COT50

 Message from Philip Tay JT former MediaCorp Chief Engineer/Group CTO 1967 - 2010

email: tay.philip@gmail.com

*Support COT50: Empowering Lives with $50*

Dear friends,

I’m launching *COT50*, a campaign inviting Caldecott Hill Old Timers, Mediacorp colleagues, and friends to donate *$50* to the *Goh Chok Tong Enable Fund (GCTEF)*.

GCTEF works with SG Enable to help persons with disabilities gain skills, employment, and a more integrated role in society. As an SG Enable-approved campaign, all donations are secure and go directly to impact.

If you’re able to contribute, you can donate here:

https://www.gctenablefund.sg/support-us/event-2/

Thank you for your generosity and kindness

(Please remember to key COT50 in the reference field if you are using PAYNOW)

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Book Launch 26 Feb 2025

There was a book launch of Mun Chor Seng 's book A Pictorial of Radio and Television in Singapore. About 80 MediaCorp and Caldecott Hill old timers attended the event held at the New Campus ,Star Avenue. It was a successful launch and all books were sold out. You can view some of the pictures taken by MediaCorp cameraman Layna at this link 

 http://layna.quickconnect.to/mo/sharing/kj1WGrX45

Book launch at MediaCorp Photos Nov 2024

 

Live without TV

Life without TV

by Lesley Ong
>
> On 1 Nov 2022 around 7.30pm, I turned on my TV. Two words jumped out from the screen. “NO SIGNAL”.
> I panicked. The Hong Kong series “Dynasty”, which I was following, would be starting soon at 9. It was very exciting and I don’t want to miss it. I straightaway called the telco company.
> After asking me to check the connection, click here, click there, re-booth etc, the signal came back. What a relief!
> This got me thinking, “How did I survive the days when there was no television?”
> You see, TV was only introduced in Singapore on 15 February 1963.
>
> At that time, I was staying at 134-B Dorset Road, a SIT estate located next to Farrer. A small drain separate the estate and the park. The 8 blocks of three storey flats was build by the Lim Yew Hock’s government. Each block had 18 units with 2 units facing each other.
>
> My first childhood friend was my neighbour, a Indian girl called Jamma. I was around 4 years and she was year my senior. As both of us were not of school going age then, we played everyday from morning to night with dolls and masak masak (crockery, forks & spoon made of plastic). Our doors were never closed. We walked in and out of each other house, ate in eat other’s house and that is why up to this day I love curry!
>
> My father was a movie bluff. Almost every weekend, he would pack the whole family in 2 taxis and off to the theatre we go. Cathay, Capitol, Odean, Alhambra, Sun, Sky, Globe, Galaxy, King to name a few. After the movie, If we watched the movie at Cathy, Capitol, Odeon and Alhambra, father would bring us all to the satay club at Beach Road for dinner. We sat on low benches around the stall, earring satay, washed down with freshly grind sugar cane juice admist the smoke and dust as the Tay Koh Yat buses roared by. Tay Koh Yat bus depot was just across the road!!
>
> During that time there was no film classification. So father brought us to see whatever film he loved to see. I still remembered watching all the Dracula (played by Christopher Lee) films. Christopher Lee with his bloodshot eyes and fangs. After that, I was always afraid when night fall!
> Then there were the cowboys and Red Indians films. Being young and innocent, I cheered the cowboys on (usually played by actors such as John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Robert Mitchum) as they killed the Red Indians (Sioux, Cheyenne and Apaches) and burned down the whole settlement!
> However the movies I enjoyed most were musicals, movies with Christmas themes and Cineramas. Cineramas were 3D films and were only shown at the Sky Theatre.
>
> If my father was a movie bluff, my mother was a wayang bluff!
> There was a temple at Truro Rd, near my place. Several times a year, they would celebrate the birthday of the deities with 2 days of wayang. Then there was the 7th moon festival and there would be wayang almost the whole month.
> Mother would make us eat an early dinner as the show starts at 7pm. Then each of us would carry a stool and rush to the wayang site so that we could be nearer the stage. Teochew/Hokkien wayang, it did not matter. Because of the popularity of the cinema show “Tan Sar Gnor New” (the story about a poor scholar who fall in love with a rich maiden), every wayang troupe would put up this performance!
> Frankly I love wayangs not because of the shows but because of the many stalls selling a variety of food and drink and the tikam - tikam stalls.
> The most popular drink stall was the one selling the bird nest drink. The hawker would position his tricycle right in the midst of the crowd watching the show! The so called bird nest was actually strips of agar agar! But it did not matter as the drink was cold and sweet with the fragrant of pandan leaves.
