Dad’s Story

Seng Poh was born in January 1942 at the start of the Japanese Occupation in Singapore. He was initially given the name ‘Thian Poh’ 天宝 (meaning ‘treasure from heaven’) by his aunt Kim Hong who felt that his birth was a good omen despite the troubling times. But when Seng Poh grew up, he changed his name to ‘Seng Poh’ 成宝 so as to be consistent with the family’s male naming convention. All 17 boys of his generation in the Low extended family had the middle character ‘Seng’ in their names!

Back then, large families were common. There were half-siblings, step-children, adoptions – family ties were more fluid and relationships were, sometimes, complex. Seng Poh’s father was born in Singapore, but his grandfather and great-grandfather came from China.  So, if the two generations from China were combined with the five generations born in Singapore, the family (as of 2020) now spans seven generations! Based on information gathered from ancestral plaques and interviews, this is an account of the Low extended family tree, and in particular, Seng Poh’s story.  
 

From China

The Low family came from Meibin Village, Penglai Town, Anxi Prefecture, Fujian Province in China 中国福建安溪县蓬莱镇美滨村. The earliest recorded individual was Low Chow Thean刘肇阵 (all early names have been phonetically translated from Chinese).  He was married to Poh Mui Neo 傅梅娘. Both were born in China sometime in the 19^th century. They had two sons Chye Teng 财丁 and Puah Chwee 泮水.

After Mui Neo passed away in 1880 (光绪六年九月初九), Chow Thean and his five-year old son Puah Chwee then migrated to Singapore, whilst Chye Teng remained in China. In Singapore, Chow Thean later married a woman who already had a son by her previous husband with the surname of Teo 赵.  Teo’s son was younger than Chye Teng and Puah Chwee. Although Chow Thean did not recognise the younger Teo as his son, the rest of the family still regarded him as a relative. For instance, Teo was known as third grand uncle by Seng Poh’s generation.

Later, Chow Thean’s elder son Chye Teng also migrated to Singapore from China, bringing along his wife Lim Yeo Neo林腰娘 and son Huat Leong发谅. Unfortunately, Chye Teng passed away soon after his arrival. His younger brother Puah Chwee then married his widowed sister-in-law Yeo Neo.  The couple went on to have two sons of their own – Bock Seng木生 and Bock Eng木荣. Hence, there were three sons in the Low family: Huat Leong (from Yeo Neo’s first marriage) and Bock Seng and Bock Eng (from her second marriage).  After Huat Leong’s early demise in 1949, his children were then looked after by their uncles Bock Seng and Bock Eng.

In Singapore, Puah Chwee worked as a bullock cart driver, carrying rice and various goods including animal swill to farms.  He loved to gamble, which often left his family in debt. This later became a source of conflict between him and his son Bock Seng who disapproved of his father’s gambling habits. Yeo Neo was a housewife, whose grandchildren remembered as a kindly woman with bound feet. Unfortunately, Puah Chwee had a bad temper and often scolded his wife over small matters. However, in their later years, they became closer, and he would sometimes hire a trishaw to go for a ride around the city with his wife after dinner.  In 1957, Yeo Neo passed away of cancer, followed by her husband Puah Chwee who died of illness and old age in 1969.

Born in Singapore

In the Low family, Bock Seng and Bock Eng were the first generation to be born in Singapore (in 1906 and 1908 respectively). Bock Seng only had two years of education and started working at the age of 12 years at a provision shop called ‘Hup Huat’ 合发. The shop was located at Havelock Road (currently occupied by Blk 92, Zion Road, Covent Garden Estate). The shop owner Mr Goh appreciated Bock Seng’s hard work and eventually made him a partner of Hup Huat. Ties became even closer when Mr Goh’s sister Kim Hong eventually married Bock Seng’s younger brother Bock Eng. This was the same aunt who had suggested Seng Poh’s original name in 1942.

Before the Second World War, Bock Seng went into the charcoal business. The shop was called ‘Aik Huat’ 益发 and had the same partners as Hup Huat. The business owned two charcoal tongkangs as well as charcoal furnaces in Simpah Suah, close to present-day Desaru in Johore. Bock Seng used to bring back local produce from Johore like crabs, and the Low children also enjoyed going on family trips to visit the furnaces. Bock Seng eventually became the largest charcoal supplier in Singapore and was, for a time, the chairman of the local charcoal dealers’ association.

