Community project sells upcycled tote bags to support special needs residents

Tote bags made from upcycled materials will be sold at all community events within the Siglap division of East Coast GRC from now to the end of the year to raise $60,000 for special needs residents living in the estate.

The funds will go towards supporting at least 60 of these residents, said Dr Maliki Osman, the MP for the ward, as he launched the initiative dubbed Our Tote-rific Community as a ground-up SG60 community project at Siglap Community Club on Feb 14.

At the launch, Dr Maliki, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Education and Foreign Affairs, said more should be done to support adults with special needs.

Noting that six in 10 of the some 100 special needs residents in Siglap are adults, he added that this group may be struggling, given their age and inability to work and earn an income.

Besides providing monetary aid, Dr Maliki also hopes that the project will raise awareness of those with special needs, as residents do provide feedback about the noise and disruptions from these members of the community.

"These things are, to me, rather unsettling because we live in an environment where we want to be inclusive. We want to raise awareness to make neighbours understand that this is the way they speak," he said.

"They can't communicate as we do, but if we can be empathetic and understanding, then there is less stress on them to go through their lives as adults with special needs," he added.

While the bags will typically be sold for amounts between $10 and $100, 26 tote bags designed by Dr Maliki's wife, Madam Sadiah Shahal, went for $1,000 each at the initiative's launch.

All 26 were snapped up by donors, including lawyer Kawal Pal Singh, managing partner of Tito Isaac & Co; TWG Tea co-founder and chief executive Taha Bouqdib; and former nominated member of Parliament Douglas Foo, who is founder and executive chairman of Sakae Holdings.

Madam Sadiah spent 140 hours making the tote bags, said Dr Maliki. He added that because of the initiative, he got into sewing as well, spending 32 hours making the bags at Siglap Community Club over the past two weeks.

He noted that he often had to attend these sewing sessions after his work, grassroots activities and Meet-The-People sessions, staying till 1am each time to make the bags. This is to send the message to his grassroots leaders and volunteers that he is "here to journey together" for the benefit of residents who are in need.

Asked by reporters after the event if help for those with special needs is one of his focus areas as he ramps up his activities in preparation of the coming general election, which must be held by November, he said it is just one area.

He will also be looking into what can be done in the physical environment to ensure that it is senior-friendly, as there are many elderly folk in Siglap too, he noted.

He is also looking into meeting the needs of a sizeable proportion of residents who are businessmen.

Asked if he expects the opposition to put up a strong fight in East Coast GRC, he said his team takes every contest seriously.

"Every contest has to be taken in the right spirit of the elections, and making sure that our residents have a fair chance at deciding who they think they want to select to represent them in Parliament," he added.

The Workers' Party contested East Coast GRC in the past four elections. In 2020, the team it sent, which included former National Solidarity Party star Nicole Seah, lost with 46.6 per cent of the vote against the People's Action Party (PAP) team led by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

Other than Dr Maliki, the other members in the winning team are Senior Minister of State Tan Kiat How, Ms Jessica Tan and Ms Cheryl Chan.

As the election draws near, Dr Maliki said the East Coast team will connect with residents more over different purposes, to let them know what it has done over the past five years.

And when the election is called, the team will be ready to share its plans for residents in the years ahead, he added.

The tote bag initiative has raised $41,000 as at 5pm on Feb 14.

Beneficiaries will include Loyang resident Wilson Ho, 49, who has a 13-year-old child with autism. The business owner said initiatives like this are meaningful as persons with autism face difficulties purchasing insurance and parents do worry about medical costs as they come.

The effort rides on an existing upcycling interest group started several years ago to promote sustainability, in line with the "green" pillar of the three-pronged East Coast Plan. This was unveiled in 2020 as the PAP team's blueprint to improve the estate by involving residents more integrally.

In a statement on Feb 14, the Siglap Constituency Office, which falls under the People's Association, said the group has been meeting regularly to upcycle materials into products which are sold to raise funds for low-income residents.

When approached to contribute to the Our Tote-rific Community initiative, the volunteers willingly agreed to help and started recruiting more people to support the project, the constituency office said.

The leader of the upcycling group is retired social service professional Siti Rahmah, 65, who said work to make the tote bags started in early January.

With the involvement of about 100 volunteers so far, the group has managed to make 500 bags across more than 300 hours, she added.

She is set to get more help, as the Fullerton Hotel has committed to sending its staff to participate in the sewing of the bags as part of its corporate social responsibility programme, the constituency office said.

Fabrics to make the bags were donated by Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, La Mont Furnishing, Oberoi Workplace, Parkroyal Collection Pickering, Parkroyal on Beach Road, and Fullerton Hotel, it added.