Sungei Road Thieves Market: I Came. I Saw. I Wandered.

 

It has been awhile since I had last visited the Sungei Road Thieves Market. There were lots of on-going construction in that area and even with a GPS, I was temporarily disoriented.

It took a very nice gentleman to direct me to the historical flea market. He warned me that there were just a few stalls left. I withheld my judgement of the place and with my trusty foldie, I rode excitedly towards Sungei Road, looking forward to see what I would find.

But before we look into the present, let's take a stroll into the past.

Taken from: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/ (1)

The first article that mentioned about the Sungei Road market was dated 13 October 1935. The market is also known as Robinson Petang, or Afternoon Robinson as the stalls would mushroomed only in the afternoon. Why Robinson? It was named after a departmental store that was supposedly located in that area. (2)

Sungei Road market also had its character. Whenever anyone visits the market, they would have needed to tolerate the "nauseating smell that comes from the canal". (3)

Then, the stalls lined along the ground level of these shop houses which added to the quaintness of the place. (4)

In its heydays, the Sungei Road market saw more than 180 stalls selling different nick-knacks but some of these stallholders had resettled themselves in proper shops along Kelantan Lane, Syed Alwi Road and Sim Lim Tower. (5)

It was never smooth sailing for the stall holders there. The threat of seeing the closure of the market was mentioned as early as 1978. (6) In 1982, the Environment Ministry was also on-hand to tear down the temporary stalls. (7) Still, the stallholders returned to their old haunt in 1983.

The illegal stallholders had to play hide-and-seek with the Ministry of Environment officers. "It was only in late 1989" that these hawkers were given temporary permits to hawk their wares. (8)  Business started to flourished again. There were even mobile food stalls that sold tasty Laksa and the likes.

But by 2000, there was no need for stallholders to request for permit, though the only condition was that they were only allowed to sell second-hand goods. (9)

The streets that they hawked their wares include Pitt Street and Larut Road.

To protect themselves from the weather, the stallholders erect temporary shelters using tarpaulin and big umbrellas.

As I walked along the streets, I was looking out for something that is worth my purchase. Army helmets, old kettles, religious amulets, all these items were not of my fancy.

Some of these items were so worn-out that the stallholder had just lumped everything together. It looked to me like a pile of junk. But I'm pretty sure that the gentleman selling these items must have felt that they were indeed worth a dollar or two.

Time was never an issue for these stallholders, especially if you were their regular customers. They took their time to chat with their customers, some of whom even sat on the side of the seller while chatting away about times gone by. But for those whom they are unfamiliar with, the stallholders were not as patient. "Le Chuay simi? " (What are you looking for?) was a retort by the stallholders, targeted at new customers who were disentangling some of his wares. 

Alas, the end is near for these stallholders and there seems to be no reprieve. These stallholders will be asked to move, most likely permanently as the land will be use to build an upcoming MRT station. (10)

As I wandered through the flea market and had found nothing of my liking, I know that many others would have found something interesting that they will take along with them. If nothing else, at least the memories of this place will be in our hearts forever.

References

1. Untitled. October 13, 1935. The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 6, 2014.

2. Jalan Besar: Heritage Trail. http://www.academia.edu/3665785/Jalan_Besar_A_Heritage_Trail. Retrieved on: September 6, 2014.

3. Robinson Petang. October 2, 1953. The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 6, 2014.

4. Cheong, S. October 26, 1979....and an old one.  The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014. 

5. Thieves' Market: Big Move Out Soon. November 30, 1981. The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014. 

6. Sungei Road Stall Still Going Strong. August 14, 1978. The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014.

7. Kumar, S. August 11, 1982. The Straits Times. http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014. P.8.

8. Yeo, R. June 1, 1991. Flea for All. The Straits Times. Factiva. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014.

9. Ho, M. October 12, 2001. How much for that broken phone. The Straits Times. Factiva. Retrieved on: September 7, 2014.

10. Flea market and the city. August 10, 2014. The Straits Times. http://www.straitstimes.com/news/opinion/more-opinion-stories/story/flea-mart-and-the-city-20140810 Retrieved on: September 7, 2014.