Tales of Old Singapore

by Iain Manley

Using a patchwork of words and images from Singapore’s residents and visitors of yesteryear, this book shares the often untold colonial past of this busy trading port while shedding light on Asian culture. Old Singapore was an eclectic trade emporium where an ethnically and culturally diverse populace coalesced under the aegis of the British Empire. It was a fascinating world filled with traders of all nations, roving bands of pirates, murderers running amok, and even the occasional flesh-hungry tiger. This collection illuminates Singapore’s often untold colonial past, giving perspective to its rapid economic development into the powerhouse it is today.

170 pages

First published April 1, 2012

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley]

Rum and enjoyable collage of mostly British accounts of the place before they got their arses handed to them in 1942.

[Ryan]

A somewhat oddball mix of stories and snippets from the island's founding by the British in the early 19th century to its independence in 1965. If one can imagine a collection of a history textbook's 'special subject' boxes and highlights that occur in every chapter, this book would be it. The reader is offered snapshots in words from book excerpts with at times accompanying sepia photographs or colorful illustrations and cartoons, into the everyday lives of the locals during those colonial days gone by. From food to religious festivities, vices and the all important Japanese occupation, we get the impressions as memorialized by the mainly Western observers, who range from travelers passing through to government officials. By no means an authoritative or detailed treatment of the history of Singapore, this slim volume is rather a sketchbook of memories of olden times.

[Felix George Elliott]

at first i thought this book had some merit, as there are some super evocative passages that brought me sparks of nostalgia & happiness remembering the paradise kinda impression i had of singapore everytime i travelled there as a kid w the fam to visit mama elliott’s family. some of the writing is v lovely in that way, there was an especially beautiful passage abt the flavours of fruits grown in singapore.
however, atfirst i kinda had reservations bc of the overall underlying colonial apologism, v bad vibes. but the more & more i read the more passages were literally straightforwardly racist. they even included an extremely crude caricature of a racial stereotype, which shocked me icl. idk when this book was put together but it was really a struggle to get through for this reason, i would read like a paragraph at a time & then just be fuming abt it, i was rly rly close to dnfing which i rarely ever do - ngl idk why i thought this book would redeem itself.
nearly all the excerpts are from the perspective of european men w a pretty nauseating sense of western superiority. there’s a fair amount of blatant misogyny, too.
anyways if ur anything like me u might need to have some sort of cathartic anger channelling mechanism close by if u plan to read this, but my advice would be don’t bother at all

[Helen Blunden]

I bought this book from the Changi Museum before having one of the best conversations there with the lady at the check out who must have wanted some company. I wanted to buy a book of Singapore’s history that aligned to the images of it in my head such as tigers; busy trades; kampongs; Raffles; bored soldiers sitting around waiting for action; Indians; rickshaws; colonial Brits; tiger balm; tiger beer; Singapore Slings.... I got that and more.

Glimpses of life from 1800 to current day in this book which I read in the evenings in my hotel room. As I explored modern day Singapore during the day; my quiet evenings delved into the wonderful tales of old Singapore.

The story of the chitties (hence where word chit comes from), the last tiger being killed at the site of current day Raffles, the family who came up with tiger balm, the wonderful parties at Government House and Raffles; Sook Ching (terrible massacre of the Chinese by the Japanese), the Cathay Building, Singapore’s first tallest building which was then taken over by the Japanese as their HQs and who they beheaded dissidents and stuck their heads on poles outside this building (I checked out the building too while I was there. They’ve left it as is. It’s heritage listed and it’s now a cinema)...

Excellent book!

[Geoff Woodland]

The type of book that one can dip in to and out of, depending on your mood. I enjoyed the book because having been in Singapore when they received independence and joined Malaya to create Malaysia, and again 18 months later when they broke from Malaysia and became independent again, it brought back happy memories of my visit.

[Robyn Philip]

This small volume provides a glimpse of what life might have been like in Singapore from colonial times to independence in 1965. It’s filled with accounts from numerous sources, and includes first-hand observations from travellers and residents, and excerpts from government reports and newspapers.

The book doesn’t try to be comprehensive, and it’s the somewhat random thematic approach that I liked. You can dip into the vignettes at any point and view a slice of Singaporean life written from multiple perspectives.

Tip: I bought this at the Singapore National Museum which I highly recommend visiting if you are in Singapore, and you love learning about history and culture. As a trading port situated between India, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and more, Singapore can’t help but be an exciting place with a fascinating past.

[Jennifer]

This is not a contiguous narrative woven from sources, it is a collection of evocative snippets from the archives, and contemporary observations on life in Singapore from founding to independence. Its scatter-shot format makes it a little hard to sink into, but offers interesting reading.

[Vidhya Nair]

A good overview

[Amanda Banks]

A fluffy book, heavy on pictures and interesting colonialist anecdotes, light on actual content. A fairly fun read but suffers from pro-British colonialism bias (to the point it can be awkward to read) and lack of rigorous thinking. Grade: C-

[Oranje]

This book does not aspire to be teaching history. It does aspire though to transmit a flavour of Singapore before it declared independence and it achieves this, although the extracts used are in vast majority by british or Europeans.

[Art Fazil]

It was nice to read the various excerpts from many writings about Singapore. I get to get a glimpse of the old word reading this book.