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BIBLIOASIA APR JUN 2018 St John s Island FROM GATEWAY TO GETAWAY St John s Island was once home to new migrants opium addicts and political detainees Marcus Ng charts the island s transformation from a place of exile to an oasis of idyll 30

Vol 14 Issue 01 Feature Marcus Ng is a freelance writer editor and curator interested in biodiversity ethnobiology and the intersection between natural and human histories His work includes the book Habitats in Harmony The Story of Semakau Landfill 2009 and 2012 and two exhibitions at the National Museum of Singapore Balik Pulau Stories from Singapore s Islands and Danger and Desire i It s well known that Stamford Raffles landed by the banks of the Singapore River on 29 January 1819 to establish a British trading port on the island 1 Most accounts of this colonial milestone however skim over the minor fact that a day earlier Raffles fleet of ships had anchored off St John s Island This was where representatives of the local ruler the Temenggong of Johor Abdul Rahman met and assured the British that Singapore harboured no Dutch settlers who would be hostile to rival powers 2 Early modern Singapore was a byproduct of geographical serendipity coupled with commercial desperation Raffles mission was driven by the British quest for a regional port that could rival Dutchcontrolled Melaka Raffles also knew that the island enjoyed regional pedigree as the site of the ancient maritime capital of the Malays 3 Beyond that Singapore was largely terra incognita to Europeans 4 Pulo Siquijan was Er dia s mis rendering of Pulau Sekijang Malay for barking deer island Passing sailors then played a centuries old game of Chinese whispers distorting Sekijang into St John s by way of Sijang 6 Er dia s depiction of two islands sharing the same name however was no error Two neighbouring isles bore the moniker St John s and were marked as such in charts including one produced by French hydrographer and geographer Jacques Nicolas Bellin in 1755 and another by the Honourable Thomas Howe in 1758 7 It was only in 1899 that one of the two St John s Islands the eastern one which housed a hospital for patients afflicted with beri beri was renamed Lazarus Island 8 In Malay the islands continue to share a nomenclatural link Lazarus Island is known as Pulau Sekijang Pelepah pelepah means palm fronds while St John s Island is Pulau Sekijang Bendera bendera means flag on account of a flagstaff that stood on it between 1823 and 1833 According to H T Haughton these islands are supposed to be two roedeer at which the spear reef Terumbu Seligi off Blakang Mati is being aimed 9 The tales that gave rise to these names unfortunately are lost as are any deer that may have once inhabited these islands 10 Gone too are names that one Captain George Thomas assigned to nearby islands in the late 1700s 11 Hoping perhaps to expand the Biblical theme he marked Pulau Tekukor north of St John s Island as Luke and the Sisters Islands as Mark and Matthew These names however failed to stick and only St John s survived in later charts Gateway to Singapore St John s Island was not only Raffles gateway to Singapore The hilly island located south of the Singapore harbour also became a crucial landmark for the Facing page top Scene at St John s Island showing newly arrived migrants at the quarantine centre waiting for the ferry to take them to mainland Singapore c 1908 Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Facing page bottom The living reefs of St John s Island In the distant background is the skyline of mainland Singapore Photo taken by Ria Tan on 31 August 2004 Courtesy of WildSingapore Below Detail of a 1924 map showing St John s and other adjacent islands Survey Department Collection courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Siquijan to Sekijang The islands that clustered along Singapore s southern coastline however were already longstanding landmarks to sailors plying the waters between the Straits of Melaka and the South China Sea The Portuguese were undoubtedly familiar with St John s Island PortugueseBugis cartographer Manuel Godinho de Er dia marked two islands as Pulo Siquijan in a map he had drawn in 1613 that was part of a manuscript titled Declaracam de Malaca e India Meridional com o Cathay In another map he drew in 1604 titled Discripsao Chorographica dos Estreitos de Sincapura e Sabbam ano 1604 Chorographic Description of the Straits of Sincapura and Sabbam 1604 A D Er dia sketched a maritime passage called estreito nouo New Strait which ran south of Pulau Blakang Mati present day Sentosa before passing north of Pulau Sekijang and turning east 5 31

