MyStory :: Close Encounters of the Nice Kind :: Close @ Sengkang

Ng Choon Meng, 47
Businessman
Runs his family-owned soya sauce business, which has a factory in Senoko

Lim Ee Ling, 33
Housewife
Used to work as a cashier at a shop in Kovan

When Ng Choon Meng and his parents moved to Blk 122, Sengkang East Way, in October 1999, they were one of the first few families to move there.

As a pioneer of the new block, which is a mix of four and five room flats, he took it upon himself to welcome the other neighbours that would join them subsequently.

Lim Ee Ling, who relocated from Ang Mo Kio on New Year’s Day in 2000 was among the new neighbours he befriended.

Little did they expect their friendship to blossom into love, and then marriage, although Choon Meng, who lives on the 12th floor, was happy to admit that he noticed that pretty girl from 8th floor right from the beginning.

And they were lucky to have supportive parents, all regulars at the nightly informal get-together of neighbours at the void deck below their block, who paved the way for their romance.

“My parents got to know her parents first,” said the 47-year-old who runs his family’s soya sauce business. “And they get along very well.”

Not wanting to be too obvious about his affection for her, he made sure his future mother-in-law went along when he picked Ee Ling up from her workplace in Kovan, where she worked as a cashier.

“Everyone says he is a good man who always helps the neighbours” she said. “So I felt comfortable around him.”

She added, “When we finally got together, all the neighbours were supportive.”

“And of course we announced the happy news to them first,” he said.

When the couple finally got married in November 2006, two buses were chartered to ferry 80 neighbours from their block to the lunch reception in Shenton Way.

Three years down the road, even after the birth of their first son, many neighbours still have great memories of their wedding.

One of the guys apparently hijacked a whole bottle of red wine for himself, something that Choon Meng did not mind. After all, he was well known among the neighbours as a generous man who welcomed neighbours to help themselves to a drink from his fridge.

“It’s important to have good neighbours,” he elaborated. “It is good for everyone.”

“When I need help, there is always someone I can call on.”

And to him, it is not difficult to make friends with the neighbours.

“A simple greeting helps, and I don’t mind repeating a hello to the same person until he responds.”

“These days,” he said, “I also teach my son to be friendly to strangers.”

“When my son yells hello, it is very hard to resist returning the greeting.”

The couple is expecting their second son in a few months, and he will be welcomed into an extended network of close relatives within the same block, that already includes five of Ee Ling’s uncles and their respective families, as well as Choon Meng’s elderly parents.

Together with all the close neighbours whom they consider as good as family, the proud couple know their children are off to a good start.

“We hope our children will keep the neighbourliness going.”