What happened to Morgan the Kidnapper ( Siang Lim Park Gunfight )?

Many of you who have read my recent previous post titled, " Gunfight at Siang Lim Park August 1965", must have been left wondering what eventually happened to that elusive and most wanted gunman...Morgan Teo aka Morgan the Kidnapper. If you have googled the net about this long-forgotten top criminal you would have been disappointed. There is practically nothing very much out there about him and a few of his infamous brethren in crime...top wanted killers and gunmen such as Oh Kim Kee and Lim Ban Lim. 

But much have been reported about their legendary misdeeds mainly in the press of those years. 

Unk Dicko is certain he has news clips about some of these chaps...but have not located them yet. The reason I am so certain is I knew I had over the years, collected news reports of major crimes committed and their aftermath. 

Nevertheless, the answer to what eventually happened to Morgan the Kidnapper must be told. 

My recollection is based entirely on memory of the events as I can recall today. Morgan Teo and his gang had been involved in a string of high profile kidnappings where ransom was paid for the release of those he captured. He was known to skip in and out of Singapore to nearby Indonesia. 

He was considered very dangerous. Besides the guns he always carried with him, he was also known to have quite an arsenal or cache of smuggled arms and weapons, such as hand grenades. 

That day in Siang Lim Park, he threw 2 of these grenades at the police ambush party. 

After fatally shooting Inspector Allan Lim of the CID, he eluded capture and made his escape by climbing into the ceiling of the next terrace house. 

The next 2 houses the occupants have been earlier asked by the Police to leave their homes.  

Whenever a police officer has been killed by a criminal, a no-holds barred response from the police is expected. 

Morgan has to be captured dead or alive! 

The police teams went into an overdrive mode in an all out attempt to pin-point his whereabouts. 

By making the fatal mistake of shooting dead a Singapore Police Officer, Morgan had in a way, signed his own death warrant. The heat was on! 

It wasn't very long before the police confirmed his whereabouts. 

He was in the ceiling at the 3rd house. The police knew precisely where he was. 

They also knew from past experience he was likely heavily armed with several guns and even grenades.

Police took no chances.

The located house was surrounded from front and back.

Police using a loud hailer called for him to throw down his weapons and surrender.

Morgan responded by firing his guns.

Earlier, his henchman and a woman have already surrendered to the Police.

To end the stalemate, the Police attack team launched a front and back attack with grenades

and guns blazing away. 

The house soon caught fire.

When the fire was put out by firemen they found his body on the ground ...burnt.

Around his neck there was a gold chain with his name " Morgan " inscribed.

UPDATE :- 

In later years more details of the heroic action of the Police officers involved in this

shoot out were published.

I have met personally with some of them including the late CID detective Lionel de' Souza

who related details of his involvement that day.

I am a living eye-witness of that gun battle in Aug 1965.

Performance at The Esplanade - 14 Nov 2011

 http://www.esplanade.com/whats_on/programme_info/nostalgic_moods/index.jsp

The Performing Stage at the Concourse

 How time flies again !  It was only last year in late August that I decided on something I had never seriously done before...forming a musical group mainly of seniors and retirees for musical singalongs and get togethers. To be sure of continuity and to attract more and new faces the happening must be regular, must provide a platform for others to come together to simply enjoy crooning together, play a musical instrument, share and learn. The main thing is that everyone must have FUN and enjoy what they are there for.

Audience area - front of Stage

That was how it began. Once a week on a Wednesday, we'll meet at the Serangoon North Community Club soundproofed music room for our regular gig. Unk Dicko had to do practically everything from planning the sessions, sourcing the song lyrics and musical tabs, chords and notes. Getting them printed out so that files of songs are made...with the help of cc staff etc. Lots of stuff needed to be done.
It took a lot of my time and effort. But it was always a labour of love to me especially when I see how happy and passionate some who first came turned out to be.



Concourse Performing Stage at Esplanade

Within a month or so, I had been approached to get my "group" to entertain and perform at a number of public functions and events.

Most of the regular members had never performed on stage before a live audience. So it was a challenge for me to prepare them for this next hurdle in their changing life.

Since then, my Minstrels have performed big time as you can read in my earlier blogposts.

Unk Dicko and Esplanade Programmes Officer Desmond C

 On Monday 14 November 2011, my performing group known as " Dick Yip &The Minstrels " have been specially invited to perform at the opening of " A Date with Friends" which is a music festival under the Esplanade auspices.
We will be the first to kick off the series with " Nostalgic Moods "- entertaining at the Concourse.
Time 7.15pm and 8.15 pm .
 Free for all public.


The Beautiful River scene by the Esplanade


The grounds beside the Esplanade is so scenic and relaxing. It's a good setting to enjoy an early dinner with many restaurants and cafes there and simply stroll into the Concourse for relaxing music!

If you do that on Monday 14 Nov, come and say hello to me and my Minstrels. I'll be most happy if you do that!

Dick Yip & The Minstrels




The Esplanade - picture source official website of the Esplanade





Ukulele Uncle Dick sings a 50s tune

PM Speech highlights James Seah's memory of Bukit Ho Swee

Why no blogpost for over 3 months - Unk Dicko

Hi all visitors, friends and readers of this blog,
More than 3 months have passed since my last blogpost in late April. I'm certain many must have wondered if I had gone on a long leave of absence or had been in poor health or simply was living in the 7th heaven somewhere or worse.. that I may have absconded from ever blogging again.

