The Other Man at Our Bedok kampong house - Uncle Gar-Lo

This post is a special tribute to our youngest paternal aunt’s husband, Uncle Gar-lo who was a critical part of our lived-in family nucleus at our Bedok kampong house. 86 years old this year he is still full of vibrancy and life and wit! Born into a poor Cantonese family in 1938, he lived at Kampong Soopoo in Kallang where his future wife (our late aunt) also lived and that was how he got to know her, admiring her since then. His family name was Siew but ever since we were kids we only called him Uncle Gar-Lo, while all the grownups called him Gar-Lo. Recently he shared with the older of us as to how he got this nickname, which was something we never seemed to wonder, until now. The year was around 1943 or 1944 during the Japanese occupation. Poor kids like him were frequently going around topless or at times bottomless. One day, Uncle Gar-Lo and his father passed by a small troop of Japanese soldiers who took notice of this little 4 or 5 year old boy. A very anxious and worried father, at the spur of the moment, took off his shirt top and wrapped it around his son to provide some decency. This boy began prancing and clowning around on his own and even mimicked the soldiers’ marching, bringing smiles to them. They then gave him a doll as a gift (taken from another child nearby!). The antics of this boy became known throughout the kampong and villagers started calling him ‘Gar-Zai’ (㗎仔), a Cantonese slang for Japanese boy. The name stuck and as he grew older, the name evolved into ‘Gar-Lo’ (㗎佬). 

10 years after the first occupants moved into our Bedok kampong house in November 1954, Uncle Gar-Lo married our aunt and moved into the house in September 1964. Uncle Gar-Lo is especially nimble with his hands in carpentry. He also worked in the advertising and props department at the National Theatre in the 70's, even meeting Hong Kong celebrity and TVB legend Lee Heung Kam who performed there once! He later joined a partnership with a local renovation contracting company taking charge of the carpentry works. All of our home fixtures were made by him.

Together with our father they both painted our kampong house every few years, even replacing the wall planks when they found pieces worn out. Eventually our house occupancy grew with the addition of their 3 children, our beloved cousins. Looking out for the future of his family, and space for the children to grow, he began looking elsewhere for the family to move into. Eventually the family moved out in 1973 to the new HDB flats at Kg Chai Chee, a year before we all moved out of the kampong house in October 1974.

Uncle Gar-Lo worked hard, provided for his family and eventually retired, even becoming an avid and regular blood donor. He continues to be our 'Mr Fix-It' till today. It’s always a joy to meet up with him to chat. Despite his nickname, to us he was the icon of a Singaporean boy who worked hard, did well and contributed economically to his family and country. To us he is an invaluable part of Singapore’s pioneer generation. We admire him tremendously and are very proud of him.

(Special thanks to our friend Ivan Wong and Susan Siew, our oldest cousin who assisted in the research for this post).

1940 - rare family portrait with our uncle in the middle

1958, young at just 18 years of age

1964 - marrying our aunt and moving into the Bedok kampong house

1965 - the happy married couple at the steps of the kampong house verandah

1970's - posing with TVB legend and star Lee Heung Kam

1973 - with one of his daughters in the garden of the kampong house

Our uncle hard at work!