He takes his wife, who has dementia, on outings using a wheelchair built for two.

Mr Tan Ban Ho, a 72-year-old retiree, came up with his unique contraption after discovering that going out helps to calm his wife, Madam Loh Yock Yeng, 71.

Two months ago, to make it easier for him to push the wheelchair at his age, he attached an electric unicycle, which he bought for $600, to the rear of the wheelchair.

This enables him to ride the unicycle when pushing his wife.

Armed with technical knowledge from his years as an ITE lecturer teaching electronics, Mr Tan put the contraption together himself.

He installed a shade for his wife and a polyvinyl chloride pipe to hold an umbrella over his head.

He also made a metal and wooden ramp to hold the unicycle upright when it is not in use.

The wheelchair has also been fixed with a small shelter for Mr Tan’s wife, in the event that it rains.​ TNP PHOTO: Jonathan Choo

He told The New Paper last Wednesday that Madam Loh had been diagnosed with dementia in 2006.

“At first, I didn’t understand what she meant when she said she wanted to go out, and she would throw tantrums at home,” he said.

“A few months after her diagnosis, when I finally took her out on a wheelchair, we walked on a park connector for about 5km.

“She became very calm and happy, but the skin on my soles tore.

“Earlier this year, I thought of riding an electric unicycle behind the wheelchair so it would be faster and more efficient.”

The couple now go out every morning after breakfast to places such as Marina Barrage, Japanese Garden and VivoCity.

Mr Tan’s innovation and devotion to his wife caught the attention of the Ministry of Health’s Successful Ageing Singapore Facebook page. 

The Facebook post said: “We came across Mr Tan riding his unicycle and pushing his wife on her wheelchair while driving one day.

“This is not something you’ll usually see in Singapore, and we thought it would be interesting to share his story on Facebook.

“Society tends to perceive seniors as more archaic in their methods, but Mr Tan has proven otherwise.

“He has shown us that seniors have the creativity and ingenuity to tackle problems, and he is a good example of how we have so much more to learn from the seniors around us.”

Mr Tan told TNP that Madam Loh used to be active and would go to the residents’ corner in their neighbourhood regularly to exercise and sing karaoke.

One day, when she was cooking vegetables, she kept asking him if she had added salt and Mr Tan suspected the worst.

“When I found out she had dementia, I was devastated and heartbroken. My wife was so healthy and rarely fell sick, so why did this happen to her?” he said.

ROMANCE

TNP PHOTO: Jonathan Choo

Their romance began during their St John Ambulance Brigade co-curricular activities.

“I was from Whampoa Secondary School and she was from Chung Hwa Girls’ High School, and we would meet once a week for the activities.

“We got to know each other after a while and I thought she was a lovely and responsible person,” he said.

They got married in late 1970, and have a son, 43, and a daughter, 40.

The four of them live in a four-room flatin Dover Crescent.

He recalled the early months of his wife’s illness as being very difficult.

“Her dementia caused her to act like a two-year-old child, so I couldn’t comprehend what she was trying to say.

“Sometimes, she would stand next to me at 3am while I’m asleep and I would get a shock. But that’s when I knew that she had soiled herself.

“She can’t control her bowel movements and would smear faeces on the walls with her hands…” he said.

“If I don’t take her out, she gets agitated and would shake doors and throw things.

“She also turns on the taps and gas stove, which was terrifying.”

Once, someone made a police report after she threw a porcelain cup out of the window.

Every day, Mr Tan feeds and bathes his wife and changes the four layers of soiled towels on the bed and wheelchair without fail. When her hair gets too long, he cuts it for her.

Mr Tan said: “The doctor said her dementia is incurable, even with medication. The medical bills were $200 a month, so I stopped giving her the medication in the middle of this year.”

Madam Loh no longer remembers her name and who her children are and even mistakes Mr Tan for her father.

When TNP asked Mr Tan what he would like her to remember most, he said: “I want her to know that I still love her, and I don’t want her to worry so much and go through such hardships any more.

