Adieu to Tanglin Halt, one of Singapore's oldest estates

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Long-time residents are moving out as the estate is set to be rejuvenated as part of Sers project.

 

SINGAPORE - For the last 54 years, a flat at Block 45 Tanglin Halt has been Madam Soh Kim Tee's home.

She was 16 when she moved into the estate with her family. At 20, she got married and the couple moved out for two years, but they returned after buying the current unit.

Her two-room flat was noisy, with her having to care for two young children while her husband ran a stall selling pork at the nearby Tanglin Halt market. As the family grew, with both children married, they bought the two-room flat next to their own in 1999 and combined the units.

Her husband died in 2008 of a heart attack and her daughter, a year later from a medical condition. Her son lives with his family. Now her home is too big and too quiet for the 76-year-old.

"I was lonely and the flat was empty," she said in Mandarin. "But then my friend got me involved in community activities. It got me out of my shell and helped me heal."

Friends like Madam Alice Lee, a 73-year-old woman who residents describe as the "village chief" of Tanglin Halt. She lives alone in a three-room flat at Block 33, and her two children live with their families. Her husband died years ago when he was 40.

Residents of 3,480 flats in 31 blocks in the estate will soon have to move under the Housing Board's Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (Sers). The two markets and food centre where residents mingled will be demolished too, as will seven commercial blocks in Tanglin Halt. The demolition is expected to be completed by 2024.

The plan to make way for new development projects was first announced in 2014. Residents were told HDB had developed five land parcels in Dawson, an estate near Queenstown MRT station, and they were offered replacement flats ranging from two- to five-room units.

Some had collected their keys and moved to flats in SkyParc @ Dawson, Dawson Vista and Forfar Heights from December 2019. Those who opted for units at SkyResidence @ Dawson and SkyOasis @ Dawson are expected to progressively move into their new homes.

Madam Leong Mei, 76, and her husband were not happy when they were first told they had to move.

"When we first heard the news, we really could not bear to leave. We will lose decades-long friendships. Some of our friends are moving to Bukit Panjang and Clementi," said Madam Leong in Mandarin.

She bought a three-room flat at Block 31 with Mr Yee Kong Hoi, 82, in 1973 after they got married. The family later bought the unit next door and they combined the two into a four-bedroom flat.

The couple said they will miss the convenience of living so close to Commonwealth MRT station, which is about 300m away, and the inclusive community spaces in Tanglin Halt.

"It really is very comfortable here," Madam Leong said. "We even went to the MP at the start to ask why we had to move."

Mr Eric Chua, an MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC since last year, told The Sunday Times he is keenly aware of how residents feel.

"Places can change but relationships hopefully will not. I hope the neighbourly bonds of residents will be cherished and ported over to Dawson," he said.

He is planning a documentary that captures the charm of Tanglin Halt and has submitted an application to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to produce the four-part short film series.

Mr Chua intends to feature The Quests, a band popular in Singapore in the 1960s who had their origins in Queenstown, and has extended an invite to Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who was a resident of Commonwealth Drive during his undergraduate years.

In his biography, Tall Order, Mr Goh said of his time in Queenstown, the first satellite new town in Singapore: "When I was in university, my mother bought a three-room flat in Tanglin Halt... Queenstown was a new place... I just marvelled at the modern sanitation... It was also the first time I slept in a bed."

Mr Chua also hopes to preserve the three-storey buildings designed by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), the predecessor to the HDB. The nine unique low-rise flats, spanning Blocks 57, 61, 67 to 73 Commonwealth Drive, are now an uncommon sight in Singapore's metropolitan landscape.

A total of 157 stalls from the Tanglin Halt Market and Commonwealth Drive Food Centre, and 54 rental shops and eating houses will be cleared under the redevelopment programme.

A new two-storey hawker centre with 40 cooked food stalls will be built in Margaret Drive, which will be offered as replacements to affected stallholders at Commonwealth Drive Food Centre.

Mr Lee Boo Song, 70, has been running Hock Ann Confectionery at Block 46-3 since 1986, selling baked goods.

"Even after they've moved out, customers still come back for our traditional flavour. The shop is hard to give up, but we have no choice because of the competition today," said Mr Lee, who lives in Geylang Bahru. He said he will give up the business when he has to move out.

As for Madam Lee, she continues to be involved in planning events for the community every month, with Madam Soh by her side, organising the logistics.

"I've lived in Tanglin Halt for 53 years, and I've been volunteering at the Residents' Committee for 19 years. Using my time to make residents happy makes me happy. I'll still be helping them after we move," said Madam Lee.

Redevelopment is rejuvenation not demolition, said Dr Chia Shi-Lu, former MP for the area from 2011 to last year.

"There has sadly been a gradual but perceptible loss of vitality in Tanglin Halt over the past two decades - a significant extent due to the ageing of its population, with not many businesses and shops moving in - so something had to be done to give Tanglin Halt a new lease of life," he explained.

For Madam Soh, moving means packing the pictures and mementoes she plans to keep in boxes. Especially those of her daughter, who was "especially dear to her", and her grandson, a boy Madam Soh looked after for 15 years following the death of his mother.

She will take these things with her to her new two-room flat at Block 31, SkyResidence @ Dawson. Madam Lee will be there next year too, in a four-room flat in Block 30.

"I'm not too miserable about it as I will still keep in close contact with Alice and my friends. Alice and I will be in neighbouring blocks at the new site," she added.

And as she unpacks her memories from the cardboard boxes, she said she will feel she is home again.

 

Source: The Straits Times © Singapore Press Holdings Limited. Reproduced with permission.

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