BIBLIOASIA APR JUN 2018 fledging port on the mainland Before Raffles left the settlement he issued instructions to establish a careful and steady European at St John s with a boat and small crew for the purpose of boarding all square sailed vessels passing through the Straits 12 An apocryphal account credits one Loughony with this task of informing passing captains that the port is open for business 13 St John s Island by hosting this crew of heralds was instrumental in placing Singapore on the mental maps of mariners at a time when news could spread only as fast as the swiftest craft St John s turn on the frontlines of colonial enterprise was brief By 1834 the island was all but abandoned The only inhabitant was an old Malay whose small thatched habitation was surrounded by cocoa nut orange guava plantain and other tropical fruit trees observed a visiting naturalist who added The view from the summit of this elevated island was both extensive and beautiful the small islands near us were either covered by a wilderness of wood or else the jungle was cleared away for pineapple plantations 14 The pineapples were still extant in 1847 when Dr Robert Little a medical practitioner who was appointed first Coroner of Singapore in 1848 visited the two St John s Islands He wrote we crossed to 2 islands called Pulo Sakijang about 1 mile from Blakang Mati On landing on the nearest we ascended a hill covered with pine apples sic and found one house with one inhabitant from this island we pulled to the other of the same name and found on the beach a colony of Bugis consisting of 7 men and inhabiting 3 houses This had been a settlement for 40 years and they permitted no women to be located with them the only reason they gave for this misogynistic feeling was that women invariably quarrelled and prevented them from working 15 The aim of Dr Little s sojourn to St John s was to investigate remittent fever malaria which he mistakenly believed was caused by miasma from dying coral reefs 16 Medical interest in St John s Island came from other quarters in 1848 when a medical committee suggested the use of St John s or one of the neighbouring islands for the segregation of leprous convicts 17 The subject was raised again in 1857 when the leper population in Singapore reached 32 alarming levels to no avail However in the end St John s Island was never used to accommodate lepers 18 Quarantine Island St John s transformation into a rather less welcoming destination began in 1873 after a severe cholera outbreak in Singapore claimed the lives of 357 people Under pressure from the mercantile community Andrew Clarke the British Governor in Singapore approved a proposal by Acting Master Attendant Henry Ellis to establish a lazaretto a facility to isolate and treat patients with contagious diseases on St John s Island Ellis wishlist for the site included a steam cutter patrol boat a floating police station and a hospital as well as burial grounds on nearby Peak Kusu Island 19 St John s stint as Singapore s Quarantine Island thus began in November 1874 when the barely completed lazaretto took in between 1 200 and 1 300 Chinese passengers from the cholera stricken S S Milton from Swatow now Shantou China 20 By 1908 the quarantine facility on St John s had expanded to encompass the entire island which was populated with sheds housing the occupants of infected or suspected ships 21 be they new migrants to Malaya or religious pilgrims returning from performing the Haj in Mecca In reality quarantine was defined by the class of passage First and secondclass cabin passengers could simply present themselves for clearance before disembarking while hapless passengers in steerage who shared a deck or hold were quarantined for two to three days From the 1920s most cargo hold travellers were required to transit at St John s Island for inoculation before proceeding to Singapore with migrants from China subject to at least a week s quarantine 22 For the British St John s Island was an achievement which every resident may be proud The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser reported in 1926 With thousands of Chinese arriving at Singapore every week and with smallpox on two out of every four immigrant ships entering the port Singapore and the Peninsula are nevertheless kept practically free from that disease Certainly the treatment which the immigrants received on the island is about as pleasant an introduction to Malaya as they could expect They arrive hungry dirty and miserable after a deck passage through the China Sea and they spend five blissful days or it may be a fortnight with nothing to do wholesome food to eat and the beaches of the island on which to lounge away the first hours of leisure they have known in their lives 23 Another report in The Straits Times in 1935 feted St John s as the largest quarantine station in the world after New York s Ellis Island and El Tor in Egypt with the means to accommodate up to 6 000 people in 22 camps The island then also housed several hospitals for actual cases of smallpox cholera plague chickenpox St John s became known as Singapore s Quarantine Island in November 1874 when the first load of 1 200 to 1 300 Chinese passengers from the cholera stricken S S Milton from Swatow now Shantou China arrived on the island This 1930 photo shows passengers being vaccinated against infectious disease upon disembarkation Courtesy of The National Archives of the UK ref CO1069 560 pt1 23

