I Remember

Page 47

My parents stayed in rental flats of public housing

My parents never owned a flat. They had been staying in rental flats provided by the government. These flats were heavily subsidised by the government. Being Singapore citizens, public housing was available to them. Their first rental flat was built by Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT). SIT was set up by the British colonial government in 1927 to address urbanisation problems and city planning of Singapore. SIT was before Housing and Development Board (HDB) that took on building flats for the population. My parents stayed in a SIT flat located at Ganges Avenue ever since I was born. It was a three-room flat (2 bedrooms). Address was Block 60 Ganges Avenue #04-44 Singapore 0316. These 4-storey blocks of SIT flats along Ganges Avenue were demolished to make way for new developments back in late 1980s. HDB allocated a 2-room flat (1 bedroom) at Block 2 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee #04-116 Singapore 0316 to my parents in 1987/88 in place of Ganges Avenue flat. This block of flat was within walking distance from Ganges Avenue except that it sits on elevated grounds from the wet market along Havelock Road. My parents had to walk down and up the steps to reach their block each time they went to the wet market. My parents were not young then and it was difficult for both to do that. My father was 82 years old and my mother was 67 years old in 1992. On that ground, I helped my parents to apply to HDB for a transfer of flat in 1992. This appeal resulted in my parents moving to another 2-room rental flat at Ghim Moh Road: Block 18 Ghim Moh Road #08-111 Singapore 270018. They stayed there until the end of their lives. My mother stayed in this flat for 25 years, and my father much less. My parents were citizens of Singapore and one privilege was that they could live in a rental flat from the government at heavily-subsidised rents. We had a roof over our heads when we were growing up. This was crucially important for us for a better life. My parents’ generation rented flats and our current generation owns flats. That was uplifting of wealth in one generation.


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Articles inside

Epilogue

1min
pages 59-60

From Executive Diary to Smart Phone

1min
page 56

My Uncle from Malaysia

1min
pages 57-58

Coopers & Lybrand

1min
page 55

My Education

2min
pages 53-54

My First Driving Licence

0
page 52

My First Property to Live In

1min
pages 48-49

My parents stayed in rental flats of public housing

1min
page 47

Investing in Investment Property

1min
page 50

Joy of Reading

1min
page 51

My journey through National Service

2min
pages 45-46

My Parents stayed at Craig Road before

0
page 44

DBS Fixed Deposit in 1993

0
page 43

Do you plan for retirement?

1min
page 42

National Day Parade in 1971

1min
page 38

Matriculation for Accountancy course in 1978-9

1min
pages 39-40

GCE “O” Level Results were published in Newspaper

0
page 37

Enrolled in English-Medium stream in primary school (1964

1min
page 41

You write long-distance and then wait days for reply

1min
page 36

You will know this special bond

1min
page 35

PSC Undergraduate Scholarship 1976

1min
page 34

National Library of yesteryears

1min
page 31

My years in National Junior College

2min
page 33

Early years of bus transport

1min
page 30

My Hobbies

0
page 32

I did woodwork and metalwork

1min
page 29

My National Service Days

1min
pages 27-28

Bukit Ho Swee Fire

0
page 25

My First Savings Account (POSB

1min
page 26

From poor to rich

1min
page 24

Chinese New Year

1min
page 22

Games played

3min
pages 19-21

Credit facility

1min
page 23

My Home at Ganges Avenue

3min
pages 17-18

Living each day as it comes

0
page 16

A Private Person

2min
pages 14-15

Saving habits

2min
pages 12-13

I Remember

2min
pages 7-8

Preface

0
pages 5-6

My School Days

0
page 9

Career

2min
page 11

Inferiority Complex

1min
page 10
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