As the businesses prospered, Bock Seng was eventually able to afford a car. Private cars were rare during the pre-war period, and his car was the target of theft on a few occasions. Once, Bock Seng and his father set up a trap and managed to catch a would-be thief who was promptly beaten up! The car was also lent to his good friend Lee Tuan Chay when he got married to Lim Kim Eng in 1941. Coincidentally, Kim Eng and Bock Seng’s mother Yeo Neo were also good friends as they lived close to each other (likely in the Havelock Road area).

However, Bock Seng eventually gave up running the Johore furnaces in the 1950s because he was constantly harassed for protection money by left-wing sympathisers in rural Malaya (locally known as mountain rats). This was during the Malayan Emergency period and he did not want to be seen to be too involved with such people, for fear of getting into trouble with the British authorities in Singapore.

Due to his love of nature, Bock Seng then went into the farming business instead.  In the 1950s, he and his brother Bock Eng bought 30 acres of land in Tampines. The plot is now bounded by Tampines Industrial Ave 2, Tampines Ave 3 and Tampines Ave 10. The land had many fruit trees, an existing rubber estate and a two-storey wooden bungalow. Bock Seng had hoped to eventually live on the farm with his family. However, his wife Kim Lian always resisted the idea as she was not keen to live away from the city. The farm’s purchase was funded by the proceeds from selling a piece of guava orchard land in Holland Road for a good profit. Coincidentally, the Holland Road property (the area between Ulu Pandan Road and the Ulu Pandan canal) likely encompasses the current Low family home at 7 Mount Sinai Walk)! Seng Kar recalled the Holland Road site was next to a soap factory along Ulu Pandan Road. This should have been the Gim Cheong soap factory (producing Ayam soap) which was eventually torn down in 1980. ((likely present-day Allsworth Park). The family had used the factory premises as a short-cut to get to their land.

The farming business was called ‘Wee Sin’ 维新 although it was never formally registered. The land had excellent water sources and the family could dig their own wells to supply water to the farm. When the farm was bought, it already had an operating rubber plantation (including latex drying sheds) and fruit orchards, including some avocado trees bearing very large fruits which sold very well. A family of rubber tappers lived on the farm, and the family’s daughter eventually married Bock Seng’s eldest son Seng Kok. Some income was made from selling latex and fruits. Pigs and chickens were also reared, with chicken coops set up in between the rubber trees. Bock Seng studied other local farms for ways to improve his operations. For a time, he had one of the most advanced pig farms in Singapore with water systems and considerable automation. It even attracted the attention of Minister Goh Keng Swee who was then in charge of Economic Development Board, to take a look at the farm.  Bock Seng’s eldest son Seng Kok was involved in helping to run the farm then.

As Bock Seng had no farming experience, he also hired a manager to help him. Unfortunately, many of the hired workers were inexperienced. This proved disastrous when pig swine struck Singapore a few years later in the mid-1950s. Bock Seng had no veterinary knowledge on how to look after farm animals and relied on what other people told him. When his pigs were struck down by the disease, he was advised to feed them with antibiotics. But it did not work, and after a while, the animals became resistant to the medication. At that time, his son Richard and family friend Mr Khng Kwi Cher tried to consult English publications but to no avail. The local veterinary department was also not able to help much. Later, the chickens were also infected. The disease lasted for a few years and excavators had to be used to bury the numerous animal carcasses.  Bock Seng spent an inordinate amount of time managing the farm. Apart from a few hours in the morning spent at Aik Huat, he devoted most of his efforts at the farm, trying to cope with the crises. There was little time left for leisure and the whole family was mobilised to help out on the farm whenever they had free time, either after school or during holiday periods. To save costs, the family used to buy expired tins of condensed milk and other food products to feed the pigs, which might have exacerbated the animals’ poor health.

Bock Seng was devastated by the loss, both emotionally and financially. The situation became so bad that, at one time, he had to borrow money in order to support his son Seng Teck’s education in Australia. Similarly, when daughter Choon Kee got married in 1955, the family was cash-strapped, and could not afford to have a large wedding dinner. At the time, Bock Seng had become especially close to Seng Poh with Seng Teck’s departure to Australia in 1960, and Seng Kim was still very young. Once, on a particularly difficult day at the farm, Bock Seng even confided to Seng Poh that if he did not have a family to care for, he would have taken his own life long ago. The farm eventually closed down in the mid-1960s, and the land was later acquired by the government to build the current Tampines New Town.

