Farewell MyQueenstown

Farewell MyQueenstown #7 - Farewell KTM Tracks

On 30 Jun 2011 | 6 Comments

Much has been written about KTM Tracks lately. A simple search on Google and Yahoo will bring you to numerous websites such as this and this. After all, this cantankerous relic was Singapore's brave new world in the early 20th century.  I have always been a believer of my secondary school's motto, "Rooted in Tradition, Equipped for the Future."

永别了!女皇镇!#7 一摊油条传三代

On 30 Apr 2011 | 1 Comments

一摊油条传三代 在玛格列熟食中心,“生活公市”说得上是个客至如云的摊子。这个小摊子,不售卖任何煮炒;摊子主人则一年三百六十五天,天天在摊内起个炉炸上一条条的油条。 “生活公市”摊主李马才先生(58岁)是这家油条摊的第三代。 祖父自中国南来便炸油条为业,后来其父亦继承了祖父的业务。“生活公市”自1969年起,正式迁入玛格列熟食中心营业。李先生从小便跟随父亲学手艺,在油锅边打转。 李先生的油条,以香脆爽口闻名。在80年代初,李先生每一日几乎可炸近200条油条。李家一家五人总要齐齐上阵来应付顾客的需要。 如今,虽然李先生的摊子已搬迁到亚历山大村熟食中心,但他对玛格列熟食中心仍然十分怀念。再见了,玛格列熟食中心!

Farewell MyQueenstown #6 - The Taste of Wanton Noodle Lingers...

On 24 Mar 2011 | 19 Comments

Mr. Phoon Hon Sun, 64, and his family started selling barbeque pork from a pushcart at the terminal for Hock Lee bus service no.9 some 53 years ago. The bus terminal was located next to Blocks 6B and 7 along Margaret Close, a cluster of flats which were demolished during the 1990s. A familiar sight no more Every afternoon, residents who lived in the seven

Home Sweet Home @ MyQueenstown

Home Sweet Home #15 - A New Day Has Come =)

On 24 Apr 2011 | 11 Comments

Last week, MyQueenstown team interviewed Mdm Chan about her life in Blk 15 Holland Drive. Under SERS, she was assigned a new apartment in the newly developed blocks just a stone throw sway. Today, we visit Hisham Suni, 38, who moved over from Blk 17 to his new apartment in Blk 18C Holland Drive. Hisham Suni and his son =) Hisham is delighted by his new ap

Home Sweet Home #14 - Farewell Holland Drive

On 17 Apr 2011 | 3 Comments

Blk 15, Holland Drive looked vacant and cold when MyQueenstown team visited this morning. The shop houses under the apartment block were all covered with card boards and all that was left were traces of glass panels, which could possibly be a beauty parlor in its place before. The lift was still working. Mdm Chan - a long time resident at Holland Drive A c

Home Sweet Home #13 - Commonwealth 10! Here I Come!

On 10 Apr 2011 | 3 Comments

The front door was wide open when MyQueenstown team visited Mr Lee, 78, at his apartment in Blk 74 Commonwealth Drive. Feeling curious, we knocked onto the door and was greeted by a sleepy looking Mr Lee. Mr Lee who lives alone at Block 74 Retired more than a decade ago, Mr Lee is living alone as he prefers being independent to tagging along with his chi

News@MyQueenstown

Response to Straits Times Forum: "Active Citizenry Needs Space to Find Its Feet"

On 26 Aug 2011 | 25 Comments

A week ago, Mr. Eric Tan, Director of the National Archives of Singapore, explained that the archives have generously acceded to our requests for photographs to be published in our website, upcoming book and newsletter. This was not the full story. Last year, we wrote in to the National Archives of Singapore, requesting them to sponsor photographs of the ol

MyQueenstown Celebrates: Consecration Ceremony at Sri Muneeswaran Temple!

