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Straits Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Straits Times
Athletes eager to compete as 10th Special Olympics Singapore National Games kick off
Nuraqilah Fatin Swat, a participant in bocce, pictured with a sign her friends made her after the 10th Special Olympics Singapore National Games during the opening ceremony held at Bishan Stadium on May 30, 2025. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG SINGAPORE – Through her schooling years, Nuraqilah Fatin Swat dabbled in different sports like football and floorball, but felt that none really suited her. With knee injuries also making it hard for her to pursue these sports, she began to search for other hobbies she could do outside of her job as a barista. Four months ago, while scrolling through Instagram, she came across a post on bocce, a bowling game of Italian origin played on a long narrow court, and decided to give it a try. The 30-year-old quickly took a liking to the sport and will be participating in her first bocce competition – the Special Olympics Singapore National Games, which will be held from May 30 to June 2. Although she picked up bocce only recently, Fatin is aiming for gold at the event as she eyes a spot at the 2027 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Santiago, Chile. She said: 'During my school days, I always saw my classmates going for Special Olympics competitions, they always got the chance to go overseas to compete. 'I already had interest in sports for a long time but I just didn't get the chance to join (these overseas competitions), but after I work, I just thought maybe I want to join the Special Olympics with a sport that suits me.' Fatin was speaking on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 10th Special Olympics Singapore National Games, which took place at Bishan Stadium on May 30. The ceremony was graced by guest-of-honour President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who declared the Games open. The quadrennial, multi-sport competition will be held at the National University of Singapore, and will involve 543 athletes with intellectual disabilities, 140 coaches and over 1,000 volunteers from 27 schools and centres. It will feature seven sports competitions: athletics, badminton, bocce, bowling, dance sport, football and swimming. Also eager to make his debut at the Special Olympics Singapore National Games is footballer Shane Yan, who was inspired to take the sport more seriously after watching his favourite club Real Madrid clinch a third consecutive Champions League title in 2018. That led to him joining the Special Olympics football outreach programme the same year, with him training every Saturday morning at Bendemeer Secondary School in addition to weekly futsal sessions. The forward, 21, said: 'I really love football, it gives me the exhiliration when I run... I've never regretted my decision and look where I am now – I'm more physically active than before.' Shane Yan, a footballer, carries a torch with the Special Olympics flame during one leg of the relay during the opening ceremony held at Bishan Stadium on May 30, 2025. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Sport has given him the opportunity to mix with different people who share the same passion as him and has also emphasised to him the value of inclusion and social cohesion. 'For me, inclusivity and embracing diversity is very important to me because everybody has different capabilities in whatever they do,' said Yan, a third-year student in Republic Polytechnic, where he is pursuing a diploma in sports and exercise science. In her speech at the opening ceremony, Special Olympics Singapore president Teo-Koh Sock Miang sent a similiar message. Urging the crowd of about 2,500 people at Bishan Stadium to show their support for the athletes, she said: 'Tonight, I call on everyone to help us celebrate abilities and inspire possibilities. 'That's the theme of these Games – let's inspire each other, let's make sure that opportunities will always be there for our special athletes, so let's help to celebrate every single athlete at the Games.' Kimberly Kwek joined The Straits Times in 2019 as a sports journalist and has since covered a wide array of sports, including golf and sailing. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
24-05-2025
- General
- Straits Times
Rare wild cattle herded in Cambodia by helicopter
Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to South-east Asia and listed as critically endangered. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG PHNOM PENH - A helicopter successfully herded 16 critically endangered banteng onto a truck in Cambodia for the first time, conservationists said, marking a 'significant achievement' in a country with high rates of deforestation. Banteng are a type of wild cattle native to South-east Asia and listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of threatened species. Their natural habitat is forests and grasslands, but only a few thousand remain in the wild and they are mostly threatened by hunting, logging and industry. Cambodia has lost around 33 per cent of its tree cover since 2000, according to Global Forest Watch, as the government allows firms to clear vast tracts of land – including in protected zones. Conservation groups Rising Phoenix and Siem Pang said that 16 banteng found in the wild were herded over three days last week through a 'mass-capture funnel trap' onto a truck before being relocated to a wildlife sanctuary. For the first time, a helicopter was used to guide them through the funnel. The operation took place in Siem Pang in northeastern Cambodia. The conservation groups said that the method 'opens the way for further such operations to relocate Banteng trapped in isolated forest patches elsewhere in the country'. They added that the banteng will be monitored and protected at the Siem Pang Wildlife Sanctuary. AFP Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
