James Seah – The Bukit Ho Swee Fire, ‘What is going to happen to us?’ | Chronicles of Old Singapore

Welcome to Chronicles of Old Singapore. James Seah and his family lived in a kampong house at 21A Beo Lane before the fateful day on 25 May 1961 when the greatest fire in Singapore history occurred. After the fire, they moved into a 1-room emergency flat in Jalan Bukit Ho Swee, built by the HDB. They had to share toilets with the neighbours, but the threat of fire, at least, was gone. James started a Facebook group, I grew up in Bukit Ho Swee, which has over 2,800 members today.   / 21314871472   His blog: https://blogtoexpress.blogspot.com/ 00:00 Intro 00:41 21A Beo Lane 07:55 Carefree Days and Kite Fighting 10:04 Day of the Fire 17:10 The Emergency Flat 24:45 Importance of the Fire 29:10 Unrecognisable Bukit Ho Swee Today 33:06 Blogging and Facebook I’m Dr Loh KS, a people’s historian. I’m interested in the history of Singapore and the lives of its people. In Chronicles of Old Singapore, I speak to people about their memories of Singapore before it became a global city today. We discuss three topics: 1. People and places. 2. Change and continuity. 3. The importance of heritage. As a historian, I try to stay true to the oral history method on a video format and social media platform. I let the interviewee speak, as the ‘voice of the past’ as Paul Thompson put it. No clickbait, no BS, no posturing. The aim is to canvas a wide range of voices on various aspects of Singapore history and heritage – physical, social, cultural, economic. Do like the video, share your memories below and subscribe to the channel for future episodes. Write to me if you have questions or thoughts on Old Singapore or want to come onto the podcast: [email protected] Support Chronicles of Old Singapore on Patreon:   / chroniclesofoldsingapore   Follow the channel on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... Chronicles Research & Education is my research consultancy on the history of Singapore: https://www.chroniclesresearch.com/ #singaporehistory #memory #heritage #nostalgia #oralhistory #socialhistory #history #singapore