Pulau Ubin Old Tree's dead branch

By Cai Li Zhu
Lianhe Zaobao Forum Page
2 August 2006, Wednesday

My father is 70 years old this year and currently lives on Pulau Ubin. Life was peaceful and without worries but recently something made him extremely worried and uncomfortable. An old tree besides my father's house has 2 dead branches hanging over the house and when the wind blows, the branches swings about perilously, threatening to fall on the house, causing much fear and worry.

Therefore, my father made a trip to the Nparks office on the island to complain but guess what, they asked him to lodge his complaint with the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) instead.

Not long after, my father againt went to look for another Npark officer to seek their help. This time, the lady officer finally helped him to write a report and promised to submit it on his behalf. However, it has been 2 months and yet there has been no action to remedy the situation.

Do we have to wait till the branch falls and for a tragedy or accident to happen before there will be remedy?

Briefly translated by November Tan.



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Thanks to my mom for the alert! She has been very conscientiously supplying me with chinese news and articles with regards to Ubin as she knows I have been trying to keep Ubin Stories updated.

On another note, she also commented that perhaps the author of this letter should have helped her dad to cut the branch or to report to SLA as suggested instead of writing to the newspaper. Is that what people would have done in the good ole kampong days? A reliance on self and family.

Still, it's interesting to read about SLA's role on the island since it's the 'landlord' and owner of the island. Would NParks then be considered Ubin's custodian? I am always piqued by the interplay of agencies on the island.