A starting point

A GRANDFATHER STORY

My grandfather often tells me stories of the past. Stories like how in those days he used to venture with his father across the malaysian peninsula to look for business opportunities in the wood trading industry and how he used to live in a kampong with chickens, turkeys, a large variety of fruit trees and edible plants.

He was a lorry driver and his job was to ferry the building blocks of Singapore: sand, concrete pillars, materials for worksites and etc. A member of the “pioneer generation”, he is extremely proud of the Singapore he has helped to build. When I drive him around Singapore, he often remembers the past by pointing out buildings and famous landmarks in our advanced urban metropolis commenting: “in the past this was the sea” or “this used to be a pig farm”. Although once a muddy backwater of a country where poverty was rife and vice often spilled onto the streets, the Singapore that he knows has transformed into one of the wealthiest and countries in the world.

One day, whilst he was showing some of his old photos in a photo album. An interesting black and white image of him wearing all white caught my attention. I asked him “where was this?” and a slight pause later, “this was at a PAP rally” he recalls. I thought to myself, how interesting. You see, the grandfather that I have always known was a staunch opposition supporter and whenever I pressed him on why he was so insistent on supporting the opposition he would reply with a simple answer: “to check on the PAP”. So, when I saw that picture of him dressed in all white at a rally of the party which he is opposed to, I quickly asked him why he decided to switch camps. He said, “the PAP back then was different”. He never went into any more detail than that no matter how hard I tried to find out more from him.

My grandfather is a man who once believed in the promises of the party that built Singapore; the same man who then contributed his blood and sweat for the rapid industrialisation and building of the nation; who reaped the rewards in seeing his successful children carve out a career, a business and staking their claim in this island nation. How did this man become disillusioned by the promises of the party that he not only believed in but entrusted with his life? Has the party changed? Can the same party that brought us so far, bring us further into the future?