Mr Tan was born in Singapore in 1946. He only studied until Primary 6 at Lee Kuo Chuan English School (Koon Seng Road). His father had a street stall at Whampoa selling hawker food such as prawn mee and he used to help him out. They first stayed in SIT Flats and he remembered the bad potholes on the roads.They then rented a double-storey zinc house at River Valley for $10 a month. Whenever there were damages to the house, he repaired them himself. When he worked at the Hawkers Department, he used to run after illegal hawkers. He did sympathise with them but yet worried that he might get recognised and beaten. The goods that he confiscated were donated to various old folks homes. In the 1970s, he then worked as a coffee boy at a coffee shop. His job required him to do plenty of walking . He helped to clear the tables, soiled crockeries were placed in the trolley and returned back to the different hawkers. Sometimes he was scolded when he returned them wrongly. He also had to deal with difficult customers. For example, those that collect leftovers by pretending that they had not finish eating. When the racial riot happened, he pushed the prawn noodle cart away in fear. As curfews were imposed, he had no business for about a week and could only stay at home. Mr Tan's father also used to work at Tan Tock Seng Hospital. He disposed off corpses and helped to distribute meals to patients. At the age of 24, Mr Tan got married and he has a son and a daughter - both working as teachers. Among his favourite childhood activities included watching movies at the Holland Village open-air cinema or Diamond Theatre at Rochor Road, playing kites, marbles, rubber bands, catching fish at the longkang and fighting spiders. He now works as a cleaner at the old market at Neil Road, located within Tanjong Pagar.