No sex, no problem? What it means to be asexual in Singapore
Members of Aces Going Places say society often misunderstands what it means to be asexual or aromantic. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG No sex, no problem? What it means to be asexual in Singapore SINGAPORE – When Mr Wayn Lau was 16, he began to notice how different he was from his peers. 'It was at that age that people were starting to go on their relationship journeys, maybe even doing physical stuff, and I never really understood that,' says the now 25-year-old freelance artist. While his classmates experienced crushes and infatuations, what Mr Lau felt was fundamentally different – closer to friendship than romance. 'I kind of had a feeling that I wasn't straight, but I didn't really see myself as gay, and being (bisexual) didn't really click either,' he adds. For a time, he even immersed himself in romance novels to try to understand what he was missing out on. It was not until he encountered a YouTube video of someone describing what it was like to be 'aro-ace' – short for aromantic and asexual – that things clicked into place. Being aromantic refers to experiencing little or no romantic attraction, while being asexual refers to someone who experiences little or no sexual attraction. By age 18, he had found the words to describe his experiences, and now identifies as aro-ace. He is not alone in feeling this way. Singapore's largest community of asexual and aromantic people, who call themselves Aces Going Places, set up in 2016, now counts more than 300 members – though the actual number of asexual or aromantic people is likely to be higher. Love and sex as a 'spectrum' To the community, asexuality and aromanticism exist on spectrums and are explained through the 'split attraction model' – a model in psychology which posits that romantic and sexual attraction can be separate experiences that do not necessarily align. For instance, someone who has sexual desire but no romantic feelings might identify as aromantic but not asexual. Mr Teng Yong Ping, 39, a public relations consultant who founded Aces Going Places nine years ago, explains: 'I am both gay as well as asexual. The gay part is what people would also call homoromantic. I am attracted to guys, but I just don't really feel the need for sex.' Mr Teng Yong Ping, holding the asexual flag, started monthly meetups because he was looking for others who shared the same complicated feelings as him. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG This 'spectrum' includes other labels, some of which occasionally enter the mainstream. 'Demisexual' refers to feeling sexual attraction only after forming a deep emotional bond, and is increasingly used as a descriptor on dating apps, while 'greysexual' refers to experiencing sexual attraction rarely or only under specific circumstances. Despite growing awareness of such labels, misunderstandings are common. 'When I first started coming out as ace, one of the first friends I told this to told me that I just haven't had good sex yet,' says Mr Teng. 'You just need to find the right person. How can you not want sex?' 'I think that's a very common dismissal of asexuals that a lot of aces encounter, the idea that lacking sexual desire is unnatural, when, actually, it's a normal part of human variation,' he adds. Finding words to describe feelings Mr Ang Ming Wei, a PhD candidate at Nanyang Technological University studying relationships and aromanticism, says that as society places a high premium on romantic love and sex, those who identify as aromantic or asexual are often stigmatised. 'It is important to recognise that people's intimate needs are naturally diverse for any combination of social, psychological and biological reasons,' he says. 'The feeling that being aromantic or asexual is abnormal results from social pressures and expectations.' Indeed, Mr Lau observes that most aromantic and almost all ace people are confused about their feelings – or lack of – at some point and where they stand. 'Most of us would be, because we're brought up in a society where people have this kind of cookie-cutter idea of life,' he says. In Singapore and elsewhere, there is a common societal expectation that the arrival of adulthood means a search for love that often results in marriage and children. 'Everywhere around you, in movies and TV – even in shows that are action-based or whatnot – there's romance involved,' says Mr Lau, who lambasts the frequency at which shows tend to incorporate explicit or implied sex scenes that add nothing to the plot. Such prevailing attitudes mean there are few alternative narratives that shed light on – much less validate – feelings of asexuality or aromanticism. For 29-year-old Lyndon Ang, who uses they/them pronouns and first encountered the term 'asexual' in secondary school, the internet was a lifeline to seeking understanding and solidarity. 