Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Potong Pasir

First off,let me say that I'm hoping that I'd get to watch the anime movie,Ghost In The Shell 2:Innocence,in local cinemas soon or at least see it open here.Fact is,we don't see too many anime shows or movies in our cinemas even though these can be of high quality,better than some of the live-action dross that's shown here anyway.But still they never get shown here.I would guess they don't have a big enough market here but from what I observe,it seems there is a healthy number of anime fans in Singapore.If the movie never hits these shores,I guess I'd have to get it on DVD or download it from the net,but that'd be such a shame.GITS2 got a good review in the NYT although it wasn't reviewed by Ebert.The Japanese have a good history of churning out good anime films with great storylines.Spirited Away and Tokyo Godfathers being two recent examples.I am quite sure this sequel to the original GITS is a fine addition to this great tradition.But besides this,there are of course,other interesting movies to look forward to:Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow,Oliver Stone's Alexander and Pixar's The Incredibles.

I wanted to talk about Potong Pasir because it is an estate close to my heart.I spent ten years of my life studying in the estate.That's St Andrew's Primary and Secondary for you.It's not a top school but that wasn't important at all.I enjoyed some of my best times of my life studying there.What's there to like?Well,there were so many things.Primary school,I guess,wasn't much to be remembered because I was so young then.Days were spent playing police and thief,catching and step-leg during my early primary school years,from 1 to 3 namely.I guess then we were too young to want to play football or basketball.There were always instances when we were find ourselves running too fast and then falling down on the rough gravel roads that twist all over the school compound or on tiled concrete pavements.And then we'd have to wash our wounds using the open taps located in the compounds.Besides these,there were also less strenuous activities such as playing bottlecaps,erasers,marbles and of course,betting collection book stickers.We used to buy huge stacks of them,both to complete the books and to use as a wager.Gambling starts early.

Talking about the school itself,St Andrew's Primary is kick-ass HUGE.Well,actually,that was after the secondary school segment moved to their new compound nearby in Potong Pasir as well.Before that,both primary and secondary schools shared the same building.So we had to have staggered recesses to give the tuckshop stallholders a break.The food at the school was quite top notch as well.The noodles and cha kway tiao were very very good.In fact,the cha kway tiao is still one of th best I ever tasted.That's coming from a primary school.We also has two drinks stalls which would sell these cups of different flavoured syrup water for 10¢ each.Actually,there was also this stall which sold fried chicken wings and fries and it was my daily staple for 6 years.The chicken was extremely good,well fried.And it came at only about 30¢ or 40¢ each.That stall sold chee cheong fun too but pardon me if I didn't eat that too often.I couldn't remember what the other stalls sold.There was of course a Muslim stall that sold Malay food like mee rebus,mee siam and sother stuff and I do remember that my liking for mee rebus came from that stall because it was good.There were 2 snack stalls selling snacks and titbits like chips,kacang puteh and other stuff.Besides all the food stalls,there was a bookstore whcih catered to all our stationery needs.Actually,the school itself was huge.Our field was the biggest in Singapore,comparable to that of Bartley Secondary,if not bigger.The compound also had a separate science block,a courtyard,a basketball court that is part of a carpark(very dangerous),a chapel and living detached houses(not just quarters)for various staff.In fact,someone actually lives inside the compound but is not a school staff.How come that family got a property in the compound,we have no idea.I only hated the toilets...none of the flushes worked and the things just stinks...despite the toilet cleaning duties all classes have.

I spent the majority of my time in upper primary and secondary school playing football.During the upper primary years,we used to have these annual unofficial inter-class football games.There were only two classes at my year and session(there were morning and afternoon asessions,I belonged to the afternoon session),A and B.I was in A and the A class always won.I always played as a defender and I was pretty good then.Hahah.But the morning session classes always kicked our butts.They were damn good.By the way,Indra Sahdan Daur was a year or two below me.He was crap then.

