Former press secretary to Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan in sharing a picture he had taken with Chiam See Tong, remembered a time when the opposition veteran helped put a roof over his head.
Jose Raymond, the managing director of SPIN a public relations firm, said that without Mr Chiam, his father would not have been able to pay for the registration fee to purchase a HDB flat after retiring from the police force and not being able to hold down a job in the 1980s.
“And Mr Chiam See Tong couldn’t even remember how he helped my father when he hit rock bottom in his life,” Mr Raymond said.
“But I do, and will never forget it,” he added.
Mr Chiam had given Mr Raymond’s father a chèque to HDB and told my father to use it and register for the flat. His father still stays in the same flat and last year, the flat was completely paid for.
Mr Raymond said that he will never forget how Mr Chiam helped them when we needed it most, and unconditionally at that.
In describing Mr Chiam as a Singaporean icon and thanking him for everything he had done for them, Mr Raymond said: “You have been an inspiration to me, and I will continue to pay it forward.”