Bidadari is a new twist on an old plot

New town Bidadari wears its history lightly.

- Carmen Sin

The state-of-the-art park at its centre was, for the better part of the 20th century, a cemetery. Before that, a palace housing the second wife of the Johor sultan sat on the land.

Its Build-To-Order flats that provoked feverish oversubscription at launch are in the Potong Pasir constituency, once the longest-held opposition seat of Mr Chiam See Tong, the gentleman of the other side whose 27-year tenure there colours recent political history.

Now, 14 years after the PAP flipped the turf, do old bones still pull at new Bidadarians?

It is day seven of the hustings and the first thing one notices in the township's only mall is the profusion of children and child-centric shops. With the exception of a nail salon—because mothers need pampering too—the top floor of Woodleigh mall is all clinics advertising paediatric skill and enrichment centres.

Downstairs, upmarket cafes appeal to the yuppie-tinged palates of young parents in their 30s who take up a good chunk of the 8,872 flats that will be ready here.

One of them, Ms Rachel Lee, cuts to the chase: "Estate upgrading doesn't trouble me during voting. National issues are more important than local." Besides, she adds, the hardest part is already over.

"When we first moved in, the mall was not yet open. We had to go to Potong Pasir and Serangoon to get groceries. Now, it is really good," she says, an assessment echoed by other residents.