Touch wood, it's none of these things. The reason was due to something more down to earth. Let me explain.

From the time I started on my IT journey of self-discovery which included my initial adventure into the world of blogging, I had always depended on my generally reliable desk-top computer system. It has served me well for the last 5 plus years. But I did not know that many of the parts making up the systems, the hardware may have only a shelf life of about 2 years, 3 if you are lucky. From time to time, breakdown will occur not necessary due to virus attacks or other malware.

The trouble is as a layman, you and I have no precise knowledge about such things as there are literally hundreds of parts, wires, cables that are part of a computer...which as I've said we know nuts about...especially when do these parts start "expiring ".

That's what I've been facing these past months...one part expiring after another. I changed the internal fan ( cooling system ) yet within days something else breaks down. A condenser got heated and melted. Had to change that whole segment/piece.

My computer engineer chap suggested that I buy a new set up.

But it was not just the costs that made me wary.

My present system have ALL the stored info and data that I've patiently accumulated for over 5 years of often painstaking research and effort, things I need for my future Blog posts and future talks etc. They are all in the hard disk and I'm not prepared to lose all that precious stuff.

Don't get me wrong..I'm not afraid someone hacks into my harddisk or anything like that. There is NOTHING of MONETARY or FINANCIAL value inside. I AVOID  all internet banking/financial/transfer of money totally.

 So my suggestion was to set up a 2nd Desk top system which was done. This new system is a Dell Office system with the latest Windows 7 Ultimate with High Definition resolution. I connected it to my all my previous external applications...printer, scanner, etc..

 My existing Acer computer desktop with Windows 7 system ( older system) was set up at another location in my living room... with no attachments.

 Then came the problem. Big problem.

When I wanted to blog again, I found that most of my "saved" resources were not in the new Dell system. It has a new hard disk which did not completely transfer my old stuff in the Acer system. Many files were there but not the stuff I needed for blogging. Sigh !

Worse, my printer and scanner were not properly configured to work in sync with the new Dell system.

My computer engineer chap conveniently neglected to do it properly..thus requiring me to call on his services again ( at his convenience of course ).

This to and froing went on until 2 days ago when he came to complete the job. But there are still some problems left hanging as I've discovered but will wait until a more opportune time to discuss this.

At least, I can now resume my usual blogging life, at least 80 % of it.

So much has happened in the last couple of months aorund us at home and abroad. For those past few months I have been more active on Facebook as an alternative...if any of you had noticed.

Thanks for all your PATIENCE !

Duty calls. Service will resume as from today !

Unk Dicko

Grandpa Uke entertaining "Live" at Nex Serangoon, Sunday 24 April 2011

Unk Dicko and his partner R C will again be entertaining at NTUC Hypermart

at Nex Serangoon on Sunday 24 April 2011 from 2 pm to 5 pm.

Yes...3 solid hours of good ole' ukulele music that is guaranteed to bring back fond memories of the yesteryears.

Grandpa Uke are in reality 2 real grandpas who have been performing publicly and privately for many years since the 90's.

We have a wide repertoire of songs in our extensive collection. We'll be playing and singing a wide cross-section of songs that will include hits of the 50's, 60's, 70's , popular favourites, kiddie songs, funny songs, songs from movies, some jazz pieces, calypso hits, keroncong tunes...and more.

Many members of the public have asked Unk Dicko when and where the next performance is going to be.

Well, if you're free, do come on down to NTUC Hypermart at Level 3 Nex Serangoon.

I understand there is much that is happening there on Sunday being the Easter weekend.

Our last performance there was on the night of Tuesday 29 March as shown in the photos below.

The next day, the store management  told me that many of their customers and visitors gave very positive feedback about our stint. They wanted to know if we're coming back!

So...yes,  we'll certainly be there again on Sunday !

If you are interested in the ukulele, don't miss this.

If you are a ukulele player and want to pick up some tips for improvement...do come.

If you like those songs of the good ole days...think no more, just come!

 



Seranding a sweet old lady in wheelchair



Unk Dicko and Minstrels entertaining today at Suntec City.

The Active Ageing Carnival 2011 was officially launched yesterday, Saturday April 2nd at Suntec City Convention Centre by Minister Lim Boon Heng. I was at the official Opening together with several past Active Ager Winners.
From my estimate the number of people who came has certainly increased over the previous years. It was jam-packed with not only the older folks but also younger people.

My Minstrels and I entertained the visitors with a selection of songs from 1.10 - 1.40 pm.

Today we will make our 2nd appearance at 2.20 pm at Level 3 with another super selection of songs.
Quite a few people have been requesting for Unk Dicko to do a solo of IZ Kamakawiwo'ole 's version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".
I did a tiny portion of it on the FM 90.5 programme on Friday night with the Richmonds.

If there's time, I will do a full SOLO version ( my own version following the style of the great IZ ) at the Carnival this afternoon during our scheduled performance.
Time: 2: 20 pm - 2. 55pm
Venue:  Demo Performing area at Level 3.
Don't miss it.  Bring along your video camera if you wish to.

Ps:  At 10 am sharp, at the Main Stage at level 4...I shall be modelling some sports attire together with my 4 year old darling grandson 'baby T'.
Never done one before. This is the first time I'm actually doing a routine to music. Same for baby T...it's absolutely terrifying for him!
No idea whether he might just go on strike at the very last minute....still.
He's only doing so because of me. Love him!
Cheers!

My Minstrels and I making some music- 2 April 2011

Unk Dicko and the Minstrels entertaining the crowd