Some seniors look forward to being accepted into scheme
Mdm Tan Siang Keng and her brother Tan Hong Thye, who lives in a rented one-room flat on Toa Payoh Lorong 1. Mr Tan is looking forward to being accepted into the Silver Support Scheme. PHOTO: ROBIN CHOO
Cleaner Tan Hong Thye, 65, brings home about S$1,100 every month after Central Provident Fund deductions.
Mr Tan, who is unmarried and has no family support, pays S$185 in monthly rent for the one-room Housing and Development Board flat he shares with a friend on Toa Payoh Lorong 1. He also gives about S$500 to his 83-year-old sister Tan Siang Keng, who lives elsewhere, as an allowance and also to buy him groceries.
“I just earn enough to eat and pay my bills,” said Mr Tan in Mandarin.
“If the Government gives me more (money), I can maybe save,” he said, referring to the Silver Support Scheme announced yesterday by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in his Budget speech.
Mr Tan was among several elderly Singaporeans who told TODAY that they were looking forward to being accepted into the scheme, under which Singaporeans aged above 65 will receive quarterly payouts to help them with living expenses.
For 65-year-old retiree Sum Ngan Leng, who lives in a two-room rental flat on Toa Payoh Lorong 2, the monthly allowance of about S$350 she gets from two of her three children is hardly enough for her to get by.
Madam Sum, who stopped working at a coffee shop after she injured her leg two years ago, spends about S$70 on rent and between S$50 and S$60 a month on utilities bills.
“I cook one cup of rice each day and just survive on it,” she said in Mandarin, adding that she hoped to qualify for the scheme.
Mdm Eileen Teo, 67, who lives with her husband in a one-room flat on Toa Payoh Lorong 1, earns between S$500 and S$700 a month working at McDonald’s.
With her two children helping out by giving her an allowance and paying for her monthly rent, Mdm Teo, whose husband is not working, said in Mandarin that she could “more or less get by”.
Still, she said she would appreciate the extra money she would get if she qualifies for the scheme.
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