Mata Mata, RAF Soccer Team, 1st NDP Contingent, Roti John

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Remembering Our First National Day: August 9th 1966

Happy Tay who lived in Singapore during its early years contributes regularly to this blog.  He now resides in Vancouver B.C.

Hello Andy,

Sorry for being off the air for awhile.  I have decided to write to you, especially after reading the article from Allan Thompson.  I don't recall relating to you of my experiences with the RAF during the '60s...

Singapore's National Football Team in the 60s from gforce-guru.blogspot.com

I had signed up with the RAF as a police officer immediately after school and was 18 years old then.  I was sent to the RAF Base in Changi for my 6 months intensive training, where I excelled in soccer, representing the RAF Police and later the RAF Changi Team. 

Most of the players were Caucasians, made up of top footballers from the UK, and they were really good at soccer! To be picked, especially if you're a local, for the soccer team, you have to be really good.

The first National Day Parade at the Padang in 1966.

For this team, I was one of only two Asian or local representative for RAF Base, Changi, Seletar, and Tengah. If I remember correctly the other player, Hussein Hashim, also went on to play for the Singapore Malays FC.  

They really had great players at that time and  if you recall the Singapore National Team consisted of legendary players like Quah Kim Swee, Lee Kok Seng, Wilfred Skinner, Matmoon Sudasi, Lee Teng Yee, Ali Astar, Quah Kim Siak, Rahim Omar, Majid Ariff, to name a few.

After Basic Military Training (BMT), I was selected for further training with the Intelligence Unit since we were facing confrontation with Indonesia and the Communists. During this period, Singapore did not have its own police or army so we had to rely on the British and Malaya.  The rest is history.

Changi Village from: www.singas.co.uk

I had served for 3 years before being recruited by the newly formed Singapore Police Force or Police Republic Singapura to serve as an instructor at the then Police Training School which was later known as the Police Academy. I was also involved in the first Singapore National Day Parade (NDP), marching with great pride, together with the first Police Contingent and led by the well-known Police Band. Policemen are known as mata mata (Malay word for eyes) in Singapore.

The starting point was then at Beach Road (opposite the SIR Army Camp). Singapore had only the SIR, or the Singapore Infantry Regiment, as its very own army. There were about 350,000 people who turned out in the city to celebrate that first birthday on 9th August, 1966.  Just thought you might find something interesting along the way of my recollection, Andy! 



Roti John

Another thing that I wanted to add were the many Mama (Indian) food stalls located along Changi Village, which were frequented by the RAF personnel and their families. One of the local food (and favourite) or rather comfort food that came to my mind was the popular *Roti John.  It was made of bread (in many ways similar to the present Subway) with fillings of fried egg, salad, onion, topped with tomato sauce and costing less than a dollar then. Later, beef was included but with an additional charge. 

Sunny Bala and Moonglows

On Fridays and Saturdays, we have our local band playing at some of the lounges at the Base itself.   They included names like Sonny Bala and the Moonglows, Impian Bateks, and others. They were very popular and most of these lounges were so filled that it was standing room only every weekend. These venues became a must go to places for the Servicemen  and their spouses or dates. Beers were very cheap then (duty exempted) costing less than a dollar a can! 

Those were the days, with lots of great memories, too!  Cheers my friend, and wishing you the very best.

Guru Happy.



The Impian Bateks.

Dear Happy,

Thank you very much for your regular and generous contribution to this blog. I appreciate what you are doing and hope readers, especially Singaporeans, are just as appreciative.

Yours Sincerely,
Andy.

*Roti John (a local version of an omelette burger but freshly grilled) is still very much in demand today and popular with both Singaporeans and foreigners.

Information from: Happy Tay Vancouver, BC (Copyrights Reserved).

Images: Google and Andy Lim Collection.

Mata Mata Special Squads Roam 60's Night Clubs

Mata, Mata - The Singapore Police Force in the 1950's.

Something on my Mind with d'Starlights. Video by Mr Rainbow.

