Our Grandpa - The Early and Middle Years -

Lee Peng Siah, our grandpa, or Gong Gong (公公) as he is affectionately known to all of us, was born on 17th December 1913 in Kuantan, within Pahang, the largest state of  Malaysia. He was born in the year of the Ox. Youngest in a rich family with acres of rubber plantations, he had a few siblings but most of them unfortunately died of scarlet fever and other infectious diseases during their childhood or teenage years. It is strongly believed that Gong Gong is the only one that lived up to a ripe old age. The whereabouts of most of his other relatives are unknown in Malaysia.  

Great-Grandfather (Gong Gong's father)

Our great grandfather (Gong Gong’s father) died when he was 3 years old. Great Grand Uncle (Gong Gong’s maternal uncle) took over the family business. Unfortunately, he was not a good businessman, lost the business and spent all the money.  

Great Grandma (Lau Ma) (Gong Gong's mother) & Gong Gong migrated to Singapore where they bought a shop house on Kallang Road, near the old 火城  and current Pico Art Building, opposite the Hindu temple. They rented out the rooms upstairs, charging $5 per person and lived in the shop on the ground floor. That is also where Gong Gong eventually ran his bicycle repair shop. 

Old 火城 is marked 1 in the map and the orange spot is approximately where the shop was:

Credit : Singapore Street Directory 1976 edition, Chief Surveyor

This is probably what the street looked like then with the Hindu Temple and the 火城 at the middle bottom:

 

Photo Credit : National Archives, PICAS

 

Photo Credit : National Archives, PICAS

What the 火城 looked like:

 

Photo Credit: Blog - Times of My Life

What the plot of land looked like around 2007:

 

Photo credit : Wikipedia

During the Japanese Occupation, Gong Gong was caught and placed on a lorry to be executed in Changi. They were ordered to dig trenches which would end up being their own graves. With a stroke of luck while the Japanese soldiers were distracted, Gong Gong and two other men jumped over a nearby fence with the help of someone and escaped in the face of death. It was a close shave.  


Gong Gong with friend

He returned to find the bicycle shop looted but thankfully, the family was safe. They continued to stay there as the family expanded. After a couple of years, Gong Gong made a decision to migrate back to Malaysia.  He sold the shop house for about $3000 but suddenly changed his mind for an unknown reason.  Hence, they rented another place on Kallang Road. 

After he sold the bicycle shop, he had to take on at least 2 jobs in order to provide food and lodging for the family. During that time, he worked as a trishaw man, newspaper and paper roses seller and even worked in the army. Life was getting tougher and tougher with an increasing family. 

There was barely enough to eat most of the time. To help out with the family finances, Po Po  (Grandma) started making paper flowers while looking after the kids, Dua yi (Eldest aunt) sewed clothes at home and Z yi (Second aunt) went out to work. Eventually, Sa yi (Third auntie and my mum) had to give up her studies at the age of 14 to work, so that the rest of the family could survive and continue their studies. Though life was tough and food was scarce, their life was happy, and this poor lifestyle helped cultivate the loving and giving attributes that we see in this family.

They continued to live in Kallang until Aunt Constance was born and in 1957, they moved to Newton where their youngest child, our Uncle David was born. 

Gong Gong and Po Po (婆婆)

This is currently all we have about Gong Gong's life-story and it only constitutes the first half of his life. I hope that you had enjoyed this story and it has inspired me to seek more because I realise how important it is that we try to get as much of our family history and share. Let this be the beginning of a beautiful connection for us all, and let us bond through this medium and get to know each other, and ourselves better.

I would like to specially thank Dua Yi, Aunt Constance, Woan Min and my Mum for sharing these facts and stories with us today. There is much more to learn and discover and it is up to you to find out and share it with us.

P.S. Lau Ma, Great-Grandma's urn is placed in Mandai Columbarium.  Every year, Dua Yi (Eldest Aunt), who was Lau Ma's favourite grand-daughter, and Woan Min would visit the columbarium as Lau Ma's urn was placed near to their other relative's final resting place.