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ON THE BENCH: Mr Ang says he has been homeless for over 10
years.
TNP PHOTO: CHOO CHWEE HUA
THE LONELY PEOPLE OF CHIN SWEE ROAD
LAST MONTH, A 51-YEAR-OLD HOMELESS MAN WAS FOUND DEAD AT A
CHIN
SWEE ROAD HDB STAIRCASE LANDING. CHAI HUNG YIN (CHAIHYN@SPH.COM.SG)
AND
SEOW YUN RONG (SEOWYR@SPH.COM.SG) VISIT THE AREA TO LEARN MORE
ABOUT THE HOMELESS THERE
189
Dec 27, 2015 6:00am
BY CHAI
HUNG YIN AND SEOW YUN RONG
It was Christmas Eve, and the Chin Swee Road HDB estate was abuzz
with activity.
People shuffled in and out of the estate, children laughed at the
playground while the adults sat at a nearby coffee shop.
By 9pm, the number dwindled to around 21 people sitting and
chatting next to a Sheng Siong supermarket. Some stole naps in the
open to escape the heat.
Come 11pm, the merry estate changed its face.
A few elderly people, some with belongings in trash bags, moved to
occupy the benches, resting their weary bodies.
These are the lonely people of Chin Swee Road.
The same scene played out on the few occasions The New Paper on
Sunday team visited the estate from November.
Some of the elderly claimed to be homeless but refused help,
preferring to be on their own, even hiding from the
authorities.
On Dec 9, TNPS met Mr Ang at the open space near Block 52, Chin
Swee Road, around midnight.
Clad in a white shirt, knee-length shorts and sandals, he was sound
asleep on a bench. Next to him was a black bag stuffed to the brim
with his belongings.
The 72-year-old man, who was there on the four occasions TNPS
visited the estate, says he has been homeless for over 10
years.
But he was not the only homeless person there.
Two men, who described themselves as brothers, have been calling a
secluded staircase landing their home for the past one year.
Another elderly man, regularly seen sleeping outside a row of shops
near Block 52, says he has a flat to return to but prefers being
outside.
Stall owners of a nearby coffee shop and supermarket staff say they
are familiar with Chin Swee's lonely people.
Seafood restaurant co-owner Maxwell Zhu, 29, says: "Sometimes when
I get off work between 3am and 4am, I can see people sleeping
around the coffee shop or on the corridor."
Mr Sukeman Tohfat, 67, a food stall owner at the Block 34, Pearl's
Hill Road coffee shop, says: "They never change their clothes, so
they smell. Sometimes they pull along a trolley of things."
BEG FOR FOOD
One particular man, who has been seen in the area for about three
years, left an impression on Mr Sukeman.
"Sometimes, he eats leftover food on the table," he says.
"Other times, he comes looking for food. When he is hungry, he will
beg for food and sometimes I will give him some instead of throwing
away the unsold food.
"They are so pitiful. I'd rather give them my unsold food than to
see them scavenge in the rubbish bin."
Regulars at the coffee shop would sometimes offer beer and buy food
for the man who occasionally sleeps at the bus stop and washes up
at the coffee shop's toilet, adds Mr Sukeman.
Drink stall worker Ooi Hau Lin, who is in his 30s, says he has
often seen homeless people resting at the coffee shop at Block 34,
Pearl's Hill Road, where he works the night shift.
He says in Mandarin: "We do not chase them away. They do not cause
disturbance.
"They sleep with their faces down on the table. They don't line the
chairs to sleep on. If they did that, we would chase them away
because it would affect our business."
He has seen two to three such people who lug around their
belongings wherever they go.
"They usually pull around a trolley or bags full of things," says
Mr Ooi.
"There is a 90 per cent chance that they are homeless. If they
lived nearby, they would not carry their things around.
"They have never come and beg for food. If they did, we would have
to ask them to go away."
A sign saying there is a job vacancy for a cleaner at the coffee
shop was seen on the drink stall counter.
Mr Ooi adds: "They don't come looking for jobs either. If they were
willing to work, they would surely have a home."
Why Chin Swee Road estate?
Some say they have friends in the area. Others say it is because
they can get free meals at the Buddhist Lodge.
Few are willing to leave the area even if it means sleeping out in
the open.
This is their home after all.
- Additional reporting by Hariz
Baharudin
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