I could still remember my father climbing up the tall coconut tree just in front of my home to pluck coconuts for us to enjoy. Collecting eggs for the landlady from the hens was a morning pastime for both my sister and me. There were occasions when we dropped and broke the eggs, scared as an insect, we would run back home and hide inside in fear. When I was about 3 years old, my family finally got a 3 room flat of area not bigger than 500sqft in the east . We were allocated to one of the unit on the second storey out of the fourteen floor and was facing my future primary school which is located 200m away. Not long after, I made friends with the neighbouring kids, that was when all the adventure started. Catching spiders and watching them fight, playing hide-&-seek around the block, rope skipping, kite flying, playing marbles and etc were no exception during my childhood life.

Soon, Mum attended classes on sewing and later became a seamstress and did her job at home to earn every extra penny needed for the family. She would sewed from morning till midnight under a low illuminated small bulb, which I believed the latter causes her the shortsighteness.She work hard for the family and not forgetting to make dinners for us, and most of all she took good care of me when I was ill. As a child, my health was never in a good condition, and consulting a child specialist doctor was very costly and money was what we really lacked of at that time. Despite of the high consultation fees, my parents managed to squeeze out some money from their tight pockets. Dad at that time was just a nobody, no factory, no permanant place of his own to carry out his job. The small truck he and uncle Wah owned would carried them and their tools every morning to go from factory to factory to look for small jobs that they could managed.

Eventually, attending school for me was inevitable, hence, off I went and finally got to realise what school work, test and exams are all about. Every morning the school van will send and bring me back from school, on board I will chat and talk about all sort of things with others. Truthfully speaking, studying started off painful as they are all pain in the ass. No kidding, mum would treat me to the cane for not knowing my work. I got into Bedok View Primary school after leaving kindergarden, the same school my sister was at that time. I had lots of fun in school, every new day is a mystery, like a chest full of surprises in it. Just as the mum of Forest Gump said to him "Life is a box of chocolate, you never know what you gonna get".

Years later, some money was saved, dad had an opportunity to start a business of his own with two of his friends somewhere in the early 80's. Everything has gone to a better state than before, and dad finally got his chance to buy a new Mitsubishi Lancer 1.4L car this time. In 1982 something really devastating happened at home, I don't really wished to discuss and publish it here. Anyway, I was terribly hurt both at heart and mind at the most vulnerable time during my childhood.

Business finally got better, but people get greedy as they want more. Dad business partners were cheating on him, they made huge claimed from the company fund that they are not entitled to. Not long after the discovery by my dad, business partnerships were over. The two bad wolfs remained as partner and left a real challenge for my dad to face. Locating for a new factory site, purchasing of machineries, vehicles, employment of workers, pouring out all the resources we saved over the years and many more difficult tasks soon took place. This time dad gonna have a factory of his very own. Everything went on quite smoothly after the opening of the factory and business was pouring in. My mum stop her job as a seamstress and went on to help out my father newly established company.

We had a part-time maid to do the household tasks while both my parents are trying to make our life better. This, of course had an adverse effect on me because I hardly get a chance to see them at all, they would work from 8a.m in the morning till about midnight hours. Maybe, this was the reason why I no longer seek absolution from them ever. Three years later in 1985, dad bought a 5 room flat which was three times bigger than the previous one and got a full-time maid to serve upon us. The flat was just less than 50m from my primary school, this really facilitate me as I am able to wake up just 10mins before school starts and not being late. We got a used Honda Accord to replace the old Mitsubishi that year and business continued to flourish.

In 1986, I finished my primary school education and attended Bedok South Secondary school. The new school was just 200m away, and it was also the school my sister was in. We moved again at the end of 1988 to a two storeys semi-detached house not far away. We bought the house at the time when Singapore economy was badly ruined. You might be wandering how could we do that at such a bad time. Well, when one knows what being very poor is like, one will somehow learnt to managed his or hers personal finance properly. A new Honda Accord was bought to replace the old one and eventually a Mercedes was bought for my dad own use and a Honda Civic was bought for me in Singapore. I got almost everything I want and the things I had dreamt of all thanks to both my parents.

We are happy for where we are standing, as we never thought that we could be in that sort of financial status from where we started. I couldn't imagine what state we'll be in right now if we never did make it. Therefore, we'll try all possible means to keep it the way it is now. All the things my parents had done for me and gave me, I'll aways be grateful to them deep inside my heart.

A word for beloved Mum and Dad

Thank you mum and dad for everything, my cars and the properties you gave me. I am really sorry if I had done things that upset you people. I didn't mean it, just that over all the years you people were away making life better for me, there left a gap between us in communication and a different kind of feeling..........