to support immersive learning and content creation cost dropping.
Integrated learning with real devices (think driving lessons. Can a smart car train a learner? Real feedback from operating the device)
Autograding of essays and speech.
Will an AI Robot be able to replace the human teacher? What part of pedagogy can or cannot be replaced? More importantly, what should not be replaced?
My son, who just finished first year in a local university, first reaction to this question was, of course can. He already relies on online videos to learn what he cannot understand from school and there’s plenty of such free content.
That’s a simplistic answer. He’s in varsity and they are expected to be able to learn independently, whether the teacher teaches well or not.
What is the AI Robot? If we look at it strictly as a humanoid, then we are quite far from it doing anything intelligent and to be affordable enough to be common. Just google search for robots in classroom and you will find examples in Finland, India, China, etc. I bought Zenbo from Taiwan when I went there in Dec 2018, before Covid. I brought two back. I saw it being programmed by students and lecturers in the early childhood department of the National Pingtung University of Science & Technology and being used in kindergartens. Simple coding using Scratch-like interface – drag and drop. Zenbo cost just over S$1,000 so I bought to just try. Good for arousing interest in children and having fun but far from replacing the teacher. Too much coding to do. There’s simple voice interaction with Hey Zenbo, Hey Siri and Hey Google but you cannot do a meaningful conversation with it.
There are different aspects in the classroom, also depending on age:
Teaching – This part, the robot still can be pre-coded or deliver standardized content. Mainly to deliver content but once you get to Q & A or observing learning, the AI still some way to go. I suppose one day it can be intelligent enough to even help facilitate project discussion in a controlled context. Right now, not good enough.
Care – For younger students, you need to have discipline and care in the classroom. Robots are not flexible nor smart enough. The best robots now to do home care and house chores are still quite basic, and very expensive. It will be a long time before it can be useful for looking after children in the classroom. (P2 Kid cried when Zenbo went into class!)
Counselling – That’s even worse. Robots will find it hard to be an inspirational and motivating role model for students, or to provide counselling when students have problems. I have a daughter in social work. I have seen the difficult classrooms as well. There’s value is a caring and motivating teacher.
Which age group will benefit most from adopting Ed-Tech: children, tertiary students, working adults, elderly? And which will benefit the least?
Ed-Tech is for all ages, but how we deploy will differ. I will look at question from two points – (1) Benefit as in how to learn better (2) Benefit as in how to make it even commercially viable in each market segment.
The tertiary and working adults, they are more independent in the way they learn – they will learn if they want to so we can skip investing on the frills – just deliver the content needed for their course requirement. For younger children, you will need some interactivity and fun to keep them on the system or with the robot. Interactivity and gamification cost money. You can help them learn better by using AI to zoom in on their needs using big data.
For commercial viability, companies still need to see how they can amass the competitive advantage at the most cost-effective way. Some will try to own content and earn by subscription; some will try to have massive no. of users and user generated content and earn by money from sponsors.
Each market will be viable for Ed-Tech. With Covid and more learning from home or anyway, there are new opportunities. The easiest to adopt will actually be for learners who need to get some professional certification. They will pay for the learning and assessment cos they need it for work or in Singapore case, get paid by Skills Future or WSQ money. For the global market, the massively online portals are definitely viable, once you get a critical mass. Some will pay for the certification.
For K12 space, it is hard to target the mainstream schools due to MOE policies. Everyone will want to try to disrupt the tuition market but it is not so easy. Content also differ across countries so if one is good with Singapore schools, it is not automatically scalable overseas.
Do you think there should be policies in place to guide, even regulate, Ed-Tech? What policies are needed? Should these be made by MOE, or be left to individual schools?
From the perspective of a commercial player in this field, the less regulation and control, the better. For the B2C space, there’s also no need to regulate. It is up to the market. Of course, there might be parents worry about screen time but I am not sure if regulation is a good thing to use for controlling this.
