Mission History No 2
Abridged version
Elder Ling continues,
"Not long after I returned to the chair in 1974, Lord Bo Tien descended, asked about the position of the home for the aged. I told him that it was impossible in our capacity to build one as most of the National Servicemen were drawing a meagre allowance and temple had no funds for it. Moreover, the recurrent maintenance costs were high. However, Lord Bo Tien in firm tone retorted that we could and he wanted us to undertake the project. The next was the question of space for which Lord Bo Tien ordered that the home should start from the shrine."
"I could not imagine at that time how we could carry on with the project at the place. As a law enforcement officer, I would be putting my neck on the chopping block waiting to be chopped for all the illegal activities which took place on the ground. The attap hut was dilapidated, most beams and supports were termite infested. Moreover, the land was private own, the land owner would not give permission for a home for the aged home to be built there. As a result of Lord Bo Tien’s insistence, we just resigned ourselves to our faith and follow his instructions with no thought of the consequences we were going to encounter."
"The unthinkable project we had undertaken turnout to be a blessing in disguise for me in the mission. It was at this dialog with Lord Bo Tien, I picked up great deal of understanding of his teachings and directions. We learn that the images of saints or deities are only pieces of stone or blocks of wood if the divine spirits do not descend on them. They are only symbolical objects and there is nothing to be fearful about as most people do. They are necessary in his shrine so as to attract the group of worshippers who are most prone to superstitious beliefs, come to his shrine hall to learn his teaching and change their mindset."
"As a result of the encouragement and our understanding that, to undertake a divine project, men must make the first move before the divine can open the way. The mood of the National Servicemen and Policemen was set in motion. The altar in the shrine was moved out, the shrine renovated for the intake of destitute aged, most of them picked from the five-foot ways. Several good Samaritans came in with their donations - one an awning shed 30 x 40 to house the altar others, beds, cabinets and other necessities."
"The shrine area could accommodate only six residents. They were all males. Soon after, three to four Indian families who were occupying other rooms moved out one by one. All the vacant rooms were renovated to expand the population of residents to maximum capacity of twenty-two - eleven males and eleven females. We could not afford then to employ a paid staff to take care of the residents. The able ones were asked to help around. They were fed with packet food brought to them by volunteers. In the evening after work members and volunteers turned up to tidy the rooms and surroundings. Ladies helped in the laundry and also did area cleaning if required. The spirit of every member and volunteer was high."
"No sooner had we settled down, one fine afternoon, a gust of wind blew off part of the bitumen sheets covering the broken down attap roof. A boy who went up to put the bitumen sheets back in place, the roof swayed. This situation kept us in dilemma, nightmarish feelings ran deep in our heart whenever it rained as we were worried that the hut might collapse and bury the residents in it. In that situation, we were arguing within ourselves, we had already committed to the illegal project and if we did not do anything to improve the strength of the hut, the consequences would be greater. Whichever way we did was not legal, we might as well take risk to go a step further by constructing a complete new dormitory to save the risk of aged the residents being buried under the debris of the hut."
"Our faith with Lord Bo Tien held the reign. For so long we had carried out our illegal project which was situated along the main road leading to Johor Bahru, we had not seen any relevant Government authority or agency coming to disturb us. That emboldened us to negotiate with a contractor who was prepared to do the project with no initial deposit while we went about raising funds to meet the cost. In the meantime in order to save cost, we had to chop down numerous matured coconut trees and level the ground for the construction works to begin. A member brought in a borrowed JCB for the purpose of pushing down all the coconut trees which were in the way of the construction site. The JCB was immobilized when it came in because the whole area was flood prone and the ground soil was soggy. Half of the body of the JCB sank into the ground. It was easier to bring in the JCB than to re-track it from the ground. The members end up having to manually cut down the coconut trees before leveling the ground."
"Soon after the new dormitory and the septic tank were completed, the contractor and us were chatting, suddenly came a heavy storm and down pour of rain. Both the dormitory and the septic tank were flooded not serious enough where there was a need to evacuate the residents in the attap hut. The suggestion from the contractor was that the whole surrounding of almost half an acre of land had to be raised by at least 3 feet to avoid future flooding. Nothing could be done on the dormitory but the wall of the septic tank had also got to be raised accordingly."
"The thought of filling up such a big area to the required level was indeed a headache. Where could find so much earth Another problem was how to house the 22 aged residents while the attap hut had to give way for the movement of heavy vehicles carrying earth into the ground for the filling. It was indeed a great relief when realized that the development of adjacent industrial estate was in progress. Heavy machineries were leveling hills on the ground deep inside the industrial estate behind our ground. The earth moving contractor was more than willing to help us and gave us the earth required all for free. Within a few days a few hundred lorry loads of earth were dumped in to the level required. The aged residents were housed under a huge tent at the adjacent ground which was about two and a half meter higher than our ground. The construction was completed in 1975. The population of the residents was increased by 10 more beds to a total of 32."
