77-year-old retiree completes mural in Bedok using 80,000 bottle caps, eyes next project

SINGAPORE — On Monday (Dec 26), Mr Sim Boh Huat finally completed a mural in a neighbourhood square in Bedok using 80,000 plastic bottle caps, capping six months of effort that the 77-year-old retiree put in almost every day.

And right off the bat, Mr Sim has set his sights on his next project.

While he is still discussing the details with the authorities, such as the location of the next mural, Mr Sim told TODAY on Tuesday that he hopes that it will be in the shape of a Merlion, also using plastic bottle caps.

He added that it does not have to be big, because it could be hard to find a suitable space to do this.

The finished mural in Bedok is made up of bottle caps of various colours and depicts designs such as the Merlion and flowers, with the characters "I ♥ Singapore ♥ Bedok Garden" and a big red heart shape in the centre.

Since June, he had spent three to four hours a day on the project at Block 25 New Upper Changi Road, except on days when it was heavily raining.

He lives in a nearby housing block with his wife and three children.

His mural project is supported by the Residents' Committee (RC) in the area, which also helps him to collect bottle caps donated by the public.

He previously worked in the construction industry but had to retire more than 10 years ago after he came down with cirrhosis, a liver disease.

After retirement, he took up gardening as a member of the RC's gardening interest group. 

Sometime last year, he decided to work on a mural to beautify the estate. An initial site allocated to him turned out to be unsuitable.

"I thought to myself, ‘This doesn’t look good, there’s not enough space to write out the words’, so I asked the Residents’ Committee if they could give me this new area (to build my mural),” he said in Mandarin.

He was then allocated the plot in the neighbourhood square.

On why he choose to use bottle caps, he said: “Stones are round, you can’t pack them too tightly because they are uneven. Bottle caps are the smoothest.

"Steel bottle caps can get rusty, and if children step on them without shoes, they can get hurt, so I use plastic caps.”

Mr Sim said that he had mostly worked on his own and had turned down the offer of help from residents, because he was afraid that they would not be able to do it properly.

The sole exception was a young woman, who had persistently approached him and asked to learn from him until he relented.

Mr Sim added that she first approached him last month and has helped him three times since then, fixing a few hundred bottle caps to the mural.

His routine for the last six months has been as follows: He volunteers at a temple from 7am before going to build his mural from around 4pm to 8pm.

He also tries to exercise and go for walks when he can, adding that his health did not affect his work on the mural.

His project caught the attention of Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who is also a Member of Parliament for East Coast Group Representation Constituency that covers the district where the mural is located.

Mr Sim said that Mr Heng first came across his work during a walkabout in August, before talking about it on Facebook last Tuesday.

Mr Heng wrote: "Very impressed to see this creative artwork. It goes to show that discarded items can be used to create something new and interesting. 

"Thank you, Uncle Sim, for contributing your time and effort to making Bedok more colourful and vibrant!"

He also appealed to residents to donate plastic bottle caps to Mr Sim.

Mr Sim told TODAY that since Mr Heng’s post, he has received many more donations of bottle caps.

“Even now that I’m done, there are still many people donating bottle caps,” he said.

The excess caps could come in handy for Mr Sim's next mural project.