The Angsana Tree

Just a few months back, I drove up Braddell Road.

I’d not driven up this road in ages, and realised that there was a tree right in the middle of the road.

It was great. I was surprised, a little taken aback and wondering if I’d taken the right split in the road.

But it was the same road. It was just a tree in the way. And I thought to myself. Wow! The government actually left this tree there. It was really cool.

And then today, I see this article in The Straits Times – U-turn: End of the road for 80-year-old tree in Braddell by T. Rajan.

Read it here in PDF format: 12th July 2007 The Straits Times Article on Angsana Tree along Braddell Road

I was so annoyed by it, I faxed a letter to the Forum Editor. This is the first time I’ve done something like that. I didn’t even know if it was the right way to write a forum letter.

But I did it.

And I wrote:

I read with dismay your report on 12th July “U-turn: End of the road for 80-year-old tree in Braddell”.

I would like to dissuade LTA and NParks from taking down the tree. It is a few more days till Sunday and I hope there is still time to stop this decision or at least open it up for further consideration.

I love that tree for being there. This is one tree in the middle of the road that makes Braddell Road different from all the others. And for the few seconds that one passes under the tree, you can actually feel the cool difference under its wide branches.

The decision to keep the tree then was a right one. A good one. Perhaps it was not said enough. The efforts to keep it there not recognized enough. But that doesn’t mean it’s unappreciated.

Every time I get to drive down Braddell Road, I look forward to seeing this tree, sticking out in the middle of nowhere, allowed to live against the battle to concretize Singapore.

It is the same pleasure I get driving down Mt Pleasant Road, along parts of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, Upper Thomson Road after Yio Chu Kang Road. It’s a feeling I cannot put in words or quantify.

Lately, we’ve read so much on global warming and the effects of a thinning ice cap. Yet here we go again chopping down another tree because Singaporeans can’t learn to slow down.

You stop drink driving by educating people of the dangers, not by removing alcohol from the shelves.

In the same way, drivers have to be educated – to be more observant of road signs, signals and rules.

A tree cannot walk to another spot.

Humans can learn, can adapt.

Surely Singaporeans are humans. Surely we can learn to observe speed limits and put the foot on the brake pedal.

Educate drivers. Keep the tree.

After I sent it, I suddenly felt a pang of regret. Had I been too hasty? Too emotional? Too wordy? Mis-used the word “concretize”? Was I unclear? What was my point? I’m sure I had one when I began.

I’d also called up LTA’s customer hotline – yes, they have one – to lodge my protest.

As I uttered words to say why the Angsana Tree shouldn’t be felled down, I felt this emotional anger suddenly surge from the bile, but I quashed it before it showed.

What the hell is going on with me?