'While people my age were probably exploring both romantically and sexually, I neither had the interest in it nor really thought about it that much,' says the community manager at a video game company. Lyndon Ang, holding the asexual flag, says the community has played an important role in helping them come out of their shell. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Browsing social media platform Tumblr in his late teens introduced him to posts from users discussing what it means to be 'ace', as well as content from American non-profit group Asexual Visibility and Education Network, which provided a vocabulary for framing his thoughts and experiences. 'That was how I discovered that asexuality is something that is not only valid as an orientation, but is also a budding community,' he says. 'So in that sense, I wasn't broken, I just happened to be different.' Tumblr is a common source of information for asexuals and aromantics. PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM TUMBLR Similarly for Ms Li, a 26-year-old software engineer who declines to share her first name, recognition of her asexuality and aromanticism came through a 2022 YouTube video by her favourite American content creator Jaiden Dittfach, also known as 'Jaiden Animations'. In it, Dittfach reveals she is aro-ace. 'The more she told her story, the more I was like, is this not what everyone experiences?' Ms Li recalls thinking. When she sent the video to her friends, none of them found the content relatable. But her own resonance made Ms Li realise that she, too, could be an aro-ace. Ms Li, who declines to share her first name, says it is a misconception that all asexual or aromantic people do not want relationships. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Although some aces have adopted the practice of wearing a black ring on their right middle finger to identify themselves to one another , the group remains largely invisible both to larger society and one another in everyday life. This lack of identifying markers is one reason many ace communities begin – and thrive – online. 'I think aces have always been around since ancient times,' says Mr Teng. 'But it's easier nowadays for asexuals or aromantics to find one another and to build community with one another. The internet has helped a lot.' Not just a youth phenomenon For some others, the realisation of their asexuality comes later in life. Kris, a freelancer in her 50s who declines to share her last name, says: 'I wasn't as privileged as the rest to realise my orientation at the age of 18 or 20.' Previously married, Kris identifies as biromantic (having romantic feelings towards men and women) and greysexual (someone who rarely experiences sexual attraction). She says growing up in the pre-internet days meant there were few discussions on asexuality and such matters. 'I now have to educate the rest of my lesbian friends on what being demi or grey means,' she says. She pushes back against the prevalent belief that asexuality and aromanticism are modern phenomena primarily experienced by the young. She argues that the older generation simply did not have the same access to information and vocabulary to express what they were feeling. 'When I connected with people who were my age, I was so happy,' she recounts of meeting others in their 40s and 50s at a recent Aces Going Places meetup. She adds that she has since reconsidered her previously held view that these labels are unnecessary. Embracing these newfangled labels shows that self-discovery can occur at all stages of life 'regardless of age', she says. Misunderstood by society As a largely invisible minority, common misconceptions plague asexuals and aromantics. When they come out to non-asexual and non-aromantic friends and family, the younger ones tend to be more accepting, but many still incorrectly conflate asexuality with celibacy or prudishness. Others assume they are repressed or missing out. 'Part of the problem is that the ace and aro spectrums are spectrums,' says Mr Teng. 'It's complex. I don't really blame people because it's hard to wrap your head around if it's something you've never heard of.' It is fine to ask questions if you are curious to know more, he says. However, community members tend to push back against invasive questions about sex drive or assumptions of inadequacy in the romance department. Mr Wayn Lau says society often incorrectly assumes that those who are asexual or aromantic are missing out. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Observing the most common reactions, Mr Lau says: 'Some people assume that ace people are just gay people who are still oppressing themselves, or they think that ace people are just straight people who want to feel special. 'Or they assume that aces or aro people lack emotions – like you don't feel anything. But you can feel emotional bonds in different ways. It doesn't have to be of romantic or sexual origins.' He recalls being advised by a therapist to seek a polyclinic referral to a sleep clinic for his insomnia. He was 17 at the time and mentioned he was aromantic and asexual in response to the polyclinic doctor's questions about his personal life. After this disclosure, the doctor referred him to a psychiatrist for 'psychosexual dysfunction' – something that the psychiatrist he went on to see thoroughly debunked. This routinely happens, says Mr Lau, who notes that others in his community have also experienced therapists or doctors telling them asexuality is unnatural and treating it as a condition to 'recover' from. 