To hold a ground-up and volunteer-driven initiative continuously for fifteen years is not easy feat. What’s more remarkable is to keep it growing bigger and bigger each year.

The good folks at Jalan Bintang Tiga in quiet Opera Estate have done it again. I was first invited to this annual street party in 2011 after the General Elections. Since then, I have been invited yearly and have always attended except for last year when it was held during National Day itself. I had to be at the National Day Parade. Nevertheless, I made it a point that year to drop by before going to NDP to pass them some prizes which I sponsored for their games and to drop in after NDP to catch the end of the event.

The Agar Agar showing the age of the street party, another tradition and highlight of the party

Another tradition – A piñata showing the age of the party hanging high in the middle of the street.

The party had started 15 years ago because the street was closed for drainage works to prevent flooding. The residents had lobbied hard for years to the authorities to solve the persistent flooding problem. That was eventually agreed to and there were disruptions to traffic during the drainage widening period. Since the road was closed, the residents took advantage of the road closure to throw a street party with pot luck food to celebrate the completion of the works.

Kids balancing ping pong balls on spoons for a relay race

Since then, it had become a tradition to hold the celebration yearly around the time of National Day. The event eventually caught the attention of the press. Last year, the Singapore Kindness Movement chipped in to fund the setup of a tentage, live broadcast of the NDP via big screen, some of the food and hiring of auxiliary police to man the closure of the road.

This year, the Singapore Kindness Movement continued this sponsorship but minus the big screen because there was no NDP to broadcast as the event was held on the weekend after National Day. Over the years, residents have shifted out from the street, but many continued to come back for this annual event while new residents are pleasantly surprised and happy to attend the party. The party has become such a tradition that many new residents do not really know how the party got started but are happy to chip in to help to make the event a success.

A flour-y face: A boy with his face covered with flour after picking letters out from a tray of flour in a game organised by the Singapore Kindness Movement volunteers

One resident remarked to me today when he saw the happy faces of the kids that this is so much fun, but it is thanks to the tireless hard work of a few key organisers who persist to keep the tradition going. I replied to him the organisers must surely be finding great fulfilment to see neighbours being happy and that’s what keeps them going each year.

It is not just Jalan Bintang Tiga that have cooperative neighbours that live together harmoniously. During my regular visits to houses just a few streets away from Jalan Bintang Tiga this same afternoon, I came across two homes side-by-side where the residents that chatted warmly with my volunteers and I. One was an elderly man who was a long-time resident there while his immediate neighbours are a much younger couple who moved in 8 years ago. They chatted at ease with one another like old friends. Later as I went across to the house opposite of theirs, the elderly man came along and called his neighbour out. We continued talking about many things. Soon, other neighbours came along and joined in. One of them remarked that they feel fortunate that the neighbours on that street were nice to one another.

In our sometimes highly stressed environment, it pays to show a little kindness to those around you. In that way, you can help make a better environment for yourself too.

Grandma raising her little granddaughter up to hit the piñata in the game

I had looked forward to 25 Aug 2012. Once again, I was invited to the annual street party at Jalan Bintang Tiga, tucked away in a corner of Opera Estate. Last year, I was invited to the same party and found the event very meaningful. I had then blogged about it. Jalan Bintang Tiga is afterall, in the neighbourhood of where I grew up in.

Piñata hanging across the street

The event had its usual generous spread of food, prepared by residents who had each brought their special dish. The decors were up, with the Pinata hanging across the street, lit up by temporary lights set up by a resident who runs a construction business.

There were various games too. For the young ones, it was a night time ‘F1 rally’ on the streets. The boys and girls teams each jumped into a cardboard car, raced down to the middle of the street and then back like the Flintstones, and passed the car on the the next member of their relay team. Those below 12 years lined up to have a whack at the Piñata, which was very stubborn this year. It took several rounds of whacking before the bag finally broke, releasing goodies onto the streets that were quickly grabbed by the kids and loaded into small plastic bags generously given out to them. The teenagers had their waterbomb fun.

Getting ready to start their F1 race

The race is on!

Whacking the piñata

Adults mingled with one another, having a good chat over food and drinks. Even old neighbours that had shifted out came back. One told me it was a big decision for her to move out as her family love the neighbourliness of this street.

Glorious yummy home-cooked food

It was from the conversations that I found out how this annual street party came to be. And it is certainly a very good story to tell.

Opera Estate used to suffer from nasty floods. I know. I had lived there since birth until my marriage. I remember the regular floods up till the 1970s. Then my dad decided to raise the flooring of our house. There were floods but less regularly, at least in our house. I was told our street was slightly better elevated and had better drainage.  At Jalan Bintang Tiga, residents were less fortunate. One year, they had 3 bad floods within the year. Tired of the situation, nearly the entire street petitioned their Member of Parliament. The group lobby action worked. The Opera Estate canal was widened and drainage improved.