On 10 Jul 2011 | 1 Comments

Tanglin Halt residents are wokened up by the vociferous wailing of nadaswaram and thavil ensemble at Sri Muneeswaran Temple this morning. More than 15,000 residents and devotees have gathered at the Southeast Asia's largest Hindu temple worshiping the Muneeswaran god to witness the consecration ceremony. A consecration ceremony is a festive occasion done on

女皇镇1周新闻快讯 - 第二十五期

On 08 Jul 2011 | 6 Comments

女皇弄组屋 同一垃圾糟 两年3纵火  女皇弄组屋走廊垃圾糟,三度起火,居民人心惶惶,警列恶作剧纵火处理。 位于女皇镇一带的女皇弄第21座组屋8楼的电梯口,今早7时15分左右发生大火。 一名住在事发地点附近的居民,惊见滚滚黑烟从该处冒出 最高74万5000元 最低40多万 女皇镇 四房转售价 相差近37万  在热门组屋区女皇镇里,有四房式组屋最近以74万5000元的最高价转售,但也有37万8000元。 组屋溢价回升之际,热门地点如女皇镇的组屋转售价也持续攀升。今年4月,一间位于女皇镇史达拉摩道(Strathmore Ave)的四房式高楼单位,以74万5000元售出。 最后一次乘搭火车北上  火车开动了!该各就各位了吧。经过女皇镇、武吉知马、武吉班让时看到铁路旁站着许

My Father and I

Former Tanglin Halt Industrial Estate

On 14 May 2011 | 2 Comments

The industrialisation programme took off in Queenstown when the Tanglin Halt Industrial Estate was established to generate employment in the neighbourhood. Initially, the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) planned a small industrial estate at Tanglin Halt to provide employment for the new residents. Measuring some 20 acres of land consisting of 38 factories

Queenstown Baptist Church

On 03 May 2011 | 1 Comments

The Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) set aside seven sites for religious use and advertised for religious organisations to ballot in the 1950s. Of the ten enquiries received, four withdrew, leaving six Christian organisations. These went on to build the first churches of Queenstown; Queenstown Baptist Church, Queenstown Lutheran Church, Faith Methodist Ch

Archipelago Brewery Company (Anchorpoint)

On 22 Apr 2011 | 3 Comments

Established in 1931 by German businessmen, Archipelago Brewery Company was the first commercial brewery in Singapore. It was located next to the Malayan Railway, which provided convenient transportation for exporting the beer in Tanjong Pagar. Archipelago Brewery Company One of the more popular beer produced at Archipelago Brewery Company was Anchor Beer.

Makan Shiok!

Snacks Attack #13 - Ah Luck Bean Curd

On 23 Dec 2010 | 2 Comments

Mr Chua, 25, runs Ah Luck Beancurd in Tanglin Halt market for more than 2 years. He is renting the stall from the original owner who has based his stall in the same area for more than 40 years. Ah Luck Bean Curd offers drinks and deserts such as soya bean drink, grass jelly and the residents' favorite soya bean curd (60 cents). A Delicious Bowl of Bean Curd

Snacks Attack #12 - Satay Mad in Tanglin Halt!

On 16 Dec 2010 | 7 Comments

 Ann, 46 runs the family food stall for over 10 years in Tanglin Halt hawker centre. Serving halal food for over a decade in the same place, Ann has integrated her dishes to suit the taste buds of Queenstown residents, especially the Malay community. The simple food stall offers snacks such as satay, otah and seafood dishes. As a family styled bus

Snacks Attack #11 - Almond & Peanut Paste!

On 09 Dec 2010 | 0 Comments

DessertStory, located in Anchorpoint basement one, has been serving residents tasty snacks and deserts for the past four years. Wendy, the supervisor of the cafe, introduced the various homemade desserts that they offer. A bowl of Almond Paste Hot desserts are mainly the favourite choice among Queenstown residents. Firstly, they have almond paste which is m

Random Thoughts @ MyQueenstown

Random Thoughts @ MyQueenstown #9 - 7 Funerals in 2 weeks

On 22 May 2011 | 0 Comments

7 funerals in 2 weeks. There is a flurry of "activity" these two weeks for correspondents from My Queenstown. We did not leave our traces in photographs as a mark of respect for the deceased. We did leave our sincere prayers and heartfelt condolences for those present. Quietly and fleetingly, we made our way to some of the funerals and understood that all o

Random Thoughts @ MyQueenstown #8 - Block 39A No More (The Removal of Block 39A Part I)

On 05 Apr 2011 | 8 Comments

On a Friday afternoon three weeks ago, several Bangladeshi workers, presumably from the Town Council, took their tool boxes to the lift lobby of Block 39A. In less than half an hour, they carried a metallic frame on their shoulders and placed it on a lorry parked in front of the apartment block. Farewell Block 39A The letterboxes The stretch of corrid

Random Thoughts @ MyQueenstown #7 - A New Coat of Paint

On 22 Mar 2011 | 1 Comments

The Point Blocks, along with 5 other blocks at Mei Ling Street were given a new coat of paint over the past week. The familiar combination of blue, yellow and orange was a thing of the past as these foreign workers toiled day and night, rain or shine to make Mei Ling Street "attractive again." White seems to be the "in" thing in Queenstown lately. Ten-store

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Litter Free Ambassadors-Effective Or Not?

