The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Might this be true for a humble little neighbourhood of NE 9?
Occupying a slice of Toa Payoh’s pizza, it is home to the Singapore Democratic Alliance. With the longest serving opposition party in the parliament (Mr Chiam See Tong) to Singapore’s governing party (People’s Action Party). So in what way has this benefited or ruined Potong Pasir’s economy?
This quiet little neighbourhood might just have a reason as to why its people have always voted Mr Chiam back into power.
While the rest of Singapore is upgrading at an astronomical pace, driven by a need to stay ahead of competition, Potong Pasir has been leaving open fields, leaving the Kallang river untouched as much as possible, might there have been a reason to this?
It appears so.
The open fields are now a safe haven for groups of youths to play football, cricket, or any team bonding and relaxing games for which one might think of, or rather just a morning stroll across it to savour the fresh, crisp morning air or to enjoy the glorious sunset. The temple glowers with hypnotic splendour at the gold, intricate design of its many statues. Its door is visited daily and its guardians greeted with a fresh pair of garlands bands daily without fail. With the outside slowly degrading, it still retains its inner splendour with it being maintained. Small road stalls sustain its people with the necessities of life. The Kallang river being home to recreational activities like fishing, where there are wild tilapia and other small fish roaming its length searching for food, to Community Involvement Programs conducted by schools. Even the HDB’s are designed to be a work of art not just a means to save space and
So how does this compare to someplace with its PAP equivalent, let us say Punggol. With its 2 shopping malls, schools and very own river, it is every way that Potong Pasir is not.
It’s river is being extensively worked on to transform it to a fresh water river. Its fields being covered with faceless HDB’s its shopping malls covered with branded goods, advertising on its many faces, losing its character.
So, are there any bad points to Potong Pasir? Of course there are. Like the 2 faces of the coin, with its large open spaces, it may not be the most efficient way to use land. Its shop houses could have been developed into one giant shopping mall which would also save space and attract more tourists and might have a bigger variety. Its unique HDB’s might have been made into cuboid blocks which would largely save space. Its river could have been developed to make it a unique swimming experience. With Singapore’s limited land area, the amount of land saved would have been a tremendous boost to its economy.
Even though the Land area would do a lot of good to Singapore’s thriving economy with its limited land area, it’s unique HDB’s, shop houses, river, large open fields. It is something unique that most of Singapore does not have, a showcase of how even through competition for Singapore, each party complements the other in a display of true unrecognised partnership. Making Potong Pasir a nice edition to Singapore’s series of changes, making it a uniquely Singapore experience.
Made by: Ng Yu Sheng
Richard Ong
Lim Wei Xiang
Isaac Ng
No comments:
Post a Comment