MyStory

As the whole nation celebrates the winning of the Olympics Silver Medal by our women table tennis players, there were also many discussions on the issue of foreign talent. One of the newspaper article even mentioned that our national hero, Tan Howe Liang, who won our first Olympics Medal in 1960 also came to Singapore from China when he was young. The article brought back much memories of my father who also came from China to making a living in Singapore in the 50s. As a teenager, he had to brave the unknown and travelled a long way by sea to Singapore. As much as he missed my grandmother, he knew he would establish his root in Singapore - a place which we would call home and extend for generations.

He met my mum who came from Muar, Malaysia and got married in 1967. I was born in 1968 and the photo below shows my dad, my mum and my maternal grandma carrying me. Life became harder upon the arrival of my 3 sisters and my youngest brother. I could not imagine how they could manage five kids, especially when my dad was the sole bread winner. He was working as a fishmonger and had to wake up at 3 a.m. to go the ports (either Jurong or Punggol) to bid for the fishes and then sell them in the wet market in Boon Keng. We were living in a kampong then - you can read my story on My Kampong days under the Memories category in our story portal. Our lives were improved when he managed to buy his own pickup and retailed fishes to some local restaurants.

I had never doubted my father's loyalty to Singapore - he tried very hard to make us citizens of Singapore. I could never forget his joy when we got our citizenship in 1980. Our ICs were also changed from blue to pink! I still have my citizenship certificate - a reminder of how difficult life was then and how we should treasure what we have - even just as a citizen of Singapore as there is a place we can call home. We were resettled to Tampines New Town and my dad was able to pay off the loan for the flat before he passed away in 2001.

My father was a strict disciplinarian and did not show his love for us openly. But deep inside, I know he cared a lot for us. He had made many sacrifices in bringing up the five of us and had never really enjoyed his life. Though he was just an ordinary Singaporean, he had brought up the five of us well and we are now contributing to the society in different fields of work.

My dad is truly my hero. Without his determination to make Singapore our home, I will not be what I am today. I think we should also salute our national heroes even though they were not born in Singapore; they had brought Singapore glory by achieving the medals at the Olympics. Their achievements will be rooted in the mind of many Singaporeans and so will their families as they establish their roots here in Singapore.