By my queenstown on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 with 5 comments

Queenstown had launched the first community patrol group of Litter Free Ambassadors (LFAs) last week to get litterbugs to pick up trash. That was because enforcement and punishment seemed to be failing in their role in wiping out these group of people. While LFAs were not empowered to arrest litterbugs, they can persuade culprits to pick them up. They would also serve as the "eyes and ears" of NEA in providing feedback on the littering issues. 

MyQueenstown Team would strongly support a community ground-up approach to apprehend the issue of littering as this helps to create a culture of civic mindedness among Queenstown residents. However, in order to facilitate greater understanding on the problems of littering, especially in hot spots such as Stirling Road and Strathmore Avenue, let us investigate on the root of the problem.

This Student who wears a stripped shirt and carrying a black bag chose to dump his cigarette butt on the floor instead of the bin.





When MyQueenstown team arrived at Stirling Road (towards Queensway) at 11am yesterday, we had spotted huge amount of trash. In less than an hour, we witnessed more than 89 students from MDIS disposing their trash at the lobby of Blk 49 although there are 6 rubbish bins (all of them are within 2m of their reach). These students are noisy, disturbing, rowdy and do not behave like they are university or diploma undergraduates. Many of them were smoking, scolding vulgarities and portraying themselves as an utter nuisance to the public. 

When our team approached to a trio of Korean international students after watching them dispose their cigarettes butt at the drain instead of the rubbish bin, they mentioned, "I didn't know I have to dispose the cigarettes at the bin. I am only here in Singapore for the past 2 weeks." We wondered why there were so many students lining up the usually peaceful Stirling Road and lighting the cigarettes and understood that MDIS is a smoke-free campus which disallow their students to smoke there.


Students like the one (wearing black) would munch snacks bought from the Bubbletea kiosk and leave them behind although rubbish bins are a stone's throw away (in the shop and at the car park)


These trio of girls were the ones who left behind all the trash (seen in the photo). We even taped a video of them littering

Before we misunderstood this problem of littering was caused by students from MDIS only, a stroll to the back of Blk 49 would guarantee surprise, disgust and frustration. If any reader of MyQueenstown feels nauseous and needs some assistance to viomit, feel free to take in deep breaths. You don't even need to see a doctor!

Curry sauce thrown on the concrete pavement; Rice thrown by a resident at 2nd floor; Sanitary pads on a plant; Used condoms at the drainage were found. Crows and pigeons were found munching happily on an expected sumptuous meal!

Birds munching on the rice thrown by a resident living on the 2nd floor

Curry stains on the drain cover

MyQueenstown believes that readers are now utterly convinced by how some patrons termed Blk 49 as the "dirtiest block" in Singapore. But this begs the question on why littering is so pervasive? Will LFAs help in reducing the number of litter bugs in the vicinity?

We asked a concern resident, Mrs Tan, who works in Queenstown for 49 years in a fabric and flooring shop and she feels that the idea of setting up LFA would not help much because volunteers have to constantly be on the go! 

She mentioned, "When the guest of honour arrived last week, the entire corridor was cleaned and the students appeared to be subdued! But look at the place now! There are many foreigners in this area, whether they study in MDIS or live in the rental apartments upstairs. They do not understand the culture here in Singapore that it is important to keep the environment clean. What is worse is that they are influencing Singaporean students to do bad. I'm not trying to go against the foreigners. But the issue of littering was not serious some years back before the establishment of MDIS and the surge in number of foreigners. Furthermore, when we approach these students and remind them about their civic responsibilities, they will scold us rudely. How unruly they are!"

In order to confirm our findings, we asked Joe, who works in Blk 49 and stays in Blk160+ Stirling Road for 24 years. He concluded, "There are so much rubbish at the back of Blk 49 because offenders understand that no one will patrol the place since it is facing a hill. Perhaps, residents in Blk 49 are also too lazy to come out of their flats and dispose their rubbish at the designated rubbish bin! Therefore, this boils down to attitudes and personalities-which LFAs will find it tough to handle. Many of the students are rebellious and they will not listen to them."