“I’m afraid of what might happen to her if I pass away first, but for now, I’ll continue to push her wheelchair every step of the way.”

Madam Yeo Soon Kim, better known as “Grandma Rosy”, is 85 and blind in her left eye, but that does not stop her from doing what she loves most – colouring.

With the help of a huge magnifying glass, she sits at the dining table daily, sometimes from as early as 5am, to diligently colour for as long as eight hours.

A portrait can take her up to three days, and a set of colour pencils would not last her more than a month.

Grandma Rosy, who suffered a mild stroke that paralysed one side of her body two years ago, said: “If I’m tired, I can always rest. When I’m not tired, I’ll continue.

“At my age, colouring engages my mind. If I watch too much TV, I tend to fall asleep. If I exercise my hand by colouring, I won’t get sleepy so easily.”

She started colouring 10 years ago after a fall that affected her mobility.

Her son, Mr Rocson Aw, 44, a sales marketer, said: “That (fall) stopped her from going out. So to pass the time, she would colour my children’s colouring books.”

Mr Aw added that his niece, graphic designer Jesline Teo, 26, would buy colouring books, scan the pages and print them in a bigger size because of Grandma Rosy’s poor eyesight.

Miss Teo said: “She wakes up early to do simple therapy exercises on her own, and soon after, she’s colouring again.”

Grandma Rosy hopes to encourage more old folk to take up colouring.

“It’s good to use your mind and be active,” she said.

Mr Ong, 60, lives next to a 76-year-old man who was found dead in a one-room rental flat on the seventh storey of Block 8, French Road.

Initially, he did not think much of the strange smell coming from his neighbour’s flat early last week. But he became concerned on the third day.

The former taxi driver, who declined to give his full name, told The New Paper: “On Tuesday, I saw flies and the smell became worse. It smelt like rotting meat or a dead cat. Then I sensed something was wrong.

“His toilet window is right next to mine and when the wind blew, I could smell the stench. It was quite strong.”

Mr Ong called The New Paper hotline and the report was published on Nov 9.

He said he remembered the man as a quiet but friendly uncle who worked as a security guard and would make small talk with him.

After calling the police, he called TNP to raise awarenessof the many elderly people who live alone in one-room flats which do not have an alarm system.

He said: “My 20-storey block doesn’t have the alarm system, although there are many elderly living here. I live alone and I don’t want this to happen to me.”

TNP, together with Lions Befrienders Service Association and Ngee Ann Polytechnic, organises Project Helping Hands, a charity project to help elderly people who live alone. To volunteer, you can call Lions Befrienders at 1800-375-8600.

Mr Xie Feng Jie, 28, was another reader who called the TNP hotline with a tip-off.

An LRT vehicle on the Sengkang East LRT line had broken down due to a burst tyre at about 5pm on Tuesday. Mr Xie lives at Rivervale Crescent, near Rumbia station.

“I was resting at home when I heard a loud noise, as if something mechanical had exploded,” he said.

“I rushed to my window and saw that the LRT had stopped. After a few minutes, an ambulance and the police came to the scene.”

The report was published on Nov 9.

An anonymous reader alerted TNP to a story about students taking upskirt photos of their teachers, which was the cover story of TNP’s Oct 29 edition. The report reached more than 11,000 views online.

For sharing these stories, each hotline caller will receive a $100 Texas Chicken voucher.

We value and appreciate your calls and e-mails, so keep them coming.

You can call us at 1800-733-4455, SMS or MMS 9477-8899 or e-mail us at tnp@sph.com.sg.

My 20-storey block doesn’t have the alarm system, although there are many elderly living here. I live alone and I don’t want this to happen to me.- Mr Ong, who lives in French Road and whose neighbour’s body was not found for several days after his death

My 20-storey block doesn’t have the alarm system, although there are many elderly living here. i live alone and i don’t want this to happen to me.

— Mr Ong, who lives in French Road and whose neighbour’s body was not found for several days after his death

SINGAPORE: The success of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) latest alternate runway exercise gives Singapore “a lot of confidence that we will be able to protect our skies under all conditions,” said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Sunday (Nov 13). 

