PAGLAR, Eric Charles Pemberton
The Public Service,
Accession Number 002798
- Oral History Centre
Source
- 64
Total Reels
- Kelvin Kwek
Interviewer
- 31:21:53
Total Running Time
- English
Language
Copyright Notice
All rights to the recordings and transcripts on this website, including the rights to copy, publish, broadcast and perform, are reserved. Written permission is required for any use. If you have any queries, please contact nas@nlb.gov.sg
Loading...
Reel/Disc 2 of 64
Metadata
- 10 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:28:17
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:33) His father worked at Katong Pharmacy and opened Joo Chiat Clinic, which was financed by his mother’s family wealth.
(0:03:16) Background of his father’s education.
(0:07:37) How being an adopted child impacted his father’s character.
(0:09:13) How Ong Boon Tat, a close friend of his father, passed away.
(0:12:44) Anecdote of his father caught by the Japanese for attempting to restock medicine.
(0:14:29) Chinese and Eurasian Catholics who followed the Bishop to Bahau lost their Singapore citizenship and carried malaria with them.
(0:16:12) Made medicine under his father’s instruction. Anecdote of his father’s car being ambushed.
(0:18:39) How his father was arrested and later acquitted of treason after the war.
(0:19:46) His analysis of the war. View that Singapore and Malaya were abandoned in the war.
(0:22:23) Operation Zipper, a Southeast Asian command plan to retake Singapore and Malaya.
(0:24:39) His research efforts on the war.
(0:25:56) The British put Lime in rice for pest control, which caused intestinal problems. Immunity deficiencies from malnutrition.
(0:27:03) Talked about the “Romusha” (forced labour) from Indonesia.
*Dr. Charles Paglar's Katong pharmacy and Joo Chiat clinic. Mr Ong Boon Tat tragic death in Pulau Damar Laut. 4 incidents where Dr. Paglar nearly died. After WWII, Dr. Paglar's arrested and later acquitted of treason. Reasons for British loss in WWII. Operation Zipper, a Southeast Asian command plan to retake Singapore and Malaya. Problems with lime rice. Ramushai - forced labour from Indonesia.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Reel/Disc 3 of 64
Metadata
- 10 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:30:05
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:12) His father encouraged local communities to join Japanese training schools. Men were made to “vanish” by Japanese soldiers on the streets.
(0:01:56) Men were let go on account of holding identity cards, which they had if they worked.
(0:02:49) His cousin was released on account of being an employee of a factory.
(0:04:15) Trade schools started by the British, provided employees with identity cards, rations, and meagre pay but protection from being “vanished”.
(0:06:26) Description of his Japanese school.
(0:07:34) Account of sending off a Japanese officer.
(0:09:44) Accounts of Japanese harassing and looting from households.
(0:12:55) Account of an old lady stopping Japanese soldiers from abducting young girls.
(0:15:05) Overlap between Japanese and Chinese beliefs.
(0:16:45) Brought up in Johor and learned to write Arabic script in three months.
(0:17:43) Trade and markets in Joo Chiat during the pre-war period.
(0:20:24) Vernacular schools for Malays. Telok Kurau English School was a government school. Chinese community schools kept the Chinese community informed.
(0:23:23) Fishing activities in Singapore.
*Example of Japanese not encroaching on another Japanese turf. Dr. Paglar encouraging the local communities to join the Japanese schools to learn a skill and collect ration for the family. Accounts of Japanese harassing the households. Joo Chiat during pre-war period: trade, markets and schools. Fishing activities in Joo Chiat and the Northeast of Singapore waters.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Reel/Disc 4 of 64
Metadata
- 10 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:30:12
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:17) Hunting activities in Pulau Ubin during pre-war days.
(0:04:54) Weapons owned by his father, which he received from the Sultan of Johor.
(0:07:15) Account of how his father was blacklisted by the British from practising medicine after a physical fight with a white man over a road rage incident.
(0:08:28) Reinstatement of his father’s title as a doctor and relations with the Sultan of Johor.
(0:09:52) Details of the road rage incident.
(0:11:48) His father’s Asian practice of eating the same food with family at home.
(0:13:10) His father ran a hospital. Process of seeking premises for his practice.
(0:14:56) His father’s reputation as a doctor drew the Japanese to him. How his father obtained medicine from them.
(0:17:31) Japanese and Korean comfort women brutalised by soldiers sought treatment from his father.
(0:21:26) His father was approached to take over the Eurasian Welfare Association.
(0:22:25) Japanese schools intended for training future generation leaders were military-type academies that instilled the Japanese spirit.
(0:27:01) Witnessed how Japanese officers threatened his father over the Eurasian community—“men to labour, women to prostitution”.
*Outdoor life in Pulau Ubin during pre-war days. Incident where Dr. Paglar struck a Caucasian over a road rage and got blacklisted by the British. Dr. Paglar's relations with Sultan of Johore. Japanese and Korean comfort women in Onan Road seeking Dr. Paglar's help. Koa Kurenjo and Koa Gatoin, Japanese schools for future generation leaders.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Loading...
Reel/Disc 6 of 64
Metadata
- 19 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:29:19
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:08) Japanese treatment of Malay cadets. Japanese showed tolerance for Malay religious customs. Cadets unable to hold up passed away or were sent back to their kampong.
(0:05:38) Environment at Koa Gakuen (Local Military Interpreters’ Institute).
(0:08:28) Retained at Koa Gakuen as a teacher. The school moved premises to Telok Kurau English School.
(0:08:53) Fishing activities at the original Koa Gakuen premises on Simon Road. Open fire cremation of those who died from illness in the area.
