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I don’t know how long I’ll be jobless: Sungei Road market vendor


Neo Chue Eng, a 58-year-old vendor at the Sungei Road flea market, is filled with trepidation over his future following the government’s recent announcement that the popular bazaar will be closed for good on 10 July.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be going without a job,” Neo told Yahoo Singapore, adding that it would be difficult for him to get employed, even with help from the authorities. Instead, he wants the government to let him continue working in the same line.

“I can still work another 10 or eight years, so I hope that the government can still give us a small area for us to work until we retire,” he said.

Neo, who has been selling second-hand goods at the market since 1997, hopes that it will be relocated rather than demolished. Currently, the government’s plan is to make the market site available for residential development.

His view was echoed by the Association for the Recycling of Second Hand Goods, which has been pleading with the government to allow the market to continue running in another location.

“We do not expect special privilege but just to have a listening ear to our plight,” said the association’s president, Koh Eng Khoon, in a 2015 statement.

“We would be happy if the relevant government agency can at least meet us to explain and discuss alternatives.”

The market, which has been around since the 1930s and is commonly known as the “Thieves’ Market”, was effectively halved in 2011 to make way for the upcoming Sungei Road MRT station. This caused friction among vendors as they fought for space in the smaller area.

Vendors at the Sungei Road flea market sell a wide range of mostly second-hand goods. (PHOTO: Stefanus Ian / Yahoo Singapore)
Vendors at the Sungei Road flea market sell a wide range of mostly second-hand goods. (PHOTO: Stefanus Ian / Yahoo Singapore)

In announcing the closure on 14 February, the authorities said that out of the 31 vendors who had received operating permits in the 1970s and 1980s, only 11 are still in business. These vendors were given the option of moving to stalls at selected hawker centres for subsidised rental rates.

Other vendors who are registered with the police and want to continue selling second-hand goods will have to provide the authorities with new business addresses.

All things must pass

But it is not just the vendors who are lamenting the impending loss of the market.

Muhammad Faruk, 67, said he has been going to the market for more than 50 years – having first visited it as a young boy. The antique shop owner said he used to live on Arab Street and pass through the market every day while on the way to school.

“Every country there is one old market, you know, but it’s very sad that it’s moving,” he told Yahoo Singapore. Faruk also hopes that the market will be relocated somewhere around the Sungei Road area under the same name.

Lai Ah Fen, a vendor at Sungei Road flea market, said she is ready to move after the closure of the market on 10 July. (PHOTO: Stefanus Ian / Yahoo Singapore)
Lai Ah Fen, a vendor at Sungei Road flea market, said she is ready to move after the closure of the market on 10 July. (PHOTO: Stefanus Ian / Yahoo Singapore)

But for vendor Lai Ah Fen, who is in her late 80s, the impending closure is just a sign that all good things must come to an end. Remaining stoic over the market’s fate, she added that it would not be difficult for her to move on.

“It’s not like by feeling that it’s a pity, you can keep it by your side for a longer time. When people part, even if you’re sad, you can’t keep the person by your side. You’ll have to let them go,” she said.