JinXiang: Good afternoon Mr Tan, thank you for granting us his interview.
JinXiang: How did the name Ang mo kio came about?
Mr Tan: Actually the name probably came from the historical records. Because the word Ang mo kio is came from dialect translation means European bridge. And probably there was a bridge around here build by the columbium people .
JinXiang: So what was Ang mo kio known as before it was developed into a new town?
Mr Tan : Actually it was only a continuation of a rubber estate from Serangoon garden all to Mayflower and then the other parts were all bushes. So actually there was nothing outstanding about the place except there was a series of path all of the place. And if you look at the map of those days, you will find the number of path. But when you go down and
walk and take a look you will find that those path don’t even exist.
JinXiang: So what amenities were there back in 1970s?
Mr Tan: When you talk of the amenities, I was thinking in terms of what were there available back in 1979. In the year 1979, it’s the time I step into this place. And not very far from the school the present school site, there use to be a wet market and a number of shops and that was really a town centre at that time. There were shop houses in this area.
JinXiang: What is unique about Ang Mo kio?
Mr Tan: There is nothing unusual about Ang mo kio except the development had been a very peaceful one. So people move in as the houses were ready.
JinXiang: Were there many people living in Ang mo kio in the 1960s?
Mr Tan: Actually in the early 70s, Ang Mo Kio new town has not been build, is only built after 1975 then the town was being built around the area. So in terms of people living in Ang mo Kio at that point of time, there were not many people only a few thousand people living around he small blocks here.
DaoQian: I shall take over and ask you about Ang mo kio Secondary School.
DaoQian: Do you have any idea that was Ang mo kio secondary school the first seconday school built in Ang mo kio?
Mr Tan: Yes, It was the first school. Because there was one other school and that was a primary school.
DaoQian: So why was the school named after the town?
Mr Tan: The named of the school was done by the people in the Ministry of Education and in those days school were named after places or roads. Just like Thomson Secondary School, Upper Thomson Secondary School and here we have Ang Mo kio Secondary School.
DaoQian: So what was the challenges you faced as the first principal of the school?
Mr Tan: When the school was ready, the school building was ready, the school was already functioning at a borrow building namely the premises of HuiYou Secondary. So we have our first batch of Sec 1 classes since January of 1979. Then later in the year end of April the school was handed over to the Ministry and then to me. And then after the handing over, the furniture came in. The furniture came in literally every member of the staff and students. At that time the students were not around but we manage to get a few and we all had to collectively help to carry the furniture into the class room like the tables and chairs.
DaoQian: So Do you have any impression of the Ang mo kio student back then?
Mr Tan: Actually the student back then were very eagle to come to school because here we are having is a brand new school and here is a school that is downstep to them. So we started off with the Secondary 1 classes in the 1979. then the following year we open our classes to pupils from secondary 1 to 4 plus class for a level of the Chinese stream.
DaoQian: So any idea on how many teacher in our school?
Mr Tan: I cant remember. Because some teachers did not belong to our school because our school was being use to house pupils from mayflower primary school because there school was under construction.
DaoQian: So what is your most memorable moment during your term of office in the school?
Mr Tan: I think the thing being in the school was that there was a lot of things to be done and then we try to do the things as fast as we could. Just like one of thing we had to do is the opening ceremony. In the past, schools that want to prepare for their opening ceremony had borrow bands and dancers from other school in their neighborhood but when we prepare our own in the year 1980s , we have literally everything ourselves. We have our own dancers; we have our band perform the tune that we wanted because we engaged company to do it to supply us our equipment and to prepare our pupil to play the require the music that we wanted for the function. We were part of the community, we also encourage our facility to be use by the people association so there was a decentralized parade using our school drums. And during those days, the parade for the decentralized has being held all over the island in housing estate.
DaoQian: So were there any school songs back then?
Mr Tan: Talking about the school song, I don’t know what is the present school song. We had one song that was compose for us by a Filipino friend from Melina. He composed for us and then when I brought the song and the music back; it was set to the brass band for Mr. Ananta to the ACDC.
DaoQian: Were you involved in creating the school motto?
Mr Tan: I cannot say I was involved; I was involved in literally of everything. But quite a lot of things are collective effort by a group of people. That mean staff members contribution, members from SAC, because at that time, our school committee consisted of people from the commercial sector. Just like the first chairman. The first chairman was once who work in an insurance company.
DaoQian: What was the school motto then?
Mr Tan: I cannot remember.
DaoQian: So do you have any idea what does the school logo represent or rather are there any school logo back then?
Mr Tan: I cannot remember.
ALL: Thank you Mr. Tan.
1964 