(0:11:27) His role as a teacher was tantamount to a civilian senior officer. Preferred having his meals with cadets rather than Japanese officers.
(0:14:36) Recollection of demolished Simon Road premises of Koa Gakuen.
(0:16:27) His speech at the graduation ceremony evaded the topic of war.
(0:17:42) Compared what he became to his teachers. Anecdote of seeking out comfort women.
(0:20:38) Attributed the behaviour of the Japanese to liquor and hard-working mentality.
(0:22:29) Chaotic situation after the Japanese surrender. Revenge killings of informers.
(0:24:57) Reactions of the Japanese to their loss and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(0:27:03) His father advised him not to be seen with the Japanese but cried over their loss.
*Japanese treatment of Malay cadets. Weak caders sent back to Kampong. Nationalists obtain training through Japanese schools. Training at Koa Gatoin. Graduating with honours and teaching at Simon Road camp. Experience teaching at the Japanese schools. Relations with Japanese officers. Japanese failure to handle liquor. Situation after Japanese surrender. Assault on informers. Reactions of Japanese upon the atomic bombings of Hiroshima. Hardworking nature of the Japanese.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Reel/Disc 7 of 64
Metadata
- 19 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:29:37
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:22) Attributed the hard-working mentality of his Japanese teachers to the duty consciousness instilled by the military.
(0:01:38) Treatment of Japanese left behind after World War II.
(0:03:48) Believed the Japanese regretted only their loss and not their treatment of others.
(0:07:43) The Japanese idea that Singapore obtained.
(0:10:14) Comparison of how white men set themselves apart from locals in their own enclaves.
(0:11:39) Provided the names of his teachers. Image of the Eurasian community. Open about having attended Japanese school compared to the Chinese.
(0:15:14) Events in his life after the war. Believed people took acts of revenge against him.
(0:19:29) Experiences in Australia. He was admitted to the university for his knowledge of the Japanese language.
(0:22:25) His ship journey to Australia.
(0:27:10) Clan associations formed among the Chinese, such as Tian Di Hui (Heaven and Earth Society).
*Period right after WWII. Lives of Japanese Prisoners-of-War (POWs). Felt that Singapore obtain its independence partly due to the Japanese occupation. People who took revenge against interviewee after the war. Experience studying in Australia and the ship journey there. Secret societies in Singapore - "Tian Di Hui".
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Reel/Disc 8 of 64
Metadata
- 19 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:29:48
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:07) Chinese clan associations formed to protect their own community.
(0:01:58) Chinese community offered to pay for his father’s bail when he was charged with treason.
(0:04:02) Lim Boon Keng, who showed his anti-British views, left Singapore to teach in China.
(0:05:31) His father was accused of encouraging the Eurasian community to support the Japanese.
(0:07:13) The lack of documentation on his father’s trial.
(0:08:52) View of Eurasians being the most distrusted community in Singapore.
(0:10:37) How his father was “picked up” along with Eurasian Welfare Association documents and his Koa Gakuen (Local Military Interpreters’ Institute) certificate.
(0:12:22) Visited his father while he was incarcerated.
(0:13:23) His father was invited to gatherings with officials.
(0:14:10) Fear instilled from the trial and charges.
(0:16:01) Chinese who fought under the Kuomintang flag and Boxer Rebellion Group were sent to the Sook Ching area in Katong.
(0:18:32) Description of Sook Ching site at Telok Kurau English School.
(0:19:37) Brutality during the war was enacted on Chinese informers.
(0:24:20) Japanese targeted the Chinese during the war. Innocent people were implicated.
(0:28:20) Liquor was destroyed by the British on the advice of a Chinese advisor to prevent access by the Japanese.
*Chinese association and clans that help their own community. Interviewee's father charged with treason by the British was later acquitted. Chinese who fought with the Kuo Min Tang flag and boxer rebellion group was sent to Sook Ching area in Katong. Japanese targetting the Chinese during WWII. Brutality during the war. Alcohol and liquor at Trafalgar Street were smashed by the British under the advice of Chinese advisor.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
Loading...
Reel/Disc 10 of 64
Metadata
- 23 Sep 2003
Recording Date
- 00:29:06
Running Time
- MP3
Format
- Open Access
Conditions Governing Access
Synopsis
(0:00:28) Origins and work scope of the Customs Department. Import duties provided the main source of customs revenue. Export controls on goods such as palm oil seeds.
(0:02:31) Import controls on firearms and publications.
(0:03:21) Anecdote of detaining publications at customs.
(0:04:13) Excise tax on locally manufactured goods, entertainment duty, and cess tax.
(0:07:07) Protective duties after Singapore’s independence in 1965. Export quotas.
(0:13:28) Process of enforcing taxes.
(0:15:50) His education in Australia. What cut short his studies.
(0:17:50) Comparison of his education in Australia to his education in Singapore.
(0:20:37) Life in Australia.
(0:25:36) Sat for civil service exams in 1954 under Lim Yew Hock’s government and attended an interview with the Public Service Commission.
(0:27:28) Details of his car accident in Australia.
*Origins of Customs Department. Import duties. Goods that were prohibited and controlled like palm oil seeds, non-taxable but sanctioned and prescribed goods. Sanctioned goods like pronographic materials, communists books. Excise tax on locally manufactured goods, entertainment duy and cess tax. Quota on goods. Used to have taxes on consumer goods. Education in Australia. Set for PSC exams in 1954 under Lim Yew Hock's government. Bad car accident in Australia.
We will get back to your request within 5 working days