Vol 14 Issue 01 Feature measles and kindred diseases and the barracks and temple for the 15 men of the island s Sikh Police force the gardeners quarters and mosque the coolies and workmen s quarters the Coroner s court and the lock up 24 Memories of Quarantine Henry Ellis initial plans to use Peak Kusu Island as a burial ground were soon cut short when a community leader named Cheang Hong Lim raised strenuous objections to this idea Instead Lazarus Island took its place from the early 20th century onwards passengers who died upon or shortly after arrival were buried here Writing to the Colonial Engineer J F A McNair in 1875 Cheang offered a glimpse into Kusu s cultural life which British authorities had overlooked He wrote a small Island called Peak Island lying opposite to this Colony of Singapore has for upwards of thirty years been used by many of the Chinese and native Inhabitants of this Settlement as a place for them to resort to at certain periods every year for the purpose of making sacrifices and paying their vows to certain deities there called Twa Pek Kong Koosoo and Datok Kramat and as that place has lately to the great prejudice of their feelings been desecrated by the interment therein of a number of dead bodies Your Petitioner is desirous of applying for a Title to the same in order to prevent that place from being any longer used as a Burial Ground 25 Teo Choon Hong who arrived in Singapore from Amoy now Xiamen China in 1937 recalled his quarantine experience with the National Archives of Singapore in 1983 He said in Hokkien I was quarantined on Kusu Island later in the interview he clarified that he had meant St John s Island as the British thought that there were germs on the lower berth of the steamer that might lead to infectious diseases Only those on the lower deck were quarantined Those who stayed in the cabins did not have to go There was a class distinction Being quarantined on Kusu Island was inhumane We were bossed around like chickens and ducks The British saw us Chinese as beasts After being given some rations it felt like we were camping we had to Minister for Health Armand J Braga visits the Opium Treatment Centre on St John s Island when it opened in 1955 The centre trained opium addicts in various tasks such as carpentry and woodworking for their rehabilitation into productive society It closed in 1975 Ministry of Information and the Arts Collection courtesy of National Archives of Singapore cook and eat there I was quarantined for two days before being released 26 Teong Eng Siong offered a more sanguine view of his stay on St John s Island after he arrived from Foochow now Fuzhou in 1948 Every batch of people who came here had to stay at Qizhang Hill 27 for a short three to five days so as to ensure that there were no infectious diseases and such After three or five days I was allowed ashore We had three meals a day Breakfast consisted of bread and milk tea There were two small slices of bread At that time it was not enough Then in the afternoon it was lunch and at night it was dinner The meals all had eggs and some stir fried vegetables and fish We had two time slots a day to shower because at that time the weather was hotter hotter than now It made us more comfortable Living quarters wise there were many people living together in a big hall 28 For Saravana Perumal who came from Jaffna Ceylon in 1947 St John s Island was an isolated place We were locked up in the camp he told the National Archives in 1983 We were given rations firewood pots to cook and prepare our own food It gave me a sort of fright there because of centipedes cockroaches 29 Year s l ater in 1955 Per umal returned to St John s Island when he was transferred there to help establish an Opium Treatment Centre This centre he explained trained opium addicts in various tasks for rehabilitation into productive society After a month when they are certified fit for work they were given the jobs of carpentry where they made tables chairs furniture rattan work tailoring 30 The treatment centre at St John s which operated until 1975 was one of the island s new functions after the war But quarantine continued even after Singapore gained independence in 1965 as the government had adopted a precautionary stance against the risk of infection from deck passengers from China and India 31 It was only in 1971 that deck passengers from China were exempted from compulsory quarantine if they had valid health certificates 32 Those from India had to wait until 1973 for compulsory quarantine to end St John s quarantine centre officially closed on 14 January 1976 33 Island and Prison In 1948 parts of St John s Island were converted into a detention centre for political prisoners 34 Earlier during World War II the island had already acquired a political military dimension 33

