ADVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. A third language gave me a veterinary scholarship.
Wednesday, 3 Jun 2026. 10.30am.
I left the Grab taxi at Block 1002, Toa Payoh Lor 8, to go to Toa Payoh Vets to hand over Daniel's clothing and to pick up Yaya to go home after her ballet at the Gateway Theatre. Six-year-old Yaya asked the driver: "Grandma, Dad said I must read two chapters of this Roald Dahl book, before I can watch one hour of video." It is very difficult to get her to read books when videos of Barbie doll and Ken are so much more attractive.
At her age in 1956, I did not have many books to read. My parents had no money to buy books nor time to bring me to a library. Yaya has so many presents of books – her collection is a Book Paradise to me and I do read her children's books.
Today is a bright sunny and blue sky day, but Block 1002. Toa Payoh Lorong 8 is deserted. Eight shop units renting at around S$16,000 per month as a coffeeshop with food
stalls were shuttered.
I met Mr Yap, 68 years, very trim fair-faced man with thick black eyebrows and black hair was standing outside his Electrical shop in Block 1002. "How long has the coffeeshop closed. "Since January of this year 2026," he said with a hint of sadness. "The economy is bad. No diners, high rentals, unlike the earlier years."
"When was Block 1002 opened for business?" I asked this wiry and slim boss of three shops repairing water pumps and motors of elevators. "It was in 1980 and included Blocks 1003 and 1004," he said.
"I started Toa Payoh Vets in this block 1002 in 1980 too." I said. His eyes brightened and his voice energised as he recognised a fellow pioneer involved in the Block 1002 Toa Payoh Industrial Park beginnings. Yet our paths had not crossed for the past 46 years.
"You are a veterinarian," he said. "Long queues outside your unit! “. "I stopped schooling after the "O" levels. "No university studies for me." He had not studied hard as a child. "There were no schools to teach repairs of water pumps and motors for elevators in the 1970s. I learnt on the job. Once I repaired an elevator motor within 2 hours instead four. My practical knowledge was acquired through hard work!"
"My father was strict on studies," I told him. "You were running around catching spiders and collecting fish with other boys after school! I was confined inside the 2-bedroom flat to study and read books."
The boss of three shops still goes to work every day although his son has taken over. He walked me through his 3rd and latest shop in Block 1002. His son was not present. "The lady in the reception room – she has been my clerical assistant for over 30 years' service," he pointed to an elderly lady answering phone calls. "Loyalty to the employer is non-existent in most of the younger generation nowadays," I said. "You are very fortunate as the business runs smoothly with loyal administrative staff who will have the experience of the mistakes and successes!"
“This new shop is convenient for customers to collect the repaired pumps and motors as it is on the ground floor,” he explained that the government complained that he had been doing repairing outside his second shop obstructing passers by.
He had to rent this shop for more space.
"What happened to the 2nd story unit which had an explosion and fire some years ago? I heard a loud explosion and saw the fire and thick fumes of black shop waving out of the unit's windows. "Was welding being done illegally, causing the fire?"
"There was an explosion from the compressor," Mr Yap explained. "Fire engulfed the room. I couldn’t get in to help the occupants."
"Who were these occupants?" I asked.
"There was a young couple who were proprietors and an elderly helper who died inside
the large fire," Mr Yap recalled. "I got a big mattress placed on the ground below and outside the 2nd story unit on fire. A middle-aged lady appeared. "Jump now, jump now," Mr Yap spread his hands out. "She jumped out of the window!”
What quick thinking! “Did she suffer any burn or fall injury?” I asked.
“No, no, " Mr Yap shook his hands. "She survived with no injuries. However an elderly lady could not climb out of the window. She was probably 80 years old. She fainted with smoke inhalation and fell into the fiery room."
Wow! I met a man who had saved a life by his quick thinking. The mattress was taken out from the furniture repair shop below the burning 2nd floor on fire. It saved a life. The shop still exist today in 2026.
Back to my back story of how a third language gave me a veterinary scholarship.
How did I become a veterinarian when my father was unable to afford a tertiary education for me. He was the sole breadwinner, earning $600 per month as a government officer in the Ministry of culture?
In the 1957 - 1962 period. I studied in Bukit Merah Primary School which was a neighbourhood school with no prestige unlike the missionary schools.
I was usually the top student in Standard which meant being first in the studies among my cohort of many classes. A female classmate living in Telok Ayer while I lived in Redhill Estate was my competitor. I was second in some years of the Primary education as she was an excellent student.
Book prizes would be awarded for the top 3 students at the end of the year and that was how I got books to read. In the PSLE examinations, my neighbourhood school had 3 boys qualified for studies in the famous Raffles Institution Secondary School. If my father was proud that I was admitted, he didn't show his emotions or celebrated. He was the typical of the Chinese father who didn't give hugs and kisses or celebrate successes of a child, unlike so many fathers nowadays.
46 years had passed by so quickly, like a tornado. I am grateful to be alive at 75 years old and have a family that loves me. I had celebrated my 47th wedding anniversary on 29 May 2026. Now many people see my unsteady gait when I get up from sitting down and offered to help me get up or advise me to be careful not to fall down!
In retrospect, my A level results were not Straight As and so the odds for me getting this veterinary scholarship were very high.
"You would not have got the Colombo Plan scholarship to become a veterinarian," my Pre-University class mate revealed to me some 30 years later during a reunion. "I had better grades, but I was rejected owing to his lack of a 3rd language.". We studied English and Chinese, but Chinese was not our language as a Chinese. He would have got the scholarship if I didn't have that 3rd language proof of study.
What the University of Glasgow in the U.K would accept was that prospective undergraduates must have proof of study of a 3rd language. I had an "O' Level certificate with a pass in the Malay language. Hence this third language game me a veterinary scholarship!.
For reasons still puzzling me, I had enrolled in the Adult Education Board's night classes to study Malay during my Secondary School. I got an "O-level" certificate in Malay studies. i submitted it during my scholarship application after "A" levels.
Why did I study Malay? I had no Malay friends or classmates. In the long term, this study helped me understand the Malay culture much better during my working years as a veterinarian in the Singapore Turf Club as a veterinarian and in small animal practice.
I must have some recall of the Malay language as shown in the following episode. Yesterday, I heard "terbang" as the maid wiped the specks of food off the dining table after dinner. I had attended at a house. Malay was spoken. Does "terbang" mean "flying"? “Yes,” my host said.
Time flies too fast for me. Time and tide do not wait for all people.
My advice to young people is this.
Love reading and continual education. Acquire knowledge in areas unrelated to your profession, employment or culture. You will enrich your life and many windows of opportunities will come to you.
And sometimes, when you are in need of a leg up in your life, this love of reading and continual education will give you a competitive advantage in becoming successful without you knowing it.
Just as it had happened to me as a 18-year-old student with no hope of getting a University education. The third language gave me a veterinary scholarship advantage. I would have not become a vet as my parents could only afford my education up to "A" levels.
