WORKING is second nature to Mr Yap Kwei Hock, who has never stopped since he joined the workforce at age 21.

Today, the 90-year-old is secretary to businessman Tan Keong Choon, who is 89.

From 1pm to 6pm every day, Mr Yap tends to his boss' paperwork, mainly correspondence with businessmen in China.

Mr Tan, a prominent figure in the Chinese business community and nephew of late rubber magnate Tan Kah Kee, owns Southseas Corporation, a property investment firm.

Mr Yap, whose trademark office attire is a checked shirt and trousers, is the oldest of six employees.

A millionaire thanks to a lifetime of frugality, Mr Yap took on his current job - which pays a token $1,700 a month - at the age of 62.

Before that, he chalked up a colourful career that included work as a Chinese teacher, translation for the old Radio Malaya and a stint at the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry as its executive secretary.

Though mounds of documents and files occupy almost every spot in his workplace, his own desk is bare except for a calendar and a plastic cup filled with ballpoint pens.

Mr Yap has never touched a computer in his entire life. Letters and, occasionally, speeches are scrawled on foolscap paper and handed to a younger colleague, who types them out.

Getting to his office in Taman Serasi calls for an hour's commute by bus and train from his HDB home in Eunos, where he lives with his son's family.

'No, I don't take taxis, too expensive,'' he says in Mandarin, before adding: 'It's not that I can't afford it, but I lead a simple life and don't like to waste money on luxuries.'

Thanks to his frugal nature and good health, the widower has little to worry about financially. His seven-figure savings, amassed through decades of living the simple life, pay for his routine medical check-ups four times a year.

His children are all doing well: son Hai Eng, 55, is a financial consultant while older daughter Hai Yan, 57, is an accountant. Younger daughter Hai Choo, 52, is a teacher.

But the grandfather of eight fears boredom, which is why he continues to show up for work daily.

'Friends around my age have all passed away and my children have their own lives.

'What would I do if I just stayed home all day? Life would be so dull.'

Mr Yap recalls a conversation with an old friend, an Englishman, when the former was all set to retire in 1979 at 62.

'His parting words to me were: 'Early retirement is the quickest way to kill a man',' says the chatty Mr Yap.

'I knew there was truth in those words, because whenever I had nothing to do, I would feel lonely and terrible.'

The family joke, says son Hai Eng, is that the patriarch is gunning for a Guinness Book of World Records entry as the world's oldest worker.

But he admits, half in jest, that he is putting his own retirement on hold. 'I can't imagine my wife and I relaxing at home while my father still goes to work every day.'

Meanwhile, the nonagenarian has no plans to throw in the towel yet.

'I have always believed that, to be successful in life, you must live the mantra of zi li geng sheng,' he says, using the Mandarin proverb for self-reliance.

'My legs may be getting weaker but my mind is still active.'

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