Jurong West blaze destroyed their source of livelihood, but life goes on
SINGAPORE — For more than two decades, the Lee family has been a regular sight in the Jurong West neighbourhood.
Mr Lee Ah Kia, 71, who has been whipping up carrot cake with his wife at the coffee shops at Blocks 494 and 493 on Jurong West Street 41 for the past 26 years, prides himself on his dish, which draws long queues for its “unmistakable” taste — a dish he learnt to make from his mother, who also sold carrot cake.
His son Mr Eric Lee, who helped clear plates and wash dishes when he was younger, sold amulets at the wet market at Block 493. But the days of the elder Mr Lee and his wife waking up as early as 3am to prepare the ingredients for his signature dish came to a sudden halt last Tuesday, after a fire razed the market to a crumbling shell and damaged coffee shops nearby.
Mr Eric Lee, 38, received the bad news from his mother in a phone call at 4am. “I was stunned. I was just hoping it wouldn’t burn my shop. I prayed hard,” he said.
At the flat he shared with his father in Taman Jurong on Friday (Oct 21), Mr Lee recounted how he started his business 16 years ago. He had become interested in collecting rare amulets after visiting a monk in Bangkok, when he was a Primary Six student, where he received two amulets.
With the help of his mother, who put in S$80,000 of her savings in 2000, he set up a small business at the wet market. Although business was initially tough, he gained a clientele that includes some 50 regular customers, some from Hong Kong and Taiwan. It had allowed him to eke out a decent living to support his wife and eight-year-old daughter, and to give his parents an allowance.
The 4am call from his mother that morning sent him rushing out of the flat to the market, where he watched his livelihood go up in flames. In his stall were goods he said were worth S$100,000.
Since the fire, he has visited the area every day. When he discovered that many of the amulets could be salvaged, he doggedly sought help from the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and appealed to government agencies in the hope of being able to enter the market to recover his goods.
The authorities have said it is too dangerous even for building personnel to enter the site, and demolition began this week.
As a “last resort”, Mr Eric Lee even sought out the disposal company to ask if he could search through the debris when the market has been demolished.
Another long-time denizen of the neighbourhood is Mr Johari Dali, who has been selling dried foodstuff in the wet market for the past 22 years. The Oct 11 blaze wiped out some S$16,000 worth of goods, he said.
Mr Johari and his wife, Mdm Enon Ali, used to take home about S$1,300 a month after paying the rent — a sum he used to support his mother-in-law, his 30-year-old son, and grandson, aged eight. The family lives in a three-room flat at Boon Lay Place.
“I rushed down and when I arrived at around 3am, the fire was already spreading very fast and high ... I knew that everything would be gone,” said the 57-year-old, who heard the news from his brother, who also ran a business at the market.
While he is grateful that a temporary market will be up by Chinese New Year in January, Mr Johari said that it would not be the same. “Even the pictures we took with the MPs and special guests were in the shop. Not a single item is left ... I feel very sad and regretful. But life must go on,” he said.
In the meantime, the family has to spend more cautiously, Mr Johari said, adding that one silver lining is that his son had managed to land a job. “I think he saw how difficult it will be for us and decided to try harder,” he said.
The Lees, meanwhile, prefer to wait until the new wet market is rebuilt in about a year. The elder Mr Lee is taking the chance to “relax”, travelling to Japan first, then to the United States to visit his younger daughter. His son will continue to rely on regular customers for sales.
He is pragmatic about the market being demolished. “Nothing can (stay with you) forever … We just hope to take things one day at a time.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KELLY NG
