Chow Khuan Hoy and Joshua Tan

Life Is Hard

Chow Khuan Hoy:

I was born in Malaysia and came to Singapore in 1972 to work for a better life. I managed to find a job as a hawker assistant in People’s Park. Nowadays all food centres have tables and chairs provided; however, during my time, the hawker stall had to provide their own. My job was to tout customers to sit at our own tables and chairs and order our food. I had long working hours and had to stand daily on my feet for more than 12 hours.

As I did not have any relatives or friends in Singapore, I had to rent a bed space. This was an attic at Temple Street and I shared it with 6 other girls. There were no windows in the attic and the bathroom/toilet was on the second level, which was used as an Opium Den. All the girls were scared to go down, especially during the night.

During those days, Chinatown had many poor people who had to work very hard to earn a living. However, they also had their leisure activities. There was a cinema, which screened Chinese Movies. During weekends, the streets were lined with many stalls and we did our shopping there. During festivals, there were also wayang shows.

I met and married my husband in 1975 and we had 2 sons. We stayed with my in-laws in Sago Lane, which was also known as “Street of the Dead”. Every day, we would see dead bodies being carried into the funeral parlours opposite our home. We were afraid to go out during the night.

In 1983, the government acquired Sago Lane and we were allocated a HDB flat in Smith Street, just above the food centre and market. We were then operating a Zichar stall in a coffee shop and had to work long hours to pay the monthly installments for the flat. My children have grown up and are working now and my husband and I have retired. Thank god that the suffering in my younger days are over!

Joshua Tan:

I was born in 2009, Dec 3. My father was a cook and mother a PR (permanent resident). Since young, I longed to be a good cook like my father, cooking yummy dishes for my family to eat. My brother was born in 2011, Aug 31, I didn’t like him much as he always took things for me.

During primary 1, I kept misplacing my wallet, making both my mother and father angry. They had to buy a new wallet each time I lost it. Sometimes, I would casually help out my father with cooking; peeling the garlic skin. And was addicted to playing video games such as War Dragons on Ipad.

Primary 3 was a breaking point. My father passed away and my mother was a single mother. We had to work extra hard. My mother had to work late for more income for the family.

I also joined catch+ in primary 3, we went on many fun and exciting excursions. Such places are unique and interesting. I also joined catch+ readable, though I skipped most of the content as I learnt it before.

I am now primary 6 and have taken my PSLE. PSLE was slightly stressful as I had no idea what kind of question they will ask, some can be hard, some can be easy.