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Childhood

Their mysterious father.

KK’s childhood is sketchy and vague.

His constant rejoinder: I don’t want to remember it.

Even I don’t know much about it apart from the fact that he was poor. Which is perhaps why he doesn't want to remember it.

There are few photos of KK as a child.

Actually there are only three, along with a total of three precious passport snaps.

Two show him with animals. He’s always been an animal person. He likes them and they like him (unlike me).

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* Brother, father, KK

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* In Segamat, Malaysia, visiting the extended family

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* Ping Ping and An An (平平 and 安安)

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On his childhood he said: “When I looked at my parents I know that I must work hard. I knew that I must depend on myself and not on them.”

He grew up in a Boon Lay two-room flat, the middle child with an elder brother and younger sister. At night, swarms of flies and cockroaches would sometimes invade the flat. Till today he is terrified of roaches. Jumps on a chair when he sees one.

He went to school at the now-defunct Yung An Primary. Without being able to afford any toys, he did all the old-school things: Making his own paper kites and catching guppies in the monsoon drains.

But he doesn’t say more: “I’d rather forget my childhood. Is catching guppies in monsoon drains enjoyable? I don’t think so.”

I plumb his sister for more. Women, after all, tend to be a little bit more sentimental. She shares this nugget: “I guess he was like all other boys, like to play with spiders and climb trees. I remember that three of us would walk about 4km to school instead of taking the bus, and used the money for our bus fare to buy soft drinks in school.

“On the way to school we would pass by this construction site with a large ‘pond’ and we would play at the dirty site.”

It’s only when my husband goes to Chinese High that the photos appear. The school and his friends must have given these to him.

Why did he go to Chinese High? “I don’t know. I followed my friends.”

That was also where he joined the National Police Cadet Corp, where he rose through the ranks to become the highest-ranked Station Inspector. Why did he join the NPCC? “I don’t know. I followed my friends.”

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* NPCC friends. KK aged 15 on the extreme left
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