15 minutes that meant quite a bit to her.
I went to school today and spoke to the malay cleaner auntie. She cleans the School of Information Systems, is over 65 and lives by herself in a one-room-one-hall HDB apartment in Toa Payoh. I say apartment like it implies something grand.
Like I said she lives alone and so when she gets the rare listening ear, she pours out. I like listening to her, she reminds me a bit of my late grandmother. She talked to me about the trouble she has taking the MRT. She didn't have much of an education and can only really speak and read Malay, barely any English. There simply isn't a way for the old uneducated to get around all the obstacles that an MRT trip presents; the EZ-link system, platform jumping and train direction to get to where they want to go. She has only taken the MRT twice in her life and both accompanied. She never dares to go by herself.
She told me she always stick to buses but it seems her senior citizen concessionary really only seems to kick in at night.
"Mana orang tua nak keluar malam malam?" or "How many old people go out during the night?" she pointed out, saying that whoever was in charge of deciding that was smart. Of course they were smart, she followed, or else how to be part of the Government? That phrase was quite thought-provoking.
She did take the MRT yesterday. She went out with a friend to Geylang. She never really goes out, she says, and it was nice just spending time eating and drinking outside rather than always going home after work. There was a huge "pasar malam" or night market in Geylang Serai. At least the Government give us something.. better than nothing, she says.
She then told me she received a letter from the government. I figured that it was the Progress Package letter as she knew she was expecting some kind of money from the Government. A bonus she said that the government is giving to the people who are working like her who usually don't get bonuses. Problem was, she said to me in Malay, the letter was in English and Mandarin and so she couldn't read it.
But I am sure she would have read the PAP booklet detailing the background of the MPs in her area (if it was contested) because it comes in 4 languages.
The problem was also compounded by the fact that none of her neighbours were English-educated Malays. All her neighbours were mainly old, uneducated Chinese. There was an indian family that couldn't communicate to her in Malay. She lives pretty much alone in that place but I'm sure the mix of races is good for racial integration.
She went down to the Community Centre. It's a long walk but she trekked all the way there to try and get some of the kids there to read the letter for her. They read it and helped her get the Progress Package cheque.
It was also that same community centre, she told me, where she had gotten her special medical scheme card. It appears that senior citizens can apply for a discount on medical expenses. She took out her wallet (wrapped and tied in a plastic bag) and showed me her card. I noted there was no money in the wallet. The card, available through an application at the community centre, seems to be some kind of medical care scheme provided by the Central CDC. She wished she knew about it earlier, she said, but its okay.. at least she has some discount when she goes to see the doctor next month. 30-40 dollars rather than the usual 70 dollars. I think her salary is barely a few hundred dollars.
I would never had known her plight if I didn't take those 15 minutes to listen to her. I didn't expect to hear a senior citizen to be so marginalized in today's society. I blindly expected that all these people will somehow be taken care of by the government with the flawless track record. At least now I know better.
Like I said she lives alone and so when she gets the rare listening ear, she pours out. I like listening to her, she reminds me a bit of my late grandmother. She talked to me about the trouble she has taking the MRT. She didn't have much of an education and can only really speak and read Malay, barely any English. There simply isn't a way for the old uneducated to get around all the obstacles that an MRT trip presents; the EZ-link system, platform jumping and train direction to get to where they want to go. She has only taken the MRT twice in her life and both accompanied. She never dares to go by herself.
She told me she always stick to buses but it seems her senior citizen concessionary really only seems to kick in at night.
"Mana orang tua nak keluar malam malam?" or "How many old people go out during the night?" she pointed out, saying that whoever was in charge of deciding that was smart. Of course they were smart, she followed, or else how to be part of the Government? That phrase was quite thought-provoking.
She did take the MRT yesterday. She went out with a friend to Geylang. She never really goes out, she says, and it was nice just spending time eating and drinking outside rather than always going home after work. There was a huge "pasar malam" or night market in Geylang Serai. At least the Government give us something.. better than nothing, she says.
She then told me she received a letter from the government. I figured that it was the Progress Package letter as she knew she was expecting some kind of money from the Government. A bonus she said that the government is giving to the people who are working like her who usually don't get bonuses. Problem was, she said to me in Malay, the letter was in English and Mandarin and so she couldn't read it.
But I am sure she would have read the PAP booklet detailing the background of the MPs in her area (if it was contested) because it comes in 4 languages.
The problem was also compounded by the fact that none of her neighbours were English-educated Malays. All her neighbours were mainly old, uneducated Chinese. There was an indian family that couldn't communicate to her in Malay. She lives pretty much alone in that place but I'm sure the mix of races is good for racial integration.
She went down to the Community Centre. It's a long walk but she trekked all the way there to try and get some of the kids there to read the letter for her. They read it and helped her get the Progress Package cheque.
It was also that same community centre, she told me, where she had gotten her special medical scheme card. It appears that senior citizens can apply for a discount on medical expenses. She took out her wallet (wrapped and tied in a plastic bag) and showed me her card. I noted there was no money in the wallet. The card, available through an application at the community centre, seems to be some kind of medical care scheme provided by the Central CDC. She wished she knew about it earlier, she said, but its okay.. at least she has some discount when she goes to see the doctor next month. 30-40 dollars rather than the usual 70 dollars. I think her salary is barely a few hundred dollars.
I would never had known her plight if I didn't take those 15 minutes to listen to her. I didn't expect to hear a senior citizen to be so marginalized in today's society. I blindly expected that all these people will somehow be taken care of by the government with the flawless track record. At least now I know better.
posted by undergradbyday @ 1:21 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:45 PM,
Poet Nightshade said…
Harsh, man... Seems like all people in that age group's suffering because of language and cultural barriers. Thought provoking. You wonder *looks at previous post* whether the government's conscious of these tiny loopholes or whether they just simply overlooked them. Peace.
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