When Bock Seng went into farming in the 1950s, Aik Huat moved from charcoal into the animal feed business. Although Bock Seng’s second son Seng Kar was helping in Aik Huat then, both family businesses Hup Huat and Aik Huat became less active after Bock Seng went into farming. By the mid-1970s, Aik Huat’s shop premises at Lavender Street was acquired by the government, and the animal feed business closed down. The government then offered an alternative unit at Bendemeer which Seng Kar took up to start an electrical shop using the same name ‘Aik Huat’.

At about the same time, Hup Huat’s shop premises was also acquired by the government, and it was offered an alternative unit at Blk 91 Zion Road. By then, as Bock Seng wanted to retire, he decided to give up his share in the business to Hup Huat’s other partner Mr Lee Tiong Aik 李忠益. However, Bock Seng continued to retain shares in other businesses like Song Hup Seng双合成私人有限公司and Tiong Seng长城工程私人有限公司 which were run by his good friend Lee Tuan Chay李团济 .

Bock Seng’s younger brother Bock Eng was also a successful businessman. He initially worked as a clerk in a butcher shop and later married the shop owner’s sister Goh Kim Hong. The same shop owner also ran Hup Huat. Subsequently, Bock Eng worked for a dried goods import-export business called ‘Leong Huat’ 两发 and eventually became its major shareholder. He was also very active in the local Chinese community, particularly with the Hokkien clan activities. For instance, he was one of the founders of the Low Clan Association 刘氏总会 in 1939 and was also, at one time, the chairman of the Ann Kway Clan Association安溪会馆.  He donated generously to local schools and was often asked to give speeches at local school and clan functions.

Bock Seng’s Family

In 1928, Bock Seng married Ms Koh Kim Lian. He was 22 years old and she was 15 years old.

Kim Lian, whose father worked as a coolie, came from a humble family. Kim Lian’s mother died early and she was brought up by her step-mother. Kim Lian’s biological mother came from a Peranakan family, and Kim Lian continued to keep in touch with some of her maternal relatives including her grandmother, as they were living close to the Low family home. However, Kim Lian did not wear the kebaya at home and was not fluent in Baba Malay. This was likely due to the fact that her biological mother passed away when she was young.

As was the trend then, Bock Seng and Kim Lian went on to have a large family, which included the following children in ascending order of age:

1. First son who passed away in his first year
2. Swan Cheok (1930 – 1977)
3. Choon Kee (b. 1932)
4. Hai Huay (b. 1933) was adopted by Bock Seng’s elder brother Huat Leong in exchange for Seng Kok as there were no sons in his family then
5. Seng Kok (b. 1933) was adopted from Huat Leong’s family in exchange for Hai Huay.
6. Sok Hoon (b. 1938), 12 days after birth, she was adopted by a business associate [a partner from Leong Huat] in exchange for Seng Kar as it was felt that there were too many daughters in the family.
7. Seng Kar (b. 1938) was adopted from a fisherman’s family.
8. Seng Teck, Richard (b. 1939)
9. Seng Poh (1942 – 2016)
10. Siew Eng (b.1944)
11. Sixth daughter who was given away, but she died at four-months old.
12. Seng Kim (b. 1948)
13. Seventh son who was aborted due to miscarriage

The extended Low family initially lived in an attap house in a kampong in the Redhill area, near Leng Kee Hill. In the late 1930s, they moved to a rental terrace shophouse at 757A Havelock Road. At the time, the first storey was used as a market, and the extended family lived upstairs (Puah Chwee, Yeo Neo and the families of their sons Bock Seng and Bock Eng). The shophouse was flanked by a medical shop and coffee shop on either side.

As the war loomed in the early 1940s, the family spent about $500 to build an underground air-raid shelter at the back of the shophouse. The shelter was built next to a large jambu tree which provided some camouflage. Grass was also planted on the roof of the shelter. The two-level shelter was large enough to hold the entire family, including their neighbours. When the sirens came on at night, the family had to run down the back spiral-staircase to reach the shelter. The Occupation was a difficult time, with people starving on the streets and Japanese soldiers mistreating the locals.  At the time, the family was careful to always keep the front door locked. However, there was once when the door was somehow left unlocked, and a Japanese soldier rushed in. At the time, there were a few people at home including Bock Seng, his wife and children and his sister-in-law Kim Hong. The soldier ordered Kim Hong to go into the bedroom. At that point, Bock Seng rushed in and pleaded with the soldier to let his sister-in-law off by offering a large amount of cash and a Parker pen. Fortunately, the soldier took the offer, and the family was left unharmed. Bock Seng’s car was also confiscated by the Japanese.  Fortunately, Bock Seng was running the provision shop Hup Huat then. That helped to ensure that the family had enough to eat during the Occupation. After the war, food supplies remained limited and had to be rationed. The family members used to queue up early in the morning to obtain their quota of food like tapioca and fish. 

