‘No need to be greedy’: Co-owner of mainland Singapore’s last kampung is honouring late dad’s wish by not selling

Wearing long pants to keep out pesky flies, I stepped from a park connector through an inconspicuous opening surrounded by greenery to enter the last remaining village on Singapore’s mainland.
It was like entering another world, a well-preserved slice of the past untouched by the bulldozer of progress. About the size of three football fields, the village is an evocative reminder of simpler times.
Kampong Lorong Buangkok’s laid-back atmosphere contrasts sharply with the hustle and bustle of modern Singapore where office workers in tall buildings obsess over how to earn more money – myself included. 
But the day-to-day reality of economics is very different here. Home to 25 families, its Malay and Chinese residents still live in traditional wooden structures, dishing out shockingly meagre rents of between S$6.50 and S$30 a month.
The landlord? A cheery 71-year-old woman often spotted riding a bicycle in a chequered shirt and straw hat. Madam Sng Mui Hong, along with her three siblings, inherited the land from their father when he died in 1996.
Her father, a traditional Chinese medicine seller, had bought the land, which was a swamp, in 1956.
Her siblings, all older than her, now live in Housing and Development Board flats in other parts of Singapore.
Since their father’s death, nothing – not even the allure of tens of millions of dollars – would sway Mdm Sng and her siblings from selling the estate. It was their father’s wish for the 12,248 sq m piece of land to be left intact for his descendants.
As the landlord, Mdm Sng honours that wish steadfastly.
Past media reports have stated that an offer of S$33 million was made for the land in 2007.
However, Mdm Sng told CNA TODAY that she had not received any direct offers from would-be buyers and does not know, or care, what the value of the land is.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority had planned to redevelop the area, including two schools, housing and an expressway, under its 2014 Master Plan. In 2017, Mr Desmond Lee, then Second Minister for National Development, said that this would likely happen “several decades later”.
I went to the village, near Gerald Drive off Yio Chu Kang Road, to search for Mdm Sng on a rainy Friday afternoon. Pigeons preened their feathers in a puddle, chickens clucked every few minutes and a resident’s cat looked at me suspiciously from a distance.
After observing the different units and getting bitten by mosquitoes, like a punishment for being nosy, I finally saw a familiar figure tending to her garden.
“I noticed you walking up and down the kampung for two hours,” Mdm Sng said.
“I figured that you must have been looking for me, so I quickly hid away at first,” she added cheekily in her very first words to me as I stood outside her house.
Mdm Sng is used to visitors. Curious tourists often try to peek at this living patch of Singapore’s heritage, and a TikTok video interview with her went viral in September.
She led me to her neighbour’s porch where we arranged a date for a video-recorded interview. The bespectacled woman shrieked with delight when she realised that we shared the same surname and were both born in the Chinese zodiac year of the snake.
“But I’m an ancient snake,” she said with a laugh.
Mdm Sng’s easygoing manner reminded me of my own grandmother. I felt immediately at ease with this bubbly woman who was so open to sharing details of her life.
Her personality helped to quell my earlier anxiety about interviewing her in Mandarin – after I recently admitted rather publicly that I was horrible at the language.
Some weeks later, the videographer and I settled in front of Mdm Sng’s home to chat with her. A few Malay women popped by to ask if any homes were available to rent. Like someone had flipped a switch, she shifted to speaking in fluent Malay.
Mdm Sng traced her life journey in our 90-minute conversation. She lost her mother at the tender age of four so her fondest memories are the times she spent with her father.
As a child, she would grab onto his shirt and follow him everywhere. Much of her knowledge of medicinal plants came from her father, who would go into the forest to pick and sell them at markets.
“I would also sometimes collect rent on his behalf because he doesn’t have the heart to chase residents for the money they owe,” she said. “And before guns were made illegal, I remembered shooting his firearm once out of curiosity.”
Her affectionate memories of her father made me realise why her pledge to him meant so much to her. She cherished her relationship with the parent who single-handedly raised her. No amount of money would be able to replace that deep love.
I listened keenly as she described her lifestyle – a reality so foreign to me. When asked why she enjoys the village life, she answered that she likes being able to plant things in her garden.
She said: “When my mood isn’t good, I can talk to the mango trees. I’d ask them, ‘Why haven’t you grown any fruits and flowers even though I’ve taken care of you for so long? You need to grow some for me!’”
