Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. American geographer Jack Humphrey looks at his old photographs of Kampong Potong Pasir and recalls its houses, residents and flora. We talk about the resettlement of the kampong in the early 1980s and the politics that happened during that time.

00:00 Potong Pasir’s Houses

10:39 Malay Fishermen

16:05 Resettlement

20:07 Politics & Chiam See Tong

27:19 Ingenious Uses of Space

39:28 Conservation of the Kampong

In his research, Jack conducted a preliminary survey of Kampong Potong Pasir before it was demolished. The report has not been published though Jack hopes to do so. His students from the NUS Department of Geography conducted research on Potong Pasir for their Honours theses:

• Lee, Hoong Cheng. Kampong Potong Pasir: A Survey of its Existing Economic Activities 1979.

• Lee, Lye Hoon. Resettlement of the Potong Pasir Community: A Study of Attitudes and Destinations. 1979.

• Heng, San-san. Mental Mapping of Potong Pasir. 1977.

• Jebamoney, Ebenezer. The Use of Space in Potong Pasir: Two Micro-studies. 1976.

I am Dr Loh Kah Seng, the people’s historian. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city.

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