Havelock Road

The Havelock Road shophouse was where the extended Low family spent the most time together, and held many memories for Seng Poh’s generation who grew up in the area. At the time, the area’s population were mostly Hokkiens. There were few Indians and Malays. The neighbouring Bukit Ho Swee area was predominantly Hokkien and known as a gangster’s hang-out. As both Bock Seng and Bock Eng’s families lived together, there were many children in the Low family home. The Low children became quite notorious in those days – no child in the neighbourhood dared bully them since they had strength in numbers!

During the Bukit Ho Swee fire in 1961, the Havelock Road family home was fortunately not affected, although the squatter homes in front and behind their block were completely destroyed. Such fires were fairly common in the squatter areas in those days. After the fire, Bock Seng’s family went to stay with Bock Eng’s family for about a week, as the latter had earlier moved out from Havelock Road in the 1950s.

Due to the damage caused by the fire, the Havelock Road site was eventually taken over by the government, and replaced with Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) flats. The family was then offered a replacement SIT rental flat at 16A Tiong Bahru Road in 1961. The Low family moved to a rental three-room flat on the second floor (currently known as Block 53 and used by the Link Hotel).

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Seng Poh’s Story

Seng Poh was born on 20 January 1942 in Singapore. He studied at Kai Kok Primary School which a number of his siblings and cousins attended. It was a Chinese-language school in the Bukit Ho Swee village, and the one closest to his home in Havelock Road. As a child, Seng Poh was quite playful. Once in Primary Four, he was scolded by his English language teacher for not paying attention in class. Seng Poh was told by the teacher to stand outside the classroom but instead of doing so, he ran back home and told his parents that he refused to go back to Kai Kok anymore.  At that time, his cousin Seng Heng was studying at Gongshang Primary School 工商小学and offered to take him to see the principal there. Luckily, their Uncle Bock Eng was a patron of the school. Due to his good connections with the school, Seng Poh was allowed to join Gongshang in the second term of Primary Four.

In Gongshang, there were subjects like Chinese, English, Geography, History, Mathematics, Music, Art, Gardening 劳作and Civics 公民. Most of the students were Hokkien because the Bukit Ho Swee area was predominantly Hokkien. Some of his Seng Poh’s classmates then included Cheong Kim Pong 钟金镑 (former CEO of Hong Fok) and Dr Lim Teck Beng 林德明 (gynaecologist at Mount Elizabeth). Unfortunately, Seng Poh continued to be playful. So, he failed his Primary Four examinations and could not be promoted, for which he was scolded and caned by his father. That proved to be a wake-up call for Seng Poh. Feeling very ashamed, he resolved to buck up and be more serious in his studies. He then repeated Primary Four and did well in the examinations. In fact, for his Primary Five and Six examinations, he was always amongst the top three students in class.

Student Activist

After finishing Primary Six in 1954, his form teacher Miss Lee and Physical Education teacher Mr Lim suggested that he should enrol at Chinese High School. At the time, most of his siblings were studying at Chung Cheng High School at Kim Yam Road as it was closer to home. Due to his teachers’ recommendations, Seng Poh went to take the entrance examinations for Chinese High and was successful. That year coincided with a tumultuous period in Singapore’s history.

Note: In 1954, the colonial government wanted to make military conscription compulsory, which many Chinese middle school students were against.  Many felt that they were not treated as equals by the British and should not be obliged to serve the colonial government.  On 13 May 1954, 500 students held a demonstration against the National Service Ordinance.  They tried to march onto the Government House (Istana Negara) to lodge their protest and thousands of students also locked themselves in at the Chung Cheng High School in support. Because of the vigorous resistance, the colonial government had to postpone National Service. 

