Close
Exit

September 30, 2014

Blast from the past

BY LIM MAY LEE
alltherage@thestar.com.my

WHEN you have a bunch of some of the country’s best teen journalists running through the streets of historic Malacca city, cameras, notepads and smartphones in hand, you know some awesome stories are going to emerge.

The latest edition of The Star’s BRATs camp saw a new batch of aspiring journalists (aged 16 to 19) going to Malacca for a crash course in journalism before heading out to the Jonker Street area to find stories to tell.

Human history: The BRATs interviewing Soo Xiu Keng, 78, who has run her own tiny barbershop just off Jonker Street for the past 58 years. Soo even let some of the BRATs sit on her barber's chair, which is over 100 years old! Photos by SAMUEL ONG/The Star

Human history: The BRATs interviewing Soo Xiu Keng, 78, who has run her own tiny barbershop just off Jonker Street for the past 58 years. Soo even let some of the BRATs sit on her barber’s chair, which is over 100 years old! Photos by SAMUEL ONG/The Star

And find stories they did! There’s so much more to Malacca than most of us care to look out for, and the BRATs were able to uncover some of it, so you can get to check it out during your next trip to the historic city!

We’ll be publishing their stories and photos here today and next Tuesday, and they’ll include the hidden heritage of Heeren Street, the dying trades of Jonker Street, the soon-to-be unveiled “time tunnel” at the Cheng Ho Tea House, and so much more.

For more content from the BRATs Malacca 2014 camp, look us up on Facebook (facebook.com/thestarRAGE) and Twitter (@starbrats, or hashtag #BRATsMalacca).

Also, our next BRATs camp will be in December, and we’ll be unveiling the venue real soon! So, stay tuned for that =)

About

Tell us what you think!

Read up!

Championing children’s education

Education director-general Datuk Dr Habibah Abdul Rahim speaks on the importance of empathy-based education, the challenges of adapting education policies in light of the Covid-19 situation, and her “dream” education system.

Read more Like this post21

I lost my mother to the Japanese war

 Whenever Allied planes bombed Sandakan town as part of its campaign to liberate Borneo, Daniel Chin Tung Foh’s grandfather would rush the whole family into a bomb shelter behind their house.  During its heyday, the British North Borneo Company had developed Sandakan into a major commercial and trading hub for timber, as well as […]

Read more Like this post17

A witness to the Double Tenth revolt

 Chua Hock Yong was born in Singapore, but his grandfather moved the family to British North Borneo (now Sabah) to establish their business in 1939 when he was a year old.  The Japanese invaded Borneo shortly after, but the family continued living in their shophouse in Gaya Street, Jesselton, now known as Kota Kinabalu.  […]

Read more Like this post21

An encounter with victims of the Sandakan Death Marches

 When the Second World War came to Borneo, Pelabiu Akai’s mother moved the family back to their village in Nalapak, Ranau.  Although the Japanese were known to be ruthless and brutal conquerors, they left the villagers to their own devices and Pelabiu had a largely uneventful life – until she came across gaunt-looking Allied […]

Read more Like this post19

Sarawak’s only living child prisoner of war

 Jeli Abdullah’s mother died from labour complications after giving birth to him and his twin brother. To his Bisaya tribe, this was seen as a bad omen, and his father did not know what to do with the twins.  Fortunately, an Australian missionary couple decided to adopt the newborns. But misfortunate fell upon the […]

Read more Like this post16
Go top