A Man From Canton (2E4 Zhi Jian's Grandfather)

MY GRANDFATHER’S STORY

My grandfather, Lee Yuen Yooi, was born in 1932 in a small village in Canton, China. He was the only child in the family. During his childhood days, the games he played included marbles, throwing copper coins, and catching fish in the pond. Whenever he was mischievous, his mother would sit on his back and whack him with a cane. At home, he would help his mother to grow vegetables, water them and bring them to the market area to sell.

He only studied for five years and for every year he studied, he had to change school due to the war. He remembered a teacher during his school days who would often stare at the jackfruit tree outside the classroom as he wanted to eat the jackfruit. My grandfather’s CCA was Boy Scouts. He only studied three subjects which were Maths, Chinese and General Knowledge. Besides Chinese lesson, all other subjects were taught in Cantonese. At the beginning of each Monday morning’s assembly, all the students would read Prime Minister Sun Yat San’s will. Instead of paying school fees, he paid by giving rice during the war time. My grandfather came from a Christian family. During peace time, he would go with his mother to church.

My grandfather came to Singapore when he was 16 years old as he wanted to find a job to feed his family.
He then worked as a provision shop helper. His duties were delivering goods, opening and closing the shop, sweeping, cleaning and cooking. In Singapore, he also met his wife, Ho Tai Boy. They married in 1964 and gave birth to my mother in 1965, followed by my aunt in 1968 and my uncle in 1971. Before my grandmother gave birth to any child, they lived in shop houses in Chinatown. The shop house they lived in was rented at a rate of $6 monthly. They only applied for HDB flat after they had two children as at that time, the criteria for applying for a HDB flat was to have a minimum of four members in a family.

During that time, most people chose to have their wedding at an amusement park call Great World City, which had a restaurant and the contribution for ang pows was around $6. Contributions for funerals at that time was about $4 to $5.

Whenever my grandfather wanted to gather with his friends, he would join picnics organized by some organization to Changi beach or Pasir Ris beach. Each person would pay $4 which included a packet lunch. A lorry would fetch them from Chinatown. Sometimes, they would also go to cinemas and amusement park. My grandfather would smoke for relaxation. His interest was dancing the cha-cha and quickstep and his sports were badminton and cycling. He was also a Red Cross member and he attended their year end parties too. He has never gone overseas for vacation due to financial constraints.

During the Second World War, my grandfather seldom had rice and porridge so he ate "kueh" made from mashed leaves. During the war period, there was a rumor that leaves can cure rheumatism, so almost everywhere you went you would see trees with no leaves. Whenever the Japanese soldiers came to attack, he would hide in the forest or hide in their relatives’ houses with his family. My great-grandfather was killed by Japanese soldiers as he had joined the resistance force. He was brought to the beach and shot to death.

My grandfather witnessed the Bukit Ho Swee Fire. At first, only one house was on fire and in a few seconds the fire had spread to the tenth house in the row due to the windy weather. As the tragedy  was so great, even Malaysian Prime Minister Tengku Abdul Rahman came to inspect the tragedy.

Another tragedy was the Bukit Timah flood. Although my grandfather did not witness the flood, he learnt from the newspaper that most drains were blocked due to the flood. He also witnessed a labour strike which was started with Hock Lee Bus Depot’s workers going on strike. Some students also went to join the strike to support the workers. My grandfather saw people throwing stones at the vehicles passing by.

My grandfather also said that Lee Kuan Yew was the first Prime Minister of Singapore and he stepped down in 1990 but remained as senior minister and now as Minister Mentor. Lim Yew Hock was Singapore’s second Chief Minister from 1956 to 1959. Goh Chok Tong was at first a Senior Minister of State for Finance. In 1981, he was promoted to be the Minister for Trade and Industry. He later also served in other appointments including Minister for Health and Minister for Defence. In 1985, Goh became the First Deputy Prime Minister and he took over from

Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister in 1990. Lee Hsien Loong is the eldest child of Lee Kuan Yew. He joined the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) in 1971 and became one of the youngest Brigadier General in Singapore's history. He retired from the military in 1984 to enter politics and was elected as a Member of Parliament. He succeeded Goh Chok Tong as Prime Minister in August 2004.

Lim Zhi Jian (29)