Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Jillian Woodward.
Speaker 2: And I'm Roger Basseig. Spotlight Advanced uses a special English
Speaker 2: method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand
Speaker 2: no matter where in the world they live.
Speaker 1: Tall buildings reach to the sky. Crowds of people walk
Speaker 1: past on their way to work. The roads are filled
Speaker 1: with cars and other vehicles, and the whole area is
Speaker 1: completely clean. It is the perfect example of modern city life.
Speaker 2: This is Singapore today. This small island country is one
Speaker 2: of the most modern in the world. Everybody here lives
Speaker 2: in the city, well almost everybody. A small group of
Speaker 2: about twenty five families do not. They live in a
Speaker 2: place that many people from Singapore do not know exists.
Speaker 2: It is the only remaining village in Singapore, Larang Bankok.
Speaker 1: On today's Spotlight we hear about some of the people
Speaker 1: still living in this village. They explain why they like
Speaker 1: living in Singapore's last village. They tell us why it
Speaker 1: is an important place to be.
Speaker 2: Fatima lives in Lorng Bonkok. She is happy to live
Speaker 2: in a part of Singapore's history. She said.
Speaker 3: In this village, all of us are friendly towards each other.
Speaker 3: We like to help each other. That is why we
Speaker 3: like to stay in the village.
Speaker 1: The village of Larong Buangkok was created in nineteen fifty six.
Speaker 1: Over the past sixty years, the village has grown and changed,
Speaker 1: but it has not changed as much as the rest
Speaker 1: of Singapore. In the nineteen eighties, the country quickly expanded.
Speaker 1: Its government wanted the country to become a center for
Speaker 1: trade and industry. They succeeded. Today, Singapore's people are some
Speaker 1: of the wealthiest in the world.
Speaker 2: Over six million people live in Singapore. That may not
Speaker 2: seem like a big number, but Singapore is very small.
Speaker 2: It is the smallest country in Southeast Asia. On average,
Speaker 2: eight two hundred and fifty people live in every square
Speaker 2: kilometer of Singapore. That makes it about nineteen times more
Speaker 2: crowded than India. It is the second most densely populated
Speaker 2: place in the whole world.
Speaker 1: Finding room for everyone to live in Singapore is an
Speaker 1: important issue. That is why most people now live in
Speaker 1: large buildings with many homes. These homes are apartments or flats.
Speaker 1: These flats were built by the government's Housing and Development Board.
Speaker 1: People call them HDB flats. HDB flats replaced all the
Speaker 1: other villages, but not Larong Wangkok. Shinnifong owns this village.
Speaker 1: She refuses to sell the land. She believes it is
Speaker 1: important to keep a reminder of the country's rural past,
Speaker 1: and people living in Larong Guangkok say life is better
Speaker 1: in their village.
Speaker 2: Ainoun has lived in both the Rang Bonkhak and an
Speaker 2: HDB flat. She grew up in the village, now she
Speaker 2: lives in the city with her husband. She says she
Speaker 2: enjoyed living in the village because it is so friendly.
Speaker 4: At the village, it is all about the relationships between people.
Speaker 4: Gathering with other villagers and getting to know each other
Speaker 4: is easy. If we need anything, it is easy to
Speaker 4: meet them. But if you live in an HDB flat,
Speaker 4: it is very difficult. You cannot just go to their door.
Speaker 4: You have to call them first to tell them that
Speaker 4: you are coming today.
Speaker 1: Ann's husband, Ahmad, does not enjoy life in the village.
Speaker 1: He is most happy in the city where he grew up.
Speaker 5: I like staying in the city more than staying in
Speaker 5: the village. I feel that it is more exciting in
Speaker 5: the city. You get to meet a lot of different people.
Speaker 5: In the village, it's just the same people so the
Speaker 5: way you look at life may be a bit limited.
Speaker 2: The city and village do have one thing in common.
Speaker 2: They are full of people from many different ethnic groups.
Speaker 2: Singapore grew rich by being a center of trade. People
Speaker 2: from all over the world would come to the island
Speaker 2: to buy and sell their goods. This has given Singapore
Speaker 2: a rich mix of ethnic groups. The biggest ethnic group
Speaker 2: is Chinese. Other Singaporeans are from the Malay ethnic group,
Speaker 2: some are of Indian origin, and many come from other
Speaker 2: parts of the world.
Speaker 1: In the nineteen sixties, this mix created trouble between the
Speaker 1: ethnic groups, but in lronge Bwangcok there was no such trouble.
Speaker 1: People living in the village say that there was a
Speaker 1: special feeling of togetherness there and that there still is.
Speaker 6: In the village. Even though we are different races, we
Speaker 6: are family. We mix around. Some of the grandmas and
Speaker 6: grandpa's have watched me grow up, so I love these
Speaker 6: old people. They have been almost like my own parents
Speaker 6: because we are from the same village, so I do
Speaker 6: not care if they are Malay or Chinese.
Speaker 2: Today, the special qualities of Larang Bankok are finally being recognized.
Speaker 2: Though the government once wanted to develop the land. There
Speaker 2: are now no plans to do so. People visiting Singapore
Speaker 2: take trips to the village. Runners and walkers pass through
Speaker 2: every day to get out of the noise of the city.
Speaker 2: In a place with little natural life, the village is
Speaker 2: a good place to rest. Experts agree that living in
Speaker 2: a city makes people tense. Being near a place with
Speaker 2: plants and animals like Lorang Bankok reduces this tension. Nasim
Speaker 2: lives in Singapore's Last village. He spoke to the British
Speaker 2: Broadcasting Company, it.
Speaker 7: Is good that the government now seeks the importance of
Speaker 7: our village. You need to leave something behind, a reminder
Speaker 7: to our young of how this country came about. We
Speaker 7: came from these simple buildings. It is also good that
Speaker 7: the public comes here. It helps them understand us. It
Speaker 7: helps them understand why Loroong Buangkock needs to be saved.
Speaker 1: The future of Loroong Buangcock is not sure. Singapore is
Speaker 1: so small that it will always be difficult to know
Speaker 1: what to do with land. But it seems that for now,
Speaker 1: the last village of Singapore is safe. As long as
Speaker 1: it exists, Loroong Buangcock will remain a powerful reminder of
Speaker 1: the past, something that even a country as young as
Speaker 1: Singapore needs.
Speaker 2: What are the historic small communities in your area? Have
Speaker 2: you visited or lived in a small town. You can
Speaker 2: leave a comment at www dot Spotlight English dot com.
Speaker 2: You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, and x.
Speaker 2: You can also get our programs delivered directly to your
Speaker 2: Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
Speaker 1: Writer Dan Christman revised this script from an earlier version.
Speaker 1: The producer was Dan Christman. The voices you heard were
Speaker 1: from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes
Speaker 1: were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This
Speaker 1: program is called Saving the Last Village.
Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
Speaker 2: Spotlight Advanced program. Goodbye,