Secondary school came much the same way as primary school.Football and studies.Girls wasn't in the equation because we were a boys' school.Which was good and bad in a way.We didn't really have contact with girls until we hit JC.The nearest girls school near to our school was Cedar Girls but it always seemed that it was a school of tomboys rather than "genuine" girls.Anyway,as school was in the morning now,much of our afternoons were spent staying back after school to play football at the Potong Pasir block void decks.We only plastic balls.The interclass football matches stopped now as there were now no longer just two classes and a lot of the people in our primary school class has gone to other secondary schools.Oh,the secondary school was a separate compound,across a canal and connected to the main road by a bridge,which when it rained,would flood from the waters which completely filled the canal everytime...even though it was a huge canal.I loved the western fried chicken and the cooked food stalls at the secondary school,they were world-class killers.Sports in St Andrew's was played according to different houses.Each student was assigned a house when he enters primary or secondary school and he wil play sports and represent only that house.In primary,the houses were separated into colours: Red,yellow,blue and green for the morning session and purple,brown,orange and grey for the afternoon.I was in orange house,which was arguably the strongest house although when it came to football,purple was better.But the afternoon houses were no match for the power-houses of the morning session,yellow and red.In secondary school,the houses were named according to former principals.The ones I could remember were Romanis,Loy Fatt and Venn.There were others.I used to represent my house for long jump...if you ask me,I don't know why.I couldn't jump if you put a gun to my head.And of course,what's a Christian school without chapel lessons?Only Muslims were exempted,the rest of us...we would file into the chapel and listen to sermons,watch plays and sing hymns.Not unenjoyable,you know.And there were singing lessons too.Don't know if that was exclusive to us.I was a pretty average student there.We had class and level rankings in school.In a good year,I would be among among the top ten students in class among the top twenty in school(out of about a hundred?),otherwise it's about 12 to 15 in class and top thirty at level.Not too bad.It was always nervy to know your ranking in class...our parents would always ask if I dropped too much.But I appreciated it not as bragging rights but as a motivator.

I don't know why I went on that great discourse about my primary and secondary school life.I was more intent on talking on Potong Pasir.What sparked off my thoughts about the area was reading an article about Potong Pasir MP Chiam See Tong having his request to carry out lift upgrading denied AGAIN.I hate to ask this but if it was a PAP ward,would the Parliament have done such a thing?NOPE.No chance.So the residents have the freedom to vote in Chiam and also be denied their rights and privileges as citizenry of Singapore as well because they live in an opposition ward.How nice.Unless and until they get a PAP MP,they will never get anything.

The Potong Pasir I knew was not a very well-serviced ward.There was originally two buses which served the estate internally,142 and 147 before the latter was abruptly withdrawn and changed to service the Upper Serangoon Road route all the way to Hougang.Which served me fine because I live in Hougang anyway but it was a great disservice to the residents of Potong Pasir.One bus service for the entire estate internally?Name me one other estate likewise.Potong pasir has also come into constant conflict with the governemnt over upgrading and renovation issues.Which is horrible for the people living there.It seemed they are always the ones getting penalised because they happen to be living in the "wrong" part of Singapore.I wa sthere so I know.The buidlings in the estate can look a bit worn here and there,you know.The average age of the blcoks must be over 20 years or more now and without upgrading,how can you serve the aged people living in these estates well?And we all know about the troubles they got just to get SBS to activate their MRT station despite the company already building a stop there and yet saying that they may not open it for lack of traffic flow.Amazing then why they would even put in the capital to build a station in the first place.If you don't want to stop there,don't build a stop.Simple.Don't build one and then say traffic isn't good enough to support the station.You must have done your sums before you put your money in.

I always thought it was emotional blackmail on the Potong Pasir residents by unseen mastermind behind all these problems and issues they faced.I don't know who or for what.I wouldn't know,would I?And I wish it would stop.I would imagine with the number of rebuffs they get on their upgrading proposals,Potong Pasir must be among the most rundown estates in the nation,close to Hougang probably(I am in part of the Pasir Ris GRC although I live in Hougang.Another part of Hougang is also part of Marine Parade GRC.Go figure.).Give the residents in Potong Pasir a break.They don't deserve this.Potong Pasir is a good town.It has a sleepy and laidback ambience that is extremely different to some of the bigger estates with their shopping centres and stuff around.I am tempted to use the word rustic but in a city setting,it's inappropriate but I sometimes think it is.To the policymakers: Please spare a thought for the people there before going about your rejection exercises.The aged,the young and the disabled.They live in Potong Pasir too,you know.At the rate you are rejecting their upgrading proposals,soon historical dramas will all be filmed there for an authentic look.I am sure some fresh lift lobbies and a facelift to the neighbourhood will be much welcomed there as well...much like the other estates in Singapore.