In 1955, Seng Poh started Secondary One at Chinese High.  In the same year, due to unhappiness over the national service issue, and the unfair treatment of Chinese language by the authorities, students organised a sit-in at Chinese High and Chung Cheng. Seng Poh also took part and spent more than one week in school. He found life during the sit-ins to be very tightly organised. Students were given daily programmes to follow. The student leaders even set up special halls where parents could meet their children in school. Seng Poh’s parents came every night to persuade him to return home but he refused. After eight to nine days, Seng Poh finally agreed to go back home on the understanding that he would be allowed to go back to school the next day. In truth, Seng Poh was looking forward to having a shower and good night’s sleep at home! The next day, Seng Poh made his way back to Chinese High at 10am. When he reached Middle Road to take the usual green bus to Bukit Timah, he found a big commotion at Middle Road and Queen Street as news spread that the police had earlier charged into Chinese High. So, Seng Poh had no choice but to return home that day.

Note: In 1956, the Lim Yew Hock government took tough measures to suppress communist activities by de-registering pro-communist organizations such as the Singapore Chinese Middle School Students Union. In protest, students gathered and camped at Chung Cheng High School and The Chinese High School. They sat-in over the next two weeks, organising meetings and holding demonstrations. On October 24, the government issued an ultimatum that the schools be vacated. As the deadline approached, riots started at the Chinese High School and spread to other parts of the island. Over the next five days, 13 people were killed and more than 100 were injured.

In 1956, all Chinese middle schools were suspended for a few months by the government. During that time, Seng Poh was asked to follow his father to work. The British then set up government middle schools such as River Valley, Dunman and Hua Yi. Initially, Seng Poh’s father had wanted him to enrol at Dunman, but Seng Poh refused. Eventually, he went back to Chinese High when it re-opened. By that time, most of the student leaders had left school as they had either been arrested or gone into hiding.  Most teachers were not affected as they tended to stay out of the politics. By 1956, Seng Poh decided to distance himself from the leftist students as he found the student movement to be very complex and involved too much politics. In school, it was possible to categorise the students into three main groups – the leftist (who were pro-China and concerned about workers’ plights), the rightist (who were more Westernised, for instance those who liked Western music) and those who were neutral and had no interest in politics.  Seng Poh considered himself to be part of the neutral group, but there were always more students in the leftist group. Each year, there would be keen competition between the leftist and rightist groups during elections of class monitors and leaders of student groups. Usually, the leftist group would win as they had more supporters.  Seng Poh considered his principal Cheng An Lun to be part of the neutral group.

Subjects taught then included Chinese, English, Mathematics, History, Geography, Science, Music and Art. For the art lessons, he was taught by senior artists like Cheong Soo Pieng, Chen Wen Hsi, Liu Kang and Chen Chong Swee. For History, students studied Chinese history for the first five years and world history in their last year. Southeast Asian history was not taught.  It was the same for Geography. All subjects were taught in Mandarin although English textbooks were used for Mathematics and Science. Students only studied Chinese literature and no Western literature was taught. Each year, Chinese High held a mathematics competition for each level. In 1955, Seng Poh was the winner of the competition for Secondary 1.

Becoming an Engineer

In 1960, Seng Poh graduated with good grades and qualified to attend Pre-University class at Raffles Institution (RI) at Bras Basah Road. As he was interested in construction work, Seng Poh chose to study engineering. He did not choose architecture as he was not good at drawing. By then, Seng Kim had also finished his studies at Havelock Primary School (an English- medium school) and was also enrolled at RI. So, both brothers attended school together.  Seng Poh recalled that on the first day of school, the principal Wee Siong Kang called the Pre-U 1 students together and wanted them to make up their minds to study at RI and not drop out after 6 to 12 months.  This was because in the past, some students chose to drop out after six months to study at other schools. At that time, the University of Singapore had yet to start its engineering faculty, but the Singapore Polytechnic had both technical and professional diploma courses for engineering. So, sometime in July or August 1961, despite being warned, Seng Poh told his principal that he planned to transfer to the polytechnic to study engineering, and was scolded soundly by him!