'I have known aro-ace people who say they are afraid of opening up to their medical professionals about being aro-ace because they're scared of stuff like that,' he adds. Dr Kenneth Tan, an assistant professor of psychology at the Singapore Management University, points to research that estimates around 1 per cent of the population reports no sexual attraction whatsoever. Asexuality and aromanticism are distinct from each other, with aromanticism remaining most understudied. Dr Tan adds that past research in psychology indicates that asexuality should not be 'pathologised' (treated as an illness) as there is no impairment to daily life, and being asexual does not result from trauma. 'Instead, distress might arise from the stigma of having a minority identity and might explain feelings of loneliness and alienation from others,' he says. 'Interestingly, emerging research highlights how support for asexuals can be linked to higher life satisfaction.' Different kinds of relationships Another mistaken notion is that aromantic and asexual people cannot develop meaningful bonds with others, or tend to avoid relationships entirely. Ms Li, who identifies as aro-ace, has been in a relationship with her boyfriend for 1½ years . The couple, who have known each other since secondary school, successfully applied for a Build-To-Order flat a few months into their relationship. Although she says she does not feel attracted to her partner sexually or romantically, they both value companionship, friendship and mutual trust – the same attributes that keep other healthy relationships going. She argues that even in heterosexual relationships, bonds are not built solely on sexual attraction or romantic feelings. 'You can also have kids or want to have kids when you're asexual or aromantic,' she says, adding that she plans to have kids after marriage. When Aces Going Places began in 2016 under a different name, its monthly meetups drew fewer than 10 attendees. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Because of the constant 'emotional labour' of having to explain oneself to others, groups such as Aces Going Places offer a rare reprieve to members of the asexual and aromantic community. 'Sometimes it's nice to be in an environment where you don't have to keep explaining your identity to people – most people already understand,' says Mr Lau. While many of Aces Going Places' members joined the group in search of solidarity and to meet new friends, participants agree that its most defining feature is its makan sessions. Monthly meetups typically feature overflowing potlucks (often involving pizza and cake), as well as board games and karaoke. These usually take place at Proud Spaces, a community centre in Alexandra Road, with 20 to 50 members attending each time. Online, more than 300 members participate regularly on the social media platform Discord. 'The running joke is that aces would rather eat nice food than have sex,' says Mr Teng. Looking back , he recalls the group's humble beginnings in 2016, when he started the group SG Asexuals on the social media platform Then, the gatherings he organised saw fewer than five members each month. 'I still remember the first meeting at TCC Cafe in Orchard Road. There were just three of us, including me,' he says. The community remained small until 2022. That was the first year the group secured a booth at Pink Dot's community tent for LGBTQ+ organisations. Asexual and aromantic people generally consider themselves as part of the broader queer community. 'In a picnic meetup right after Pink Dot, I thought, 'Wow, 12 people. Our biggest meetup ever,'' recalls Mr Teng with a chortle. 'And now, we regularly have more than 30.' For the members, the growing visibility has helped. An Aces Going Places mooncake potluck event in 2024. PHOTO: ACES GOING PLACES Lyndon recalls an encounter at the 2022 Pink Dot when a Chinese man in his 50s tentatively approached the Aces Going Places booth. After Lyndon explained to him in Mandarin what the community represented and handed him an asexual flag, the man burst into tears. 'He said that was the first time he'd heard this term spoken to him that fit him so well,' recalls Lyndon. Ms Li first found the group at Pink Dot in 2023, and says that attending her first Aces Going Places meetup was 'mind-blowing'. 'It was the first time I saw so many aces in the same room,' she says, recalling that around 30 were present. 'It kind of felt like maybe I had a fake identity before I came here, like I didn't think it was real. It felt so validating to see so many other aces who share the same experiences.' Being part of the group also helped her loved ones understand her identity better. Aces Going Places allows members to bring guests who do not identify as asexual or aromantic. 'It's easier to introduce my partner to how I feel by showing him this small part of my world,' she adds. For Ms Li, the most important achievement of the group is affirming that nobody is alone in his or her experiences. 'We exist. We look invisible, but we're normal people. We're just regular people walking around, nothing special,' she says. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Straits Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Scented in Singapore: Scent Journer hand-blends local food flavours into fragrance
