Can a place truly be called forgotten if there’s someone around to remember it? yb globs about his old kampong, Kampong Chia Heng, which was also known, quite romantically, as the Kampong of Forgotten Souls.

There once was a Kampong Chia Heng Road, adjacent to Novena Church, but it is no longer there. Today, Novena Terrace would have covered part of the way there. yg relates some of his memories about the kampong, including the unauthorised construction of some of the houses:

i just found out that the kampong (kampong chia heng) where i spent nearly 30 years of my life was labelled ‘the kampong of forgotten souls’ in the 50s. i also found out that the rows of attap houses that we stayed in were constructed without a permit. although it was located 6.4km from the city, there was no proper road, no proper sanitation and no electricity.

a complaint was lodged when three blocks of unauthorised wooden and attap buildings were under construction. the authorities were not able to find out who the ‘developer’ of the buildings was. by the time, the people who claimed to be owners – 7 women and 5 men – were charged in court, there were already nine blocks and some were already occupied. anyway, there was no court order to demolish the illegal structures. the 12 owners – all chinese – were fined $30 each. it was reported that the ‘kongsi’ raked in a profit of some $400 000.

I wonder why it was called the Kampong of Forgotten Souls – perhaps it’s the association with the nearby Novena church? It’s also strange how there’s no trace of the village today, even when it existed as recently as 50-60 years ago. Find out about yg’s old kampong here and here.