At the polytechnic, all first-year students studied the same subjects. Based on their first-year results, they were allotted either the technical or professional track. The former was three years whilst the latter was four years. Seng Poh chose the latter and in 1965, he graduated with a professional diploma in civil engineering and obtained a First Certificate of Excellence. This was also the year when Singapore gained independence. Due to the instability caused by the Indonesian Confrontation (1963–1966), it took three to four months before Seng Poh found a job in the Water Department at the Public Utilities Board (PUB).  As PUB senior officers were required to pass a Malay language test, he took private Malay night classes at Gongshang. Later, the Malay language tester at PUB turned out to be Seng Poh’s subordinate, so he had no problems passing the test.  Seng Poh worked at the Water Department from 1965 to 1968, looking after the water treatment plants and raw water works in Singapore and Malaysia. During this period, Seng Poh and Guat Hiong happened to be working close to each other, as the PUB was located at the City Hall Building, and Guat Hiong’s Social Welfare Department was at the nearby Empress Place building. Seng Poh often ferried Guat Hiong around to her various probation cases during lunch time, and they would also return home together.

As the job at PUB was more managerial than technical, Seng Poh found that it was not challenging enough. He then obtained a job at the Housing and Development Board (HDB) in 1969, the same year when he obtained a degree in engineering from the University of Singapore. At HDB, he fulfilled his ambition to be an engineer. He passed his professional examinations at the British Institute of Civil Engineers to become a chartered engineer in 1974. This meant that he could handle consultancy work in Singapore and other Commonwealth countries. As the examinations were quite difficult, he only passed them on his second attempt. The examination comprised a design submission for a pre-stressed road bridge at Towner Road, and oral interviewers by three examiners.

Starting a Family

Seng Poh and Guat Hiong started dating in 1960. Both families already knew each other very well as their fathers were good friends and business associates. They also lived close to each other with Seng Poh’s family at Havelock Road and Guat Hiong’s family at Ganges Ave. In fact, it was almost a daily routine for Bock Seng to walk across the big field in front of Ganges Ave flats, to meet Tuan Chay. The Lee children would then bring out two chairs for them to sit and talk, having tea till late evening.

After dating for several years, Seng Poh and Guat Hiong got married in 1968. At the time, Guat Hiong’s family was staying at Blk 58 Ganges Ave. When they moved out, Seng Poh and Guat Hiong then took over their vacated unit. Their first son Sze Wee was born there. Later, when Seng Poh’s brother Seng Kar got married and moved out, Seng Poh and Guat Hiong then moved in to live with Seng Poh’s parents at Blk 16-A, Tiong Bahru Road.

In 1971, the couple with Seng Poh’s parents moved to a terrace house at 149 Taman Permata which they bought for $60,000.  They needed a larger home as their first child had been born. The Taman Permata house was also chosen because it was in a quiet location, and not far from the main road.  In 1978, they next moved to a semi-detached house at 7 Mount Sinai Walk (which was bought for $160,000) to be closer to Guat Hiong’s work place in NUS at Kent Ridge.

Just outside the Taman Permata estate is a row of shophouses along Upper Thomson Road. Some of the shops, still in business, are Australia Clinic, Sin Min Clinic and Nam Kee Chicken Rice Restaurant. Nam Kee used to be just a chicken rice stall in a coffeeshop but they later expanded their business and took over the whole shop.

As the Mount Sinai Walk house had a large garden, Seng Poh was keen to grow fruit trees. This was an interest he had since young, having worked on his father’s farm in Tampines as a child. Over the years, he planted different fruit trees in the garden, such as mango, lemon and chiku. However, due to the poor soil conditions, none flourished except for a guava tree which grew profusely! In a curious way, the guava provided a link between father and son. Seng Poh’s success with the guava tree at Mount Sinai Walk reminds us that many years ago, Bock Seng once owned a guava orchard in the vicinity in which the house now stands.

The Low family spent some 40 happy years at the Mount Sinai Walk house. All three children Sze Wee, Su-Lin and Sze Gin studied at the nearby Henry Park Primary School, and grew up with very friendly neighbours – the Chua, Ponnampalam and Ang families – in the little cul-de-sac where their homes were located. The house saw many happy celebrations including close to 40 Chinese New Year celebrations. As Seng Poh’s parents lived with the family until their passing, the first day of Chinese New Year was a huge annual affair, when members of the extended family would flock to the house to pay respects to Bock Seng and Kim Lian, and have lunch together. Initially, Guat Hiong handled the cooking, but as she got older, the task became too much to handle and the family arranged for catered buffet receptions instead. Nonetheless, it remained a noisy and lively affair for everyone. For many years, Seng Poh would also arrange for a lion dance troupe to come and perform for the guests on the first day!

