history is fun

Hi all, this is an excerpt of an oral history interview done several years ago by a few seniors of yours. The original transcript is much longer and more detailed. This is just a section from it. At the end, I have written a reflection based on that encounter. As a whole, this is how your transcript and reflection should look like for the second part of your project.

Thank you. Here we go.

Oral History Interview with Pak Ismail, a retired boatman

Hamdan: Uncle, we’re here to interview you so as to know more about your life and history. Can you tell us your full name?
Uncle: Yes. Ismail Bin Awang.
Hamdan: And your age?
Uncle: Seventy-five years old.
Hamdan: Now where do you live?
Uncle: Hougang, St. 78
Hamdan: Is there any more family members whom you still live with?
Uncle: Yes, I live with my children.
Hamdan: How many children do you have?
Uncle: I have seven children altogether. Two boys and five girls.
Hamdan: Do you have any grandchildren?
Uncle: Yes, I have fourteen grandchildren.
Khairul: What did you like to do when you were young?
Uncle: I loved to fish at Coney Island.
Khairul: What school did you come from?
Uncle: I came from a Malay school named Aruzu, an old school under a shelter, but I stopped during the time of the British.
Khairul: How was education in the past?
Uncle: We sat on the ground.
Hazreen: Were there books?
Uncle: Yes there were, but as times were hard, we used cloth to wrap our books.
Hamdan: What were the subjects taught back then?
Uncle: Two Malays were taught.
Hazreen: Was there any Co-curricular activities then?
Uncle: No, there wasn’t.
Khairul: Who were the people or friends you mixed with when you were of our age?
Uncle:I mixed around with Indians and the Chinese when I was around twelve years. After that, I followed my dad to sea. My dad was a fisherman back then.
Hazreen: What were the games you played when you were young?
Uncle: My friends and I liked to put attach strings through the top of a sardine can and we liked to watch them being pulled. We also liked to push the metal rim of a bicycle wheel by using a stick.
Hazreen: Did they have any special name for the games?
Uncle: No, they weren’t. We invented those games.
Hamdan: Now we would like to ask you more about the Japanese War and the Japanese Occupation. How old were you when the War occurred?
Uncle: I was about nineteen when the War started. I was here in Punggol when I saw that there were cannons near the ford, which was being set up. All the cannons were pointed to Pasir Merah, which is now known as Pasir Gudang. When the setting up of the cannons was finished, the British came to out Kampong and told us to leave. That was part of their good; it showed that they cared for us. Everyone in the Kampong was shifted to Johor. My aunt works in Johor as a rubber tapper. One day, as I followed her, I saw a flag. It was a Japanese flag. We were on an island called Pulau Tukang. My father gathered the people who originally lived in the Kampong and we went to see the Japanese. What did the Japanese say? They told us to hunt for pigs and chicken. So we did and we gave them our catch. They gave us a portion of our catch back to us. Then, the Japanese told us to go to the other side of the hill, so that if there were gunfire, we would not be shot. At a point of time, an officer came to us. We were afraid as we thought that we would be shot, but no. This officer was good. Instead, he told us to look out for boats. Officers who were not good were those who were bald.
Hamdan: What were your feelings then?
Uncle: Oh, at that time, it was very difficult. We had to hide in the fort. The water we were in was equivalent to half my height. We had to wait because if we came out of it we would be shot. That time the surrounding and scenery was very terrible. Once the Japanese surrendered, we heard on the radio that those who originally lived in the Kampong in Singapore were allowed to return. However, we had to return to Sembawang instead to obtain a letter of agreement not to live there anymore because of the smell, which had come from the dead bodies of people who have been shot. The dead bodies were everywhere.
Hamdan: Who do you prefer then, the Japanese or the British?
Uncle: Oh, definitely the British.
Hazreen: Whom did the Japanese like to attack? The adults or the children?
Uncle: No, they liked to attack mostly the women of all races. However, some of the women put charcoal on their faces. The Japanese would not attack such women. If pretty women were spotted, that’s the end of them. Goodness knows what they do to them.
Hazreen: How was the food then?
Uncle: We ate ubi kayu.
Khairul: Were there any harm done to your family members?
Uncle: No, all of them were safe.
Hamdan: How often did the killing take place?
Uncle: We did not see any of them died, but when we returned we saw many dead bodies all over the place.
Hamdan: How did you feel when the Japanese surrender and the British took over?
Uncle: I felt happy, because we could buy better clothing.
Hamdan: Was there anything the British did that was not fair to the Singaporeans back then?
Uncle: No, we liked their way of ruling.
Hamdan: Lastly, is there any incident that you cannot forget?
Uncle: Yes. I remembered a time I went to the sea. I saw elephants in the sea near Changi. I was around ten to fifteen years of age back then. I saw the elephant raise its trunk, and I saw water sprout out of it. I also remembered another incident. It also happened when I was in my boat. Its arms were very short ant it had a triangular head. There were three of them. I didn’t go towards them. They would kill me if I did. There was also an animal called the “mawas”. It looked exactly like an orang-utan except that it eats people, was very tall and the face was at the back of its head. They can be seen around 3.00a.m.
Khairul: That’s all, uncle. Thank you very much.

Reflection
It was our very first attempt at oral history interview, to be honest, we were rather nervous. We started well with the warm up questions and then went on to talk about Pak Ismail’s childhood and adulthood; experiences of life under the British, Japanese Occupation, the communist insurgency, merger and life now. We were very fortunate to have him as he had many things to share. The interview, as a whole, went on smoothly. We communicated in Malay throughout. Mr Leo was the only one who felt a little left out.

We like our choice of interview site as it was just right by the beach at Ponggol end. At times, Pak Ismail would even point at the beach and describe to us how bloody the beach would be and the numerous dead bodies lying around after the Japanese had carried out their execution.

We really enjoyed our time with him and if there was one thing we could improve on, then it would be our questioning techniques. We feel that our questions were a bit restrictive and did not have much room for Pak Ismail to expand the scope of his answers. For example, instead of asking: ‘How was education in the past?’ We should have just said: ‘Tell us more about your school life.’

Nevertheless, to us, we really learnt something useful and meaningful. This encounter has taught my friends and I that everyone has a story to share and this story adds realism to our history and through Pak Ismail’s memory, he has brought us back in time to see what we would never see, hear what we would never hear, feel what we would never feel. His words were not his alone, but were of everyone of his era. His words were theirs and his-story.