Where MOE is concerned, they are the market maker. I was involved from the first ICT Masterplan in the late 1990s. There was mass buying of CD-ROMs and computers with mostly HQ controlled budget – every school get standardised software and systems. MOE tried their own LMS in the early 2000s but it was quickly killed by the dotcom revolution because the platforms that came out were far better in technology and better used by the schools than the School DMR by MOE. So they killed the project in 2002. Then we were hit by SARS and most schools could not do e-learning. Then MOE released money to the schools to decide on the e-learning platforms they wish to adopt from the industry. The industry flourished and there were learning tools customised for schools as companies fight for market share. The problem was that some companies closed and caused problems for schools and MOE found it hard to control. Then they killed the market with SLS, which is own and managed by MOE. Now the local EdTechs are not interested in the local school market and innovations have switched to B2C.
Whether it is good or not is subjective. There will be fewer innovations for the schools cos it is much harder to move ideas when it is top down.
Policies can dictate EdTech from the way it influences the market through the government budget especially for schools and for adult learning market using skills future and WSQ. I don’t see any value though in using policy to influence the B2C market or to direct innovation. It is best left to the market.
So, a new period has begun. Entry to secondary schools will not be by T-Score but by Achievement Levels (AL) and the sum of ALs over the 4 subjects the students will have to take.
Many people have written to explain the system. You can find one here from ST. MOE provided the list of indicative cut-off points for secondary schools by AL. There are enough experts analysing the system and how best to achieve the desired scores to go to the ‘best’ schools. The system looks confusing now, because it is new and people do not quite understand the implications of how it will actually affect entry into schools which will be based on actual demand for and supply of places.
Will it change the anxiety over this deemed high-stake examinations? My short answer is, NO.
No; as long as parents still believe that there are some schools more desirable than others, that there are some academic streams better for their children, there will be anxiety. Some will have good reasons to believe so and many will still go by what we instinctively think as humans – the harder to get in, the better it must be. With limited places in the desired schools, there will still be the pressure at PLSE, at the tender age of 12. For now, the new system will actually add more anxiety until people figure out what it will actually take to get to what schools. There will be no change in anxiety level unless there is a mindset change of parents, and other accompanying policy changes to other aspects of our schools and even in society.
When I was in school, we did not quite care which schools we went to. My parents, both Chinese teachers, sent my brothers and me to St. Stephen’s School, a mission school near our home because it would provide the English speaking environment we would not get at home. The late Mr Lee KY had already made it clear that English will be the main medium for business, so my parents figured that for us to succeed in Singapore, we have to be good with our English. When it came to secondary school, almost the entire cohort chose the affiliated St. Patrick;s School nearby. We just wanted to be with friends and we wanted to be in a school near our homes. Hardly anyone looked at branding of schools nor how others perceive the schools. We turned out well. The top student in the entire east of Singapore for my O level year came from St. Patrick’s. Many went on to become lawyers, doctors, dentists, successful businessmen and some went quite high in the government service. Many went on to receive scholarships for their university studies.
The most significant change ever made to our education system since independence were the reforms sparked by the Goh report in the late 1970s. Dr Goh Keng Swee, the fixer for ministries with problems, was sent to rectify the problem of low education levels and high drop-out rates. As a trained engineer and with limited resources of the country, he figured the best solution was to stream students to what suits them best so that we could produce workers for the MNCs and whatever was necessary for our economy. Harsh as the system was, it produced results. Drop out rates fell drastically. Those deemed less academic could take up the more hands-on courses. Continued reforms after that tinkered with the formula.
We started to have more experimentation – Special Assistance Plan schools specialising in the Chinese language (which of course attracted almost entirely Chinese students), gifted steam (initially at both primary and secondary levels, and later with the proliferation of independent secondary schools with their own programmes to stretch high ability students, the gifted programme was dropped for secondary schools), autonomous schools, through-train secondary to JC, and so on. Schools were resourced differently to fit their cohorts. Some schools became very well resourced, both from state funding and from a strong alumni. The contrast between the haves and have-nots became quite stark.
