Flatted factories as sites of visions — Gross National Distress

Flatted factories as sites of visions

In Singapore, flatted factories are a common sight due to the scarcity of land area. According to the book, Theatres of Memory, these flatted factories come in different shapes that resemble the alphabets, H, I, L, T and Z. The letters A to G were probably too hard to model these factories after. There is only one that has the U shape and it was the first to be built. This U shaped flatted factory is located in an area called Commonwealth Drive. Similar to a flat, such factories were built skywards and could house several tenants within a small amount of land. These factories were already operational in Hong Kong, Denmark and the United Kingdom too. Located conveniently close to residential areas, these factories were easily accessible by workers who initially were mostly housewives. However, as described by individuals who share their stories in this publication, the demographics of factory workers would change continuously as Singapore started to face problems of labour shortage.

These factories were also the sites of MPI outbreaks.The first in a series of such outbreaks occurred in 1973 and took place in a light industrial estate comprising blocks of flatted factories. These factories are located in the Kallang Basin which is in the east side of Singapore. The buildings still stand but the companies have changed.

Nadia Florman mentions how these factories would be housed in several neighbouring blocks and there were some blocks that were more rife with otherworldly activities. Certain floors would be occupied by hantu(spirits). Other areas such as the stairwell, corridor or toilets were often spaces to be avoided when alone. She recounts how other factory workers would be concerned for her when she was resting by the stairs during breaks, “What are you doing here? Be careful, you not scared eh?”¹ These were boundaries set by the collective imagination and workers were obliged to comply. The design of such places controlled the movement of workers as local cosmologies were imbued onto certain spaces that were not often populated. Physical space would mirror the psychological as workers demarcate territories of anxiety and fear in these buildings. This sentiment was felt strongest in the toilets. Aihwa Ong states that the construction of buildings does not consider local belief systems.

“For Malays, the places occupied by evil spirits are nonhuman territories like swamps, jungles, and bodies of water. These amoral domains were kept distant from women's bodies by ideological and physical spatial regulations. The construction of modern buildings, often without regard for Malay concern about moral space, displaces spirits, which take up residence in the toilet tank.”²

This belief has also been adopted by other communities of Singapore and Malaysia too. Acknowledgement of otherworldly entities by workers in the factories also serves as a premise for how incidents of MPI take form in Singapore. Incidents are mostly attributed to spirit attacks. Similar to incidents that occurred in Malaysia as explained by Aihwa Ong.

“In the factory environment, "spirit attacks" (kena hantu) was often used interchangeably with "mass hysteria," a term adopted from English language press reports on such incidents. In the manager's view, "hysteria" was a symptom of physical adjustment as the women workers "move from home idleness to factory discipline." This explanation also found favor with some members of the workforce. Scientific terms like "penyakit histeria" (hysteria sickness), and physiological preconditions formulated by the management, became more acceptable to some workers.”³

_{1. Interview with Nadia Florman conducted by Shaza Ishak, 2025.
2-3. Ong, Aihwa. “The Production of Possession: Spirits and the Multinational Corporation in Malaysia.” American Ethnologist, vol. 15, no. 1, 1988.}