Wearing long pants to keep out pesky flies, I stepped from a park connector through an inconspicuous opening surrounded by greenery to enter the last remaining village on Singapore’s mainland.
It was like entering another world, a well-preserved slice of the past untouched by the bulldozer of progress. About the size of three football fields, the village is an evocative reminder of simpler times.
Kampong Lorong Buangkok’s laid-back atmosphere contrasts sharply with the hustle and bustle of modern Singapore where office workers in tall buildings obsess over how to earn more money – myself included.
But the day-to-day reality of economics is very different here. Home to 25 families, its Malay and Chinese residents still live in traditional wooden structures, dishing out shockingly meagre rents of between S$6.50 and S$30 a month.
The landlord? A cheery 71-year-old woman often spotted riding a bicycle in a chequered shirt and straw hat. Madam Sng Mui Hong, along with her three siblings, inherited the land from their father when he died in 1996.
Her father, a traditional Chinese medicine seller, had bought the land, which was a swamp, in 1956.
Her siblings, all older than her, now live in Housing and Development Board flats in other parts of Singapore.
Since their father’s death, nothing – not even the allure of tens of millions of dollars – would sway Mdm Sng and her siblings from selling the estate. It was their father’s wish for the 12,248 sq m piece of land to be left intact for his descendants.
As the landlord, Mdm Sng honours that wish steadfastly.
Past media reports have stated that an offer of S$33 million was made for the land in 2007.
However, Mdm Sng told CNA TODAY that she had not received any direct offers from would-be buyers and does not know, or care, what the value of the land is.