> The Tikam Tikam stalls were game stalls. They had board games similar to roulette. I loved to play the game where I was required to pull a pair of metal rods from a bamboo container. The tip of the rods were paintedd either black or red. If you pulled a pair of the same colour, you won a prize. If you pulled a pair of different colour, you “died”! However the stalls which drew the most crowd were the one selling cockles and siput (a kind of snails where the hawker clipped off the tip of the shell and you dipped the snail in the chilli sauce and suck it out!). These hawkers hawked their food on 2 baskets tied to the end of a pole. Their favourite spot was under the wayang stage. There they put down the 2 baskets and patrons sat around the stalls on small stools enjoying the delicacy, with the footsteps of the performers thumping above them!
>
> Opposite my house was a Teochew family. They were quite poor as the father was a cloth merchant with more than ten mouths to feed. Every morning he would piled bales of cloth on his tricycle and cycle to the market to sell. In the evening he would come home and carried the cloth upstairs. Why do I mentioned this particular neighbour? Because going to wayang was a big occasion for them, like attending a grand dinner! They would not only be heavily make up but dressed up to the Ts with matching costumes jewellery., shoes and handbags!
>
> In the evening, the air in the estate would be filled with children’s laughter, screaming and shouting as we come down to play. We played games like “bola humtan” (a game similar to baseball), chapteh (a rubber disc topped with brightly coloured feathers which one kicks with the heel of one leg), spin tops, hit each other’s marbles out of a circle drawn on the pavement (the person who hit the most marbles out of the circle wins and get to keep the marbles!), paper balloons, five stones, hopscotch, kutik kutik. We learned to ride bicycle on adult bicycles. We flew kites, the poorer boys making their own kites out of newspaper and sapu lidi. These kites had difficulty taking off as they were heavier than the normal kite. After sometime, some of the children would go the drain between our estate and Farrer Park to catch guppies or to the bushes to catch spiders. We carried the spiders around in match boxes, ready to fight anytime! The spiders fed on hibiscus leaves.
>
> Every Sunday, we would follow father to Farrer Park to watch football. There are many football pitches and all the pitches would be occupied. My eldest brother and his friends love football. Father bought them a ball. Soon they were playing against other teams at the pitch! It was then that they decided to form a proper team with their own jersey. They called themselves D’ Starlight. Father was their main sponsor. After the game, father would bring us to the nearby Race Course Road to eat Indian Rojak. There were many hawker stalls selling mainly Muslim food such as mee goreng, nasi goreng, soto ayam, roti prata and soup kambing. Not to be forgotten are the kachang puteh stalls. It was a must to munch on kachang puteh while watching football!
>
> Father was trying to produce shampoo. His shampoo was so thick that when you dip a wire with a loop at its end into the shampoo, you could blow out bubbles. So his shampoo ended up with us, the children in the estate. We would go to Farrer Park each with a bottle of the shampoo and a looped wire before the football games start to blow bubbles! The whole park would be full of rainbow coloured bubbles, floating into the sky. It was a beautiful sight!
>
> Next to Dorset estate was Cumberland Estate. The houses there were cute little cottages, separated by hibiscus hedges. They were occupied mostly by Europeans and some high ranking civil servants. Most of them were Christian and during Christmas, all the houses were beautifully decorated with colourful twinkling lights, wreaths, poinsettias, Santa Claus, reindeers and snowman!
> As children, we loved to go there during this season. We walked along the cobblestone lane, see the family preparing dinner in the cottages and the beautifully decorated Christmas tree inside the house. Most house would have a Christmas tree!
>
> The happiest times for us was Chinese New Year and the Mooncake Festival.
> During Chinese New Year, we drank Red Lion fizzy drinks and played with fire crackers and fireworks, day and night, for fifteen days! The whole estate was very noisy and smoky and the ground covered with red paper!
> Then during the Mooncake Festival, all of us would carry lantern. The lanterns came in many shape and sizes, fish shape, aeroplane, butterfly, starfruit, rabbit, flower basket. The most common ones were the paper lanterns, which opened up like an accordion . The children from poorer families made their own lantern out of newspaper and sapu lidi.But this did not deter their fun! They children would form two lines and one of the older boy would beat a drum as we chanted “Ya!Ya! Tom Tom Chen” over and over again. We would marched to Farrer Park as it was very dark and our lanterns shone very bright,y and beautifully.
> Mother would lay the table with chicken, meat, fruits and flowers to pray to the Moon Goddess or “Gay New Mah”. This practice was stopped only when America landed on the moon!
>
> Looking back, it was an enjoyable childhood “Without TV".