I thought the worst thing that happened was when we started to rank and brand schools. It was first started in 1992, published by our national newspaper Straits Times. The exercise went on for two decades, with tinkering of the criteria along the way, but nevertheless, schools were publicly honoured and of course, those left out of the published rankings were deemed not-so-good, to put it mildly in the perception of the public. There were other ways MOE started to measure schools such as PRISM (“Performance Indicators for School Management”), banding of schools instead of by absolute score (as schools started fighting hard for the extra score to the decimal points to be up the ranking). Whatever the tinkering, the layman would just rely on the list and start to push their children to be in top ranked schools, as high up the ranking as they could. Even though the listing has been stopped (thankfully), the damage of such a prolong exercise has been done. Others continue to publish their unofficial ranking of schools in the absence of that by MOE, using various criteria of their own. The most simplistic is to look at the cut-off points for admission of schools at secondary 1 and JC 1, which to me does not say very much actually. I find it quite sad that people do not look at what schools that take in lower scoring students had been able to transform or value-add to students. A JC that takes in 5-6 pointers students will obviously have to ensure that vast majority, if not all will make it to ‘good’ universities. The JCs that take in average scoring O levels students but enabling many of them to do well for university admissions should be lauded more.
A ridiculous exercise my own children had to go through in secondary 1 many years ago was that they were given a slip by MOE stating their PSLE score and their expected score for O levels. My children did not have sterling PLSE scores. They went to neighbour schools. We told our children to chuck that paper away and not to let other people limit them by what the computer system would predict their future scores to be. All three of them turned out much better at O levels than the predictions. I still do not quite understand why MOE thought the exercise was necessary. It was perhaps that entrenched mindset that students are like factory products – after sorting out at PSLE, that would be where they were expected to be at the end of the current factory line before moving on to the next factory.
Singapore has taken the Goh’s report sorting exercise too far. Some steps had been taken in more recent years to undo the unhealthy competition and what I had termed in parliament in my maiden speech (Oct 2011) as ‘hyper-meritocracy’ (Heng Swee Kiat later used another term ‘extreme meritocracy’ but had the same meaning). Education is a lot more than just what the student achieve in academic results and what schools they attend. My wife and I had no issues with our children going to neighbour primary and secondary schools. We opted them out of the gifted education test. As concerned parents like many others, we do try to help with whatever they feel they need help in, but otherwise we let them have their own space to grow. We are thankful that they turned out well. One went through the polytechnic route while the other two went through neighbourhood JCs. All ended up eventually in our local autonomous universities and have found what they want to do in life, a very important thing to us as parents.
I had pushed many times in parliament (2015, 2014, 2013, 2012) and in the WP 2015 manifesto for through-train primary to secondary pilot schools. I would have gladly sent my children to such schools even if there was no option for them to enter a top secondary schools through this path. 10 years would be a good time for the school to development the students holistically till they were of the age to better know what would work for them. Our society has come a long way since the Goh’s report of 1978 that necessitated mass sorting out of students. We need to constantly focus on the core purpose of education – to develop each child to bring out the best in them. I end this blog with one of my favourite quote on education, for which I had also written a blog post several years ago – What should be the focus of our education?
The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate “apparently ordinary” people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners: it is in making winners out of ordinary people. ~K. Patricia Cross, Education Scholar
Parents – anxious as we are about how to deal with the new PSLE scoring and what schools / academic streams we want our children to be in, do remember to invest time into their development, and to encourage them even if they do not end up where you hope for them to be in. Parents hold their children’s hands for a while, and hopefully their hearts forever.
