From Farm Boy to Coast Guard (2E5 Marcus Mah's Maternal Grandfather)

Interviewer: Grandson

Name: Marcus Mah Kang Yuan Gerard

Date of Interview: 26/07/06

Location: Interviewee’s house

Interviewee: Grandfather

Name: Gerald Ong Kim Soo

Present Address: Block 81 Commonwealth Close 

D.O.B: 11/1/1931

Place of Birth: Singapore

                                          Present Age                                          Present Age  

Brothers: Ong Kim Joo         (82)              Sisters: Ong Joo Huay      (81)

               Ong Kim Yeow      (76)                           Ong Joo Hiok      (80)

               Ong Kim Luck       (74)                           Susie Ong            (68)

Background Information of Interviewee’s Parents:

Parent’s Name: Ong Teng Cheng (DECEASED)  Lin Sye Chong (DECEASED)

Occupation:  Director of Post & Housewife respectively

               My grandfather was born in Singapore. In the year 1936 when he was five, he moved to Sabah, Malaysia, via steamship.

              During his childhood days, life was very simple and enjoyable. My grandfather was a very active and sporty person. He would usually play soccer with his friends of many other races, getting very dirty playing in muddy fields. Other games for example, would be “hide-and-seek” and “catching the thief”. During his holidays, he would just help his father out in the fields watering the crops under the blazing sun. My grandfather was a very obedient boy; his obedience due to his father’s strict upbringing, scolding him for the slightest mistake. My grandfather’s responsibilities were very simple; it was just to study hard in school and get a good job to start a family. His father did not want him to follow in his footsteps to be working in the fields the whole day under the sun not earning much money.

             My grandfather attended primary school. The name of the school was called Government English School. The school was in Labuan. He studied subjects such as English and Arithmetic. But during the year 1942, World War Two occurred. By then, my grandfather was already eleven and had to discontinue schooling for a while. After the war ended in 1945, he resumed schooling at primary five level all the way to primary six. From there on he went on to secondary school. The name of the school was called Old Saint’s School which was situated in Jesselton (Kota Kinabalu). In secondary school more subjects were added, like literature, geography, history and health education. His main school activities were athletics and boxing. My grandfather would normally participate in friendly boxing matches with other schools.

              My grandfather was a free thinker, but was later converted to Roman Catholicism in the year 1954 through the encouragement of his wife-to-be, my grandmother.

             In the past, my grandfather lived in a kampong with his family. A kampong house was a simple structure made of wood, bamboo sticks and dead leaves. It is quite a strong structure; it can withstand heavy rain for quite a while. In a kampong house, it was spacious enough to fit everyone.

            My Grandfather tied the knot on the 30^th of April 1957 with my grandmother Pansy Teoh. My grandmother had been introduced to my grandfather by a friend and thereafter they became pen pals. They started becoming pen pals in the year 1950, my grandfather would normally write love poems to my grandmother. My grandfather was quite a popular person; he was invited to birthday parties and other gatherings.

             My grandfather has many hobbies; one of his favorite is hunting. He would hunt for wild boars in the jungle with his gun. He told me they were not that easy to get a hold of as they were very fast, always running into the bushes to evade gunshots. But after a few months of training he mastered the skill, and ever since then that became his hobby. Besides hunting he would go fishing by the beach, catching sailfish, sardines or sometimes even a garouper.

             When war broke out in 1942, my grandfather was only eleven years old. Sabah was one of the states to be captured by the Japanese. My grandfather felt very terrified when he saw the Japanese soldiers shouting at people even for the slightest mistake. There was lack of food and medicine; people would do anything for food. He said his family and he had to work in the padi fields the whole day without rest. He said if a mistake was made, you would just get a hard slap across your face by the soldiers. He described the whole reign of the Japanese over Sabah as “hell”.  Luckily for my grandfather the war ended in 1945. Everyone was glad when they were freed from the Japanese regime.

              After the war, my grandfather was glad he could return to school to continue his secondary education. He was able to meet up with his friends whom he has not seen for a very long time. Unfortunately my grandfather could only further his studies till secondary four. In 1949 he got first job as a wireless operator who worked at “Cables and Wires”. As a cable operator, my grandfather had to send and receive messages. To make life even tougher the messages were all in Morse code. The messages were mainly weather reports. He worked as a wireless operator for only a year earning $100 per month.

              In the year 1950, my grandfather’s family and he moved to Singapore. From there the family began a new life. My grandfather got a job in the British Royal Airforce as a wireless operator and a parachutist for about four years.  In 1954, he quit his job and got another job as a guard at Singapore Harbor Board (now known as Port of Singapore Authority). This job was the one where my grandfather proved to be a dedicated employee. With a good record, my grandfather got promoted to a steersmen on a police patrol boat and then on to the marine police. His monthly salary was $700; his main role was to patrol the area around PSA.

               In 1964, when the racial riots occurred, fierce fighting occurred in the streets  with the Chinese and Malays fighting each other. My grandfather was with other police members deployed to stop the riots. The police fired tear gas if they did not stop. My grandfather spent most of the riot guarding PSA. He was on standby 24 hours a day, preparing for a call-up any time.

             During the Indonesian confrontation, the police was on extra alert, especially my grandfather as he had to guard the sea around PSA. Some Indonesians would sneak into Singapore in the dead of the night in small boats to try and sabotage Singapore by planting bombs.

             After 23 long years of service in the Singapore marine police force, my grandfather finally decided to retire and enjoy life. My grandfather surely has contributed much to the country. My grandfather was glad Singapore gained independence in 1965. He described being under the British was peaceful but one day a country has got to stand up on its own. He even mentioned being under Mr. Lee Kuan Yew’s government was fantastic. Mr. Lee changed many things.  He improved Singapore making the country known to others all over the world.

            My grandfather has this saying, “If today wasn’t a good day, tomorrow would be a better one”. He keeps telling me to forget the past and to look forward into the future.

Marcus Mah (30)