Kampong Spirit—Gotong Royong: Life in Potong Pasir, 1955 to 1965

“This loving, nostalgic memoir of a crucial decade in Singapore’s history,1955–65, weaves personal with public events. Josephine Chia links happenings in her family to her kampong friends in Potong Pasir to national and international events. The family-kampong events include the coming of TV to Potong Pasir, the national includes Lee Kuan Yew campaigning there and the international the impact of the news of the assassination of President Kennedy. In this way, the author imbues the seemingly small things with social significance, fusing drama, comedy and tragedy into a poignant tale of a child growing up. In addition, as she matures, she becomes aware of her Peranakan and feminist heritages, and how her mother empowered her by sending her to an English school. If you want to know what it was like for Singapore to progress exponentially from the third to the first world, this book is an essential document.

Together with its sequel, Goodbye My Kampong!, it is invaluable in chronicling Singapore’s past days of kampong living.”
—Robert Yeo, Poet and Playwright

“Every line in Kampong Spirit is so evocative, so rich in details, descriptions and dialogue, that it keeps you spellbound to the past. As you turn from the page, you’re suddenly awoken to how much Singapore has changed, and how much grace and skill it had taken Josephine Chia to time-travel you without missing a beat.”
—Felix Cheong, Poet and Graphic Novelist

“This lovingly crafted memoir brings to life the vibrant spirit of a bygone Kampong Potong Pasir. Through Josephine’s tender recollections, we revisit cherished places and familiar faces, the colonial buildings at Atas Bukit, the old St Andrew’s School, and her beloved kampong friends, with whom she still gathers once a year. Though the stand-pipes, hurricane lamps, and other humble fixtures of kampong life have faded into memory, their presence lingers in her heartfelt storytelling. With gentle prose and a deep affection for the past, Josephine invites readers on a nostalgic journey through a kampong that lives on in her heart, and now, in these pages.”
—Adrian Phuah, Lecturer and Researcher/Historian

Josephine Chia is proud of her Peranakan heritage. She is internationally published in both adult fiction and non-fiction. She was born in Kampong Potong Pasir in colonial Singapore. Her first short stories were published in SINGA, a Singapore literary journal published in the 1980s and 1990s. She has run Creative Writing workshops for the National Book Development Council, the National Arts Council, the National Library Board and the Ministry of Education’s Creative Arts Programme, and is a mentor to aspiring writers under the National Arts Council’s Mentor Access Programme (MAP) and the Ministry of Education’s Creative Arts Programme.