Webinar held on 18 March 2021 (4pm Singapore time)
It was my privilege to be speaker in the talk organised by The Sydney Southeast Asian Centre, Malaysia and Singapore Association of Singapore and the publisher of my book Journey in Blue, World Scientific Singapore. The talk was hosted by my friend, Loke Hoe Yeong who is a political analyst based out of London. Hoe Yeong is familiar with Singapore politics and has written books and articles on the topic, and was kind enough to write a generous endorsement of my book which you can find inside the book itself.
Here’s a summary of what was in the 1-hour video (not verbertim, just the gist I documented as I re-watched the recording):
Q1 – My experience in GE2011 when I lost by just over 300 votes as a rookie politician
Didn’t know what to expect. Confidence grew as campaign went on. The ground sentiments were good and even the press took notice that the campaign went from a non-contest to a hot one and gave Joo Chiat some spotlight. As newcomer with relatively low profile in a GE with hot seats in Aljunied and elsewhere, I had to find my way to navigate the lack of public profile with persistent day and night daily house visits and to rely on word of mouth. Quietly confident at counting night. See-saw emotions throughout – seemed to be leading. But one polling district was bad and pulled down the votes.
Biggest upset that night was loss of Aljunied GRC, first time ever the PAP lost a GRC.
Q2. WP MPs having to work hard. What were my / our experiences like?
3 areas for MP to be responsible for: Town Council (only for elected MPs), Parliament, grassroots at party level,
NCMPs get 15% of an MP’s allowance and have no official constituency duties. We still have our day jobs. Budget time challenging – 2 weeks continuous sittings, from 11am to 7-8 pm. Elected MPs more busy – TC most challenging due to difficult and sudden transfer – AIM (with one-month termination rights to use of information system), change of managing agent, new MPs need time to be familiar with town council work. Changeover in a hostile manner and quite a bit of controversy from the handover.
Q3. Your book presents many valuable insights, and is like a manual on the workings of the Singapore opposition, where none have previously existed. Clearly, the WP has institutionalised and built up the opposition like none others before. How did you take on the government in Parliament, given their “army of bureaucrats” behind them and the data they have?
We don’t see them as opponents to be taken down. I was focused on the issues and wanted to find a way to dig for data and surface the matter for more discussions. A few ways to get data – Questions in parliament (PQs), asking people familiar e.g. former civil servants familiar with policy making, people in industry, doing my own research. Learnt to sharpened my PQs to prevent generic and not useful answers coming back. Need to also first do my own ground work to understand the issues and get own data first before filing PQs. Cited an example on my research in the full enrolment in student care in schools by personally calling many such centres myself and finding that many could not even put students on waitlist.
Q4. My highlights in parliaments?
Parliament is a good place to spotlight issues. Cited example in preschool and student care, foreign scholarships, etc. As opposition, we can ask uncomfortable questions. Nothing super memorable but gratifyingly when changes did happen as we pushed them, though the policy makers could also have wanted to do changes along those lines as well.
Q5. The outcomes of votes in Parliament are foregone conclusions – the PAP has more than 2/3 supermajority. What do you think WP/the opposition can do in this landscape?
Even though opposition does not have 1/3 seats, parliament is like a modern day gladiator arena. The PAP is conscious of how they appear to people, always looking at the next GE and the one after that. Government is about maintaining trust and confidence of people. They are afraid of losing more seats and for their vote share to go down too much. Even if we do not have 1/3 but we hit hard at issues and PAP knows it will affect their standing with the people, they will respond. Maybe they may not directly acknowledge the opposition when they change but if they feel they need to change like they did after GE2011, they will. Parliament is a platform to spotlight issues. In 2011, only 6 seats out of 87 seats were lost but it was a big deal to the PAP and they have to be mindful how to win back the trust and votes.
Q6. David vs Goliath battle in parliament. Opposition is constantly providing challenge to PAP. If PAP is not responsive, they will lose more seats in future. Your opinion?
Elections is not just the few weeks of campaigning. A lot of things happened between GEs. In 2011, PAP lost 1 GRC, lost the Hougang by-election in 2012 and Punggol East in 2013. PAP took 2015 to stem the tide with death of LKY and SG50. The ruling party is always mindful what happens in next GE.