New Photo book by Mun Chor Seng

 

The new photo book A Pictorial of Radio and TV in Singapore by Mun Chor Seng contains about a 1000 pictures of radio and TV personalities and events over many years at the broadcasting station on Caldecott Hill. This book is a limited edition and not available in bookstores. If you wish to buy one please email to author at munchorseng@gmail.com

The price is $35 self collect or $40 by post.

Senior stories Lim Yao Ching

 Caldecott Hill Broadcasting Center 

 Facility Management-Little-known Anecdotes        

by Lim Yao Ching

Introduction

 I joined Mediacorp in 1997. The following are some little-known anecdotes that I personally experienced on the Hill and some tidbits of the entire project relocation, to share with you.

 The Caldecott Hill Broadcasting Center(CBC) covers an area of about 7 hectares. The following buildings were constructed in different periods:

  a. Old Broadcasting House: Built in the 1950s (1st to 2nd floors)

  b. TV Building (TV Building): Built in 1964 (four floors) in 1972 and expanded in 1986.

  c. Radio Building: Built in 1983 (sixth floor)

  d, East Wing (East Wing): Built in 1982 (single floor with three underground floors)

  e. West Wing: Built in 1983 (5 stories underground)

  f. Annex Building: Built in 1995 (5 stories underground)

  g. Media Academy: Built in 1984 (three floors)

  h. Multi-storey car park building (MSCP Building): Built in 1990 (5 floors, 4 underground floors)

 The original CBC started from the old broadcast building and consisted of separate buildings, as follows:

 Blk A (Building A)

 2-story wooden structure used as outdoor production office (drama/variety show)

 Blk D (Building D)

 This single-storey building on the edge of the TV building is dedicated to storing wardrobe supplies. It contains clothing, headwear and footwear from different eras and races.

 Blk E (Building E)

 Although the appearance of this single-story wooden structure is old, it is neat and tidy. It is one of the unforgettable places for artists who often come here for makeup and haircuts.

 Blk F (Building F)

 The single-story wardrobe collection and distribution center is also frequently visited by entertainers and extras. Provide various clothing-related services, including clothing modification, laundry, matching and retrieval of clothing used for shooting.

 Blk G (Building G)

 This single-story building is an audio station responsible for dubbing services, audio/music mixing, etc.

 25.12.02 The old radio room fire incident

  On December 25, 2002, a prop storage room behind Building F caught fire due to an electrical short circuit.

  When I arrived at the Radio Gate (one of the gates of Broadcasting Center), I was shocked to see thick smoke rising from the building behind the makeup building of Building F in the old broadcast building. At that time, I was so shocked that my hands and feet were cold, and I couldn't make a smooth call even when I tried to call my boss.

 At that time, the security guard on duty had tried to control the access to the fire scene. When I entered the fire scene, I saw many people rushing into the audio room of Building F to rescue the equipment and tapes in the recording room. Suddenly I was worried about their safety. I tried to prevent them from entering, they ignored my appeal.

  Although firefighters were spraying water on the roof at the time, dense fog appeared on the roofs of several single-story wooden buildings due to the high temperature. The scene was frightening. Fortunately, the closet storage room was only a single floor, and the firefighters quickly controlled the fire.

 Due to the timely control of the fire, the fire did not spread to neighboring buildings. After the fire was brought under control, James Tan, then director of the Civil Defence Agency of Singapore, personally visited the fire scene.

 3. Build a new item warehouse

  After the fire in the old broadcasting building destroyed the storage building, as part of the insurance claim conditions, we built a new warehouse for prop storage. The figure below shows the building during the construction phase.

 

 Studio production facilities

 The Caldecott Hill Broadcasting Center contains 6 studios, Studio A (located in the Broadcasting Building), the overall design is an auditorium, movie studio (located in the old Broadcasting Building for TV/film production) and a TV theater (located in the multi-storey parking lot) Inside the building)

 Studio 1 is used for English drama/sitcom production

 Studio 2 for Chinese news/current affairs

 Studio 3 was produced by Caldecott Mountain of Gary Valley (made for external clients)

 Studios 4 and 6 are produced by Chinese theater

 Photo studio 5 is used for temporary production and production company reservations.

 In the center of all studios there is a temporary set hall for storing props for the studio.

 Street scene

 At the beginning of drama production, part of the old broadcasting building was used to construct street scenes for drama production.

 However, when the amount of drama production increased, the new street scene called "TV World" was built as a production place for local dramas of the old period. It is located next to the checkpoint of the second passage in Malaysia and Tuas.

  "TV World" occupies a land area equivalent to four football fields and was completed in 1992. It has two wings, the local street scene in the 1950s and 1960s and the old Chinese street scene. The buildings built are old cinemas, railway stations, fire stations, churches, buildings and traditional shops.