Scent Journer founder Joyce Lian, a perfumery and cosmetic science graduate and chemistry major, created her own label after multiple setbacks striking out in the fragrance industry. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG SINGAPORE – Tucked away in a nondescript industrial building in Tampines, 29-year-old Joyce Lian fixedly blends fragrances by hand. Each finished bottle is a sum of carefully proportioned fragrance oils and ethanol, stirred in apparatus that have been sterilised near to death. It would be easier to outsource it to a manufacturer with machines, but the petite founder of local label Scent Journer ( is particular about potential contamination. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Sail up the Singapore River and back in time at National Museum's new exhibition Once Upon A Tide
The National Museum Of Singapore's new exhibition, Once Upon A Tide, traces the country's growth via the sea and its waterways. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Sail up the Singapore River and back in time at National Museum's new exhibition Once Upon A Tide SINGAPORE – Sail up the Singapore River and back in time at the National Museum Of Singapore's new exhibition. Once Upon A Tide, which opens on May 24, traces Singapore's growth via the sea and its waterways. The story arc melds a tribute to SG60 with a potted history of the nation as the show is serving double duty during its run. The Singapore History Gallery will be closed at the year's end for a revamp and will reopen in late 2026, so Once Upon A Tide will be the museum's anchor show in the interim. Mr Daniel Tham, 44, the museum's principal curator for pre-colonial and colonial Singapore, says the sea references and fairy-tale element of the title are deliberate. 'We want to reference our interest in storytelling as a museum. We are also referencing Singapore's identity as an island, the importance of the sea and, later, the centrality of the Singapore River.' Hence, the show begins with artefacts that literally map out historical references to the island now known as Singapore. Mr Tham says: 'We asked the question, 'Has Singapore always existed?' We're commemorating 60 years as a nation, but obviously, Singapore's history goes further back. How far back does it go?' Pretty far back as the items on display suggest. The earliest reference is in second-century Greek astrologer and geographer Claudius Ptolemy's illustrated Geographia, which famously calls the Malay Peninsula 'the Golden Chersonese'. A 16th-century reproduction print of Ptolemy's map is displayed alongside stone tools unearthed at Pulau Ubin. These prehistoric adzes possibly date back 3,000 to 5,000 years. They were collected by Major P.D.R. Williams-Hunt, then the acting director of Museums for the Federation of Malaya in the late 1940s to early 1950s. This first section of the exhibition also includes interactive displays where visitors can try locating Singapore on old maps which refer to the island variously as Singapur, Cinca Pura and Sabana. Mr Tham notes that even if the island was not identified, the straits of Malacca and Johor, major waterways in the region, would be charted. The island's strategic position and the role of the Singapore River in its history form the next part of the story, and so the exhibition space has been designed to mimic the river, with a corridor that branches off into two tributaries for the subsequent chapters. There is some effort to contextualise the British arrival, with a display that includes antique weaponry referencing the violence that marked colonisation in the region. Mr Tham notes: 'The British arrival in Singapore wasn't marked by warfare, unlike in other places. But at the same time, local accounts mention sepoys being present with muskets.' The National Museum Of Singapore's new exhibition, Once Upon A Tide, traces the country's growth via the sea and its waterways. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG The main focus, however, remains on how trade, people and technology flowed through Singapore waters, supporting its development through the 19th and 20th centuries. How Singapore got bigger – literally and metaphorically – forms a running theme for the rest of Once Upon A Tide. The chapter titled Expanding Horizons will intrigue visitors who think of reclamation as a recent modern phenomenon in Singapore history. The first major land reclamation project was undertaken in the 1880s by the British colonial government. Telok Ayer Bay was filled in with soil dug from Mount Wallich. Look out for old photographs taken of the area before, during and after the process, as well as a map documenting urban planning for the reclaimed land. A more familiar narrative comes in the chapter titled Flows Of People, which showcases the stories of early immigrants. These range from Chinese labourers to Indian civil servants. Mr Tham highlights a gift from the family of police constable Lall Singh, who came to Singapore as part of the Sikh contingent. This includes a typewritten letter from Mr Singh to the colonial authorities in India, requesting his retirement pension be sent to Singapore, as he had chosen to remain here. Once Upon A Tide closes with more current