Q7, The LKY repent comment in 2011 to voters in Aljunied GRC. Did that flip the election or other things were happening in the background?
I was not actively watching Aljunied GRC. I was engrossed in my own campaign in Joo Chiat in 2011. Swing voters / middle ground tend to be turned off when they perceive ruling party to be arrogant or not responsive. Not sure if that alone turned the results. In 2011, there was a fear of total opposition wipe out with LTK and CST stepping out of their SMCs. LTK took a good team with him into Aljunied GRC, which is an important factor.
Q8. My choice to enter in 2011 – did the increase in NCMP positions from 3 to 9 influence my decision to enter politics.
Zero effect. I was not interested in NCMP post. No one will be interested to contest to be an NCMP. I just wanted to be there to give a good contest to the PAP. My main motivation was about the future of Singapore – LKY was aging and health was declining. What if the PAP is not able to run the country in future. Who can take over? Gave a business analogy of needing strong competition to companies with monopolistic powers to force them to change. Did not think the NCMP positions are there to change anything in politics in Singapore. Can do away with the position but let’s also review the GRC system – do away with it or make them real small and have fewer GRCs.
Q9. What I thought of the NCMP position which was created by the PAP to allow opposition yet cater to the people’s desire to want a PAP government.
Always PAP’s way to tell Singaporeans that only they have the A team, that only they know how to run the place else people will repent. Glad that people in Aljunied, Hougang, Potong Pasir in the past and now Sengkang did not buy the story. Need strong candidates in the opposition though. I joined in 2011 because I thought the WP had people with decent credentials in 2006. People want to join when they find likeminded people they can work and identify with in the team. When opposition has stronger candidates, when people are confident their constituency can be well run, they will be willing to vote the opposition and NCMP positions may no longer be needed as there will be more than 12 eventually.
Q10. Are people watching opposition performance. Why does PAP have such a strong hold on parliament since 1959? People lack confidence in opposition and only giving incremental support?
People have become risk averse. Opposition job is to show they can be respectable, responsible and rational. Elected opposition MPs know they have the burden as people are watching. PAP is a seasoned fighting machine. They will find a way to fight back after the loss in 2020, as they did in the past. Those going into opposition and elected have the responsibility to do a good job because progress of opposition depends on what they do. No one wants to be one-term opposition MP though PAP will fight back strongly. PAP will always try to paint that only they can make policies. I do not agree. Policymaking is not something unique to PAP.
Q11. In 2015, Joo Chiat SMC disappeared from electoral map. What happened?
Ask the EBRC (Electoral Boundary Review Committee) which reports to the Prime Minister’s Office. EBRC report is so thin and short on justifications. Hardly anything had changed in the demographics of Joo Chiat to justify a change in electoral boundaries. And boundary changes are always announced not long before a GE is called. In 2015, announced in late July and GE was early Sep. I had 6 weeks to form team and campaign. Stated in book how I ended up with Marine Parade and how the team formation was made.
Q12. Researchers on Singapore’s opposition parties have talked about the key conundrum they face: if they are too radical, the vast majority of voters are turned away; if they are too moderate, the PAP’s technocratic superiority in policymaking etc will easily beat them. WP has been dubbed/criticised a ‘PAP-lite’ party, both by the PAP and some of the other opposition.. Do you think that is a fair comment?
WP did not start out to be a PAP-lite. A party’s policies and broad directions are shaped by the key leaders and these in turn attract like-minded members. When LTK took over as Sec-Gen, he had his moderate stance and started shaping the party along that direction. In other countries, e.g. UK and Australia, how radically different are those parties that can form the government? Every party will shift along the way. Even the PAP shifted to the left, especially after GE2011, shall I say to be more WP-lite?
