Multimedia
Barber in the alley
Evicted from his Tanjong Pagar shophouse in 2002, Lee Yoon Tong takes his salon to the street and continues his trade there
Photographed by
Sam Kang Li
Interview by
Justin Zhuang
Produced by
Serene Cheong
Sam Kang Li
Music:
Contemporary Canon by Johnson Zhuang
RELATED STORY:
Less money, more space
Bravo for Barber in the City – both for the resilient Barber uncle and the team behind the production!
A wonderfully told story! I hope Lee gets the better of life from now on.
The pictures are beautiful and tell a good story.
Land use in Singapore has become such a complicated issue for both tenants as well as land owners. Under all the buzz that URA and SLA have been vaunting, are such stories that ‘fall through the gap’. Although URA has made excellent broad plans for sustainable land use, someone in URA has forgotten about the cons of the plans, and what are in place to mitigate such occurrences. Mr Lee’s problem is probably too microscopic that the authorities have perhaps overlooked?
As Singapore continues to grow economically, land for commercial activities will naturally increase and give rise to more cases like Mr Lee. Also, at the rate of how the world is being destroyed by human activities, Singapore will loose a lot more land space from the coast. Who knows? Mr Lee’s little shop could be sea-front property in 50-100 years down the road?
My dad passed away on 24th June 2020. His humility and passion in life has touched many people around Singapore. May he find peace and happiness in heaven.