Mdm Sng’s appreciation for nature extends to animals. I noticed a few bird cages hanging from the roof. She said that these birds were given to her from owners who did not want to take care of them anymore, so her niece, who lives with her, took over the pets’ upkeep.
Her most striking encounters with the natural world are surely snakes. Over the years, these reptiles have entered her kitchen and tried to devour her chickens. One snake was so large that Mdm Sng guessed that it was a cobra.
While waiting for the relevant authorities to get there, she once sprayed Baygon – a brand of insect repellent – on the reptile.
“The snake was hissing at me, but my spray can was hissing back. It was an epic fight,” Mdm Sng said, declaring that she was not scared of them at all.
At other times, she would coax the snakes to leave her chickens alone because she noticed that their stomachs were full – she guessed that they must have already eaten rats.
As a city girl living in a high-rise flat, dealing with such situations is unthinkable to me. I already scream if I see cockroaches and lizards crawling out of my storeroom – much less a cobra slithering over my stove.
Mdm Sng has retired from working. With the absurdly low rents she collects from residents, I wonder how she supports herself financially. Doesn’t the prospect of easy millions from the sale of the land appeal to her?
After all, she dropped out of school after Primary 5 and throughout her adult life, she had taken on odd jobs such as being a cashier.
I learnt that most of her income comes from leasing one of her empty houses to media companies, students and community centres. Paying between S$50 and S$400, they would use the unit for up to a day to conduct workshops and film content for shows.
“But actually, most of them have a tight budget and don’t even pay me. I’m not that fussy,” Mdm Sng revealed. “And it’s not guaranteed that they would book the space. Sometimes, there could be multiple bookings in a week, but at other times there would only be one in a month.”
She also receives a monthly allowance from her niece who lives with her. That is Ms Sng Lee Kim, 51, an executive assistant in the education sector. This, combined with the rental payments, covers Mdm Sng’s day-to-day expenses.
Mdm Sng admitted that she does not have much savings. And when she was hospitalised for gastric problems earlier this year, she had to pay part of the bill with cash because she did not have enough in her MediSave account with the Central Provident Fund.
“As long as I have enough to live, that’s already fine. There’s no need to be greedy. Even if I get a lot of money, it will all be finished eventually,” she said.
Mdm Sng’s contentment with a modest life, to me, represents her defiant determination not to be swept away by the pressures of our fast-paced society.
Against the odds, a scene taken straight out of 1950s Singapore continues to thrive, despite high-rise buildings enveloping almost every inch of our island-city – including the kampung’s immediate surroundings.
Facilities are upgraded every few years, housing blocks get fresh coats of paint, but this compound has stubbornly remained the same for decades.
Telephone lines above ground still overlook the kampung. Lush greenery surrounds each unit. Neighbours wander to each other’s front porches, making small talk.
While Singaporeans constantly stress themselves over securing higher-paying jobs, growing a nest egg for a comfortable retirement, and investing their money, here is Mdm Sng, unflinching in the face of millions of dollars that could change her life.
The future of Kampong Lorong Buangkok is on the line, with Mdm Sng well into her golden years, but she is not worried at all.
Since she is single and does not have children, the estate will be passed down to her nieces and nephews. And she has strong faith in them.
“They have agreed that they will not sell the land. They know my personality and won’t be greedy,” Mdm Sng said. “Most of them are already married and have their own houses anyway.”
She added: “Having visited the kampung many times and formed precious childhood memories here, one of them even told me, ‘Isn’t it better to leave it for the next generation to see?’” 
The niece who lives with her said that she can earn a living from her job and does not need the money. She even floated the idea of handing over the estate to charity organisations.
In the meantime, both of them will continue to live at the kampung quietly if the government does not take it away from them.
As Mdm Sng smiled and maintained a relaxed poise when I asked her about what is to come, it seemed that I was the one more anxious about the kampung’s future.
“Don’t think so far ahead. The more you think, the worse it is for your brain. Just be a bit more open-minded, then you will have no problems in life,” Ms Sng said, repeating the philosophy that she had mentioned several times during our interview.
It is this carefree attitude that seeps into daily life at Kampong Lorong Buangkok, attracting new visitors every week who fall in love with its rustic, natural surroundings.
Here, the past is very much alive – and it seems that it will stay like this for as long as Mdm Sng and her family are able to honour her father’s wishes.