  There is also an artificial river for shooting in the television world.

  New Media uses nostalgic props and backgrounds from the TV world to produce many memorable Chinese TV series for Channel 8. Some of the TV series that have been filmed here are: "Adventure 3" (released in 1995), Tofu Street, Tofu Street (1996), "The Price of Peace" (1997), "The Pot of Life" Fuman Renjian (1999) and Hainan Kopi Tales Qiongyuan Coffee Fragrance (2000).

  In 2001, due to high maintenance costs and low utilization, New Media decided to abandon the Tuas TV World. If required by the plot, the crew will shoot in Malaysia, China or Calgary Valley Broadcasting Center.

 TV building catches fire

 Another minor fire (smoke) incident in the TV building (unknown year and month-probably around 2003/2004?) caused the users of the TV building to evacuate. The fire was contained in the AHU room, and was contained before any damage could be caused.

 After subsequent investigations, it was found that the cigarette butts were inhaled into the air inlet and contacted with the AHU pre-filter material, causing the flame to slowly burn and emit a large amount of smoke.

    

 Buildings in disrepair (water seepage in the TV building)-Digital Media Center (DMC)_April 24, 2004, due to water seepage, interrupted the transmission of Channel 5

   A staff member noticed that water seeped in from the ceiling of the Digital Media Center (DMC) near the power switch cabinet around 2.45 pm that day. The manager of the live broadcast room took emergency rescue measures and protected the equipment with plastic sheets around the area where water seepage was found.

 When the staff cleaned up the chaos at the scene, the channel 5 signal was interrupted. Later, it was discovered that other parts of the ceiling of the Digital Media Center (DMC) and Satellite Operations Center (SOC) (the satellite operations center next to the Digital Media Center) also had water seepage problems, affecting the racks that house the fifth channel equipment. Due to the failure of the audio equipment, the fifth channel has intermittent audio interruption when playing.

 Channel 5 was interrupted for about 19 minutes and resumed before 3.10 pm. No other channels are affected.

  

 Wall reinforcement of TV building

 The TV building is constructed using a traditional beam-slab system. The TV Building was built in 1964 and expanded in 1972 and 1986.

 Some parts of the TV building are covered with a steel roof, while the substation is covered with a reinforced concrete structure RC flat roof. The steel roof is supported by steel bars, which in turn are supported by steel trusses. These anchored on reinforced concrete structural columns were visually inspected by professional engineers for 5 years.

 The structural inspection was carried out by a professional contractor from September 20, 2010 to November 30, 2010.

 The report recommends more comprehensive core testing and regular maintenance work, because low concrete strength is generally found in TV buildings, so repair and reinforcement should be carried out according to the recommendations of the first report.

 Three carbonization test samples were carried out. All samples were from the first floor and were tested immediately after core extraction. The test results show that the possibility of steel corrosion is very high.

  -Monitoring of 100 pillars per week 5 times a week, these pillars cannot be reinforced with fiber wrapping.

  -Fiber wrapped to strengthen 20 columns accessible. 20 pillars that can be sprayed with anti-carbon coating

 According to the first structural research report, the decrease in the strength of concrete tested in the first batch of core tests indicates that the strength of concrete in key structural members is consistently low.

 It can be clearly seen from the test results that this 47-year-old TV building has been adversely affected by the environment and suffered carbonization damage for at least 15 years. As a result, the strength of the concrete was reduced by nearly 50%, and signs of concrete deterioration, such as cracks, flaking, and rust, appeared.

 The weak and porous condition of concrete will accelerate the penetration of concrete by atmospheric carbon dioxide and water-based chloride ions from the environment, and make the concrete deteriorate at a faster rate. In the next 5 to 10 years, the concrete strength may decrease from the current level to the range of 8 N/mm2 to 10 N/mm2. It is expected that there will be more concrete signs of deterioration during this period.

 Therefore, it is essential to repair those severely deteriorated concrete components as soon as possible to prevent further deterioration. Considering the availability of repair work, repair as many unsatisfactory columns as possible. The column after maintenance work will be safe under the existing loading conditions.

 Taking into account that the building will not be occupied for more than 5 years, we will also limit the maintenance work to the 20 pillars mainly located in the square, carry out reinforcement works on the pillars, and continue to monitor the rest of the columns every other month.

 In the end, we used unidirectional glass fiber epoxy resin to repair the undesirable column to enhance the structure of the column

 9. Develop a master plan for the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center

 a. Redevelopment of the old broadcasting room and renovation of other buildings

 After several fire incidents and major water seepage incidents, the complex obviously needs a major comprehensive renovation or renovation project that will be carried out long ago.