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Singapore Police Force n Nightclub Scene:

"Mata. Mata lai leow. (cops are here). Time is tight man! Let's make a run for it before we get caught by the special squad!"  The nightclubs in the 1960's were usually quiet with conflicts and rowdiness more or else contained.  

But there were instances when fights and clashes erupted and the police would appear quickly to appease the situation and handle the trouble makers.  

Guru Happy, who now lives in Vancouver is here again to discuss certain tough areas that he had been patrolling those years.  Personal names have been left out and the article has been edited:

*d'Starlights: Karate-kicks on stage before music performance.

"D'Starlights, I'm sure many of you could remember, was one of the first and top band from the Philippines to perform at the El Amigo in Singapore. We would always frequent the Lounge or Nite Club (as they were known those days) located at the New World Amusement Park.

This group were karate exponents and would include some Japanese art of self-defence techniques at the beginning of their music performance to show the gangsters their own agility.

Is this a **BLACK MARIA with reinforced steel bars?

Located at Kitchener Road (City Square Mall has now replaced New World) it was one place where well-known gangsters and hard-core fugitives would also congregate and come to know me pretty well too.  We would always land up making arrests in the club when I was then with the Police Special Squad working together with one Mr Singh (Special Squad or plain clothes policemen were known as arm-pai amongst the Chinese).



Another place we used to frequent often was at the Pink Panther off Orchard Road and the Shamrock Bar and Nite Club. "If you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place, If you're looking for trouble just look right in my face (Elvis Presley's Trouble from King Creole)."

Elvis Presley spells trouble in King Creole.

Childhood Friends:

Cathay Nite Club and Restaurant at the Cathay Cinema at Mount Sophia and Handy Road was another favourite joint and that was where my present better half and I had our first date, together with childhood friends, a well-known radio DJ and another friend who was one of Singapore's great footballers. We grew up together in primary school and if we didn't frequent the nightclubs we would spend most of our time on the soccer field in Queenstown.

Nightclubs in the 50s and 60s

Besides D'Starlights I still remember Susan Lim with The Crescendos and would still listen to her on You-Tube today to recall all those memorable times where we enjoyed our T-Dances and house parties in the 60s. Yes, so much to talk about, but so little time-lah, especially when you're far away from your kampung in Pasir Ris. Original article by Guru Happy."

Angchia (red van) arrests begin with warning messages over loudspeakers.

Takes A Crook To Catch A Crook - Singapore Gangsters

Call them what you will: triad, secret societies, thugs or samseng kia, these criminal organisations were known to identify themselves using numerals like 08 or 329. In the 60's gangsters would be detained under the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Ordinance.  In the month of February 1965 alone more than 3,000 suspects were screened and about a dozen gangsters arrested. They lived in hideouts at Geylang, Yeo Chu Kang, Havelock, Chinatown and other areas.

Undercover police officers who dressed like thugs would penetrate hideouts and together with ex-gangsters recruited by the police, raid dens and red-light areas like Geylang and Sago Lane. The exploits of these reformed criminals were legendary as they helped to capture some of the worst in our society.

Mata mata means Eyes in the Malay Language. It is the colloquial term for Policemen.

Gangsters caught by the mata-mata and arm-pai. From stomp.com.sg

Images:

Vinyl from d'Starlights: It's Soul Man with A Man Without Love, Hip Hug Her, El Pussy Cat and Louie Louie on EMI/ECHK 598.

Police vans to transport prisoners inside a specially adapted cell in the vehicle; also for rapid transport of police officers to an incident.

The vehicle most gangsters fear was the ang-chia or red van, used to round up troublemakers and placed under arrest. They would be escorted under heavy guard in these red vans and charged at the police station. Such vehicles have been phased out today and replaced with smaller ones.

If you take information from this article for your own use, 

at least credit me because copying is stealing.

Andy.

Images from: Google,  stomp.com.sg, Andy Lim Collection.
Original article: Guru Happy from Vancouver, BC.

1972: Singapore Bruce Lee Beats Thugs At Cinema

(The above video is a masterpiece, creatively crafted by Shane Woodbury showing Bruce Lee at his peak. Watch it in full.)

