Facebook post by Leong Sze Hian

Breaking news: 79-year-old who lived in the forest for 33 years - gets help from MP - if not for passer-by Vivian Pan's viral video of the confiscation of his "selling vegetables" on Christmas Day (Deus Vult) - would he still be in the forest?     

(ST, Jan 29) "Out of the woods: Elderly man to enjoy first CNY reunion at home after over 30 years"

"Mr Oh Go Seng is looking forward to his first Chinese New Year in a warm home setting in more than 30 years.

Just last month, home was a makeshift tent made of nylon canvas and wooden sticks in a forested area in Sungei Tengah, where he grew his own vegetables like chilli padi and pandan leaves.

The 79-year-old had been living in the forest for the past 33 years, since his kampung home in the same area was cleared.

In the past, Mr Oh would celebrate Chinese New Year with a duck and split it into a few meals over four to five days. That was a rare treat for himself.

On normal days, though, his three meals would be mostly porridge with preserved vegetables he prepared over an open fire. He cleaned with water from the pond and wore clothes donated by well-wishers.

"I have never seen snakes, just chameleons and mosquitoes. They are my friends. They don't harm me," he said in Hokkien.

His wife, who is in her 50s, and daughter, 19, live in Batam and are not aware of his living conditions. He sends them about $500 monthly, drawn from his savings from his past work as a labourer. His daughter is reading medicine, he said, though he does not know which local university she is in.

He used to visit them regularly, but the pandemic has stopped him from doing so.

Mr Oh's plight came to light when he was caught selling vegetables in Teck Whye Lane without a permit last Christmas day. He had lost his job as a pasar malam odd-job labourer during the Covid-19 pandemic two years ago, and his money was running out. All his vegetables were confiscated, and he was let off with a warning.

The incident was filmed by passer-by Vivian Pan, who uploaded it on Facebook.

When contacted, the 36-year-old, who owns a company offering cleaning and painting services, told The Straits Times: "The old uncle felt very lost after the incident. I brought him to the market nearby and asked the stallholders if they could give him some space to sell his vegetables. Then I went to the Chinese temple to see if he could set up a stall there. Nobody could help."

However, help did come unexpectedly.

Ms Pan's video went viral and caught the attention of a grassroots volunteer, who heard that Mr Oh has a relative who lives in Bukit Panjang. Its MP, Mr Liang Eng Hwa, was alerted.

On discovering that Mr Oh did not even have a roof over his head, Mr Liang and his volunteers reached out to the relative to ask that she offer him a temporary shelter while they assisted him with securing a HDB rental flat.

The relative, Madam Lim Kah Choo, daughter-in-law of Mr Oh's brother, said she met Mr Oh three years ago at the funeral of her mother-in-law. They lost touch after that. Mr Oh's brother has died.

"I asked him if he was doing fine then, and he told me he was living alone 'in the garden'," she said in Mandarin. "I thought he meant that he lived in a small house near a garden."

When the 59-year-old cleaner found out from the police and grassroots volunteers that Mr Oh had been calling the forest his home all these years, she was "heartbroken" and welcomed him into her five-room flat in Bangkit Road.

Mr Oh moved in with her and her family a week ago. He also collected the keys to his one-room rental flat in Choa Chu Kang a few days later. The grassroots volunteers are assisting him with the repair works and furnishing. They will also be delivering a bed, pillow and bedsheets to his new flat.

Mr Liang, who had dinner with Mr Oh and his relatives on Jan 20, said: "At his age, I find his resilience and tenacity in life most remarkable and heartening."

He added that once Mr Oh has settled into his new flat, volunteers will work with the local grassroots leaders to find him community spaces to grow his vegetables.

Mr Oh also found a job as a gardener at a horticulture company which pays him about $1,200 monthly, though he now has to work and save doubly hard to pay his rent.

This Chinese New Year, he will be having a steamboat dinner with his relatives for a change.

"I don't expect much," the soft-spoken man said. "I am just thankful to have a home now.""

Comment:

How did his situation and plight managed to "fall through the cracks" all these years (33 years)!

Isn't the job that they managed to find for him, at just $1,200 kind of, if not very low?

After deducting the 5% CPF employee contribution, $205 HDB rental, $20.50 S & CC, and the usual $500 which he sends to his wife and daughter in Batam - he may be left with as little as $415 to cover his living expenses (food, transport, electricity, water, mobile, etc)!

https://www.hdb.gov.sg/residential/renting-a-flat/renting-from-hdb/public-rental-scheme/rents-and-deposits

https://dollarsandsense.sg/much-service-conservancy-charges-scc-pay-month-rebates-receive/#:~:text=The%20Service%20%26%20Conservancy%20Charges%20(S%26CC)%20are%20fees%20collected%20by,and%20washing%20of%20common%20areas

$1,200 works out to only about $6.82 per hour? ($1,200 divided by 4 weeks divided by 44 hours)

Isn't this very low as I understand that most odd jobs pay about $10 an hour nowadays? 

Why are his wife and daughter living in Batam for so many years?

Is it because his wife is an Indonesian (daughter Singaporean?), who may not be able to get a Long Term Visit Pass (LTVP) to stay in Singapore?

Did he try to seek help from his MP these 33 years?