Roger Lim

Meeting Roger Lim — An Eighty-Year Journey

This afternoon at the NTUC grocer, among shelves of bottles and bright labels, I met a man who quietly carried eighty years of history in his body.

His name was Roger Lim.

At first, what caught my attention was not the wine he was selling but the label itself. The bottle looked almost like a modern photographic advertisement—bright, playful, and very unlike the restrained elegance one expects from classical wines of Bordeaux or Burgundy. This particular wine was flavoured, even mixed with chocolate notes, something quite different from the pure and austere wines I usually enjoy.

Two bottles cost about seventy dollars. But the wine was not what stayed with me. Roger did.

When he told me he was eighty years old, I looked at him again carefully. He was standing the entire day promoting bottles, speaking to customers, explaining the flavours, lifting cartons and arranging shelves.

Eighty.

Yet he stood there with the alertness of a much younger man. If he is eighty in the year 2026, that means he was born around 1946—a remarkable year to be born in Singapore.

Singapore in 1946

To understand Roger’s life, one must first understand the Singapore that received him into the world.

1946 was only one year after the end of the Japanese Occupation (1942–1945). The island had just emerged from one of the darkest chapters in its history. Food shortages were common. Infrastructure was damaged. The British administration had only just begun re-establishing control.

Singapore was not yet a nation. It was still under British colonial administration. Children born in 1946 grew up in a society recovering from war. Streets were dusty, housing crowded, and schools basic. Yet these hardships shaped a generation of remarkable resilience.

When Singapore became independent in 1965 under Lee Kuan Yew, Roger would have been about nineteen years old—entering adulthood at the same moment the country itself stepped into nationhood. It was a generation that helped build the modern nation.

Language and Education in the Early Years

Roger told me something that quietly revealed a piece of Singapore’s educational history. He spoke English well but not Chinese. Instead, he studied Malay.

That was not unusual in the 1950s and early 1960s. Singapore’s education system allowed students to study in English, Chinese, Malay, or Tamil streams, depending on background and opportunity. Malay also functioned as the regional lingua franca, so many English-educated students took it as a second language.

Roger did well academically. He remembered scoring distinctions in mathematics during his O-levels, strong enough to enter Victoria School.

But his path shifted soon after. He was recruited into Teachers’ Training College, part of the government’s effort to expand the teaching force in the early years of nation-building. His starting salary was about $300 a month, eventually rising to around $800 after he joined the Carrier. 

At the time, this was considered respectable income. Yet Roger never bought a car. And he never bought property.

The Teachers’ Estate

Hearing this reminded me of the Teachers’ Housing Estate near Upper Thomson, where some of my teachers lived when I was young.

The estate itself was a unique project from Singapore’s early years of independence. The Singapore Teachers’ Union developed it in the late 1960s as both a residential estate and a community centre for educators. About 256 terrace houses were built on former plantation land, and the roads were named after literary figures such as Tagore and Li Po.

At the time, the houses cost roughly $23,000 to $25,000—still a significant sum for teachers earning a few hundred dollars a month, but made possible through government-supported loans.

Today those same houses can easily sell for three to four million dollars.

Travelling There in the 1970s

When I was young, visiting teachers in that estate felt like travelling far away. A journey from Toa Payoh to Upper Thomson could take nearly an hour. Some roads still felt rural, and buses wound slowly through narrow stretches before reaching the final interchange.

When our class visited a teacher there, it felt like travelling to the edge of Singapore. Today the same journey might take twenty minutes. Roger has lived through that entire transformation.

Brunei — Life by the Sea

One of the most vivid chapters of Roger’s life unfolded in Brunei, where he later worked with Shell. His house faced the sea. Behind the house he installed nets—three layers deep. At night the tide would bring in large prawns, sometimes filling the nets by morning.

