Army Depot Police (ADP)-Singapore
Atok joined the ADP on 8 Oct 1956. The ADP was under the British Police War Department in charge of food, transport and ordnance management. Their depots were at Alexander, Bukit Panjang and Kranji. He rose to the rank of sargent.
Surprise !! - Jan 1957
I was born at 11 pm malam Jumaat(ie. Thursday) in Kampung Juasseh. However, my birth cert stated jan 18, 1957.
But, a check with the google date calculator showed that Jan 18 is a friday! This can only mean that my real birthdate was jan 17 1957!
A neighbour, Hamzah Manat, helped report my birth at the police station, hence the mistake, maybe.
When I reached 4 months of age, Wan, Mak Jo and I moved to Singapore to join Atok.
Atok had to apply to become a Singapore citizen in order to be able to work and for us to attend school without having to pay huge amounts of money, which he did on 6 Apr, 1959. Wan did not apply for citizenship and she remained a social visitor until we left Spore for good. She had to pay 30 dollars every 3 months to the immigration counter at Tanjung pagar as compensation to the Spore authorities.
We stayed in a small rented room at Lorong Lompang Bukit Panjang for 20 dollars a month before Atok found a proper house, in which we stayed for most of our lives in Singapore.
October 1963
Busu was born on 15 october 1963 at Kandang Kerbau Hospital in Singapore.
1964 Race Riots
A huge procession for the Maulud Nabi from Masjid Sultan to Geylang Serai in July 1964 sparked Singapore's worst racial riots in history. A curfew was imposed for two weeks. As a result, the Singapore government banned all religious processions.
Because of the riots, Atok and Wan had to leave Singapore temporarily. A kind Chinese dobi man near our house helped us by driving us to Johor Baru in his car. From there we found our way to Segamat, then to kampung Juasseh.
Party Time at ADP
Every three months, the ADP would have a party at the Mess with free flowing alcohol. Sometimes Atok and Wan would bring us to attend the parties. Of course, almost everyone would partake of the food and drinks in front of their families.
After that they would have their joget lambak. Atok would invariably be one of the regulars on the dance floor- Wan, not so much.
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3 comments:
So what happened to Atok's SIngaporean citizenship?
My fathet was also an ADP we live in Keat Hong camp squatter and later move off to Lorong Lompang and stayed there until 1975
My house is next to the birthplace of Sweet Charity and on the other side of the hill was the other Boyanese band next to Rajawali sepak takraw court
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