Pre-Industrial Occupational Preferences

Image show yesteryears Ujong Pasir from Garden City

Pre-Industrial Occupational Preferences 2 warden, 4 retirees, 3 washerwomen, 6 techinicians, 3 managers, 5 mechanics, 13 teachers, 10 carpenters, 18 shopkeepers, 1 pawn broker, 3 hawkers, 1 broker, 21 businessmen, 1 bank officer, 2 politicians, 6 fishmongers, 1 goldsmith, 7 lorry drivers, 2 stalls keepers, 2 tailors, 1 postman, 1 training officer, 2 house servants, 1 doctor, 8 security officers, 3 surveyors, 30 policemen, 1 ice-cream seller, 1 guest service, 1 furniture dealer, 1 factory worker, 2 planter, 1 royal escort, 5 self employed, 1 vegetable seller, 3 supervisors, 11 rubber tappers, 27 pensioners, 9 clerks, 1 cook, 1 manufacturer, 1 odd jobber, 9 housewives, 1 pharmacist, 2 bread sellers, 1 bus conductor, 6 unemployed, 1 rubber-stamp maker, 1 soldier, 1 blacksmith, 1 governor, 1 barber, 1 peon, 1 gobler, 3 contractors, 1 ticket collector, 1 electrician, 2 taxi drivers, 1 housekeeper, 4 farmers, 1 club attendant, 6 labourers, 1 director, 1 notice server, 1 butcher, 4 personal drivers, 1 station worker, 1 advisor, 1 news vendor, 1 government servant, 3 salesmen, 1 village chief, 1 meter reader, 1 distributor, 1 gardener, 1 NBI, 1 labour officer.

They had seen the buying of meat once bi-weekly, with a twenty cents, accompanied by a coupon. Malacca, the word, signify ' a meeting ' when equated with the arabic word, mulaqah.

In the past, men were busy in the small town, Chin Chin and Kesang, extracting tin ores. They had paid, 7 cents for a cup of kopi-o (black coffee), and half a decade later, they paid for the same cup, at Ten Dollars. (this was something like, 7 decades ago). 

Then, hawker would earn about 60 dollars a month while rubber tapper took home 40 cents each day. That was the income or another frequently used local word, gaji. According to one elder, the word, gaji, derived from a Dutch word, gagie.

 Several elders regularly visited, would reminisce ; ... we grew tapioca ... farming, a hard work. Human manure ladled on plants with coconut shell attached to a stick as handle ... . Perhaps, some of us; could remember, the bucket system, each day before dawn; the aroma would fill the air when we got up to prepare ourselves to schools. 

Now, we are parents. The parents before us, would understand better the true enjoyment of 7 cents black coffee, and years later, the mushrooming of Taman Sinn, Ujong Pasir. The year, 1965, was significant; first, Singapore was seperated from Malaysia and secondly, the Ujong Pasir Hilir Garden Residents' Association, Malacca, was formed. 

When Taman Sinn through 7 phases was completed in 1976, the garden provided 140 units of one-storey terrace houses and 60 units of semi-detached double storey houses over an area of 20 acres. Then, the mean household size of Hilir Garden was 6.21. 

The parents before us, who dwelled, in the pre-industrial occupational preferences and who had once enjoyed eating tapioca with a 7 cents cup of black coffee, have manifested their growth through many ' windows ' today, with their childrens in new occupational preferences with the present era of creative and innovative incomes. 

They had invested in our education.

 Today, Ujong Pasir skyline looks like this ;

photo source http://raymond1188.blogspot.com/