 According to the records I found, in the early days of the Singapore media company MCS, the company has conducted extensive research on the possibility of developing a new campus to replace the existing Cale Valley Broadcasting Center. In fact, a site at No. 6 Bukit Batok West Street was purchased in 1994 as an alternative site for the Calgary Hill Broadcasting Center. I don't know the reason why the redevelopment plan of Bukit Batok has not been carried out, but it may be related to cost feasibility.

 According to our 2005 research, in fact, it is more cost-effective to redevelop part of the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center and remodel existing buildings.

 I was the main facilitator in the development of a master plan that aims to upgrade the building of the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center and redevelop the old broadcast room with new buildings. I personally drafted the tender documents to appoint consultants to develop the master plan for the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center.

 A consortium consisting of the following companies was appointed as the conceptual master plan for the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center in September 2005.

 DP Architects Pte Ltd was appointed as architect

 Beca Carter Hollings&Ferner (S.E.Asia) Sdn Bhd was appointed as civil, structural and electromechanical engineer

 KPK Quantity Surveyor Pte Ltd was appointed as Quantity Surveyor

 The master plan proposal was completed and subsequently submitted to the MediaCorp management in March 2006, but the final decision was to build a new complex on Bukit Batok land. There are obvious advantages to building a house on green space. It is very difficult and inconvenient to upgrade an existing building because it will affect operations, and the studio is very sensitive to noise to cope with the construction process. The supporting theater and entertainment production facilities of the old broadcasting room must also be relocated. It is also much easier to construct a completely new broadcast infrastructure framework in a new building.

 After MediaCorp management made a decision, an internal project management team then appointed a project management consultant to oversee the construction of the new complex at Bukit Batok site. In order to understand the requirements of all stakeholders, a comprehensive seminar and discussion were carried out, and a comprehensive technical requirements, specifications and space rationalization plan were developed for the new complex.

 However, the project was aborted due to the Great Recession in 2007 before the invitation of the multidisciplinary consulting team.

 In 2011, MediaCorp finally decided to purchase a piece of land in One North and build a new site to replace the Gali Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center. The new site is located in Mediapolis, a business park created for the rapidly growing information and communications, media, physical sciences and engineering sectors. One One's 19-hectare hub is supported by a strong IT infrastructure.

 The new building has many advanced facilities, including two large studios, post-production facilities, news gathering and broadcasting facilities, a 1,500-seat performing arts theater and office space. There is a comprehensive news editing room that can accommodate 700 reporters from its digital, television, radio and printing units.

 I want to share the initial master plan of the Gary Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center developed by the consultant team, which also includes some preliminary design ideas shown below, because some people may be curious to understand it. These points of view are only preliminary descriptions of the design, no further development.

    

 b. The area of the proposed building on the Bukit Batok site is shown below. These are just working drafts at the preliminary stage.

               

 10. I will end this narrative with photos of the cornerstones of two TV stations that I took.

 11. The future of the Gali Valley mountain block

 On October 14, 2020, Channel News Asia reported that the Galle Valley Mountain Broadcasting Center website had been sold by the owner, Mediacorp. The 75,2015 square foot site is marketed by real estate consultants-CB Richard Ellis Real Estate Consulting and Showsuite Consultancy. The property was sold through an open tender, and the deadline for the tender is December 9, 2020.

 The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has approved Mediacorp to redevelop the site into a two-story villa with a land area of at least 800 square meters (8,611 square feet) per house.

 In contrast, this is a relatively small land scale. Usually, the minimum land requirement for first-class villas is 1,400 square meters. However, compared with ordinary villas, the area requirements for first-class villas of this specification are double theirs.

 The subdivision plan designed by MediaCorp Architects that can accommodate 67 villa plots must be approved by the relevant authorities.

 The land is currently zoned for use by citizens and community institutions and will have to be re-planned as residential land; this will require payment of a premium to the state.

 The amount of the premium depends on the developers proposal, the time of application, and the evaluation by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the Office of the Chief Appraiser.

 In addition, this 99-year leasehold land on the island has a remaining lease term of 73 years. This means that the developer also needs to pay the Singapore Land Authority (Singapore Land Authority) a lease difference to renew it for 99 years.

 By: Lim Yao Ching Lin Yaoqing

 Yao Qing joined Singapore Television in 1997 and is responsible for its property services department, which includes the maintenance of necessary electrical and mechanical infrastructure. Subsequently, he participated in project management and formulated the overall redevelopment plan. He left MediaCorp in 2012 and is currently working as a project management consultant in a consulting firm for infrastructure development.

 Disclaimer:

 My narration is based on my documentary record, knowledge and information obtained at the working level and on a personal basis. It does not represent the official version of events.