BIBLIOASIA APR JUN 2018 when it housed Japanese and German civilians During their stay the Germans erected a Chinese style moon gate by the island s western shore which still stands today 35 C V Devan Nair who became Singapore s third president in 1981 was among those detained on St John s Island for anti colonial activities With little else to do but immerse himself in books Nair dubbed the island St John s University 36 His studies were interrupted one fateful day in 1952 by a visitor who described the island thus There amid beautiful old tembusu trees stood some government holiday bungalows and not far away long rows of barrack like buildings surrounded by chain link fences for opium addicts undergoing rehabilitation One of the bungalows was also ringed with chain link topped with barbed wire This housed the political detainees 37 That visitor was a young anti colonial lawyer named Lee Kuan Yew and the fateful meeting between the two men led to Nair becoming one of the convenors of the People s Action Party PAP at its founding in 1954 Nair would later be detained again in 1956 along with his party comrades Fong Swee Suan Lim Notes 1 National Library Board 2001 Stamford Raffles s landing in Singapore by Tan Bonny Retrieved from Singapore Infopedia 2 Antechamber text panel 3 Arrival at Singapore from Raffles Letters Intrigues Behind the Founding of Singapore National Library Gallery 29 August 2012 to 28 February 2013 3 Raffles letter to the Duchess of Somerset 22 February 1819 from Raffles Letters Intrigues Behind the Founding of Singapore 4 European maps from the 16th 18th centuries variously marked Singapore as a town on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula a city on the left bank of the Johor River a promontory a cape or simply as a sea passage See Periasamy M 2015 The rare maps collection of the National Library In Singapore National Library Board Visualising space Maps of Singapore and the region pp 60 61 Singapore National Library Board Call no RSING 911 5957 SIN 5 When did Singapore become an Island Part III 2015 February 8 Retrieved from History Delocalised blogspot Nor Afidah Abdul Rahman 2016 January March A Portuguese map of Sincapura BiblioAsia 11 4 20 21 Gibson Hill C 1954 May Singapore Notes on the history of the old strait 1580 1850 Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 27 1 165 163 214 p 173 Singapore Malayan Branch Royal Asiatic Society Call no RCLOS 959 5 JMBRAS 6 Durai Raja Singam S 1939 Port Weld to Kuantan A study of Malayan place names pp 250 251 34 In 1948 part of St John s Island was converted into a detention centre for political prisoners In 1956 C V Devan Nair extreme right who became Singapore s third president in 1981 along with from left to right Lim Chin Siong Sydney Woodhull and Fong Swee Suan his colleagues from the People s Action Party PAP were detained on St John s until the PAP was returned to power in 1959 This photo was taken by Lee Kuan Yew the first prime minister of Singapore in 1959 Photograph taken by the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew courtesy of National Archives of Singapore Chin Siong and Sydney Woodhull until their release in 1959 when the PAP was returned to power 38 in the Legislative Assembly general election that gave Singapore the right to self government and paved the way for Lee to become the first prime minister of Singapore An Island Getaway Kuala Lumpur Malayan Printers Call no RCLOS 959 5 RAJ RFL 7 Bellin J N 1755 Carte r duite des d troits de Malaca Sincapour et du Gouverneur dress e au d post des cartes et plans de la Marine Map D p t G n rale de la Marine Howe T 1805 March 17 Sketch of the Straits of Singapore by The Hon ble Thomas Howe April 1758 Map Retrieved from BookSG 8 Government gazette 1899 March 25 The Straits Times p 2 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 9 Haughton H T 1889 Notes on names of places in the island of Singapore and its vicinity Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 20 79 Singapore Straits Branch Royal Asiatic Society Microfilm no NL 1569 10 Barking deer or kijang Muntiacus muntjak are native to Singapore but were hunted to extinction in the 20th century There are no records of barking deer on St John s Island but two deer were relocated to the island in 1906 See Untitled 1906 January 16 The Straits Times p 2 Deer hunt of St John s The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser p 3 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 11 Thomas G 1805 March 19 Sketch of