with oil spills everywhere - in the gulf, china and india, we may see the re-appearance of the orang minyak - the oily man.
in the days where street lamps were few and far in between and where, in most out of town places, electricity was supplied by generators which shut down just before midnight, these conditions and environment were suitable for the oily man to operate. under the cover of darkness and smearing himself with black oil, he rendered himself almost invisible. the oil on his body also made it difficult for anyone to get a good hold on him. i believe the oily man was a normal human out to take advantage of the irrational fear of people at that time.
i am quite surprised that my blogger friend victor koo has not blogged about this.....the oily man. the area where he once lived was where the oily man made his second appearance in the 50s. the scare in the 5os first started in the area near great world city and it soon spread to middle road, victoria street and queen street area. maybe he was too young then to be frightened by the phantom prowler.
for five nights, large crowds gathered outside st anthony's convent trying to catch a glimpse of the elusive oily man. he had been seen on the roof of the building. the crowd was so big that it caused traffic jams and the police had to be called in to try to disperse the mob. however, it did not capture the interest of everyone. a friend who lived near middle road read about it in the papers; he could not be bothered to join the excited crowd. even when the police declared the 'oily man' a hoax, people continued to gather in the evening.
very soon, the sightings of the oily man were reported all over singapore, from chinatown to changi. at telok kurau, angry villagers chased a dark man clad only in blue swimming trunks. another time one man was found naked crouching beside a hedge. he carried his clothes in a bundle. there were a few reported cases where girls were attacked by a man smeared with black oil and wearing only a pair of swimming trunks.
another oily man - it could be the same man - molested a malay woman at kampong alexandra. the woman screamed and the oily man while trying to make his escape was hit on the head with a parang wielded by one of the villagers. however, he still managed to escape capture.
at zion road, the oily man was seen dancing naked on the rooftop. when he was chased, he threw stones at his pursuers.
over at clementi estate, the oily man was declared by some to have supernatural powers. according to one claim he could remain invisible, especially to men, or transform himself into a dog. 1000 police and soldiers were deployed to capture the oily man. it was so serious that they were given orders to shoot on sight.
he was seen more than once at royal air force (raf) changi. the terrified housewives of the base airmen barred their doors and bolted their windows to keep the oily man out.
actually the 50s was not the first time singapore heard of the oily man. there were also reports of the oily man earlier, in the 30s. there were also two malay films based on the oily man. the first was 'orang minyak' (oily man) and the second 'serangan orang minyak' (the oily man strikes again.) sporadic sightings of the oily character were reported in the 60s and even in the early 70s.
over in malaya, there were a number of cases in which young girls and housewives were either molested or even raped by the oily man.