items, some of which were gathered as part of the museum's Collecting Contemporary initiative. These include Olympic champion Joseph Schooling's autographed swim trunks and athlete Shanti Pereira's bright fuchsia running shoes. There are also highlights from Singapore's cultural icons, from an outfit by designer Benny Ong – who dressed Britain's late Princess Diana – to musician and Cultural Medallion recipient Margaret Leng Tan's iconic toy piano. These items reflect how this island nation has made its mark on the wider world. As Mr Tham says: 'The show's opening is a bit mysterious – it asks if you can find Singapore in these old maps. Then you sail through the river, and you see Singapore's development as it's mirrored by the story of the river. Eventually, you sail out into the open sea with a bit more of our recent history, and we talk about how Singapore has made an impact on the world.' Book it/Once Upon A Tide Where: National Museum of Singapore, 93 Stamford Road When: May 24 to Oct 9, 2026, 10am to 7pm daily Admission: Free for Singapore citizens and permanent residents, from $18 for foreigners Info: Five highlights at Once Upon A Tide 1. Daguerreotype of Singapore, showing a view of Boat Quay (1844) An enlarged version of a 1844 daguerreotype of Singapore showing a view of Boat Quay at National Museum's exhibition Once Upon A Tide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Blink and you will miss this tiny oval daguerreotype tucked into a display with a couple of antique weapons and views of Singapore. This is one of the earliest surviving photographs of Singapore. Shot from Government Hill, now Fort Canning Hill, it shows Boat Quay, packed with warehouses and buildings. As an international port for goods, Singapore was also plugged into global technological flows. This image was taken just five years after the daguerreotype photographic technique was invented. 2. Skyline of Singapore in 1976 (1977), oil on canvas Lai Kui Fang Lai Kui Fang's painting of Singapore's skyline from the 1970s at Once Upon A Tide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG This large painting, measuring 151.5cm by 339cm, is a photorealistic bird's-eye view of the Singapore River and Central Business District. Everything from the then spanking new OCBC Centre to the Boat Quay shophouses to tiny buses are rendered in careful detail. It is a snapshot in time, capturing the massive and speedy development of the area in the short decade following Singapore's independence. Beyond its value as a historic document, what is also fascinating is the question of how Lai created this astonishing panoramic view. There is no single spot at that point in time where the artist could have stood to see this view, so he must have recreated the landscape from his imagination. There is also no single vanishing point on the canvas, with all the buildings, bumboats and buses in sharp focus. It is an impressive feat. 3. 1881 map of Singapore by Henry Edward McCallum, with handwritten annotations by H.T. Haughton A map of Singapore at Once Upon A Tide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Henry Edward McCallum is responsible for designing the Raffles Museum, now the National Museum of Singapore , and introducing electricity to Singapore. As colonial engineer of the public works of the Straits Settlements (1885 to 1897), he also produced this detailed map of Singapore's bustling city centre. Pay attention to the map's title, and you will see the signature of Hancock Thomas Haughton, a civil servant who held multiple positions, including collector of land revenues, and who worked with McCallum. What is more intriguing are the notations in red, marking out road name changes for the land reclaimed from the Telok Ayer basin that became Singapore's Central Business District in the 19th and 20th centuries. You can see amendments where Robinson Quay became Robinson Road, and further extensions for Raffles Quay. 4. Diorama depicting a coolie room in the 1900s (c.1983), wood and metal Mar Edjawan, Elmer Gernale and Arthur Concepcion Miniature figurines depicting life in the time at Once Upon A Tide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Visitors of a certain age will recognise this diorama, a traditional style of museum display in the 1980s and 1990s. It was one of several dioramas the museum has saved from its old displays and captures in lifelike detail the quarters of coolie labourers. Check out the narrow three-tiered bunks, which crammed people in cheek by jowl. In real life, each bunk bed might even have been shared by two men sleeping in shifts, depending on their work schedules. 5. Majie Leong Kun Toh's samfoo top and trousers (mid-20th century) cotton and silk Traditional Chinese patchwork baby carrier (c.1950) fabric A mannequin with a black-and-white samfoo and a traditional Chinese patchwork baby carrier at Once Upon A Tide. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG This charming display will intrigue crafters. The baby carrier is a beautiful example of practical home sewing, with an attractive triangle patch pattern and straps that are quilted for strength and comfort. Note the touch of decorative embroidery on the straps. The conservator sewed a baby doll to display this carrier, making sure it was lightweight so as to reduce wear and tear on the fragile fabric. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