Senior stories Allan Ng

 Wonders

By Dr. Allan Ng, Y.H. 

The plane dived down from clear, blue skies, like a Falcon plummeting down onto its prey in a vertical drop at speeds of 150 mph. I felt the load as the G forces built up and my surroundings appeared dim. I sensed I was blacking out. Objects appeared upside down, in topsy, turvey, curvy way, and I wasn’t sure of my bearings anymore. I saw ball bearings everywhere.Then things brightened as the plane levelled out and swooped down, landing on the tarmac, like a falcon landing on it’s prey. The passengers cheered as metal staircases rolled towards the plane. The passengers disembarked rapidly down a steep, steel staircase. 

The first thing to hit me was the heat, as a wave of hot air wafted towards me. The first sniff of a Singapore. I had left ten years ago, for destinations, strange, and exhilarating in my ambitious climb upwards, But then I was heading for unknown skies. Doctor if I succeeded, and porter, if I failed, Now, a piece of paper, a certificate, and a small suitcase accompanied me. Nothing else, except that pack of ambitions of course. And that whiff of decaying vegetation, so reminiscent of decomposition and death, for which I was ill prepared.  

I followed the group along a narrow track snaking its way along several huts and a ware house which we entered. Several customs and immigration officials, in grey and blue uniforms inspected us and moved us into a large hall. I could see my fellow passengers, greeted by relatives and friends. They were smiling and laughing  but there was no one to greet me. A feeling of isolation and desolation swarmed over me. I could not shake it off. I trudged on with my meagre belongings and outside the hall, a sea of beaming faces greeted me. My spirits soared, only to be dashed by the realisation that they were over friendly taxi drivers hoping to make a killing. Reluctantly I let one of them grab my bag and hustle me into his taxi, an ancient rainbow coloured Austin, with numerous scratches and dabs of faded paint, covering dented metal. We bumped along a long seafront of attap huts and coconut trees. Beyond lay a tempestuous sea, given to storms of rage. But it was tranquil now, in tune with my weary spirits. We honked into maze of narrow streets, lined by crowded, terraced shops selling hardware, pots and pans, and hawkers’ food from small stalls squeezed into nooks and corners. 

I paid the fare and tipped taxi driver who dropped me at the gates of a muddy green building, some six stories high, shaped like a banana, held aloft by two thick stems, fronted by a U shaped tarmac driveway, with a scatter of pebbles, near the main entrance.

Wearily, I climbed up the four steps into the vestibule, where several patients were groaning on stretches, and a handful of nurses were attending to them, cooing and encouraging them to stay calm, while giving injections and setting up drips. They took no notice of me. 

“What are you doing here?” The voice was raspy, like when you rub sandpaper on wood and came from an elderly lady in a white starched uniform. She had just dropped from the adjacent corridor and was glaring at me. 

“I am the new Medical Officer. Where do I put my suitcase?” 

“Over there, in the corner. Come and follow me.”

“But I don’t start until next week!”

“This week, next week, what’s the difference? Come.” I followed meekly, up another staircase, skirting an antiquated lift with collapsible chain doors, into a room, where a surgeon, garbed in green, was peering down the perineum of a Malay woman with a bloated abdomen. She was rolling in agony and shouting “Sakit, sakit! (Malay for pain.)” 

The blonde doctor shouted in disgust, “Suck it yourself!” He peeled his gloves off, and walked away. But the nurse, a buxom, young lady managed to pacify him, by telling him of the misinterpretation, and that there many other things people could suck, since we re all born suckers anyway. He put his gloves on  again, while staring at her in surprise and then at her breasts, held taught within that tight, green tunic. While this fracas was  going on, I delivered the baby by way of a breech extraction. The blonde doctor took the baby from me and smacked its bottom. The baby cried and he kissed the baby’s cheek, before handing it to a grinning mother. 

“Name’s Michael Higgins,” he growled at me. “Thanks buddy.” He swept the blonde curls away from his blue eyes. “By golly, what a sucker i am.”

A dapper little man, who had watched the proceedings from just outside the door, dashed in and pumped my hand. “Thank you, Doc. You saved my son. Would you like to join me for a celebratory dinner at Fatty’s Pot Belly, down by Rochor River?”

“But that’s a notorious gambling den!” My grip on my wallet tightened. I was down to my last ten dollars and dad had warned me that they would skin me alive, if I ever walked in there. “Stay away. I’ll be down from Penang Island in a few days, after we complete filling the last order for steel bars. Meanwhile, bunk up at your sister’s apartment in River Valley Road.” He rung off as fast as he had chimed in.

