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SINGAPORE \u2013 He may have been comfortably retired for 17 years, but recalling an episode from early in his adulthood when he was without a job still brings Mr Yang Sin Pu, 90, to tears. <\/p>\n
Back then, the Selangor-born Mr Yang had been fired after working for about four years as a bartender in a mess at the British Royal Air Force\u2019s Tengah base. <\/p>\n
With two young children to feed, he found himself considering a move back to Malaysia with his family as he approached his 30s. <\/p>\n
It was in the late 1960s and Singapore had been separated from Malaysia in August 1965. <\/p>\n
Mr Yang, who moved to Singapore in 1961 and was holding permanent resident (PR) status post-separation, believes his dismissal was predicated on two factors: the British paring down their forces in Singapore before they eventually pulled out in 1971, and priority employment for citizens in the newly independent Republic. <\/p>\n
\u201cStaying without a job was difficult. The financial stress was tough to shoulder and my Singaporean wife could not bear to leave her home and family,\u201d said Mr Yang in Mandarin. <\/p>\n
The last among his parents and six brothers to move to Singapore, Mr Yang is among about 1,400 seniors who have since April 2025 shared their stories with the Founders\u2019 Memorial as part of an engagement campaign<\/span><\/a> to gather stories from first-generation Singaporeans. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen it was time to receive the identity cards, all the Singaporeans got pink ones and mine was blue \u2013 that was not good,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n \u201cAlready it was difficult for Singaporeans to find jobs, so for foreigners like me, there was no hope,\u201d said Mr Yang, who had made preparations to relocate his family to Malaysia, including by attaching his sons\u2019 details to his passport \u2013 they were very young and without passports of their own at that point. <\/p>\n \u201cBut I looked at my wife and she was miserable and anxious every day about leaving, so eventually we decided to stay,\u201d said Mr Yang, adding that he applied for citizenship not long after Singapore became independent. <\/p>\n \u201cAs ethnic Chinese, we were hesitant to go to a predominantly Malay Malaysia and potentially be second-class citizens,\u201d he added, referencing racial politics at the time. <\/p>\n But as a non-citizen in Singapore, he found that getting a job was near impossible. Having spent most of his working life since he was 14 in hospitality roles, he applied to work in several hotels but was not favoured because of his PR status. <\/p>\n Eventually, through a friend, he became a chauffeur for a businessman from Hong Kong who had established a company here and wanted a Cantonese-speaking driver. <\/p>\n \u201cI could speak Cantonese so I took it, but I didn\u2019t know if he ever applied for a work permit for me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Not long after, a friend brought him back to the hospitality industry, where he worked in food and beverage services at a golf club \u2013 a job he was in when he was finally given citizenship in 1976. <\/p>\n He said that at his citizenship ceremony, he could barely grasp what he was saying when it was time to take his oath of allegiance, because the moment felt surreal after he had waited for over a decade. <\/p>\n \u201cAll I could think about was the pink IC,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n To him, citizenship meant he could choose from a wider pool of jobs as his immigration status was no longer a hindrance for employers. <\/p>\n \u201cI had waited for a long time and I felt like a caged bird that was set free,\u201d said Mr Yang, who worked as a bus driver for a year or so before becoming a taxi driver \u2013 a job he held for three decades until he retired in the late 2000s, aged 73. <\/p>\n He said that as a taxi driver, he could feel Singapore\u2019s rapid development, especially when his passengers were foreigners. <\/p>\n \u201cThere were many Japanese businessmen and often they would go to factories in Jurong,\u201d he said of the industrial town, which had been developed since the early 1960s. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have come a long way from manufacturing appliances to computer chips, and becoming a major financial centre,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a story of going from having nothing to having much, and I have never regretted staying in Singapore because of how the country has grown.\u201d <\/p>\n Stories and memories of first-generation Singaporeans like Mr Yang are being compiled by the Founders\u2019 Memorial through its senior engagement programme, which will run till the end of 2026. <\/p>\n The National Heritage Board said the stories compiled will shape content at the memorial, including a display where selected stories will be featured. <\/p>\n The programme is part of an ongoing Project Citizens campaign, which spotlights independent Singapore\u2019s first citizens. <\/p>\n Also part of the campaign is an exhibition titled Not Mere Spectators<\/span><\/a>, which runs until March 29 at the National Gallery Singapore and explores the value of multiculturalism in the country.<\/p>\n