He Listens To The Call Of The Forest
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As Sentosa’s only senior certified arborist, Mr Seah is responsible for the health and safety of the island’s plants. His expertise means that Sentosa’s 30,000 trees (including 30 heritage trees with botanical, cultural or historical significance) have been under his thorough care for the past 36 years.
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The 60-year-old describes his work as being a “tree doctor”. But, he says, “trees cannot talk, so they cannot tell you about their sickness.” Hence he relies on his senses to understand his silent patients. “You just need to observe – eyes, ears and nose.”

Sharp eyes are needed for his island-wide inspections twice a day. When Mr Seah isn’t on foot, he scans the many trees growing along Sentosa’s public roads from a truck. He checks that they are growing well and within boundaries to keep roads clear of fallen branches and trees for visitors.
Later in the day, Mr Seah heads to the nursery to check on tree saplings. Running his thumb over the leaves, he feels the texture to get a sense of the health of his “babies”. He also knocks on trunks and listens to the echoes to test their density and strength.

It takes decades for a tree to mature and sometimes Mr Seah’s care can come to nothing. Once, a 90-year-old tree had its roots damaged by construction and eventually collapsed despite nine years of Mr Seah’s attentive treatment. He says with a sigh: “To [developers], a tree is a tree, but they … don’t know it takes 80, 90 years to grow a tree.”
While talking about his trees, he rattles off their scientific names with ease. His favourite tree, an alstonia angustiloba (also known as the common pulai), is the tallest one on Sentosa and over 80 years old.
“There are over 3,000 species [of trees on Sentosa],” he says with a grin, then points at his head. “They’re all here.”

- POSTED ON
Jul 3, 2014
- TEXT BY
Yvette Kan
- PHOTOS BY
Norman Ng