I think too much is made of PAP’s technocratic superiority in policymaking. I don’t find that necessarily true from my experience. When we take an issue to lock them on, it is from the point of whether it is good for Singapore.
We take a stand based on what we believe in and if people vote us in, then that’s good because we are doing things that they support.
(Hoe Yeong went on to share about the opposition labour party in UK where he is in. Party is debating internally whether to moderate back to centre because they were deemed to be too far left and had lost the highest number of seats in over 70 years)
Q13. What goals for opposition. Form government in say 3 elections?
I do not speak for WP and definitely not for opposition. Examined the 2 breakthroughs. In 2011, Aljunied GRC breakthrough came with LTK coming out, teaming with Sylvia Lim and a very good team to make the breakthrough. In 2020, WP’s Sengkang GRC team did not have any experienced elected MPs. Young and new candidates taking down 3 political office bearers. Shows that it is possible even with new candidates. Of course, a lot depends on various other conditions and a strong party branding.
Having said that, a lot depends on the PAP, especially on how it handles the 4G transition, and in future the 5G, and whether the PAP can deliver on their promises. Trust is the most important currency in politics. If people lose confidence in the PAP, Singapore at least now has credible people in the opposition side, from across different parties to step up.
Cited example in business. For new nimble new companies to make breakthrough, usually will be when there are sudden opportunities such as policy or technology changes disrupting the landscape. Incumbent needs to be alert and able to adapt and new parties need to capture the opportunities.
Q14 My ‘gentlemanly’ assessment of the PAP 4G.
Anyone taking on responsibility to run the country will try as they know best. Also depends on how Singaporeans perceive them to be able to do so. World is rapidly changing. Old solutions may not work. We have become risk averse and relying on tested solutions which may no longer work. Not training our people to be more resilient and more risk taking (sorry, I mispoke in the interview as risk averse). I am not in the best position to judge the 4G, but would have like to see them being more daring and going beyond text-book answers.
Q15. Would opposition make bigger progress if election is all SMCs.
In past, GRC was configured as fortress to keep opposition away with few SMCs for opposition to try for. The fortress will have 1 to 2 ministers to anchor. In 2011 when the first fortress fell, it fell to seasoned opposition politicians. But in 2020 when the second fortress fell, it was to relatively new and young politicians. West Coast, East Coast came close to losing. Some SMCs did well, such as Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok and Dr Ang (Marymount SMC). Over time, opposition as a whole has assembled strong slate of candidates and doomsday scenario that the PAP had painted did not happen – rubbish piled up three-storey high, value of property dropping. Aljunied GRC residents did not repent in 5 years, not in 10 years and next round will be 15.
Will be quite interesting if it was all seats were SMCs. There will be good individuals chipping away at SMCs and making small gains. Hard to say if these individual losses would be equal to 1 or 2 more GRCs being lost. Point is that gap between the candidates from leading opposition parties and the PAP has been closing up over the years and people are having more confidence now in the opposition.
Q16. GRC system being created for minority inclusion in parliament.
Pointed out (as Hoe Yeong also did), that the first elected opposition MP post independence was minority. Also Michael Palmer in a single seat in 2011, Murali Pillai in Bukit Batok won against Chinese candidates. Also Aljunied GRC has three minorities (Faisal, Leon and Pritam) when it only needed one. The race issue of protecting minority representation has been overplayed by the PAP, including in presidential election.
I have no issue with doing away with GRC – the PAP has. If we really need some minority representation, keep GRCs really small say to 3 persons and have fewer GRCs (Qualified that these are my personal opinions).
Q17, Party identity – Is WP shaping its identity beyond being ‘NOT PAP’? Party support – seems to be from certain social economic status. Also how to get votes from various communities such as Malays and new citizens?
Party identity – All opposition parties have to take on the PAP so they must first be NOT PAP. LTK started building the branding of rational, responsible and respectable. Whoever wants to be successful as opposition and even later when given the chance to form the government, must have these ingredients and to also have Singapore as the focus of our attention in our policy making – how to benefit Singapore. Still being continued under current leadership.
