That Old Colonial House BY Rozie

When I was a kid, my parents were diplomats for Brunei and got sent to
Singapore. The first house we stayed in was a colonial place behind
the botanical gardens, (the area doesn't exist anymore thanks to
Singapore ongoing development). It was an old place and big grounds,
pool and a tennis court which other people in the area would borrow to
use. The guest room was at the end of the house, next to the study
where on weekends we have an ustaz who would teach us kids mengaji and
ugama. That part of the house was creepy, it felt creepy. Guests who
have stayed in that room would tell us the next day that somewhere in
the night they felt this heavy weight lying on top of them. It doesn't
happen to everybody but to most people. I myself have taken naps in
that room (kirakan case memberanikan diri), and even though it was
still and quiet and at times I woke up around maghrib, I didn't
experience anything.

Also with this house, one incident was near the tennis court, since
the house was on a hill, you'd have to go down the stone steps behind
the house and pool to get there. One night the security guard was
doing his rounds and there were some lights leading down the steps,
enough to make your way but not enough to light up the place. He saw a
dark figure sitting on one of the steps, he thought maybe one of the
neighbours must've had a late tennis game and was the last one to go
and hadn't gone yet. He approached the figure and as soon as he was an
arms length away, the figure stood up and just flew off.

The house has a separate garage which included two rooms, which were
used as the drivers rest room and where they have their meals and
beds. (My mother only told us about this after we came back to Brunei
many years after), when we were in Singapore, my grandfather passed
away, and somewhere after that, my parents had bought marble batu
nisan to be brought back home to be placed on his grave, in the mean
time the nisan were placed in the garage until we went home for the
holidays and bringing them back with us. She said that when the
drivers had to work overtime at night, they would hear knocking sounds
coming from the garage, and this continued until the nisan were
brought back.

In front of the house was a large tree which seemed to grow
horizontally. Us being kids would use our imagination and I referred
to it as the tree ship and played around the tree in the afternoons a
lot. Little did we know there have been sightings of the white lady at
night playing in the same location, and our bedroom window overlook
that tree and I don't ever recall ever seeing it, but the security
guards does. I would have sleepovers with my friends and we would go
on a watch to see if we could catch a glimpse of the lady, never did.

I think the best story regarding that house has to be this one, the
security post is just outside the gates of the house, the road leading
towards the gate is hilly and curved in. We have about two or three
guards and they take turns each night so there is always one in the
compound. One night, he was at his post, a little guard house with
windows on all sides, enough for one person, when he noticed something
marching up the road. As the something got closer he saw a troop of
WWII soldiers, I can't remember if they were Japanese or not. For
those of you who don't know your history in World War II Singapore was
one of the places that were bloodied by the Japanese occupation and
many soldiers died. And since the area we were staying in was a
colonial era, I wasn't surprised when I heard this story. Anyway, the
guard saw a ghostly troop of soldiers marching up the road, what made
the whole thing freaky was the troops were marching up to the gates of
the house! And since the guard house was just outside of the gates,
the poor security guard had witnessed the whole thing. When the troops
reached the closed gates, they just stopped and stood still...
Waiting... That was that to the story because the security guard
fainted, and he was woken up by one of the drivers in the morning who
came to work and was told the whole story.

After a couple of years, the Government of Brunei acquired a piece of
land where the current embassy now stand. And that's another batch of
story regarding that place, to be continued!