The dapper man put his arm round my shoulder. “I’m Malik. You never worry when you are in Malik’s company. There will be a bit of that girly stuff, but it’s quite harmless. And some gambling, such as Mah Jong, and Chap Ji Ki, in those exotic opium dens. Of course, how could i not mention this! Some cock fighting shows too, where you could bet your grandmother’s bottom against a king’s ransom. Make sure you don’t lose.“ He winked. “Or there will be a real cock slaughter show.”

‘It’s too far to walk and there won’t be any taxis in the dead of night.” It was my last, desperate attempt to avoid trouble. But he soothed them away. “Use my limousine. Ahmad is a good driver of my blue Rolls. He will guard you well.”

I sighed and nodded. I was hungry and Fatty’s had good food. Little did I know that it would turn out to be the Night of the 21 knives.

Faty’s was Faty’s. There was no other way to describe that exhilaration concoction of Asian juices. You could take it lying down or sitting up. In one puff, one snort or two. You always came back for more. The yearning kills you. But you press on, hoping for release from the yoke which binds you to Hell. Drums boomed in rhythm with hoarse, battle-cries. Members of the two most powerful gangs, the 21 knives and the 8 rings, had gathered outside Fatty’s, on the wide asphalts of Rochor. 

It was a beautiful night. Stars twinkled and the moon shone. Music flowed from the rag bag orchestra of mouth organs, accordions, and the old, indomitable piano, squatting just within the wide, teak doors. The music was a mixture of rhythmic Rong Geng dance tunes and romantic, cowboy songs, belted out by old Faty himself, seated on a wide, wooden stool. On his right stood Chow Mia, the boss of notorious 8 rings, a conglomerate of vicious killers with powers of the the occult. He was tall man with a stoop, a disarming smile, and a vicious knife, He sang lustily, of love and life, fulfilled and lost, as he grabbed the bevy of women around him. He dance in little mincing steps, his face contorting like that of a clown, in a cadence of sudden, changing moods.

On Faty’s left, Malik, portly and dapper, laughed and tried to mimic Chow Mia, as he announced 

“Tonight is a memorable night, a night to remember long after we are gone. Tonight, I announce that the great truce between our 21 knives and the 8 Rings and the birth of a handsome son, with the features of Chow Mia of course.” Laughter erupted from some men in the audience, but Malik continued. “He has consented to be the god father of my son. It is indeed a great honour for me.” Malik bowed and the throng clapped. “There is food a plenty, wild boar, black pig, roasted piglets, 

Peking duck, wild geese, and century eggs, of course. And plenty of beautiful women. “Eat, drink, and be merry. Enjoy. To ensure the peace continues tonight, we have agreed to surrender all weapons for safe keeping at the welcoming stations, where we have stationed guards from both gangs.”  

Meanwhile a stream of dignitaries arrived in black limousines. Both gangsters greeted them graciously. Amidst the great din, a flash of streaked lightning ignited the sky, followed by a clap of thunder. An eerie silence descended on the crowd.  A woman screamed. Her voice pierced the night air. I could feel the fear in it as it warbled. The crowd stampeded towards the doors. But Faty’s piano had been pushed and was now blocking the exit. More screams erupted. Shots erupted, followed by fusillades of rifle fire.I looked around but Malik and his cronies were nowhere to be seen. A body lay on the the piano. I rolled it over. Chow Mia stared at me through glassy eyes. 

I grasped his limp wrist and tried to feel for a pulse. None! I shuffled out with the crowd, which was dwindling fast. A blue Rolls crept up beside me and I peered through the darkened window panes. Dark shadows greeted me and I couldn’t see who was within. The passenger window rolled down and Malik appeared. “Jump in, unless you want to take a bullet.” I climbed in and the window pane rolled up. Malik looked at my pale face, dripping in sweat. “Bullet proof glass,” he reassured me. ‘And in case you think badly of me, I did not engineer this. But Chow Mia’s gang will think I did, and they will start a vicious, no-holds-barred war against me. Many will die unnecessarily and the police will increase their presence and use trumped-up charges against us because of public pressure. The massacre this night will be plastered all over the newspapers.” He paused for awhile to let this sink in. But I was too shell-shocked to care. He lifted my chin gently. “Listen carefully. Your life may depend on this. 

Tonight’s massacre was started by Long Long, Chow Mia’s top lieutenant. With me and Chow Mia eliminated, he will be the top gun. You must contact Bo Tak, another henchman of Chow Mia. He.  has the numbers and ability to carry this through. Tell him that if he gets rid of Long Long, he and I could a very successful, long-term symbiotic relationship, I have watched him and he has always wanted peace, like me.”