We understood that Joe had enquired opinions from NEA and MDIS. On one hand, officers from NEA did not spot any offenders during their inspection. On the other hand, MDIS served Joe with a snide remark, commenting that "it is not our problem and there is nothing we can do (to solve the problem of littering." What was more fascinating and disturbing was MDIS role as an education institution shirking their responsibility to contribute to the community. MyQueenstown has sent an email to MDIS too, but they didn't reply.

Joe stood in front of his shop

Mary, who opens a saloon in Stirling Road and stays in Blk 150+ Mei Ling Street, has some constructive ideas which MyQueenstown Team agree as well. While she commend the LFA's efforts to promote a clean and green environment, she feels that LFAs will be unable to work effectively without proper equipment and devices such as CCTVs. Moreover, educating the kids is important and suggests that the authorities can work with the school to educate the teenagers not to litter. She cried, "We are opening a hair saloon and we cannot chase away these students who sat in front of our stall shouting and littering for fear of losing more businesses. That's a double whamy for us!"

Mary stands in front of her Hair Saloon

Keeping the environment clean and condusive for the community is everyone's job. While the LFAs embark on their campaign to persuade the residents not to litter, perhaps they can consider on the above scenarios and the suggestions put forth by the residents and patrons we have interviewed. It is disappointing for anyone, including us, to blacklist the "heck care" attitude presented by the management of MDIS and makes us wonder how they are going to stay relevant to the community in the longer term if they do not see Queenstown as their own. 

Queenstown is our home, our place of work or school. It is not a rubbish dump!

POST COMMENT

5 comments:

Anonymous said...
July 18, 2010 at 1:29 AM

1. Please clarify:

[[On the other hand, MDIS served Joe with a snide remark, commenting that "it is not our problem and there is nothing we can do (to solve the problem of littering."]]

Who in MDIS said the above?



I'm a student at MDIS and I take this blog entry as an insult, as you are nitpicking on the bad apples and making us other students seem like we're equally unruly.

Anonymous said...
July 18, 2010 at 2:20 AM

""Curry sauce thrown on the concrete pavement; Rice thrown by a resident at 2nd floor; Sanitary pads on a plant; Used condoms at the drainage were found. Crows and pigeons were found munching happily on an expected sumptuous meal!"""

IS this from MDIS? Are you out of your mind. Am a student of MDIS and for the past 3yrs i think the residents make that place much more filthy than the students of MDIS.

Throwing Cigarette butts is a personal hygiene not communal hygiene. And i guess all smokers carry the same habit. Smokers, condom users etc should take care of their filthy and stop blaming MDIS for other people's dirty manners.

MDIS is a smoke free environment campus. Smokers chose to smoke outside the campus and using common sense that doesn't become MDIS responsibility to chase guys on the street and ask them to stop smoking.

"""There are many foreigners in this area, whether they study in MDIS or live in the rental apartments upstairs. They do not understand the culture here in Singapore that it is important to keep the environment clean. What is worse is that they are influencing Singaporean students to do bad."""

Stop blaming foreigners for every wrong doing? I think "Charity begin at home"... if your kids are not taught good manners at home definitely they do wrong outside. I don't think well mannered kids will easily pick up wrong habits. Singaporean are not holier than thou and foreigners are not demons advocates.

STOP STEREOTYPING!!!

Lakshin Subramaniam said...
July 18, 2010 at 9:19 PM

Dear Anonymous Foreign Student of MDIS,

First of all, by remaining anonymous, you've demonstrate the credibility of your post and the organization you're representing.

Secondly, I read the post above and it was pointed out that both residents and MDIS students are responsible. You've demonstrate your ability as a student to understand blog post.

Thirdly, my wife has gone to see the MP in the area, who writes letters to the Director of the School. Your director says the same thing as what he says to Joe (in the post above), the MP and the wife. And I think there are hundreds of other residents like that.

Fourth, You as a student is the best advocate for the school. In Singapore, if the student is unruly, Singaporeans will complain to the school because the school, as an education institution, are EXPECTED by the public to teach kids the correct manners. Are you a resident in Stirling Road. Do you know how much residents like us have tolerated? How can you guys be so irresponsible not to tell your peers or follow rules not to throw rubbish. Do you it's an offence in Singapore to litter?

Lakshin Subramaniam said...
July 18, 2010 at 9:23 PM

One more thing to add,

Please read the last paragraph.. I bet you are going to study in Queenstown for a few more years and this is going to be your community. Do you know it's selfish of you to live like an "individual" and not as a community to keep the environment clean.. Reflect on your actions before you speak another word. Otherwise, you just show how your school and your parents fail to pass the right values to you

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January 25, 2012 at 8:20 PM

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