AT HOME WITH MY FATHER: The 70’s HDB

The “kampung spirit” is what Alain Ong remembers most fondly about growing up in a 3-room HDB flat in Bukit Merah back in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s.

“Flats of that era had 15 to 20 households along one corridor and every family had many children; you would surely make friends,” says the 42-year-old chief executive officer of POKKA International Pte Ltd.

One month before Chinese New Year each year, Alain would help his father give the house a fresh coat of paint in preparation for the celebrations. “He would let us kids choose the colour,” he remembers. As the youngest of three children, Alain was most attached to his parents and would gamely offer to help his father paint the house. It was the one annual ritual they shared.

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“My father is a very unassuming person. He spent a lot of time working to bring in the dough. He seldom scolded us; he would just tell us to try our best (in our studies). Once, I fell and broke my arm. He quickly rushed back home to bring me to the sinseh. He seldom showed love but his face was so pale and worried seeing my broken arm… Even though he doesn’t speak much, I know he cares,” says Alain.

On weekends and school holidays, Alain would spend time at his grandparents’ home in Pasir Panjang. There was a kampung opposite his grandfather’s house and Alain was fascinated by what he would see. “We would watch the cockfighting and adults betting, and the kids would play tikam. It was so easy to make small business in the kampung; you could buy a drink for 10 cents from makeshift stalls,” he shares.

“The kampung spirit was so high. People tended to take care of each other and there was not much of a wall between neighbours; you could break the ice and start building friendships easily. And if we were looking for someone to play with, all we had to do was whistle and the children would come out and play with us,” Alain reminisces.

Today, the father of two girls lives in a 6,000 sq ft cluster house in Thomson with a private pool and Jacuzzi.

“I always tell my kids, ‘It’s not the size of the house that matters; it’s the home that we build that matters,” he says. The family moved into the three-storey house from a two-storey penthouse to be closer to their daughters’ (aged 8 and 12) school.

Family bonding is a high priority for the busy CEO who travels often. “I try to make sure I eat with the family at the dining table as often as I can, and we share the happy and unhappy moments from our day.”

On the weekends, the girls get to camp out in the parents’ bedroom and stay up late chatting. And this is when Alain tries to instill in them the right values. “What’s important is that we build a healthy home environment for the family, and have good character to carry us in life.”