SINGAPORE, Dec 7 — Old bank notes, cassettes, classic cameras, radio sets, typewriters, vintage watches — these are among the collection of antiques that one can find in two ground-floor units at 28 Kelantan Road for less than S$50 (RM151).
While some may not take a second look at these items, they are “treasures” collected over the decades by a group of former Sungei Road vendors, who have been given a new home just 10 minutes away from where they spent decades plying their trade.
One of them is David Sein, whose collection lines the shelves in the Sungei Road Green Hub, which was set up by restaurateur Raymond Khoo.
Sein, who is better known by his friends and customers as Botak because of his bald head, said in the three years since the iconic thieves market was closed, his collection sat piled up in his three-room public housing flat, which often caught the attention of the authorities.
“They always ask me ‘uncle, why is your house (filled with) rubbish?’ And I will tell them that I got no choice. Where else can I put my things?” said the 58-year-old.
The now-defunct Sungei Road market located at the junction of Jalan Besar and Rochor Canal Road made way for development in 2017. The popular spot was often flocked by tourists, foreign workers and Singaporeans on weekends.
Sein said the closure of the market left many of the friends he made in the last 40-odd years there unemployed and aimless. Months after their eviction, many attempted to peddle their goods near the area but were caught by the authorities.
“If they cannot sell (their goods) on the floor, they sell in their hands. Rain or shine, they still die die want to sell,” he added.
Sein said many of them moved on to drive taxis, do deliveries and other odd jobs. He also occasionally sold his goods at pasar malams (night markets).
“It’s not the same feeling as finding something and selling it, you know?” he said, adding that he tried numerous times to rent a shop with some friends but they kept being rejected.
“Maybe (the shop owner) heard we’re from Sungei Road… the thieves market… so they were scared to rent out the shops to us,” Sein said, half-jokingly.
A new home
It was only during the circuit breaker when Sein asked Khoo, 57, a frequent volunteer and provider of meals to residents in the area for the last three years, for help did he get his wish.
Khoo is the owner of The Peranakan restaurant in Orchard Hotel, which funds his charity The Saturday Movement.
He agreed to rent the units under his company’s name, renovated them and gave Mr Sein and 21 other former vendors — most of whom are in their 50s and 60s — a place to resume their trade.
While he was not unfamiliar to their plight, in fact, he took one of them in to work in his restaurant, Khoo realised that the former vendors were particularly downcast during the circuit breaker, which has affected their livelihoods.
Opportunely, one of the units in the area came up for rent, so Khoo agreed to the idea of starting a thrift shop by bringing in the former vendors.
“In the last three years they were wondering like nomads, trying to set up shop here and there, so I thought this would not only allow them to start a business, it is also for their mental wellbeing.”
While The Saturday Movement absorbed the cost for the renovations and rental deposit of the two units, Khoo said he has made a deal with the vendors for them to set aside S$10 a day for rent, which costs about S$3,000 per unit.
He sends them dinners five times a week, sponsored by both his restaurant and some friends. The vendors also get a loaf of bread on Saturdays and a Chinese dessert on Sundays.
Khoo said the whole idea is to allow them to be self-sustaining and give them a sense of purpose, even as his effort may come with diminishing or no returns.
“(Three years ago), there was a movement to ask the Government to extend the lease so there were a lot of parties which offered help. But when everything did not materialise, everybody just disappeared,” he said. “That’s not very good.”
Thankful for second chance
Seated among little trinkets and amulets at his corner of the shop, Lim Bee Poh, 56, told TODAY that business has been good. Minus rent, he brings home about S$800 a month, which he said is sufficient to feed his six children, aged between 12 and 30.
Lim, who used to hawk at Sungei Road market with his wife for three decades before they were evicted, said he tried many odd jobs but none suited him.
So even when the returns are modest, he is happy to have a place to sell the collection of things he took decades amassing — come rain or shine.
Similarly, Cindy Lim, 56, said she no longer carries her loot to and from her four-room flat nearby. The mother of two, aged 24 and 27, now keeps her wide selection of apparel on two clothes racks, shelves and baskets in her corner of the shop.
Asked how she collects things to sell, Lim said the clothes are mostly donated to her. At times, she rummages through trash disposed of at void decks to find “hidden treasures” as she calls them.
“People like us can never see things being thrown away. We will definitely pick them up and see how we can sell them. Even after so many years, it’s still a habit,” she said with a laugh.
Asked why she sold it at a cheap price, Lim said: “Even when I sell something for S$2, I make a profit. That’s why the items I sell are not expensive.”
Grinning, Sein added: “We are not selling to be rich... to buy a big house. It’s just so that we can buy meals for ourselves.” — TODAY
