“This place is like the ‘Troll Market’, a magical shopping market
hidden from the world of men,” in the words of my 10-year-old son
who had his maiden tour of Singapore’s oldest flea market last
weekend.
He was referring to the massive marketplace setting in the
film, Hellboy
II; The Golden Army where
mythological, fantasy and supernatural creatures gather to shop all
kinds of items and goods.
Nestled in one of the oldest neighbourhood on Sungei Road and home
to the infamous Thieves’ Market since the 1930s, the flea market
today is an off-the-beaten track stop for tourists and the average
Singaporeans – a haven for second-hand possessions, bric-a-brac and
contraband goods.
Despite its somewhat unsavoury appearance and shoddy displays of
bits and bobs, what strikes me most of this so-called ‘slum’ is the
charmingly shambolic atmosphere, as well as the oddity of
characters that personify the canvas of an otherwise orderly and
decorous Singapore.
Known for its notorious reputation where “thieves
brought their stolen goods to sell', hence
the name. In fact, the rumour is that items were looted from the
homes of affluent European families living in the area then and
then mysteriously find their way to Sungei Road.
The unlicensed, makeshift market that used to line the lanes
between Jalan Besar and Rochor Canal Road is the only place you
don’t need to pay any form of rent to set up shop.
Each of the allocated metre-by-metre DIY stall is on a
first-come-first-serve basis but vendors share an unspoken rule of
control over the specific space. Assorted wares are spread out on
mats and tarpaulin sheets on the free hawking zone, and vendors
typically operate daily from 1pm to 7pm, at the mercy of our
tropical climate.
Resilient peddlers, made up of pot-bellied and heavily tattooed
uncles to sunburned-faced elderly women, make a living selling
almost anything and everything. But the mammoth of items on display
has seemingly been downsized ever since the flea market lost half
its space in July 2011 to make way for the construction of the new
Jalan Besar MRT Station.
And so the big question looms: Is this piece of Singapore’s history
doomed to extinction?
