island posting - pulau semakau

pulau semakau lies 8km to the south of the main island of singapore. it used to have a small fishing community. there was once a school, at the top of the hill, on the island. it even boasted a football at one end of the village. one of the oldest residents continued to live on the island even after the settlers were relocated to the mainland. he eventually moved out as well, as the jetty fell into disrepair.

one of my co-examiners was relating his experiences when he was teaching in the village school from 1969 to 1971. he had to get up every (school) day at 5.00 a.m. to drive to jardine steps, where he would leave his car. he paid the $30 monthly parking charges out of his own meagre $200 salary.

from jardine steps, he took the launch to pulau bukom. the moment he landed on pulau bukom, he had to run all the way to another point to catch the sampan to take him to pulau semakau. the sampan, which had a capacity of eight passengers, usually carried almost double the number. it was so precarious that each time someone in the boat shifted his weight, water could get into the sampan.

he was the only teacher who gave instructions in english, the other five teachers taught in malay. all the pupils were malays except for one, a chinese who was adopted by a malay family. the school had only one classroom and two lessons would be conducted in the same room simultaneously, with one group facing one board and the other group facing the second board in the same class.

at dismissal time, which was 12 noon, it was another mad rush to ensure that he got onto to the sampan to make the return trip, first to pulau bukom and then, to jardine steps. if he missed that, it would mean a three-hour wait for the next trip/sampan.

nevertheless, there was this fringe benefit... every week he would receive a supply of fresh fish and other seafood for which he paid just $10.