Choy Kam Fong Case Study

Name: Xia Shan Shan

Matriculation number: A0114327N

Discussion Group number: 24

In the early 1960s, Singapore was still not fully independent - British controlled her internal security - she was not a part of Malaysia to which people considered she ought to belong . The on-going politic changes had impacted the Chinese at the former British Naval Base in Sembawang. Due to these political issues, Choy Kam Fong’s family had faced many difficulties as well as challenges. Based on Choy Kam Fong’s account of the critical period in the 1960s, his memory played a major role in what has been termed “recovery history” .

Born in 1953, Choy Kam Fong was one of people who had witnessed the political changes of Singapore in 1960s. Growing up in the former British naval base at Sembawang since birth, his father was one of the former British Naval Base workers. The former British Naval Base was an area that was strictly regulated by the British where only people with a pass could gain access to the area (see Fig. 1) . In fact, even the houses they lived in were also provided by the British . In total, there were only four blocks in his neighbourhood. Choy Kam Fong’s family lived in one of the room in second floor in his block but there were no proper doors except the common entrance door shared by a total of six families in a floor.

Fig. 1 Sembawang Gate of the former Naval Base, catering to many who lived on the base.

Source: The Long and Winding Road

The neighbours were also workers at the former British Naval Base and their family members. They were mainly Hakkas, Hokkiens, Cantoneses as well as some other Chinese dialect groups . Although they spoke a dozen different languages, they shared a common form of entertainment which was to gath...

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...rmed a collective societal memory shared by the people who lived in the 1950s to 1980s. As Choy Kam Fong recalled, “The only time we could forget about the chaos and unrest outside was when we quieten down to listen to Lee Dai Sor’s stories.” That was a time when listening to radio was a collective activity, building community, bonds and ties, and solidarity; radio then was a shared entertainment. It was about a group of friends or neighbours gathering around a radio set at a certain time to listen to their favourite programmes on air. Yet, as technology made leisure activities more affordable, a wide variety of electronic devices of entertainment went from streets to shops to homes to individual bedrooms. Now, listening to radio has turned into a private activity to be enjoyed by oneself yet Rediffusion remains as a collective memory to the older generation.