the Straits of Sincapore by Capt George Thomas map Retrieved from BookSG 12 Raffles instructions to Farquhar Resident and Commandant of Singapore 6 February 1819 See Buckley C B 1984 An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore p 43 Singapore Oxford University Press Call no RSING 959 57 BUC HIS 13 Gunner Loughony first P R O of Singapore 1956 December 8 The Straits Times p 27 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 14 Bennett G 1834 Wanderings in New South Wales Batavia Petir Coast Singapore and China Being the journal of a naturalist in those countries during 1832 1833 and 1834 Vol 2 pp 218 221 London Richard Bentley Retrieved from BookSG 15 Little R 1848 An essay on coral reefs as the cause of Blakan Mati fever and of the fevers in various parts of the east The Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia 2 591 592 Singapore J R Logan Microfilm no NL 1889 16 Ng M 2017 May July Through time and tide A survey of Singapore s reefs BiblioAsia 13 1 Retrieved from BiblioAsia website 17 Lee Y K 1978 The medical history of early Singapore p 266 Tokyo Southeast Asian Medical Information Center Call no RSING 610 95957 LEE 18 A 1938 report proposed the erection of an annexe for the examination of immigrants for early signs of leprosy but it seems unlikely that the British would have considered housing lepers on the island in close proximity with thousands of new migrants See St John s Island 1938 April 26 The Malaya Tribune p 16 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 19 Lee Y K 1978 January Quarantine in early Singapore Part 2 Annals of the Academy of Medicine Singapore 7 1 81 87 Singapore Academy of Medicine Call no RSING 610 5 AMSAAM 20 Legislative Council meeting 24 December 1874 1875 January 9 The Straits Times p 2 The Milton 1874 November 19 Straits Times Overland Journal p 2 Retrieved from NewspaperSG By the mid 1970s plans were afoot to convert Singapore s southern islands into beachside holiday destinations 39 In part these developments were aimed at replacing a stretch of the shoreline at Changi that would be buried under the

Vol 14 Issue 01 Feature new airport 40 St John s Island would join Kusu Sisters Islands and Sentosa to become an idyllic getaway from the confines of the congested mainland Meanwhile before any transformation into an island paradise could take place St John s island housed a final batch of detainees about 1 000 Vietnamese refugees fleeing their homeland who occupied the island between May and October 1975 as they awaited resettlement in the West 41 Since 1976 St John s Island has become entrenched in the memories of a new generation of Singaporeans as a site for offshore school camps holiday bungalows and wet and wild weekends at its swimming lagoons protected by walls of rock It is also fondly known as cat island to some in reference to the abandoned felines that now outnumber children in the corridors of a former primary school established in the 1950s for families of staff residing on the island 42 Echoes of the past returned in 1999 when fences and barbed wire lined parts of St John s Island as the authorities braced for a wave of illegal migrants fleeing political turmoil in Indonesia 43 Thankfully the storm abated but the fences still stand perhaps as a precautionary measure In the interim the two St John s Islands were conjoined by a causeway Further plans for a canal laced marine village with recreational and mooring facilities and waterfront housing failed to materialise as the business climate changed 44 Singaporeans sparked perhaps by the preservation of Chek Jawa on Pulau Ubin also began to see their islands less as underutilised spaces than as treasures of national and natural heritage New landmarks emerged in the 2000s a Marine Aquaculture Centre where seabass are bred and Singapore s only offshore Marine Laboratory where researchers investigate diverse facets of marine science ranging from giant clams to coral ecology and anti fouling solutions for the shipping industry Another milestone occurred in 2014 when St John s western shore was designated as part of the Sisters Islands Marine Park 45 A signboard at the end of the jetty invites visitors to explore the Marine Park s Public Gallery on the island s southern peak The path from the jetty runs through compounds of barbed wire and beckons towards a row of low houses home to the island s last residents 46 Turn left and the trail winds past old bungalows lush mangroves where fiddler crabs frolic at low tide and patches of coastal forest On the other side of the island are the former quarantine quarters turned campsites which overlook beaches that still attract sizeable crowds on weekends The bustling city seethes beyond St John s seawalls always looming but still 21 Infected ships were defined as those where a case of infectious disease had occurred up to 12 days