Sisters Mdm Yong Siew Kee, 72, and Mdm Yong Siew Kwee, 71, were born in Malaysia, but moved to Singapore when the two nations were still united. The elder, Siew Kee, arrived first at age 11, settling into her grandmother’s bungalow in Katong. Most families in the neighbourhood were well-off, and she remembers the area being quiet: “Everyone’s doors were closed,” she recalled, “and I mostly spent my days doing housework.”
When the house was eventually sold, the family moved into a much smaller apartment at Sungei Road, where she was joined by her younger sister. Life grew much tougher. The sisters worked long hours in a factory for just $2.60 a day, coming home to the cramped conditions of their new flat.
“To be very honest,” Mdm Yong said, “we did not have much time for leisure in those days. We worked relentlessly. It’s only when we grew older that we were able to enjoy ourselves more.”
At St Luke’s ElderCare, for example, they had their first chance to try games like table pool, learning from another elder who volunteered at the centre. Despite the hardships, both sisters brighten when recalling their younger days. They laugh as they describe being packed into buses that rattled down the roads with their doors wide open, or the first time they tried bak kwa during a Chinese New Year visit to a friend’s home. Mdm Yong joked that her Cantonese friend called it long yoke (dried meat), which she initially mistook for long rou (dragon meat).
Asked how they feel about Singapore turning 60, the sisters, now Singapore citizens, reflected: “I feel pride, for sure. Singapore may just be a little red dot, but you can see this red dot all over the world.” Both sisters agreed that because they endured hardship, they can now truly appreciate life’s sweetness.
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