During the drainage improvement works, one part of Jalan Bintang Tiga was closed off to traffic. The residents got together and decided they might as well hold a street party since the road was available. And so they celebrated their group lobby success with a party. It has since carried on till today, the 13th street party in an unbroken fashion, held near National Day each year. In fact, some residents do not even know about the origin for this party. They are just happy to come together to party yearly.

Having attended the party twice in a row now, I can see the enormous pride the residents have. One resident told me proudly that after their 2nd street party in 2001, a newspaper carried the story. Upon reading the news, his colleague asked if he had remembered correctly that this resident was living in that street. “Yes!”, the resident declared with great pride, “And we are the only street party in Singapore.”

You can see the great effort in the food, the wide variety and good home-cook taste. The agar agar declaring the street party is now a regular feature. It is painstakenly prepared by a resident, so beautiful that one can hardly bear to eat it.

The special agar agar, a regular feature of this party

The street party shows that group action can work. The residents had been facing great inconveniences from the flood, and had made various individual appeals in the past. The neighbour came together to lobby. The action worked. What followed was even better – an annual event that has now brought the neighbourhood together. It will be wonderful if we can see more of such neighbourliness throughout Singapore. Yes, there are sometimes challenges living together in a congested island. Cars parked by the road will sometimes cause problems. Some traditions and customs of our varied cultures or even cooking of certain foods may irritate others. It will help with some neighbourliness to ease these problems.

It was their 12^th street party, an unbroken tradition started since 2000 around National Day to allow neighbours to get together in a fun setting.

Jalan Bintang Tiga is special to me. I had lived for 27 years in my parents’ house in the next street before shifting to my matrimonial home nearby. I had walked by this street nearly every day when I was young. It was wonderful to know of neighbours getting together for a street party. I accepted the invitation without hesitation.

Chatting with residents

Agar Agar with street party name

Pinata hanging across Jalan Bintang Tiga

It was not the first party invite I had received from residents of Joo Chiat SMC since GE2011. I have had tea at residents’ homes with small informal gatherings of neighbours interested to chat with me about socio-political developments in Singapore.  Last month, my GE2011 East Coast GRC team-mates and I attended a party at Villa Marina, a 432-unit condominium in Siglap. MP Charles Chong was also invited to the Villa Marina event but he could not attend due to an overseas trip.

I like the idea of street parties. It is organised informally by a group of residents. There is no formal committee, just residents who want to gather together in a relaxed environment so that children and adults can better understand one another.

The star resident on Jalan Bintang Tiga is Mr Yasin, a resident who turns 100 this month. He came out in his wheelchair briefly for the photo-taking. It was awesome seeing some 50 residents gathered on the street. Some had already moved out of the area but continued to return yearly for the annual party. Each brought their own food for the potluck event. My wife contributed the sushi.

The Jln Bintang Tiga ‘Kampong’, with oldest resident Mr Yasin in the centre

Residents mingled freely with one another. Children ran around playing with each other. Volunteers helped organised the event. One resident, who is a contractor helped put up the lighting.  There were many open doors that night. I noted residents and children moving in and out of various houses at ease. It brings back memories of the kampong spirit.

Hitting the Pinata

It was interesting to even see a Straits Times reporter and its photographer for event. I had viewed this as a social gathering which I was most happy to attend to meet old neighbours and make new friends. I guess in the light of recent revelations that the PA had for a long time imposed restrictions on residents inviting opposition MPs for grassroots events, the neighbourliness of this event caught the media’s attention.

Chatting with Charles, Siglap CCC member and Opera Estate Neighbourhood Committee Chairman

My GE2011 opponent, MP Charles Chong was there too. I had met him several times since GE2011 at various national level functions. The street party was the first time we met in a social gathering inside Joo Chiat SMC. Several times when we bumped into one another at events, we would compare notes on feedback by residents. Despite not being elected and not holding any meet-the-people session, some residents continue to give me feedback over issues.

Living inside of Joo Chiat SMC itself makes it easier for me to interact with residents. For some feedback, I helped to write in directly to various government authorities for their attention, copied to the MP. Some cases which I felt required the MP’s intervention, I advised the residents to go direct to the MP. Indeed I am happy to note that park facilities, drains and pavements have been attended to quite quickly by the authorities after the feedback.

We sometimes hear of ugly neighbours’ problems in private estates. Often, we hear that Singaporeans close themselves to their neighbours, hardly knowing one another. During GE2011, I spoke of the importance in having a friendly neighbourliness spirit. I saw that last night at the Jalan Bintang Tiga street party.