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All that Matwikarta Kariyo remembers of his youth was a 15-day boat ride that set sail from Indonesia, where he was originally from, to the shores of Singapore.
There, the Solo native was made to build his own hut: a 3m-by-6m space which he shared with four to five other strangers.
“The huts were small, and I had to share the space with a few others. I would sleep on a thin sheet of mat, and there were a lot of mosquitoes flying around,” said the 102-year-old, referring to the Jalan Ladang village he was at. “Now, flats are so much bigger and I am much happier. There is so much more space to walk around.”
Matwikarta, who lives with his step daughter in Singapore’s Bedok neighbourhood, is among the 1,300 centenarians in the Lion City today.
This number has risen dramatically over the last decade, said Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during a national address last month.
Lee said Singapore’s life expectancy at birth now stands at about 85 years – one of the longest in the world. The number of centenarians have surged more than twofold from the 500 in 2007, he added.
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