He would wake early, lift the nets, and cook breakfast. Fresh prawns. Maggi noodles. Perhaps a simple cup of tea. A quiet coastal morning. It sounded like another world—a slower life where nature entered directly into the kitchen.

Engineering, Teaching, and Air-Conditioning

Roger’s career gradually evolved into technical education. He taught air-conditioning systems and spoke enthusiastically about AHU units—Air Handling Units used in modern buildings. He later worked with Carrier, one of the world’s major air-conditioning companies, and even collaborated with the historic architectural firm Swan & Maclaren.

Eventually he travelled to China, lecturing in business management and accumulating professional qualifications including ACTA, a certification used in Singapore’s adult training system.

Roger was clearly a lifelong learner.

Youth, Church, and Growing Up

He also spoke fondly about his younger days. He attended a Christian secondary school and joined church youth groups. But he admitted something with a smile. Many boys joined church youth activities for one simple reason.

To meet girls.

There were social outings, gatherings, and occasional mischief. Sometimes the pastor had to scold them when they became too adventurous.

Growing up always includes a few escapades. That too is part of education.

Redox Signalling and ASEA

Roger also shared his belief in redox signalling supplements, particularly products from ASEA. Redox signalling refers to small reactive molecules used by cells to communicate and repair damage. In biology, these molecules regulate immune responses and cellular repair.

ASEA claims to reproduce these molecules in a stabilised saline solution that can be consumed or applied as lotion. Roger drinks about four bottles a month and uses the topical lotion. He believes they improved his eyesight and reduced his asthma attacks.

The science of redox signalling is real, though commercial supplements remain debated. But one cannot deny one simple observation. Roger is eighty years old and still working seven days a week.

The Grandson and CREST Education

Roger also spoke proudly about his grandson. The boy struggled academically, especially with language. With tuition support in mathematics and science, his results improved.

Eventually the family chose to send him to CREST Secondary School, which focuses on applied learning and vocational skills for students who thrive outside the traditional examination system.

Singapore increasingly recognises that intelligence appears in many forms.

The Lessons of Roger’s Life

Listening to Roger, several lessons quietly emerged. 

First, life is long.  A boy born in 1946 lived through war recovery, independence, industrialisation, and global transformation.

Second, discipline matters.

Roger now works at the Botanic Gardens sweeping paths for eight hours a day, five and a half days a week. It keeps his body active and his mind engaged.

Third, learning never ends. Even in his later years, he continued studying and teaching.

Awakening the Sleeping Genes

Modern ageing research suggests our bodies contain longevity genes that regulate cellular repair.

Lifestyle habits such as physical movement, moderate eating, and continuous mental activity can activate these systems.

Roger seems to practise many of these principles naturally. He moves. He works. He keeps learning.

An Encounter That Stayed With Me

When I left the NTUC grocer that afternoon, I did not buy the wine. Yet I walked away with something far more valuable—a quiet lesson carried in the life of an eighty-year-old man.

Roger Lim stood among the bottles not merely as a salesman but as a living witness to Singapore’s passage through time. Born just after the war, he grew up in a fragile country still finding its footing. He became a teacher in the years when education was the backbone of a young nation’s future. Later he travelled across the region as an engineer, sharing his knowledge and building systems that helped cities breathe and function. And now, as a grandfather, he continues to invest his energy and hope in the next generation.

What struck me most was not his age but his posture toward life. At eighty, he still stands, still works, still learns. There was no bitterness in him, no sense of decline—only a quiet determination to remain useful in the world.

It made me reflect on what longevity truly means. It is not merely the accumulation of years. Longevity is the ability to remain alive in spirit—curious, engaged, and willing to contribute.

Perhaps the real secret to ageing well is simpler than we imagine. Wake each morning with purpose. Move the body so that life continues to flow through it. Use the mind so that it remains clear and awake. Care for those who come after us.

And above all, keep standing—firmly, quietly, and with dignity—like Roger among the bottles, a man who has lived through history and still chooses, each day, to participate in life.