One Sneak Peek Into A Record of History

Passion and the ability to take initiative are two crucial skills that any founder should possess.

Until now, most of my interviewees on One Sneak Peek Into have been approached by me.

Rustam here, however, is a special case.

After reading a feature I did for a friend of his, he sent me a private message on linkedin, where he requested me to cover his project for my newsletter.

And I knew I had to interview him then and there, regardless of what he did.

Because he was confident enough in the value of his project to society, and brave enough to contact a stranger who he knew would be able to help him.

This is the drive that I think all founders and entrepreneurs should have.

Rustam is the founder of Project Broken Barges, a project that aims to keep track of the unique history of Tongkang Pechah, a place that hosted the Kampung that his mother grew up in.

(Kampung means “village” in Malay.)

I took away some learnings from our short conversation together, and decided to share them with all of you here.

1. Be passionate about what you are doing.

When Rustam was pitching for support and funding from the National Youth Council, he was asked about the value that his project could offer to Singapore.

In fact, I too questioned the same.

“What’s your selling point? Why would people care about this?” I inquired.

Instead of answering my queries directly, he asked,

“Did you know that Kampung Tongkang Pechah, the kampung within the place, had a history that dated back to the 1900s?

In fact, the 1910s, 1920s and 1930s were the heyday of the kampungs. Many prominent Kampungs were established during then.”

“A Kampung cannot exist in isolation, “ he said.

“If we want to celebrate our own heritage in Singapore, we need to celebrate the heritage of the place that we grew up in.”

It was clear to me that he had prior knowledge about the history of our country, and held great interest for the subject.

He was able to communicate the value of preserving the almost-forgotten stories of days long past.

Even when others couldn’t clearly see it.

2. Solve problems around you.

When learning about entrepreneurship, many youths tend to go for the “sexy” problems and come up with solutions that seem lofty.

However, the best inspirations often come from around us.

Rustam started this project for a very personal reason.

His mum, whom he loves dearly, has always talked about her childhood home with much happiness and longing.

Yet, he soon realised that there was next to no information about it on the internet.

Seeking to preserve and learn more about his own family history, he founded Project Broken Barges.

3. Persevering when the going gets tough.

It has been very difficult for Rustam to trace down ex-residents of Tongkang Pechah, as the land that originally held it had been repurposed into pig farms.

Before being redeveloped into a residential area, Fernvale.

The original people there were relocated to flats in Ang Mo Kio and Toa Payoh, and he had to contact a mosque for more contacts to interview.

Not only this, the youngest person with authentic memories of the place would at least be 60 years old, so Rustam knew he was racing against time as well.

It took a lot of trial and error and reaching out to people before he got a primary school friend of his mother’s to reply.

Said interviewee ended up being so impressed with his work, passion and effort that she was willing to connect him with others.

Interested in joining Project Broken Barges?

Rustam is currently looking to expand his team of volunteers, which currently consists of:

• Himself

• a history researcher from the National University of Singapore (NUS)

• and an art programs manager who oversees all artistic deliverables in the project

He intends to produce digital and physical artworks for people learn more about the history of Tongkang Pechah.

The latter will be exhibited in areas of significance in Singapore.

A laissez-faire working style was proposed, and Rustam is open to creative discussion regarding the various art pieces.

Join Rustam in preserving the unique history of our beloved Singapore here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustamshariq/ 

And that is all for today’s One Sneak Peek Into.

Stay tuned for more insights from our interview series as we continue to explore the stories of trailblazers breaking barriers and redefining success.