Dr Ng was observing the exercise, codenamed Exercise Torrent, which saw a 2.5km stretch along Lim Chu Kang Road converted into a temporary runway. 

A total of 12 fighter jets roared down the runway, including the F-15SG aircraft, which made their debut in the exercise. “Singapore is a small country, we must always protect our airspace and this capability to be able to launch today 12 fighter jets – F-16s, and F-15s for the first time off Lim Chu Kang Road – shows that we can convert a highway into an airstrip,” said Dr Ng.

RSAF’s F-15SG taking part in Exercise Torrent for the first time. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)

Nearly 1,000 RSAF servicemen – about half of them Operationally-Ready National Servicemen
(NSmen) – were involved in this year’s exercise, which concludes tomorrow.

This is the seventh edition of Exercise Torrent, which was last conducted in 2008.

It was a mammoth 48-hour task converting the road into a runway. Dozens of road fixtures were temporarily removed, including 153 lamp posts, 14 traffic lights and 12 bus stops.

“It’s a big effort,” said Member of Parliament Vikram Nair, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence.

Apart from demonstrating the RSAF’s operational readiness, Mr Nair said the exercise was also important because it involved engaging civilians in the area, including farmers.

“Being operationally ready involves having the entire population ready, all the key stakeholders have to be engaged and I think this exercise shows we are fully capable of doing that,” he said.

SINGAPORE: The Traffic Police launched a new test kit on Sunday (Nov 13), aimed at increasing road safety awareness among the elderly.

Called the “Road Master Test Kit”, it allows the elderly to assess their eyesight, hearing and reaction time in self-administered tests.

The kit was developed over six months, with the help of the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC), Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, and Lynne Lim Ear Nose Throat & Hearing Centre.

“When we think about an elderly crossing the street, we have to think about what they see, how well they see,” said Lisa Ong, a principal optometrist at the SNEC.

She explained that several visual functions are involved: “As they cross the street, how about the kerbs and unevenness on the ground, will it trip them and cause them to fall? So that’s about contrast sensitivity. And for the peripheral field – when they cross the street, when the vehicles or big buses are turning from the side, whether they can detect the vehicles and stop where they are to avoid the accident.”

A hearing questionnaire in the test kit. (Photo: Kenneth Lim)

About 760 test kits were given out to elderly residents at a community event in Bedok on Sunday. Another 5,000 kits will be given out at various locations starting January 2017, at events and accident hotspots like Serangoon, Toa Payoh and Chinatown.

According to police statistics, 122 elderly pedestrians – those aged 60 and above – were involved in traffic accidents from January to June, compared to 104 during the same period last year. 

“We are noticing a trend,” said Traffic Police Commander Sam Tee, who cites jaywalking and errant drivers not looking out for or giving way to pedestrians as the main causes behind the rise in numbers. “More elderly are being injured on the road, which is why we think it is important, given the backdrop of an ageing population, and more cars on the road as well – this is why the Traffic Police is going out in a big way to reach out to all the elderly.”

The Traffic Police says it hopes the kit will be a “conversation starter” for elderly pedestrians and their family members, and make them more “safety-conscious”. It’s something Ms Ong agrees with.

“If they were to fail the test, the first thing to flag up is – ‘I need to see an eye doctor,’” she said. “If they were to come in to the hospital to get their eyes treated, at least it’s early treatment, and that will prevent the eye condition from getting worse, if they have any.”

Ms Ong noted that some improvements could be made for future versions.

For example, the elderly would need their reading glasses to go through the booklet. But Ms Ong pointed out that they don’t usually put on the glasses when they are out crossing the street. “So it’ll be better if the test kit can be done without the reading glasses – in a functional, habitual eye state, so that’s something more realistic,” she said.

SEMARANG, Indonesia: When the first phase of the Kendal Industrial Park in Central Java, a joint Indonesian-Singaporean project, is complete by 2021, about 100,000 employment opportunities will be created, Sembcorp Development CEO Kelvin Teo told Channel NewsAsia on Sunday (Nov 13).

