Singapore — In a recent interview, longtime opposition politician turned restaurateur Chee Soon Juan was asked if any of the leaders from the ruling party have visited Orange & Teal, his newly-opened café.
While he answered, “Not yet,” he said he wanted to invite Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, whose office is nearby, for lunch.
Dr Chee is the secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Party and a longtime critic of the ruling People’s Action Party.
Since he has outspokenly called out the PAP for over two decades, having a meal with Mr Chan, one of its staunchest defenders, would be very surprising indeed.
Dr Chee announced last month that he would be opening Orange & Teal at Rochester Mall in Buona Vista, which began operations on June 25.
He said in a Facebook post that he and his wife Huang Chih-Mei had “been working on it for the past several months and it’s finally coming to fruition,” adding that it’s been a long-term dream of theirs to have a place for people to come together and to get together.
“To be perfectly honest, I’m not a businessman. I never was and I don’t think I will ever be. But I’ve always wanted to start a social enterprise of sorts to support causes close to my heart. I’ll talk about this including the vision of this venture another day”, Dr Chee wrote on June 21.
A week later, he posted again about his realisation of the hardships Food and Beverage establishment operators face, calling working in the industry “a gruelling endeavour with little margin for error.”
One factor that makes survival difficult is high rental rates. And what adds insult to injury for the longtime politician is that many of the properties where F&B establishments rent are owned by the government.
“The disappointing fact is that many of these properties are owned by our own government. Mapletree, JTC, Surbana, etc own malls and industrial buildings. They set the rent,” he wrote.
In an interview with Rice Media, published on Wednesday, July 7, Sean Lim wrote about how hands-on Dr Chee is in the front end of Orange & Teal, taking orders and talking to customers.
The idea of starting the café took shape after last year’s elections. And while Rochester Mall was not their first choice of venue, it proved to be the most accommodating.
Dr Chee said that other malls “didn’t want to do business” with them.
His dream for Orange & Teal is not a political one, he just wants people to come in and enjoy good conversations together.
He also underlined that everyone is welcome. “You don’t have to be of a certain political stance to come here and eat. Just enter,” he told Rice Media, hence the invitation to the Education Minister.
It’s not only Dr Chee and his wife who are involved with running the café, as the couple’s three adult children, An Lyn, E Lyn and Shaw Hur, are also taking part in helping out their parents to run it.
But his involvement in Orange & Teal does not mean he has turned his back on public service. Last week he was on the ground at Bukit Batok again, checking on some lamp posts after a resident had complained concerning dangerous wires. /TISG
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