SINGING THE PRAISE OF AN AMAZING
TAOIST-BUDDHIST
I don't know whether he was a Taoist or a Buddhist, so I better
use a hyphenated religion to describe his faith. Generally in
Singapore, a Taoist would say he's a Buddhist ("Bai Poot") when in
fact he is a Taoist, & I intend to refresh our collective
memory of a very inspiring Taoist-Buddhist Singaporean who died
some five years ago.
On that fateful afternoon 20/4/04, tunnelling work
for the Circle LRT Line led to a massive cave-in at the Nicoll
Highway Station. Instead of running away to ensure the safety for
his own life first, as many of us would reflexively do in similar
situations, a Taoist-Buddhist site foreman rushed into it to alert
his workers toiling away underground, oblivious of the mortal
danger to himself, & yelling at the top of his voice for all of
his workers to evacuate quickly. Going deeper to continue his
yelling to make sure, alas! he ended up being the only casualty of
that disastrous collapse & was interred in-situ forever, as
frantic efforts to locate & retrieve his body were
unsuccessful.
Who was he? Well, he was the late Mr Heng Yeow Peow, the
40-year-old site foreman then. As a Christian, I was so amazed with
such a marvelous & ultimate act of heroism of this
Taoist-Buddhist Singaporean. Many were, and I joined in the
fund-raising campaign started by his caring and quick-reacting MP
Ms Irene Ng (Tampines GRC), as Mr Heng was the sole breadwinner of
his family.
In my 28/4/04 letter of encouragement to his grief-stricken wife
Mrs Sally Heng, sent through their MP (who is a Christian), I
enclosed a POSB cheque for a small donation of $50. I also wrote:
"He will always be remembered for his amazing selflessness. And
I will suggest to
our Prime Minister [Goh Chok Tong then] to set up a scheme to award
and remember heroes like [her] husband." I was so pleased Mr Wong
Kan Seng then came up with the posthumous "Award for Valour" for
the late Mr Heng. Evidently, the kind Ms Irene Ng liked my
suggestion, and had transmitted it higher up.
However, I am not sure whether I was the only one who wrote to
suggest to the authorities for the memorialising of Mr Heng Yeow
Peow's amazing and tragic gallantry.
I would
be very sad if I was indeed the only one who thought and wrote to
suggest it.
Had Mr Heng been born in ancient Athen 2,400 years ago, odes
would have been composed for him too. The brainy columnist of the
Straits Times Mr Andy Ho wrote that "In laying down his life [for
others], Yeow Peow exemplified an ideal that the ancient
Greco-Roman philosophers had extolled for such noble deaths as the
ultimate act of friendship." Sadly, no ode had been written by any
of our Singapura bards for Yeow Peow. "How can we excuse ourselves
for not memorialising his sacrifice as the highest form of
citizenship?", Mr Andy Ho chided. (ST 3/9/09, pg A23).
I fully agree. Hence I
would suggest that Taoist, Buddhists and others should support my
intention to write to Minister of Transport Mr Raymond Lim for a
plaque to be properly designed and displayed in Nicoll MRT Station
for the story of this amazing MR Heng Yeow Peow to be memorialised,
as his self-sacrificing value is one that we greatly cherish, or
should cherish in Singapore.
This is also what my Lord Jesus has said: "Greater love has no man
than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends."
John 15:13.
But we don't all need to die for others in a tragic death, like
what Mr Heng went through. Singaporeans just need to be imbued with
the great spirit of altruism---always wanting to do good to others
and to help improve our society. This will be our way to help PM
Lee HL build for us a loving, caring and a great and enlightened
Singaporean society. Then one day we can proudly proclaim our
beloved Singapore to others as "An Island of Miracles!" (re MP Baey
Yam Keng).
Even if we fail to achieve this noble goal, what we would have
achieved would be by itself most rewarding and amazing too.
So "Inspire me, Lord, to be thankful to Thee for Thy favours to me
and my loved ones to do good deeds which will please Thee. Admit
me, through Thy mercy, to be among Thy righteous. " An-Naml 27:19.
"For the noblest in God's sight is he who is the most righteous."
Al-Hujurut 49:13.
Ameen!
Pardon my laughter, but out of 9000 words in your story, none of
them is related to this topic
