Very belatedly I spoke to my grandfather yesterday (Sunday, 27 Dec 09) to find out more about his life. It’s been something I’ve been meaning to do for a while now because every now and then I hear interesting stories about my family from my aunts and everyone should know something about their own family history. I was very grateful I still have the chance to learn more about my grandfather’s life. This is a work in progress and will be updated whenever I clarify events and questions with my grandfather.
My grandfather was born in China on 18 February 1918. In 1929, the year the Great Depression started in most countries, his family fled from Anhui to Amoy (also known as Xiamen) to escape from Tan Kok Hui (?) and his bandits who wanted to kidnap and sell grandfather.
From Amoy, his family of 8 (my grandfather, his 3 brothers, a sister-in-law and his parents) travelled by boat to Medan in Sumatra, where his father (my great grandfather used to live). However due to strict immigration laws, the boat was repelled by the Dutch authorities and the family was forced to land in Penang, British Malaya instead. The family stayed in Penang for 2 months before attempting another trip to Medan. This time they landed in Medan but were jailed for 2 weeks before being sent back out into the sea. They eventually landed in Penang again, where they spent another two months.
It was a hard time for my grandfather. The family had run out of money and had no relatives in Penang, so they headed to Singapore, where my great grandfather’s sister lived. My great grandfather borrowed an earring from his sister to pawn for $18 and used the money to build an attap house at 7th mile in Bukit Timah. My grandfather still recalls the unit number “Twenty seven dash B” or “27-B”. Grandfather also recalled that his father was an extremely disciplined man, who drank one bottle of guiness stout every night, no more and no less.
Grandfather was known as Lee Kong Boo when he attended Chinese High School in the 1930s. He spent 4 years in Chinese High; 3 years in junior middle high school and 1 year in senior middle high school. He told me that despite the costly school fees at Chinese High, he had received a free education at Chinese High by skipping recess to help his teachers sell stationary. At that time, his mother, a vegetable seller, was too poor to pay the school fees.
After Chinese High, my grandfather attended Pittman’s (?) College in 1939 (?), where he was known as Lee Hung Cheng. He had paid to take the Junior Cambridge exam but was not given an index number. After a quarrel with the principal, he was chased out of Pitman’s College in 1929 and on 2 May in the same year, he enrolled in the Singapore English School, located behind what is now HSBC bank at Claymore Hill. Everyone had told him that it would be difficult for him to get into the school because he was a communist and was educated in Chinese, not English. He managed to get into Singapore English School and even graduated with a Senior Cambridge certification in (?) despite not having taken the Junior Cambridge exam. No mean feat in those days.
The Japanese occupied Singapore from 1942 to 1945. Grandfather was arrested by the Japanese in April 1942. He would not have survived the arrest if not for the astuteness of his mother. My grandfather told me he literally owed his life to his mother, a woman with bound feet but a sharp mind. He was “indebted” as he put it. This was how my great grandmother had saved my grandfather.
After grandfather’s arrest, the Japanese had searched his house. Thankfully, before the search, Great grandmother had dug a toilet hole and dumped all his Chinese communist books into that hole when Grandfather was arrested. Grandfather said that had the Japanese discovered communist books in the house, he would surely have been executed.
After being tortured and beaten, Grandfather was eventually released two weeks later with some help from his girlfriend, who was very fond of grandfather. I understand Grandfather’s girlfriend was was a Formosan lady who spoke Japanese and was the concubine of an important person in the Philippines Chinese Chamber of Commerce. She was a “very good girlfriend”, older than him and helped him a lot.
Grandfather also told me a story about his girlfriend. She had wanted to give him a bag of jewellery for safekeeping during the occupation. Grandfather refused because he could not afford to compensate her if he lost the jewellery and because she had helped him so much, he was afraid that she would curse him if he were to lose the jewellery. Grandfather was an honest man. Unfortunately, his girlfriend died in Penang.
These events took place during Marchimoto’s (?) tenure as a Member of Parliament. The HQ was at the YMCA at Stamford Road. According to grandfather, Marchimoto had killed many people during the occupation and was the first Japanese to be hanged in Singapore.
See other accounts of the Japanese occupation of Singapore below:
Sime Road Camp (from yawning bread)
Madam Sze Ai Di’s account