I protested “But I don’t know him! He won’t listen to me. He might even kill me!”

“Today, You have a made good friend, Michael Higgins. He is the brother-in-law of Bo Tak. Send the message through him. But, remember, do not get the names mixed or we will all be fucked!”

I nodded. How could I forget Michael Higgins? I crept into my bed and promptly fell asleep. I had fitful dreams that night of dragons and monsters taking nips of my flesh. It was incredibly painful, 

But nothing compared with the hollowness inside. It was as if the monsters had eaten me inside out. 

I met Michael the next morning at coffee break, after we had delivered several patients. 

“Hi, had a good night?” 

He nodded. “Wonderful, if you have done several C-Sections.” 

I laughed and he continued. “The work never ends.”

“Yup. We are hyper-productive.”

“I need a favour from you.”

“Sure, buddy, shoot.”

“Can I swap duties with you tomorrow night?”

My heart rose and sank. I could be killed by Bo Tak or Malik or both. “You’ve got it. But I need a favour in return. For this, I need to talk to you privately.” 

We walked into the small, empty green. 

“I know it’s sounds ridiculous, but even now, i am not sure if it’s real. Can you pass this message to Bo Tak urgently? It’s from Malik. It’s verbal and I’ll speak as if I am Malik.

“Long Long planned to kill me last night and started the gang fight. He harbours extreme paranoid suspicions. You, his next in command, will be next. The police will be conducting incessant raids. This will kill us all. But we can have a happy, symbiotic life. Join forces with me and and eliminate Long Long, but we must act fast.”

Michael blinked several times. “Ok, I’ll do it. But, if you are not serious, you could wind up dead.”  

I trembled but thanked him profusely nevertheless.  

“Think nothing of it,” he said and threw himself into his work. So did I. But I could not shake the nightmares of impending doom. Michael  was very restless too. Then I received a beautiful box of chocolates and a message from Malik. He had adopted Bo Tak as his son and heir. The red Harley was a present from his gang. Bo Tak had gone for a ride up the Titiwangsa mountain, close to Kuala Lumpur, and had driven off a cliff. Malik said he was very depressed, despite being the supreme Commander of the gangs. Peace reigned for a while.  

But I could not break free of my bonds. I was like an acrobat stuck to his trapeze. Wherever I went, I had the awful feeling that a bullet would find me. It was not the dying which bothered me. It was the anticipation. It kills. After a few weeks, I could not take it anymore and I threw in my resignation.

Michael did not question me. He looked haggard, with dark rings around his eyes, and he, too, threw in the towel. We met for a farewell lunch and he was glowing. He was going home to friends  and relatives, and a ‘God, save the Queen, while I was home, a stranger in my own country. Things had changed drastically in the past ten years. Roads had widened and buildings had shot up where garbage fields had once held sway. Babies were born and people had died. There was nothing familiar which I could grasp and link up a chain of events to connect it to me. Of course, there was Dad, Ma, and Connie, my sister,  We had met, celebrated and reminisced over old times but they had changed considerably over the the past ten years. Connie had lost her incandescent laughter. Dad and Ma had become morose and spoke much less as they battled Senile Dementia and Parkinson’s Disease. They were dying. I was dying. We were all dying. But there were new lives, new hopes, new beginnings at the maternity hospitals. Despite that, I could not stay.

Like the ancient marina, I was doomed to sail the seven seas. I took the next plane out. To Rio De Janeiro. It rose rapidly into the sky and soon was seen no more.  

I heard later that the gang war had erupted again and that one of the gang chieftains had been decapitated and his head hung on top of a pole, at the traffic lights in Rochor.

Father or son?

                                      

Wonders.

A novel 

fiction, 2733 words 

By Dr. Allan Ng, Y.H.

 

Like the Ancient mariner,

Doomed to sail the 7 seas, 

he stood in the gloom, 

watching the flowers bloom,

 before his trip to regions gone.

As the petals fall, 

the whiff of dying stems and fading flowers 

Sends him into the frenzied trance of a fatal dance.

Jump, jump, hop, hop, 

Kiss, kiss, hiss, hiss, 

Aladdin, Genie, Peter beckon,

Beyond the mist, 

Bang, bang,

Chittie gone,

Dream song,

I travel on.

In search of a yearning, I know not what, 

Embedded in my soul,

I must search this planet of lost souls,  

Before I reach my goal, 

God, please bless my soul. 

My yearning, my goal 

Drives me on, 

To regions of madness and beyond, 

God, please save my soul. 

Must I die, 

Before I know why, 

God, please help my soul. 

Is there a reason, Is there a cause? 

Perhaps not, 

God, Please…   

May God bless you all.