In 1936, I entered Raffles Institution together with about 150 top students from 15 government primary schools. Admission was on the basis of merit. Students were of all races, all classes and all religions, and included many from Malaya. 

"For 14 days between 18 February to 4 March 1942, all Chinese males aged 18-50 were ordered to report to screening Centers across the country. The Japanese occupiers were intentional in their efforts to root out any and all resistance within the Chinese community. By the most arbitrary means at their disposal, the Japanese began weeding out the potential troublemakers – often without any evidence. Hooded informants would point out the individuals who were involved in “anti Japanese activities” or who had contributed to the war effort in China." "The disproportionate rate at which the Chinese were singled out for acts of brutality widened the rift between the Chinese and Malay community. These tensions would be played out on the streets during the racial riots of 1964, nearly 2 decades after the end of WW2.  "

From 1900 to 1932, the school was known as Victoria Bridge School because it was then situated on Victoria Street near the Victoria Bridge. Some of the notable milestones that occurred during a this period of the school’s history include its first annual sports day in 1915, and its first speech day in 1916. In 1929, a school library was set up courtesy of a generous donation by Syed Ahmed bin Mohamed Alsagoff.

Victoria Bridge School was a primary school until 1931 when it became the second government secondary school in Singapore. In 1933, the school presented its first batch of students for the junior Cambridge examination.A year later, the students sat for the senior Cambridge examination.

When the Japanese Occupation started in February 1942, she had to stop school.  After that, for the three years of the Japanese Occupation, she attended a Japanese school, had to learn Japanese, but could not remember after that what she had learnt.  She attributes it to not wanting to remember anything associated with the Japanese.  So in 1945, at the end of the war, my mother was over-aged.  In 1946, she could not be enrolled in an English school, as they did not take in the over-aged girls.  Her father had died towards the end of the Japanese Occupation, and my grandmother, being illiterate, could not help much to get her two daughters an education. So my mother started school in Primary 1 all over again.

After primary school, my mother got a place to study in Methodist Girls’ School.  According to my mother, all the over-aged girls were placed in the afternoon session.  For the first time in her life, she had to learn English, and it was a struggle.  She must have been about 16 by the time she started secondary school. She had to learn the English alphabet, and could not even read simple words like ‘Apple’.

Gay World was one of the three “World” amusement parks that provided affordable entertainment for Singaporeans. The other two were Great World (early 1930s–78) and New World (1923–87). Before the days of television and shopping malls, Singaporeans of all ages and from all walks of life sought out thrills provided by these amusement parks. Gay World, located between Mountbatten and Geylang roads, was officially opened in May 1937. The founder was George Lee Geok Eng of George Lee Motors, and the park was originally known as Happy World. Happy World catered mainly to families with children.

Before the war, Happy World patrons were kept enthralled by an east-meets-west mix of entertainment: cabaret, ronggeng, bangsawan, wayang, movies, gaming, sport matches, stunts, circus and shopping. The fees to these recreations were affordable, even for youths.

By early December 1941, Cathay Cinema was one of the few places left for relaxation in those anxious times, screening movies despite dwindling audiences. With the war imminent, the main building was rented out to the government and the British Malaya Broadcasting Corporation.  Cathay Building became the “brain centre” for the government.

During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese Broadcasting Department moved into the building, took over the existing broadcasting facilities and, in March 1942, began Radio Syonan's transmissions from here. The restaurant became the dining room for Japanese military officers stationed in the building. Occasional movie screenings were held for the public but these films were from existing stock in the storerooms. The fourth-floor preview theatre screened American movies exclusively for Japanese officers. Outside the building, there were human heads stuck on poles; these were beheaded looters and other victims of the Japanese military.

"In the 1840s, it was already recorded that many young men of 14 went to sea to Samarang, Singapore and other places to search for work and returned after two or three years with their savings. It was told that early Bawean seafarers who had joined forces with the Bugis of the Celebes visited Singapore during the early days of British rule, and upon returning impressed their fellow Baweanese with Singapore's tales of prosperity, hence making the British settlement another destination for adventurous Baweanese.”

"the Transport Department wanted an interpreter. So I went along and applied and got it, working this time for Japanese bosses"

 "One of the things, of course that drove me to it was the Japanese from quite early were press ganging boys, youths who were not working and taking them off to work in Siam as it was then called. The Death Railway, they were building a railway there. So we had to avoid that and the only way you could avoid it was to have a job, especially if you were working in a government department. "

"I was paid something like 200, 300 Japanese dollars. But as part of our wages, or as a supplement to our wages, we were given cigarette packets every month. "

"the first thing was to run with it to the black market and sell those cigarette packs at huge prices. "