before arrival Suspected ships were those where disease had occurred during the voyage but with no fresh cases in the 12 days preceding arrival 22 Teo D Liew C 2004 Guardians of our homeland The heritage of Immigration and Checkpoints Authority pp 26 27 Singapore Immigration Checkpoints Authority Call no RSING q353 59095957 TEO 23 Our newcomers 1926 April 30 The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser p 12 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 24 St John s Island 1935 June 1 The Straits Times p 13 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 25 Cheang H L 1875 August 14 Wednesday 11th August The Straits Times p 2 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 26 Translated from Tan B L 1983 September 16 Inter viewer Oral history interview with Teo Choon Hong Transcript of cassette recording no 000328 7 2 pp 22 23 Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website Note Mr Teo s reference to Kusu Island is likely an error as this island was too small to house extensive quarantine facilities 27 Mandarin for St John s Island which is probably a transliteration of Sekijang 28 Translated from Quah I 2002 February 1 Interviewer Oral history interview with Teong Eng Siong Transcript of cassette recording no 002605 10 1 pp 5 6 9 10 Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website 29 Chew D 1983 September 16 Oral history interview with Saravana Perumal Transcript of cassette recording no 000335 17 9 p 95 Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website 30 Chew D 1983 October 6 Oral history interview with Saravana Perumal Transcript of cassette recording no 000335 17 11 pp 116 117 Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website 31 Quarantine No change 1967 December 19 The Straits Times p 24 T Ramasamy 1970 December 5 Untitled The Straits Times p 20 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 32 No more quarantine for deck passengers from China 1971 June 3 The Straits Times p 24 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 33 Teo Liew 2004 p 54 34 More prison space ready 1948 July 3 The Straits Times p 4 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 35 Kaite Y 1942 October 1 Inhuman acts of British towards Nippon internees The Shonan Times p 4 Untitled 1950 November 27 The Straits Times p 6 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 36 Seow F 1994 To catch a tartar A dissident in Lee Kuan Yew s prison Foreword New Haven Yale University Southeast Asia Studies Call no RSING 365 45092 SEO 37 Lee K Y 1998 The Singapore story Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew p 158 Singapore Simon Schuster Call no RCLOS 959 57 38 Ministry of Culture 1959 February 8 The battle for merger from right C V Devan Nair Fong Swee Suan S Woodhull and Lim Chin Siong at St John s Island detention camp The picture was taken by Lee Kuan Yew when he paid them a visit on Chinese New Year day in 1959 Photograph Online Retrieved from National Archives of Singapore website 39 Holmberg J 1976 December 3 Islands in the sun New Nation pp 10 11 Retrieved from Scores of cats now dwell at the former school premises on St John s Island Photo taken by Marcus Ng on 2 September 2014 Courtesy of Marcus Ng far enough to imagine that the island as it was in the not too distant past is not where Singapore ends in space and thought but a gateway to hope to a future in harmony with its history and habitats NewspaperSG Wong P P 1992 The newly reclaimed land In A Gupta J Pitts Eds Physical adjustments in a changing landscape The Singapore story p 255 Singapore Singapore University Press National University of Singapore Call no RSING 915 95702 PHY TRA 40 St John s Island to become holiday resort 1976 January 23 The Straits Times p 13 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 41 Last 80 refugees get set to leave St John s 1975 October 22 The Straits Times p 19 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 42 Nanyang Technological University Cat Club 2016 December 27 Heaven is filled with cats Retrieved from NTU Cat Management Network website 43 Lee J 1999 February 25 Barbed wire fences go up at St John s The Straits Times p 28 Retrieved from NewspaperSG 44 Singapore Parliament Official reports Parliamentary debates Hansard 1996 October 28 Reclamation Southern Islands Vol 66 cols 841 842 Retrieved from Parliament of Singapore website 45 National Parks Board 2017 December 14 Sisters Island Marine Park Retrieved from National Parks Board website 46 Azim Azman 2015 May 18 Meet the last two people who still live on sleepy St John s Island The New Paper Retrieved from AsiaOne website Zaccheus M 2017 February 23 Last islanders likely to get to remain on St John s Island The Straits Times Retrieved from The Straits Times website Note Sadly one of the last residents Mr Mohamed Sulih passed away later in the year 35