Story by Amanda Khong
COMMUNITY Stories is a project under the “Connecting With Our Heritage” initiative by Pulau Tikus assemblymember Yap Soo Huey.
The project was officially launched on Feb 5 at Jalan Burma unveiling the first of three bus stops launched that day.
“Community Stories was started back in late 2014 when some communities and shophouses in Pulau Tikus began to face eviction. It became urgent to caption the stories and heritage of our local community,” said Yap.
As a part of the first Community Stories project, six bus stops have been selected to showcase stories from the different communities in Pulau Tikus.
The three bus stops carrying stories from the Eurasian, Chinese community and Malay communities were launched in Jalan Burma (in front of SMK Convent Pulau Tikus), Jalan Burma (opposite Lengkok Burma) and Jalan Kelawai (nearby Jalan Jones) respectively.
The designs for the remaining three bus stops are still in the pipeline.
All that is left is the stories from the Indian community and Thai and Burmese community and a vision for the future of Pulau Tikus as a neighbourhood of choice.
Yap added that the tagline that drives this vision is “Reaching for the future, Grounded in our heritage”.
Neoh Eng Tek, 66, was present during the launch of the first three bus stops and he had the opportunity to see himself at the bus stop at Jalan Burma which is directly opposite Lengkok Burma.
Neoh owns a biscuit and sundry shop which has been around for 52 years ever since he first started it back in 1964.
“It is very interesting to see my heritage story on one of the bus stops here in this area that I’ve lived in for so many years,” said Neoh with a hearty laugh.
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