Days of Rage - Nadra

Last Sunday I was having dinner halfway when she interrupted me from the TV, "look it is Maria, the Dutch girl". Channel NewsAsia was premiering Episode 1 of Days of Rage which was on the Maria Hertogh riot.

What a coincidence! You see, I had with me two library books on the topic that day and the riot, which we have studied in "national education" and history lessons, happens to be my research interest recently. In fact I had contemplated to bring with me one of the books to Indonesia when we pulang kampung but decided not to. Both books are thick, unlike the typical paperback for holiday reading. In any event I finished both books - The Nadra Tragedy by Haja Maideen and Natrah by Fatini Yaacob - after I returned to Singapore.

PS: Episode 1 on the Maria Hertogh riot can be viewed from the official site.

A Mini National Theatre at Tank Road

I read on Facebook that Prof Lai had dug into his pockets to put up an installation for the Singapore Biennale 2013, a chibi version of the National Theatre demolished some years ago. When it was first announced and photos up, the exact location was not specified; photos showed a "clean surrounding" (park in the foreground, condo in the background), quite unlike the construction ongoing at Fort Canning station, the old location of the National Theatre and where I thought the installation would be.

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2nd Shot: Yu Shan Teng at Holland Road

Chun See's comment - "I also remember seeing Lor Makam and an old temple there in the late 80s when I jogged and drove along (old) Holland Rd" - in his blog on Lorong Panchar reminds me of a second shot taken in late 2011 when I was exploring the area mentioned.

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An Accidental Second Shot at Punggol Point

I made my way to Punggol Point again, the second time in a few months. The first time I was in a car driven by a friend, and was shocked to find out "progress" had encroached upon what had been a rustic beach from   old photos. The stopover of 20 minutes or so was enough for me to gauge the extent of the redevelopment. Thankfully not everything is man-made; I could still find pockets of nature, views that would not have changed much from the Old Punggol. At the boardwalk, the landform of Ubin loomed large ahead, a picturesque setting too good for my camera to miss. I did not know it then, till I was looking for old Punggol photos on the internet, that I had just taken an accidental second shot!

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Lorong Cheng Lim - Roots of Dr Koh Poh Koon in Punggol

The weekend following Nomination Day on 16 Jan, we made our way to Sengkang and went around the housing estate in style - in a LRT, our first ride on the Sengkang LRT Line. Only the West Loop, i.e. half of the estate, was completed due to time constraint but still this did not stop me from alighting at one station opened for passenger service only this year. At Cheng Lim Station, located in a part of Sengkang still developing, the view to the north was surprisingly rural. As I stared at the platform signboard with the background in blur, my mind began to wander; and there and then, I wondered where was the PAP candidate's roots in Punggol.

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