Growing up in a turbulent era
By Foong Pek Yee
THE soldiers came knocking on their door one night.
They were told to pack their bags before they got shoved into an army truck.
Huddled in darkness, she and her family members feared for their life throughout the journey from their home in Chemor, Perak to an undisclosed destination.
Recalling the ordeal, Phang who was only 13 then, says stories of villagers went missing after they were taken away by soldiers were real.
It was in the early 1950s, and a turbulent era in then Malaya.
Phang says she and her family were considered “dai maeng” (literally translated to big life in Cantonese – a term to denote someone who cheated death).
They were taken to Merbau New Village in Manjung, Perak – a barb wire settlement under curfew – about 80km from Chemor.
It is among the 452 new villages set up by the colonial government to cut contact between the Chinese and the communists.
(The colonial government deemed the Chinese as supporters of the communists)
“It was a long journey before the truck came to a halt. We were told to get down and get inside an attap shack,” she says pointing to the village community hall next to a coffeeshop where she was having her lunch .
“It was just an attap shack then,” she recalls.
This place certainly has a special place in her heart.
Good old days: Once an attap shack that gave shelter to the temporary homeless
Phang says they stayed in the shack for a while before each family was given a plot of land in the village to build a house and do whatever they can to survive.
She recalls planting vegetables, tapioca and rearing animals for a living.
Phang took a walk down memory lane when I met her at the coffeeshop recently.
Phang and Chang, the wife of the coffeeshop owner, came across as close friends.
Moments in life: Chang finds time to catch up with Phang (seated)
Villages are basically close knitted communities.
Phang who got married and stayed on in Merbau has five children. Her husband passed away several years ago.
She says her eldest sister, in her 80s, her only surviving sibling, stays in Chemor. Phang is the youngest among four siblings.
Phang is taking care of her youngest child – a daughter in her 50s- who is not well.
A hard life, but all is not lost.
Growing up in the turbulent years has made her resilient to any challenges life throws at her.
“I live each day well,” says Phang when asked what a typical day is like for her these days.
