IPOH – Former Singapore president, the late S.R. Nathan, was a regular visitor to Ipoh to see his old chums.

“Even before he stepped down from his position in 2011, he would visit at least once a year,” said his long-time friend P. Subramaniam, 87 (pic).

“And whenever he did, he would have his men fetch me so that it was more convenient for me to go see him.”

Nathan, 92, who died at the Singapore General Hospital on Monday, was the republic’s longest-serving president, holding office for two terms from 1999 to 2011.

Singapore’s former president S R Nathan dies

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The sixth president stepped down on Aug 31, 2011, and was succeeded by the current president, Tony Tan Keng Yam.

A look at the presidents of Singapore

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The friendship between Subramaniam, a former school principal, and Nathan dated back more than half a century.

Both men studied at the University of Malaya (then in Singapore) from 1949 to 1955.

Subramaniam said he always marvelled at the way Nathan, who “rose to the ranks of very high offices and went on to become president of the republic”, would still look out for friends like him.

“Why would the president of Singapore want to meet up with an old teacher like me after all those years?

“He remained as humble, friendly and gentle as when we were students,” he said, adding that “it was difficult to pick a fight with Nathan” due to his diplomatic nature.

“There were different kinds of boundaries between us. As an Ipoh boy, I was staying in the university hostel while Nathan was living with his family in a suburb called Katong.”

Furthermore, both of them were studying in different faculties; Subramaniam did Science while Nathan took up Arts.

That, however, did not stop their friendship. They would often meet at inter-faculty games like rugby.

“We visited each other from time to time as well. His parents were such gracious hosts to me,” he said.

Saddened by Nathan’s passing, Subra­maniam said he was revisiting as many memories as his 87-year-old mind would allow.

Mr S R Nathan’s Lying In State at Parliament House

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“One particular memory that will always stay with me is the time Nathan became Singapore’s ambassador to the United States.

“This was in the 1990s. He invited my wife and me to visit him when we were there on a holiday.

“That a ‘nobody teacher’ like me would get invited to his residence still amazes me,” he said.

Visitors to the Singapore Zoo could soon be able to stave off the heat in some areas of the park, thanks to a new outdoor cooling system that is touted to blow air as cool as 24 deg C.

The Airbitat Smart Cooler, developed by Innosparks, an ST Engineering subsidiary, was unveiled at the zoo yesterday, at a joint media briefing with Mandai Park Development.

Each unit, about the size of a refrigerator, can cool an area of about 600 sq m, and has a reach of 5m to 10m.

The cooler is eco-friendly, using 80 per cent less energy than an average air-conditioning unit, and does not produce heat.

Four units have been placed at the zoo’s ticketing area since Tuesday for a six-month trial.

If successful, 80 to 100 units will be rolled out in the near future at “cool zones” within four of Mandai Park Holdings’ wildlife parks: the Singapore Zoo, River Safari, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park.

The cool zones include areas such as ticketing counters and restaurants, said Mandai Park Holdings’ group chief executive officer Mike Barclay.

“Singapore’s outdoor heat and humidity can discourage our guests from extending their stay. We would like to address this heat issue in a sustainable, energy-efficient manner,” he added.

While a timeline for the rollout and cost has not been determined, Gareth Tang, the project’s engineering lead and general manager for Innosparks, said cost-effectiveness is key.

An Airbitat unit costs $2.50 a day to run while a similar capacity air-conditioning unit costs about $12.50, he noted.

The machine is built around a “cold water core”, where water is circulated and chilled through an evaporation process. It also has an intelligent system that uses sensors to monitor the environmental temperature and humidity, and determine its output.

After 18 months of development, the units are expected to go into production next year, said Mr Tang. Other suitable locations include semi-open industrial spaces that are not suitable for air-conditioning, such as aircraft hangars.

“We want to encourage the use of sustainable cooling, and pumping less heat into the environment,” he said.

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Olympic champion Joseph Schooling will return to Singapore in November for a Singapore Swimming Association (SSA) fund-raiser – but the swimmer himself is also set for a cash injection.

The 21-year-old, Singapore’s only medallist at the Rio Games, claimed the 100m butterfly gold and the $1 million award from the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) that comes with it, the first Singapore athlete to do so.

Of this, 20 per cent will be given to the SSA for training and development, as stipulated by the SNOC.

Schooling will get about $661,650 after taxes.

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It is believed the SNOC will hold an appreciation dinner for Team Singapore’s Olympians during the week that Schooling is in town.

There, it will also dole out the $1 million monetary award, which is part of the Multi-Million Dollar Awards Programme (MAP) sponsored by the Tote Board and Singapore Pools. The MAP awards are designed to reward medallists at major Games.

Schooling, a University of Texas student, admitted he has not decided what to do with the money.

He added: “I don’t really know (yet).

“My parents have always managed my finances and I’ll let them decide what to do.”

How much Olympic athletes get for their gold medals

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Yesterday, speaking to the media at their Parkway Parade office, Schooling’s father Colin, a businessman, said: “We borrowed money from banks to pay for his education and training so this will help cover (some of the loans). The beauty of it is my son actually told us: Mummy and daddy, don’t worry, just use (the money) to pay off the loans.”

Colin and his wife May have spent more than $1 million supporting their only child’s aspirations.

This includes covering his five years at Bolles School, a private college preparatory school.

Fees at the Florida-based school are around US$41,450 (S$56,000) a year.

There is also rental for an apartment, which is about US$2,800 a month, on top of living expenses and other incidentals such as flights and accommodation and even physiotherapy.

It helps that he has been the top earner of the MAP in recent years. Last year, he was given $31,250 for his flawless SEA Games outing, where he won all his nine races.

In 2014, he pocketed $370,000 for four medals – a silver at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and one gold, one silver and one bronze at the Incheon Asian Games.

Joseph is also a Sports Excellence Scholar.

He belongs to the highest of three tiers and is supposed to receive $90,000 annually.

May, a member of the Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, said: “It’s been a wild ride but like I always say, we’re all enjoying the journey.”

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THE 20-year-old woman who has been missing since July after supposedly leaving for a trip to Melbourne has got in touch with her family.

Ong Hwee Ting, who lived in Ang Mo Kio, had been missing since July 12, after saying she would be going to Australia with friends.

She was later found to have deleted clues to her whereabouts in her computer, cancelled her mobile service and quit her waitressing job back in June.

There were no immigration records of her having left the country.

Her parents reported her disappearance to the police.

After their predicament was reported on Wednesday, Ms Ong contacted her father, Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao reported yesterday.

On Wednesday night, she sent a text message to her 58-year-old father, an air-conditioner repairman.

He told Wanbao that the police had informed him at about 6pm that there was news of his daughter.

Not long after, she sent him a text.

In her message, she said she was doing well and asked her parents not to worry.

“She wanted us to give her a bit of time to think about her future and decide what to do in the path ahead,” said Mr Ong.

He added that he has yet to speak to his daughter about what she has done or where she has been staying since her disappearance.

However, he was sure that his daughter is doing well and has a new job and phone number.

He thanked the paper for its help. “Even though she has not returned home, at least there is some news to give us peace of mind.”

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