Tag Archives: Thieves Market

It was the last day of Sungei Road Flea Market. From this weekend, some of the vendors would have no choice but to set up temporary stalls at Golden Mile Tower - "so that we can continue with some hope in our lives. So that we will not be put in a situation where we have nothing to do and get into depression". "This new temporary market will be called Sungei Market. Sungei Market will not only consist of the vendors here; We hope to include the youths and entrepreneurs as vendors too. So that we can learn new things from each other and create a more exciting market... Tonight, Sungei Road Market may have lost the road, but we hope that the Sungei spirit can continue with Sungei Market".

Singapore keeps demolishing its history in its inane desire to modernise. Every historical building have shelf life. There is no historical building safe from the bulldozers, unless of course, the historical building is located at Oxley Road. Then the government will do all it can to preserve, including defying the wish of its founding father

Sungei Road market will soon be gone along with our identity and culture. So much for wanting to preserve our heritage when we end up letting developers steal the market anyway. Where has our kampung spirit gone?

About 200 people have so far signed a petition calling on the authorities to either retain or conserve the Sungei Road flea market. This petition was started by Mr Koh Ah Koon, 76, the president of the Association for the Recycling of Second Hand Goods. He said that he will continue to collect signatures for the petition, until the day the Sungei Road flea market is supposed to close down, which is in July. The market was cited by one signatory as a venue that provides the elderly hawkers a legitimate source of income and can be seen as an engagement programme for seniors - not that different from those run by community centres. The area in Sungei Road had already been earmarked for residential use.

It has to happen, sooner or later. Singapore authorities are not known for being big on memories and old iconic stuff in the drive for modernisation. So, by July this year, the iconic Sungei Road Thieves Market, which had survived 80 years and World War II, will also be no more.

Sungei Road Thieves’ Market, which is the original flea market in Singapore established in the 1930s and where there most likely were fleas, will be paved over to make way for the Sungei Road MRT station expected to be completed by 2017. That’s more than 80 years of history eradicated in one fell swoop.

Ask any Singaporean and they should be able to tell you where the “Thieves’ market” is in Singapore.(The name comes from an old adage from the 1970’s that purports that if you ever “lost” anything, you could probably find it for sale there the next day). A stone’s throw from Sim Lim square, it is 2 or 3 lanes of road situated neatly around the Rochor area.