‘Singapore craze’ in a Tamil Nadu village

THIRUVARUR, Mannargudi (Tamil Nadu) — As Singapore celebrates its 50th birthday this weekend, a small village in Tamil Nadu of about 3,000 households called Ullikkottai will also be celebrating SG50. Except, there aren’t any Singaporeans here.

It’s the same village that held a funeral procession for our late founding prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

The connection? About two of three households here have members who had, at some point in their lives, toiled in the underbelly of modern Singapore as construction workers, plumbers, movers and packers, painters, fitters and electricians.

Fifty years ago in 1965, mud houses with thatched dome-shaped roofs and coconut fronds sprawled the largely agricultural Mannargudi area that contains some 50 villages, including Ullikkottai. Many land plots were uncultivated.

Today, two-storey concrete homes have cropped up amid paddy fields — some casting an uncanny resemblance to bungalows seen around Singapore.

Speaking of his hometown’s change as a “Singapore craze”, Mr U. Rameshkumar said the connection to Singapore had started much earlier.

He recalled a time in his teen years when he had encountered some people in the streets of Ullikkottai greeting each other in Malay. Curious, he asked about it and was told they were labourers who had just returned from Singapore. They had gone to Singapore to find work in the 1940s, and continued to use Malay greetings as it was their way of expressing a shared experience.

“They were the only ones with concrete houses then. That sparked the craze for Singapore,” he said of his first impression of Singapore.

Mr Rameshkumar said he too “found a path for himself” when he worked in Singapore as a junior glassblower. He’d spent nine years in Singapore, from 2005 to 2014.

It’s been almost a year since Mr Rameshkumar left Singapore for home in the Mannargudi town. The 32-year-old now runs his own glassware business supplying intricate apparatuses. Among his clients are Singapore businesses.

He attributes his success to a “Chinese man”. The man is the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

He said: “(Mr Lee) inspired me to set up my own company… He believes in truth, hard work and honesty.”

The allure of concrete houses and the thought of a better life in Singapore is too great for many.

Mr R.T. Sivanandam, 70, sold his last plot of land he could use to harvest rice in the early 1990s to afford a 15,000 rupee (S$325) air ticket and some living expenses for his eldest son to work in Singapore. Today, five of his children are Singapore residents. His eldest son is now the co-founder of a software engineering company located in Henderson Industrial Park.

Mr C.G. Rajendran worked as a construction worker in Singapore in 1985. He said: “Mr Lee is welcoming of us to do something for the country. We could help build the city.”

However, the 55-year-old, overstayed his visa in 2006 after his work permit expired. He was arrested, jailed and deported in 2007.

His only regret, he said when asked, is that he can no longer re-enter Singapore. Still, he insisted it was “worth it”.

Today, Ullikkottai has grown from a rural sparse village to one with its own shops, community halls, 24-hour hospitals and ATMs and has become self-sufficient for the most part. Land prices in the village have elevated to a level comparable to a neighbouring, more developed town at Mannargudi, according to Mr Rameshkumar.

All these, residents attribute to the late Mr Lee and having had the opportunity to work in Singapore. They claim, it changed their lives.

So much so, when Mr Lee died in March, the village mourned as well. On his funeral day, some 300 people gathered for a silent 2km procession at Ullikkottai, in memoriam. A board had the words: “The great man who showed us the way to lead a wealthy life.”

Mr Sivanandam has also donated land to build a memorial hall in Mr Lee’s name, which will serve as an community venue and an “interception point of six villages”, which will also contain a library with books on Singapore’s history and its pioneers.

August 9 was chosen for the groundbreaking ceremony for the memorial hall as it coincides with Singapore’s National Day. So this Sunday, the village will gather for the ceremony and to celebrate what Singapore means to them. Singapore’s development and achievement over the last 50 years is symbolic to their own personal achievements for which, they feel “indebted” and “grateful”.

As Mr Sivanandam said: “My house used to be a mud house.”