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Posted on 12/31/2025 4:34:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
For more than a decade, an elderly Chinatown resident purportedly had no access to electricity, water and gas.
With bags of sundries piled high within his one-room rental flat, his nights were spent along the stretch of corridor outside the unit.
His circumstances were shared online on Dec 23 by non-profit platform Keeping Hope Alive, which assisted in decluttering the flat.
The volunteer group's Facebook post noted how time seemed to have stopped 10 years ago for the man in his 80s, who had a 2015 calendar hung on a wall.
With water supply cut off, the man, surnamed Wong, told volunteers he doesn't shower and only washes his face at a public toilet. He also had no shoes and could not recall when he last brushed his teeth.
He has been living in the flat since 1979 and pays $35 a month in rental, reported Shin Min Daily News.
It wasn't reported why his utilities were cut off.
Asked about his clothes, he reportedly replied: "I walk in the rain and dry in the sun."
'Breeding ground of flying roaches, lizards' "He sleeps on the corridor floor just outside his unit. Neighbour press nose walk pass his unit super fast (sic)," wrote Keeping Hope Alive.
The rental unit was described as "a breeding ground of flying cockroaches, lizards, centipedes and silverfish", bare of necessities such as a bed, stove and kettle.
Keeping Hope Alive founder Fion Phua told Shin Min Daily News that volunteers conducting door-to-door visits had seen the man sitting outside his flat. He initially refused help, including food and drinks offered by the volunteers.
The report stated that the elderly man has been receiving long-term assistance from the authorities, with volunteers delivering meals. He had been unwilling to let others intervene in his living habits.
00:08 / 01:59
Phua said they spent a considerable amount of time talking to him before he accepted their help.
The elderly man told Shin Min he used to work as a coffee shop stall assistant. He also said that he had accumulated the items in his home over time and wanted to clear them but did not know who to seek help from.
Six-hour clean-up effort In their Facebook post, Keeping Hope Alive said the clean-up effort took six hours.
"What finally appeared was not furniture, not belongings… Just an elderly man skin and bones standing there with a very big smile.
"That smile hurts more than the sight of poverty. Because it tells us how long he has been forgotten."
The volunteer group urged the public to keep a lookout for their neighbours: "Progress means nothing if we allow our elders to survive like this."
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Ah....so this is where Sum Ting Wong lives.
People only have value in accordance to their ability to contribute to the economy. Old people have no value in such a system.
Had to do a search off site to find out that this is in Chinatown, Singapore.
Aah... Chinatown in Singapore. That explains it.
Keeping Hope Alive in Singapore? Money goes a long way when you threaten to call people racists.
I think you mean ‘wacist’
I seen you walking down in Chinatown
I call you but you could not look around
Awesome. War.
Living and dying In Chinatown
Yes, they’re living and dying,
Down in old Chinatown
In Chinatown
You better look around
Thin Lizzy
RIP John Sykes
Forget it, Jake, it’s Chinatown.
Joe Jackson - Chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
A hungry man
Can hold out a long time
For some soul food
Good food, whole food
I know I was that man
Maybe sometimes hold out a little too long
I took a right
Then I took a wrong turn
Someone asked me for a quarter
It didn’t seem to fit
He didn’t look too much like a chinaman
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
An old black man
Pushing a shopping trolley
Filled with tin cans
Avoided his glance
I’m nervous and I’m lost
And I don’t see too many restaurants
A guy laid out
With a knife in his back
A cop came along
Told him, move on
Go home and sleep it off
I didn’t know if I should get involved
Trying to find chinatown
Trying to find chinatown
Ha! They were in town for a show a while back
I was working for the CIA...🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳🎳
Dis So Wong!
Great movie/. My friend shows movies at our cub house and I requested that one. Will show it in a couple of months.
I went to Singapore many years ago. One of my favorite places. Had a Singapore Sling at the Raffles Hotel, was disappointed. Took a side trip to Malasia to see them tap rubber trees. Best looking man I ever saw came to show us how it was done.
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