Now that Halimah Yacob is officially the president of Singapore, residents of an HDB block in Yishun can proudly claim having a bona fide head of state as their neighbor.
President Halimah has elected to stay put in her jumbo flat in siao lang town, where she’s lived for over 30 years with her family. This’ll put the president in very close contact with regular folks in the heartlands, and perhaps that’s the image she wants to portray: a humble woman of the people. And honestly, it must be pretty cool to be living next to Singapore’s first female president (not to mention having prime real estate now).
But the decision to stay in a highly public area will clearly put a strain in her security arrangements. The president has stated to reporters that she’ll leave security matters to her security department, and already her residential estate has gone through some pretty drastic changes. This is how it looks like at night, with all the police officers on duty at the foot of her block along Yishun Avenue 4.
Two parking lots at the public carpark have already been demarcated as reserved for police vehicles. Oh, and someone already received a notice for parking there.
Meanwhile, policemen have already been stationed outside her sixth-storey flat, as well as the block opposite hers, Channel NewsAsia reported. They’ll have to be constantly on alert to check on folks wanting to enter the area.
Another thing to note is that she’ll have to be escorted daily to her workplace — the Istana, the office of the president. So the residents in the area will get to watch this scene unfold on the reg.
It’s not all nuisance for the residents though. Thanks to their presidential neighbor, a shelter has been built at the foot of the block that extends straight into the newly designated parking space reserved for police vehicles — and of course, for the official car of the president. Clearly a shelter to fend off the rain and shine for the head-of-state, but the police stated to The Straits Times that it’s all “security and operational matters”.
But whatever the inconveniences for her security team and her neighbors, what the president wants is what the president gets. At least now Yishun finally has something good going on for it, instead of the usual loonies and appalling crime.
EDIT: Article updated to include the new white awning set up at the foot of the block.