"The next stage of our construction was a block to accommodate administration office, the meeting room, the kitchen and a dining hall. As time and speed was the essence of our progress before relevant authority or agencies caught up with us, we carried out the construction of the block without allowing the time for the newly filled earth to settle. Three quarter through the construction of the block, in 1977 or around 1978 – this could be the time when they had just acquired the land in the vicinity - an officer of the statutory land authority telephoned me and asked me to stop work and pull down the building alleging that it was the plan was not cleared for go ahead. I told him that the works could not be stopped. I asked him to give us some leeway, for we were doing service for the society. However, we did not stop our work on the block."
"Upon completion of the block, we continued with the construction of the temple without further queries from the land authority. Lord Bo Tien was then invited to grace and bless the building. His first remark was that he did not require such a big building. Since it had been built, he accepted it. He then declared that from then on his shrine was a full-fledged place of worship just like any other big places of worship. All superstitious beliefs such as pregnant women, coffin with dead bodies in them which were considered unclean could be brought into the shrine without any fear."
"Our yet-to-be legal status however, was timely saved by the great foresight of the leader of the nation. Just around the time the land authority told us to stop work, the leader of the nation spoke out and expressed his concerns of the aging population in Singapore. He encouraged temples, charitable and civic organizations to start home for the aged to cater for their needs. Although Bo Tien group’s activities were not yet emplaced on legalised platform, it was nevertheless, the only cultural place of worship in Singapore having a free home for the aged built side by side. It was followed by ... others at later stage."
"Social Welfare Department of the government took the queue. Their officers contacted us, gave us moral and administrative supports. They offered our home the status of Institution of Public Character (IPC) without even querying whether we had a constitution or bye laws governing the running of the home for which we did not apply for it. On the land authority side they on their own initiative widened the old drain and also constructed new ones along the side of the dormitory on the boarder which was higher than our ground to prevent water flowing into our ground. The annually renewal land lease was extended to two years. They even asked us to submit a sketched plan of our place for their record. At later stage, their staff came annually to the home with goodies and also organized party to entertain the residents."
"The improvement of the environment in the home and its surroundings enhanced the image of the home. These together with encouragement of Government agencies, supports of food stuffs and provisions from members of the public especially the middle class, were overwhelming. Three storage space the size of 20 ft containers were not enough to store them. The excesses were then repacked into smaller ones and distributed to poor families and single aged residents living in public housing flats throughout the island regardless of race or religion. Even Members of Parliament from various constituencies ...... approached us for provisions for them to distribute at their weekly meet-the-people sessions. There were also thirty over community centres approaching us for the same."
"For proper control and regulate the distributions, sometimes towards the end of 1989 or beginning of 1990, Mutual Help & Care Division was created under the umbrella of the organisation. I was then the President (before I stood down in 1994). I appointed Mr Alfred Toh Teck Kok to head the Division. He faithfully headed the Division for 17 years. Through his able leadership, communication skill and connection with business people, Mutual Help & Care Division had grown to become the jewel of Bo Tien organization. Voluntary homes such as Sun Shine Home, at the beginning stage, Joo Seng Home, Muslim Association like Pertapi and civic organization like Lion Befriender all approached us for provisions for their consumption and distribution. It has been twenty over years passed, to date, the supports on food and provisions from the public are still flowing in, in abundance."
"A few years after the Mutual Help & Care Division was formed, the Inland Revenue Department created a new division known as Commissioner of Charities to supervise and control the running of charitable organizations. They wrote to us for a copy of our constitution governing the running of our welfare activities. I spoke to the officer concerned that we did not have a constitution for the welfare activities. As we were running a mission, we considered the temple, the home for the aged and mutual help & care division as a single unit. If the welfare services came under a separate constitution, in long run, both units might break apart by opportunists who might use the welfare services unit activities for their own agenda, for fame and status and thus would render our mission meaningless. This view was understood by all founder members at the time when the fire torch logo of the organisation was created, blessed and accepted by Lord Bo Tien. The three rings under the logo were representatives of the activities – the teachings of Lord Bo Tien, the home for the aged and the welfare services under the mutual help & care division - of the overall organisation, operated as a single unit."
"The officer was very accommodative and understanding, she accepted my views, my concerns of the future of the mission if there was a separate constitution for the welfare services. She also accepted my suggestion that we write out by laws under the temple constitution to regulate the activities of the welfare services. Her remark to my suggestion was, they only wanted certain rules and regulations for that purpose. We immediately drew up two separate bye laws – one for the home, the other for the mutual help & care division – under the temple constitution and forwarded them to Commissioner of Charities Division for their record. We also sent the same to the Registrar Societies for their filing. They were however, returned by the Registrar of Societies with the remark that by laws were internal regulations and were not required to be filed with them."
Further insight by Inner Truth Netizen 2.
It would appear then that the emphasis was charity. This continues to be true but the Mission is not just that but overall it is to save souls. The mission has three aspects or phases which may be concurrent or successive. They are discipline or training phase, charity or mercy phase and the doctrine phase, corresponding to the three images of the shrine, Lord Bo Tien in armour on the left, Goddess of Mercy or Kuanyin on the right and that of Buddha in centre. Each phase is around 12 years and the events referred to above by elder Ling happened while the mission was starting on the charity or compassion phase. With the concurrent phases all in one but with emphasis on doctrine, the mission will then be firmly on the doctrine or buddha phase with all aspects of the mission on going.
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