'I lived on Pulau Samulun, now Jurong Shipyard': Musician remembers life before reclamation

Jurong Island, home to energy and chemical firms with their glittering network of complexes, is not always remembered as such.

- Ang Qing

For musician Mohd Nazir Dolah, it is a lost cluster of islands where the 74-year-old was raised in harmony with a sea teeming with life.

Much of his childhood was spent diving in the azure waters off Pulau Samulun and Pulau Merlimau, where he lived, with goggles fashioned from wood and rubber bands by his father, and sailing around on a small boat known as the kolek.

Pulau Samulun was turned into Jurong Shipyard, while Pulau Merlimau is one of 14 islands reclaimed by the Government for its vision of a regional chemical hub.

With the sea in his backyard, Mr Nazir said in Malay that "since I was six, I had been eager to swim in the sea whenever I had the chance".

As Singapore's offshore islands were developed by the Government, Mr Nazir was among scores of villagers who were relocated to the mainland.

On June 14, they gathered for a festival, named Hari Orang Pulau (Islanders' Day), at West Coast Park to celebrate their heritage through workshops, performances and talks.

At the day-long event by ground-up initiative Orang Laut SG, researchers urged attendees who once lived on the islands to record their stories, noting that the dwindling numbers in the community treasure these memories.