Party support – I have not studied any detailed data. From my experience, support is well round. For example, WP won Aljunied GRC with around 60% support in 2020. It is a very diverse background – rich and middle class private areas in Serangoon and Paya Lebar and the rental and smaller flat areas. Support was good throughout. My own experience in Joo Chiat SMC in 2011 with some 98% in private property. Not true that the private house owners will not support as they might be afraid the value of their property will drop. Also cited GE2020 when we have so many volunteers, people from all walks of life – from businessmen to young lawyers, doctors, professionals and from blue collar workers, helping in a pandemic GE. People are more accepting of opposition. I believe it is the beginning of the mainstreaming of opposition.
Journey in Blue is available in all major bookstores and autographed copies from shopee.com/faithyee.
I started writing to document my 10-year journey with the Workers’ Party of Singapore about a month after GE2020 when a publisher accepted my outline and two draft chapters. Then I wrote furiously for three weeks and further went through another three months of many edits with the publisher, fact checking with many whom I wrote about and quoted in the book, as well as speaking with former political desk journalists, political analysts and even vocal critiques of the WP to see what else I should cover in the book.
Am thankful for many endorsements from Party leaders, from former PAP MPs, former NMPs, political analysts and friends, as well as the warm reception to the book since it hit the bookstores just around Christmas of 2020, making to the Straits Times Top 10 Bestsellers list several times. I was also interviewed and reported by The Straits Times, Today Online, Zaobao, Mothership.sg and The Online Citizen. I was also involved in several webinars, live sessions and forums such as by World Scientific, Mothership.sg, Teh Tarik with Walid, Future of Singapore roundtable and more. I am putting the links to various coverage and the events here for search convenience.
I have met many people to present the book to or to sign on the book they had purchased. Am putting the photos from these here too for convenience (apologies if I missed out on some as my photos are documented here from many sources).
Yesterday marked the completion of 5 months of our daily food distribution which began on 7 April 2020, the first day of the Covid-19 Circuit Breaker.
Yesterday was also special, because we had a young helper, Ethan Tan. I had met his dad and mum, Alan and Sharon who are the third generation operators of a Nonya food group. It began as a push cart stall and then as a hawker stall in the Tiong Bahru market. The stall is still running in the market, but the third generation owners have also expanded the concept into a chain of HarriAnn Nonya food cafes in busy workplaces downtown.
Getting the Nonya cakes from the central kitchen early in the morning
From a casual conversation with Alan and Sharon two weeks ago, we moved into getting their delicious kuehs to the recipients at Eunos Crescent. Ethan, just 11, wanted to help in community projects, so he joined along, waking up just after 6am to go with dad and mum to the central kitchen to bring the kuehs over.
Serving the cooked food with Nonya kuehsThe Tan family who sponsored the kuehs and our regular helpers at Eunos Crescent
When most of the distribution were done, Helen the lead volunteer, took us to see the community garden that she and another helper have cultivated. Sadly, the bananas and papayas were constantly plucked by others, despite a warning sign not to pluck and with CCTV monitoring. Even the banana leaves have been cut by unknown people.
The Papaya tree which has been losing its fruits to unknown people despite the warning sign
Over the past 5 months of food distribution, we had our daily packs of rice or noodles from a social service organisation. Occasionally like yesterday, we had sponsors for other items – eggs, dry rations, rice, biscuits, soap, detergent, bread, cereals, 3-in-1 beverages, tau huay (soya bean curd) and now kuehs.
It is great to see the active involvement of local residents and kind sponsors who have made the food distribution sustainable, despite many challenges we have faced and are continuing to face. Most of the helpers for this daily charity programme are themselves residents in the rental flats but willing to lend their time and energy to do daily charity. Glad to see young ones like Ethan starting out early in life to be involved. Let us not get weary from doing good.
Yee Jenn Jong 