In time, Bock Seng and Kim Lian passed away in 1980 and 1993 respectively. Despite their demise and, perhaps, because of it, Seng Poh continued to organise the yearly get-togethers for the extended family. To his credit, everyone turned up for his ‘open-house’ every year even though he was not the eldest in the family. Family unity was most important to our Dad Seng Poh.  This was the main reason why our Mum continued with this Chinese New Year family tradition, even after Dad passed away in 2016. Again, the extended family responded with their warmth and attendance.

As their children, we hope to maintain the strong family spirit in our own ways, and do our parents proud.

Final thoughts: our eulogy for Dad

大家，下午好。

Dear family and friends

很抱歉。 我的华语不像爸爸那么的流利。但是今天， 我还是尽量以爸爸最熟悉的语言来表达我对他的敬爱。

My apologies. Unlike Dad, I am not so fluent in Mandarin. However, today, I will try my best to use the language he was most familiar with, to express our love for him.

我今年已经46岁了。在这段时间里，爸爸给我最深刻的印象是什么呢？

I am 46 years old this year. Over this period, what were our deepest impressions of Dad?

首先， 我知道他热爱他的工作。他在建屋发展局HDB工作了将近40年。从60 年代末到2000年初， 他见证了新加坡的发展，也做出了非凡的贡献。多位爸爸的前同事提醒了我，新加坡的许多政府租屋都有爸爸的痕迹，包括建屋发展局90年代的翻新工程在内，爸爸花了不少心血。

Firstly, we know Dad loved his work. He spent nearly 40 years at the Housing and Development Board (HDB). From the 1960s to the early 2000s, he witnessed and contributed to Singapore’s development. Many of Dad’s former colleagues reminded us that Dad had left his mark on many of Singapore’s flats, especially through his efforts in HDB’s upgrading programme in the 1990s.

这也正是我和妹妹与弟弟的成长时期。爸爸虽然喜欢他的工作，但他也很照顾家庭，并要求我们一家人必须培养每晚一起吃饭的习惯。即使后来我们都各自有了自己的事业， 生活和家庭， 我们都尽量维持每个周末一起吃晚餐的习惯， 也尽量每年准时为彼此庆祝生日。庆祝生日是其次，更重要的是这些活动提供了更多聚会的机会。我想爸爸最珍惜的也是这一点。

The last four decades were also our growing-up years. Although Dad loved his job, he also cared deeply about his family. He insisted that we should always sit down as a family to have our dinners together. Even after we had grown up, developed our own careers and had our own families, we still made it a point to meet for dinners on Sundays and celebrate our respective birthdays together. Actually, celebrating birthdays was secondary. More importantly, such occasions gave us more opportunities to bond as a family. This was something which Dad treasured.

第二， 爸爸是个重感情的人。他不但关心同学及同事的发展， 也一直很关注他的许多侄儿、侄女的生活。虽然辈分不同，但他待人和谐可亲。 以今天的管理学来分析， 我们可以说爸爸肯定有很高的EQ! 他的脉络非常广，也非常深。 所以这几天， 我很感动有这么多位爸爸的前同学、同事及亲戚都前来与他告别。

Secondly, Dad was someone who cared about relationships. Apart from the career path of his colleagues, he was also concerned with the well-being of his many nieces and nephews. Although older than them, he remained friendly and approachable. In today’s management jargon, we could say Dad had very high EQ! His social network was wide and deep. Our family was very moved by many of Dad’s relatives, friends and former colleagues who had turned up to bid him farewell over the last few days.

第三， 爸爸的生命力很强。一直到最后， 他还是希望能打败可怕的癌症。他经常鼓励自己要多做运动，尽早接受治疗，以及保持开朗的心情。爸爸的笑容永远那么的灿烂。 只有到了最后的这五个月，当他再也无法自己行走之后，他的自信便受了严重的打击。 这也是爸爸病情开始迅速恶化的开始。

Thirdly, Dad had a very strong spirit and will to live. Even towards the end, he was still hopeful of beating cancer. He often encouraged himself to exercise to keep fit, go for early treatment and maintain an optimistic attitude. His smile was ever bright.  His confidence was only dented in the final five months when he could no longer walk. That was when his illness started to worsen.

我们都非常不舍得爸爸这么早离开我们。但看了他挣扎多时的痛苦， 我们也很欣慰他终于能够脱离苦海，安详的离去。

We could not bear for Dad to leave us so early. But having seen his many struggles, we are also grateful that he has finally left his pain behind and passed away peacefully.

Daddy, we will always remember and love you.

END