MP LIANG Eng Hwa (Bukit Panjang SMC) lobbied the Prime Minister to bring the Downtown Line to Bukit Panjang Central a few years early. He also lobbied for the development of another shopping mall for Bukit Panjang residents a decade ago — then Hillion Mall came about! All good for the young families moving into the BTOs springing up around the area at that time.
But what happens when these young families grow up and get old? Especially with many families who have proudly called Bukit Panjang their home for the past 20 to 30 years and are growing old too?
For MP Liang, who has served in the SMC since 2020 and in adjourning Zhenghua from 2006 to 2020, the answer was simple: Make sure the neighbourhood has Sparkle Care senior centres which are convenient, and which make ageing in place possible.
“This is the second senior care centre we opened in the last four years. This is the Fajar centre,” he said when Petir interviewed him at the new Sparkle Care @ Bukit Panjang one sunny Friday afternoon for this instalment of My Place MP (MPMP). “Then there’s the Bangkit-Petir Road area centre. So Bukit Panjang, we essentially have two clusters to take care of the residents here.”
At this, we noted to MP Liang that the Fajar centre is a bright and spacious spot. It feels like a welcoming place to spend the day.
“You feel like you’re outdoors, right? That’s the skylight,” said MP Liang, pointing up to the glass panel in the ceiling and the blue sky shining through it. “You come here, there’s a nice view. Can play music. It’s for seniors to just relax their minds here.”
Brand-new exercise bikes, elderly-friendly fitness chairs, tables invitingly filled with therapy building blocks are also spread out across the centre. They are alongside blood pressure machines and a neat row of folded wheelchairs. Non-slip floors and wide doorways complete the centre’s customised setup for the elderly.
This lovingly-customised hardware complements the centre’s regular programmes; the fitness and rehabilitation therapy classes, gardening workshops and hearty communal meals.
Source: Liang Eng Hwa / Facebook
“Let’s say some families feel worried about their seniors at home alone. Now there’s this care centre, they can send their seniors here,” said MP Liang. “The senior can come down in the morning, and then in the evening they go back to their family. Don’t need to send the senior to live somewhere else. It’s what we call ‘ageing in place’.”
“They make friends when they come here”
What went into building Sparkle Care @ Bukit Panjang?, we asked MP Liang. After all, the centre is a big, permanent project — and we know from our previous MPMP instalments that there’s always a good story behind these new community landmarks.
It turns out MP Liang and his team loved the site (converted from a Sparkletots kindergarten facing declining enrollment) the moment it was suggested. Many committee e-mails, site visits and vendor negotiations followed; there were just so many facilities to fit in so that Bukit Panjang’s seniors and their families would benefit.
“The Sparkle Care team loved this place because it’s big — the whole void deck!” said MP Liang. “You can take a long walk through. Perfect place for a senior centre.”
“Then they threw in new ideas. Like what we see here, this wellness room with the skylight,” he added. ”What we want is to build facilities supporting seniors to live active lifestyles. Live healthily. Then those who need medical care or other support, we build care centres like this to allow them to have a place to go. To rehabilitate, to take care of themselves”
So far, MP Liang and his team have succeeded. Residents now come to the Fajar centre regularly for their classes, and for a good day of chatter and story-swapping.
“They make friends when they come here,” said MP Liang. “One senior told me, when they come to a certain age, they thought they would never have new friends. But because they come to the senior centre, they start to make these new friendships.”
“They start to socialise again, which is a good thing,” he added. “The other centre that we opened recently, you see them playing mahjong with each other!”
With SparkleCare @ Bukit Panjang up and running, MP Liang is not stopping his efforts to help Bukit Panjang’s families. He knows the difficulties of caregiving.
“More senior centres. There’re two more coming in the next few years,” he shared. “The next will be at the Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre. Then the next one will be a standalone centre. I’m meeting one other operator [involved in an upcoming centre] tomorrow, and I want to ask them about some funding matters.”
Liang Eng Hwa brought the Downtown Line and the polyclinic to Bukit Panjang — and he’s not done! |
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– Lobbied for the development of another shopping mall in Bukit Panjang a decade ago — then Hillion Mall came about! – Brought the Downtown Line a few years earlier to Bukit Panjang – Convinced the Government to build the Bukit Panjang Polyclinic – Opened up major roads like the KJE-Senja flyover – Building more senior care centres around the ward ![]() |
This is all long-term planning for the changing needs of Bukit Panjang’s families. It means MP Liang is always out and about helping his residents live well at all phases of their lives.