Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
60
Kampong Life
When the stress of modern society gets them down, many Singaporeans look
back with long ing to the da ys when lif e was simple , before the go vernment
housing schemes shifted everyone out of their kampongs.
Kampongs, M alay f or “villages” (and spelled
kampung
in M alaysia), w ere,
once upon a time , home t o most of Singapor e's population. Chinese , Malays,
and Indians lived side by side in small clust ers of houses that w ere built from
wood and
attap
thatch and raised on stilts. Built along the shores of the island
and close to jungles, the houses and buildings were nestled against backdrops
of idyllic g reenery surrounded by banana and c oconut groves and marshes .
Homes had land f or chicken c oops and k itchen gar dens, and back yards in
which children could play. The kampongs had c entral wells, provision shops,
and sometimes t emples and mosques . Despit e their po verty, the k ampong
villages represented community.
The 1950s and 1960s w ere the hey day of k ampong life. Later the houses
were impr oved with c orrugated metal , c oncrete, and linoleum, all of which
rusted and rotted over time, making the kampongs look more like slums than
the homey villages they onc e w ere. I nside, modernization br ought go vern-
ment-mandated running water, plumbing, and even electrical appliances like
TVs, refrigerators, and telephones. Still, all in all, life was hardly opulent. Today
this entire way of life is just a memory. Every last kampong has been razed, the
inhabitants relocated by the government to public housing estates. Many for-
mer kampong inhabitants have had a difficult time adjusting to life in concrete
high-rises with no front porch or backyard and neighbors who are too busy to
remember their names. Despite the truth that k ampong life reflected poverty
and struggle, its memory remains a link to older days that, however irrelevant
to the modern world, still warm the hearts of many Singaporeans.
4
extremely expensiv e, and long waiting
lists are filled with couples who want to
buy their first homes and families who
need to upgrade to larger digs. B eyond
questions of expense, though, ther
the fact that the N ew Towns are singu-
larly characterless, with high-rises loom-
ing o verhead and compar tmentalized
living cr eating an urban anonymity
e's
among the many inhabitants.
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THE BEST OF SINGAPORE IN 1 DAY
Perhaps you're in S ingapore only o vernight en r oute. Here's how to make the best of it.
Since the city is compact, y ou can take in some sights fairly easily and still make it to the
airport for your flight out. If your time is very limited, I recommend you bypass the muse-
ums and head straight for the str eets, where you'll find a “living museum ” of sor ts, with
local people, food, shops, and places of worship , plus a couple of inter esting cultural dis-
plays. Do yourself a fav or and stop first at a
Singapore Tourism Board (STB) Visitors'
