Pritam Singh, a Parliament Member of The Workers Party (Aljunied GRC), was doing his usual house visit one evening a few days ago when he came to the house of Mr. Goh (his full name was not revealed).
He knocked and the door was opened by a shirtless elderly man who looked healthy and fresh.
Mr Singh greeted the man, “Good evening Sir. My name is Pritam and I am just doing some house visits to say hello and to find out how you are keeping.”
The man replied, “Hi there Mr Singh. Can you guess my age?”
Mr Singh answered, “You must be 70.”
“70?! My son is almost 60!,” replied the man who later introduced himself as Mr. Goh.
Mr Goh was actually 82 years old, although his physical appearance didn’t show it, only that he had a firm and strong handshake as revealed by Mr Singh in his Facebook.
Mr Singh said that it was an absolute joy chatting with Mr Goh during the house visit that evening. He has three sons and three daughters, reminding us how our elders usually had more children than our present generation.
One of the netizens asked Mr Singh on the Facebook, “Didn’t Mr Goh open his gate?”
And Mr Singh answered, “After years of house visits, I have realised that people have different norms and comfort levels.”
Mr Goh spoke glowingly about his children and about how they support him and his wife.
“We had an interesting conversation about his life since 1934 and what a life it has been,” Mr Singh wrote.
There was only one way to part, Mr Singh continued, “With another handshake!”
“And another reminder of the strength of our elders,” wrote Mr Singh
Our elders had had so much strength and had done much for the country, Mr Goh is one of our few elders who has such a good life at his age.
But many of our other elders have no such blessing. United Nations human rights expert Rosa Kornfeld-Matte had said that in Singapore, “The reality on the ground indicates that life remains a struggle for many old Singaporeans,” after her first official visit to the country.
