[Obit] Ang Tiang Whatt: Another name for love

𝗔𝗻𝗴 𝗧𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘁: 𝟯 𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝟯𝟵 – 𝟲 𝗙𝗲𝗯𝗿𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮

A role model, a beacon of love, and his daughter’s first love.

He who holds his daughter’s heart forever. He was Mr Ang Tiang Whatt.

The eldest son in a family of eight, Mr Ang came to Singapore when he was very young from the state of Terengganu. His seafaring father and his upbringing in poverty taught him independence, resilience, responsibility and filial piety.

He sacrificed his education so that his siblings could finish their studies. He dropped out from school and started working. In fact, for the best interests of his family, he married late.

Thus, one can only imagine the joy in him when his wife conceived a daughter. She was a gift he would eternally be grateful for. He named her “Jia yan (佳燕)”. Her name represents the pride in his child and the values he hopes to inculcate in her.

To him, his daughter was the best, second to none. He hopes that his daughter, no matter where she will be or how successful when she grows up, will always remember her way home, just like a swallow who returns to the nest that nurtures her.

There was an age difference of at least forty years, but to Mr Ang, there’s no place higher than his shoulders.

He was not a doting father. Lest one is mistaken, he sent his young daughter on her way. He gave her a home and the essentials in life, but insisted that she learnt how to fish on her own.

When his little teenage girl asked him for a mobile phone, he asked her to “work for it”. Money, as he likes to say, does not drop from the sky. He lovingly compelled his daughter to work hard for what she wanted. This was love in action.

The values that he “inflicted” on his daughter, was, in fact, his secret purpose. That one day, behind her smile and success is independence, responsibility and the value of hard work, rounded to the smallest cent.

Joyce, in fact, did not stand alone. His father stood behind her. The most potent moral force in her life was this love of her father.

Mr Ang wanted to be the standard against which she will see and judge the men in her life. He showed her what filial piety was. As a son-in-law, he unreservedly took care of his aged and sick mother-in-law. No matter how busy he was, as a chef and a grassroots volunteer, he fetched her for medical check-ups and drove all the way from Singapore to Melaka so that she can visit her home on a regular basis. The impeccable patience that he demonstrated to her daughter as dementia took hold in his mother-in-law left an imprint. This was filial piety in action.

He lived to be a living example to his daughter. But when he was bedridden in the weeks and days before his death, his daughter had to clean and bathe him; he teared. It was too much for him. He cannot bear that his little girl had to suffer such inconveniences. But to Joyce, this was her filial piety in action. 

Two days before Mr Ang breathe his last, his daughter fed and spoke to him. He reminded his daughter to be resilient, to be filial and, most importantly, to be tolerant towards her mother. He knew that he will miss his wife, and as he speaks, he teared. On the day of his death, before he slept, he reminded his daughter to make sure that she and his wife are safely home.

Those were his last words: “Send mum home safely”. He left with no regrets knowing that his wife and daughter are home.

If she can do this again, her daughter told us that she would have brought him home and see him breathe his last in his own abode.

Her only regret was that she did help his father realise his dream of visiting New Zealand.

Mr Ang’s loved ones will always remember him for that special smile, caring heart, warm embrace his never-give-up attitude. Little did his loved ones realised that it was his daughter’s smile that was the entire purpose and meaning of his life.

Mr Ang was, in fact, scheduled to receive his 20 years Long Service Award for his dedicated voluntary service to the community at Geylang Serai [as well as the old Joo Seng community centre] from the People’s Association. He passed away a week before he was to be publicly recognised for his years of conducting cooking lessons and grooming the next generation of chefs in Singapore.



But he had served and sacrificed not expecting any in return.

When all is quiet, and when his daughter and wife are home, the pride he has for them never recedes. From his remaining breath, he uttered to his social worker, “I was lucky to have Joyce as my daughter”. Inspiring, indeed.

He was an inspiration to his daughter, and from the first day he set eyes on her, he only had eyes for his precious little girl. 

Life has to end. Love doesn’t, and in his daughter, his love and his light lives on.

This was Mr Ang Tiang Whatt. To his daughter, Joyce, this name was another name for love.