志异 Draft by Drama box december 2013 (english) | Page 29

To say that I am a veteran of six
‘dynasties’ may be a bit of an
exaggeration, but over the course
of my 71 years, I have indeed
experienced the rule of six
regimes. The first was the
Japanese occupation of
Singapore (1942 to 1945), followed
by British colonial rule (1945 to
1959), Singapore under
self-government (1959 to 1963),
Singapore as part of Malaysia
(1963 to 1965), and finally the
Republic of Singapore (1965 to
present). From 1949 to 1952, I
lived on Hainan Island with my
mother, in our ancestral village,
and thus also experienced the
political transition from the
Kuomintang government to the
People’s Republic of China.
Singapore’s self-government was
still under the umbrella of the
British colonial system, so in
actual fact I experienced only six
regimes. The following are some
of my thoughts on this unique
life experience.