The park, which is also known as Park by the Bay, is a joint venture between Indonesia’s industrial estate developer PT Jababeka and Singapore’s Sembcorp Development. It will be officially opened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and President Joko Widodo on Monday, one of the highlights of the leaders’ retreat in Semarang.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference held by Indonesia’s Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto ahead of the official opening, Mr Teo said 20 companies from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Australia have committed to invest in the park. The companies will invest a total of IDR4.3 trillion (S$450 million) and initially some 4,000 jobs will be created.

“Kendal Industrial Park is set to form the economic engine and create jobs in the region. We support Indonesia’s plan to grow Java and accelerate the growth of Central Java,” said Mr Teo, adding that the project will also enhance bilateral trade and relations between Singapore and Indonesia.

“The industrial park serves as a platform whereby Singapore can share our experience from industrialisation and export our expertise to help the region create jobs.”

The 2,700-hectare park is expected to attract manufacturing companies in industries such as furniture, food processing, building materials and textiles.  

The development will be carried out in three phases. Phase one will involve developing 860 hectares over the next five years. Residential housing and facilities such as shopping centres, a golf course and a driving range are also in the pipeline.  

To ensure there are sufficient workers to work in the industrial park, there will be vocational training for the furniture industry in Java, said Mr Hartarto.

“The (Indonesian) government’s priority is to focus on the industrial sector,” he said. “When they graduate from the school, hopefully they can work in the industrial area.”

The industry minister also said that he hopes that the industrial park can take off, similar to those in Batam and Bintan.

From right: Sembcorp CEO Kelvin Teo, Governor of Central Java Mr Ganjar Pranowo, Minister for Industry Mr Airlangga Hartarto, Minister for Foreign Affairs Mrs Retno Marsudi, CEO of Jababeka Mr Budianto Liman, Chairman of Jababeka Mr SD Darmono. (Photo: Lim Jia Qi)

Located between Jakarta and Surabaya – two of Indonesia’s largest domestic markets – Kendal Industrial Park is about 20km from Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, the only port serving Central Java.

With that, Mr Teo hopes that the park will serve as an alternative manufacturing location for companies who wish to invest in Indonesia.

“The labour cost in Semarang is about half of Jakarta’s. The land cost is about one third. So we have the cost advantage to set up operations here,” he said. 

SINGAPORE: The success of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) latest alternate runway exercise gives Singapore “a lot of confidence that we will be able to protect our skies under all conditions,” said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen on Sunday (Nov 13). 

Dr Ng was observing the exercise, codenamed Exercise Torrent, which saw a 2.5km stretch along Lim Chu Kang Road converted into a temporary runway. 

A total of 12 fighter jets roared down the runway, including the F-15SG aircraft, which made their debut in the exercise. “Singapore is a small country, we must always protect our airspace and this capability to be able to launch today 12 fighter jets – F-16s, and F-15s for the first time off Lim Chu Kang Road – shows that we can convert a highway into an airstrip,” said Dr Ng.

RSAF’s F-15SG taking part in Exercise Torrent for the first time. (Photo: Loke Kok Fai)

Nearly 1,000 RSAF servicemen – about half of them Operationally-Ready National Servicemen
(NSmen) – were involved in this year’s exercise, which concludes tomorrow.

This is the seventh edition of Exercise Torrent, which was last conducted in 2008.

It was a mammoth 48-hour task converting the road into a runway. Dozens of road fixtures were temporarily removed, including 153 lamp posts, 14 traffic lights and 12 bus stops.

“It’s a big effort,” said Member of Parliament Vikram Nair, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Defence.

Apart from demonstrating the RSAF’s operational readiness, Mr Nair said the exercise was also important because it involved engaging civilians in the area, including farmers.

“Being operationally ready involves having the entire population ready, all the key stakeholders have to be engaged and I think this exercise shows we are fully capable of doing that,” he said.