Tiong Bahru blocks to be painted brown after criticisms over purple makeover

Straits Times

a day ago

The initial purple paintjob had come under the spotlight earlier in May. PHOTO: ST FILE
Tiong Bahru blocks to be painted brown after criticisms over purple makeover
SINGAPORE - The 14 Tiong Bahru Housing Board blocks, that had ignited much debate and discussion after residents found out the buildings were going to be painted in purple, are now going to be painted a new colour - brown.
The decision on the new colour scheme comes after the views of residents were sought through a poll held from May 26 to 28.
A notice by the Tanjong Pagar Town Council on May 30 showed that 40 per cent of the Boon Tiong Road residents who voted selected the 'taupe' colour scheme from four different options.
The initial purple paintjob had come under the spotlight earlier in May, after parts of the exterior of Block 9A Boon Tiong Road was painted several shades of purple, including a dark plum which some residents said looked gaudy.
Residents were upset as they said their views were not sought.
Following the uproar, Tanjong Pagar GRC MP Foo Cexiang had decided to do a poll after residents told him they wanted a choice over the colour scheme.
Two of the options were variations of purple. The 'classic purple' option, which had more white portions and shades of light purple, garnered 17 per cent of votes.
Another option, called 'lightened purple gradient', had more purple sections. It received 13 per cent of votes.
The other option, a yellow colour scheme, got 30 per cent of the vote.
A resident, Ms Nicole Lau, felt the winning taupe colour scheme was acceptable, she hoped that the classic purple option would be chosen as she liked the finished paint job at Block 2A Boon Tiong Road, which sported shades of lilac.
'The lilac colour looks quite soothing. What I didn't like was the dark purple shade,' said the teacher who is in her 40s.
'Are we going to be called the Milo blocks now?' she added, referring to the chocolate malt beverage.
A resident at Block 2A, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chen, said he was disappointed with the results as his block would have to undergo another round of painting.
'The purple colour is nice, I don't understand why there was a huge fuss over it. Now, residents at Block 2A will have to be inconvenienced again,' said the 60-year-old IT consultant.
He said the block's purple makeover took about a month and was completed in early May. It was previously off-white with shades of light orange.
Mr Foo told reporters on May 17 that the purple colour scheme was selected to reflect the purple-blossomed bougainvillea planted along Boon Tiong Road as part of a community event in 2015.
The idea came from a discussion between Ms Indranee Rajah – who was previously adviser to Tanjong Pagar GRC Grassroots Organisations – as well as residents and architects, he said.
Ms Indranee was MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC from 2001 to 2025 before moving to head the PAP's team in Pasir Ris-Changi GRC for the 2025 General Election.
As to why voting was not done earlier, Mr Foo said there is no protocol on how advisers should conduct the repainting process.
He said painting will start about three to four weeks after the colour scheme is chosen.
Isabelle Liew is a journalist at The Straits Times. She covers housing issues in Singapore, with a focus on public housing.
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