How are kampongs a cultural object?
There are definitions of "Kampong" in Merriam-Webster, all sorts of online dictionaries, frequently asked questions (FAQs). Most if not all of them define "Kampong" as a native village in Malaysia, but Singaporeans also remember these kampongs in the distant past as having housed our grandfathers and their fathers before them. They are all but eradicated now, but have the kampongs become a thing of the past, or are they a national relic that has coloured our society?
We think that the HDB flats, which have helped to popularize the idea of Singaporeans owning their own little bit of the air, are reminiscent of the old days of kampongs, that the legacy of these bamboo huts live on in the concrete walls of these now commonplace high-rise housing. The similar elements of both, which have become more than just four walls, are all part of a Singaporean culture.
Kampongs were mainly clusters of bamboo huts, usually communal, which housed a family or even families; each was a microcosm of society unto itself and functioned as an entity. This structure enabled them to create a closely knit fabric of relationships, especially in kampongs made up of extended families. Basically, they ate together, slept together, grew up together... By and large the ethnic ratio in these kampongs was non-existent, they were either made up wholly of Chinese, Malay, Indian, or a variation thereof. ;)
Shopping was done in the shophouses which were separate from the little individual kampongs. These (might have) had a unifying effect on the disparate villages - you HAD to buy your necessities and met other people, interacted with other races from other kampongs, etc.
Kampongs evoke pangs of nostalgia from generations now old and gray - in a paradoxical way, they like to reminisce about the "good old days" when the world is looking forward to a better future. The old days were not always good - disease was rampant, infant mortality a very real threat and Singapore's infrastructure was as good as nil. Why, then, do the older generations talk so fondly about a lice-ridden world? Was the lack of clean water and readily available electricity so negligable that they could easily overlook these as improvements to our life?
The atmosphere of kampongs is what these old-timers miss - the camaraderie, the closeness of neighbours, the literal open-door policies. While the standards of living have taken appreciable and notable strides forward, something had to give - and that was the community spirit fostered along with the bacteria in the kampongs. Lack of health standards and unsanitary conditions will fade in peoples' minds, but the familial feeling that the cozy kampongs afforded them remain a fond memory of childhood days.
Kampongs VS HDB - The Lowdown.
What do our clean, concrete HDB estates have in common with the bamboo huts of old? They might not share a great deal of common ground in aesthetics, but the similarities in culture - or at least desired culture, in the case of HDB flats - are notable.
For example, weddings in the kampongs were celebrated in the common area, as were other celebrations - and so it is now in HDB void decks. Since Singapore has not grown appreciably in size, the crowded housing is still an issue, albeit in more sanitary environments in the HDB flats than their predecessors. However, a significant difference to be mentioned was that the Housing Development Board organised racial ratios to encourage interracial harmony and the kampongs were pretty much composed of single racial denominations. On the first level of simulation, HDB flats have incorporated elements of kampongs in an attempt to emulate the integrated feeling the kampongs had, to varying degrees of success. This was perceived by some as "social engineering" - and so it was to a certain degree. The culture of HDB flats, like the interaction between neighbours and activities planned for blocks or estates - is similar to the kampong life that once prevailed in Singapore. Why is this so? The HDB saw that there were attributes of kampong life which were desirable and that were worth keeping - as did the people who moved into the HDB flats from kampongs, otherwise no amount of social engineering could have served to create an atmosphere of, if not contentment, at least mutual tolerance.
The differences between the past and the present, the HDB flats and the kampongs are irreconcilable because the past cannot be changed and the present keeps changing. This being the case, there are bound to be tensions between those who prefer the old way of life and the people who look forward to the future and all the advances that it promises. There will also be tension between the memory of the past and the ideas of the present and future. The past entails nostalgia, a faint sense of well-being since the human survival instinct erases all the slighter unhappiness of not being well-clad and well-fed; the present brings with it ultra-convenience and hitherto unbelievable inventions such that we would not be able to accept drawing water from a well everyday, or using a outdoor latrine with no flushing system. Just as it was a luxury to be able to take the bus last time for a royal fee of five cents or so, now it is commonplace to catch a cab to expedite the process of moving from point A to point B.
Even though it is trite and rather a cliche, time is moving on - and fast. Since we live in the present and cannot live in the past, a collective if undemocratic agreement to progress is on everyone's lips - and progress as we know it means that our world is evolving at breakneck speed. In order to "keep up with the times", the elements of the old world are being torn away, even as new ones emerge to replace them. While it is interesting to note how some still preserve the remnants of the way they used to live in their homes, many have embraced the new amenities technology has made possible. This creates a patchwork of society where some patches are old-school and some are not. The juxtaposition of these two schools of thought in one society only shows more clearly that there are still ties to the kampong life that cannot be cut, even as more and more are "jumping ship" to "upgrade" themselves.
What does this all mean for Singaporeans and Singapore's society? On an individual level, the desires to "know one's roots" and jostle for position in a competitive world constantly come into conflict. While the former is more pronounced in the generation that are now grandparents and the latter more obvious in Gen-Y, the blend of old and new creates a unique culture in Singapore. If kampongs were separate but closely-knit entities in the past, HDB flats and communal activities have served to blend all those little entities into a rather more uniform but well-mixed creation.
