SINGAPORE — For the past six years, Mr Roland Chua Kim Seng has been strutting his moves, entertaining the lunch-time crowd at Tampines. But the 73-year-old former sea captain started busking not for the money, but because he needed the workout.

“I must dance every day,” said Mr Chua in Mandarin. “There was this once, I stopped dancing for two weeks, and I fell sick!”

His dancing, however, has helped him to continue financing his lifestyle. Not only does he not use the money his two children give him, he even pays one of them rent as he lives in the condominium owned by his son who is a vice-president at a foreign bank.

“(My son) wants to give me S$600 a month, but I told him S$200 is enough because I want to pay rental,” said Mr Chua, referring to the remaining S$400. “If I earn my own keep, I can enjoy life with my own money without any sense of guilt.”

The busker turned blind in one eye in his 50s, as his excessive alcohol consumption over the years had damaged his optic nerve. Years later, the then 60-year-old decided to quit his mariner job and work as a trolley retriever at Changi Airport instead.

However, that job did not bring him satisfaction as he did not “get to exercise enough”, so he asked for a transfer and became a baggage handler.

All along, Mr Chua held a fascination with getais, and would religiously check Chinese newspaper listings for the latest appearances of getai singers, and follow them on their tours during the Hungry Ghost Festival – from “Yishun to Clementi, Bukit Batok to Jurong East”.

In the audience, he would be the only one dancing with abandon – and that caught the attention of one male getai singer, who encouraged Mr Chua to get a busking licence so that he could dance for a living.

He took the advice and has been dancing since.

On his signature look – a silver satin vest over a long-sleeved collar shirt – Mr Chua said it came about after he failed the audition at the National Arts Council for his busking licence the first time round because his clothes were not presentable enough.

The grandfather of four, who regularly busks at a spot between Tampines MRT station and Tampines 1, told TODAY that when he first started, he received many complaints from vendors nearby for causing a ruckus.

But thankfully, early in his busking career, he won the support of a manager at Tampines 1, who felt that he livened up the mall.

Shopkeepers soon got so used to Mr Chua’s loud and fast music that they felt something was amiss in the two weeks that Mr Chua was absent from the mall due to a cataract surgery two years ago.

Mr Chua said other buskers now covet his spot, so he would arrive at least two hours earlier before he starts at 10.30am to stake his claim.

Besides busking, Mr Chua is also open for hire from S$120 for a minimal of 40 minutes.

One of his regular clients is the casino at Genting Highlands in Malaysia. In the past five years, he has made five trips there to perform at the casino.

Said Mr Chua: “I found a job I love. I keep myself occupied, and make people around me happy. This is how I live life to the fullest.”

WHERE TO CATCH MR CHUA:

Tampines MRT station: Mondays to Fridays (excluding Wednesdays), 10.30am to 2pm, and Saturdays, 10.30am to 1.30pm

Ang Mo Kio Central: Saturdays, 4.30pm to 7pm