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When martial-arts mania flexed its muscles and extended its flying kicks in Singapore 70s, "Kato" or "Big Boss" Bruce Lee became a cult hero on the big screen and "Grasshopper" David Carradine became one on the goggle box. I remember watching these two actors who had by then a large international following. 


1. Carl Douglas Album Cover

Every other day some exponent of TKD, karate or whatever else was chopping bricks, slicing wooden boards on TV or at the Community Centres in Singapore.  The mass hysteria even produced a single called Kung Fu Fighting (not Kung Fu Panda) by Carl Douglas that sold eleven million copies in 1974 (plenty in those days).

So everyone listen up, for here's a story about what happened at a cinema in Singapore in 1972 when fists of fury found their target on blackmarket ticket thugs.


2. Poster of Bruce Lee's movie in the 1970s.

The writer is a friend of James Kwok who is with our FOYers Group:

Hi Andy,

It would be nice like they say to *talk cock (pardon my language) and reminisce over the good old days, especially those days when T-Dances were so popular! One of my most unforgettable memories, and believe me, there're quite a few, was an incident at **The Orchard Theatre, which I would like to share with you.

3. David Carradine on the goggle box.

I vividly recalled, it was the first screening of Bruce Lee's Fist of Fury and the queue for tickets was almost a kilometer long.  I was in the queue, like all law-abiding citizens, when I noticed a gang of black-market thugs jumping the queue in front, shoving, and threatening those who dared to voice out.

I overheard one lady screaming, "Where's the police?" and was immediately told off by one of the gang members. That was when I sprung into action. Nobody realised that I was an arm-pai or mata-mata (plain-clothes cop).  With my revolver at my side (I was in plainclothes), and fresh from receiving a black belt in TKD (Tae Kwon Do from one of my Korean Masters at the then, Gay World), I started pulling these thugs out from the line.

They were too shocked by my action to retaliate, and before they were aware of what was going on, two of then were on the floor after having received my TKD kicks while the others took off!

4. An artist's impression of TKD which need not necessarily be violent.

I was pleasantly surprised when most of the fans in the queue started to clap and shouted their approval after what I did. How about that!  Pity it was not reported in the local media then.  Anyway, that was a REAL Bruce Lee's preview-lah and I did not even realise my action then. A mata-mata was in action to defend members of the public.

So many stories to recap Bruddher, and this is just one.  I simply love those good old days and can never, never, forget that, no matter where we are to-day.

Till we meet over our teh-tarik, and maybe, roti prata again.

God Bless,

Guru Happy.

About the writer:

Guru Happy lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada and is in the Police Harley Davidson (the latest Police Escort Bike) as their Fleet Co-ordinator, after retiring from the RCMP (the Federal Police).  He was with the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) to supervise the fleet for the 2010 Winter Olympics. 

He was the first, and only former Singaporean - an honour he is proud of - to be involved with the security for the Olympics which was a once in a lifetime dream.  He was entrusted not only with the arrangements for the local VVIPs, but also the US President, working along with the US Secret Service Agents. 

5. Letter writer Guru Happy with his Harley Davidson.

Like the saying goes, "Once a cop, always a cop" no matter where you are.  Happy promises more stories on this blog soon.

Original article/image 5:  Guru Happy Copyrights Reserved.

You Tube video from: Shane Woodbury.

Images 1, 2, 3, 4: from Google.

*Frivolous chatter. Perhaps coffeeshop talk.

**Orchard Cinema, Grange Road (1965-1995)

In 1965 when Singapore gained independence, Cathay Organisation opened their second cinema after Cathay. It is the Orchard Cinema (国宾戏院) at Grange Road.  It was closed in 1995 for renovation and re-established itself as Orchard Cineleisure today.

Today: February: 2023.

It's best to mask up like Kato, or you'll be in trouble, not with the law but with your health. Covid Nineteen and family are still around...

Bruce Lee as Kato in The Green Hornet. 

Better mask up, Covid or otherwise!!!