Saving Bukit Brown Cemetery
By Terence Chong, a sociologist and Chua Ai Lin, a historian, writing on behalf of the Singapore Heritage Society.
In land-scarce Singapore, the tension between heritage and modernity is not unusual, as the on-going debate over Bukit Brown Cemetery demonstrates. This debate is the latest in a long line of struggles over important national spaces such as the National Library building in Stamford Road and Bidadari cemetery in Upper Aljunied Road, both of which have been irretrievably lost to the nation.
In July this year, the Urban Redevelopment Authority announced that Bukit Brown Cemetery would be needed for future housing and in mid-September, the Land Transport Authority revealed plans to begin constructing a dual four-lane road through Bukit Brown Cemetery in early 2013. The road will affect about 5,000 of the approximately 100,000 graves.
Critics in cyberspace and the mainstream media have made three primary arguments for the destruction of Bukit Brown Cemetery.
The first is that Bukit Brown Cemetery is a burial ground for the elite, and that most Singaporeans do not have genealogies that link them to the cemetery. Advocates of this argument assert that many of the prominent pioneers like Chew Boon Lay and Cheang Hong Lim interred there have streets and places named after them, and there is thus no further need to preserve their graves. This assertion is short-sighted as the graves allow Singaporeans to draw links between abstract street names and real people.
The elitist accusation is reverse snobbery. We would never contemplate selling the Padang to a condo developer just because neighbourhood boys do not play football there. And just because most Singaporeans do not have ancestors interred there does not mean they cannot claim the space for strolls and jogs, appreciation tours, or to enjoy the rich flora and fauna there.
Tens of thousands of ordinary migrants are also buried at Bukit Brown Cemetery. Furthermore, in preserving the graves of ordinary people we are acknowledging the blood, sweat and toil of those who have contributed to the development of our city port. Such a move will enrich and democratise the Singapore story.
Here is a short story about C.K. Lim, an immigrant from China, by his great grand-daughter, Sharon Lim.
My great grand father was a first generation immigrant from Fuzhou and he married my great grandmother in Nanyang. He was involved in the coffee trade, which is common for most immigrants from his Fuzhou village, and worked in a coffeeshop called ‘Hiap Hoe’ at the junction of Prinsep & Albert Street. Unfortunately he died young from T.B. which was rampant at that time. The Hokkien Clan then helped my widowed great grandmother to find a plot of land for the grave and pay for the funeral.
I am really impressed by this because back then, the clans really helped each other and there was so much solidarity. While his tomb is not as ‘fancy’ as the Peranakan ones, I think it epitomises the social histories of the first-generation immigrants… those that were brave, and crossed the rough South China Sea, worked hard in Nanyang, but never made it back to the motherland.
The second argument by critics of Bukit Brown is that the loss of the cemetery can be adequately mitigated by virtual mapping and documentation. The assumption here defies all logic for heritage preservation. After all most historic monuments from Stonehenge to Angkor Wat have lost their functional value but are no less important as signposts to past communities.
The heritage value of Bukit Brown Cemetery is conveyed to us in the provincial origins of the dead, the names of their descendants, as well as the tomb design, artistic embellishment and fengshui orientation. The sacredness of Bukit Brown Cemetery can be found in the practices of people who continue to pay their respects to their ancestors in the form of ceremonial rituals as well as highly personalised ways. Such sacredness is not static or dead but embedded in living habits of people.
Bukit Brown Cemetery is sacred also by virtue of its biodiversity. Of the 85 species of birds that have been recorded there, two are deemed ‘vulnerable’, six are ‘endangered’, and three are ‘critically endangered’. Bukit Brown has been designated a Tree Conservation Area by the National Parks Board under the Parks and Trees Act. Virtual technologies and documentation cannot replace the loss of ecology.
Bukit Brown Cemetery is also valuable to the broader nation-building project. Much has been made about how Singapore is becoming more hotel than home for many citizens and many worry that Singaporeans are but rootless ‘cultural orphans’. The expressions of identity and culture found in Bukit Brown are unique to local communities, reflecting the history of the Straits Settlements and broader Nanyang. They are specific to the region, differing from those in South China where most of our forefathers came from. In short, Bukit Brown Cemetery anchors firmly our sense of belonging to this region.
The third, and most commonly heard, argument is that ‘the dead have to make way for the living’. This argument makes matters seem more urgent than they may be – without destroying Bukit Brown Cemetery, there would be no space for the living. But has every other space for housing been considered before turning to Bukit Brown Cemetery?
It also assumes that continued population growth is inevitable. And yet there is no public discussion on the optimal population size that the island and infrastructure may accommodate before the space crunch is felt. Population projections by government agencies are not yet widely circulated for debate.
With due respect, what do you suggest? That we leave BB alone and look for alternative housing sites, perhaps in the outer stretches of the island? How will you explain to your grandchildren’s children, that they have to live on Tekong because we need to preserve a plot of graves the size of Sengkang in the prime central district? The opportunity cost is enormous. Let us find more creative ways to remember our past and cherish our heritage.
Hi I truly wonder what kind of Singaporean are you. Ignorant and disregarding your roots as unimportant. Since you are so practical, ruthless in cutting your own roots, fine! Let us talk about being pragmatic and being short-sighted like how you prove yourself to be…
I would firstly want to highlight to you how the urbanisation of Bukit Brown has continuously contributed to the devastation of Singapore’s natural environment. You could be thinking, “oh who cares about the natural environment”. But little do you know that this destruction are slowly taking a toll on Singapore, creating many potential environmental consequences such as increased flooding, higher local temperatures and contribution to climate change. It has been cited in the recently released “Report by the Expert Panel on Drainage Design and Flood Protection Measures” that urbanisation was the key cause for the recent spate of flooding in Singapore. The report further notes that Bukit Brown is in the Marina Basin drainage area – the same as the flood-prone Bukit Timah and Orchard Road areas.
By disregarding the citizens’ voices, choosing to destroy our identity and heritage, on top of that continue to destroy our natural drainage system will only spell trouble in all fronts – political, social and economical.
Building up Bukit Brown will also be deadly to the wildlife, including the 13 species of endangered birds that inhabit the wooded area there. But then again, if you already disregard the people and the impact to their lives, I doubt birds and other wildlife are anywhere as important to you.
The opportunity cost you speak of – yes, it is enormous, and with all due respect, i agree with the loss we face in development if BB is not to make way for development.
But, i would like to remind you that -
there are some finer things in life that cannot be held to, or measured against fiscal growth and aggregation.
Such is like the immensurate cultural value that this piece of land the “size of Sengkang” holds,and i believe this is the essence of the writer’s argument.
Sir, let it be known to you that as a 90s generation kid growing up in Singapore, i find the past assymmetric to me in relativity -
.. yet it is because of this estrangement, i know how important it is to know my forefathers, and embrace my proud blood of Singapore.
Bukit Brown holds so much of the past, that if we, born in the true soul of our Singaporean ancestors, allow this land, comparable in opportunity cost, but incomparable in cultural loss, be destroyed in favour of a road that i will grow to forget – save for the fact that in an act of appeasement, the road be named Cementary Road or something – that i would truly have let down my ancestors.
I’m very sure that these men who lay in BB have nothing to do with my forefathers;
yet i know they must have been a brother, friend, or a role model to my ancestors at some point in history, and i would like to honour their time by helping to protect this piece of history from desecration.
There isn’t much history left in Singapore to be saved – if we can’t protect the ones we see in our plain sight now, i don’t dare to have faith that archaelogists’ historical findings, if any left, will enjoy the protection and preservation they deserve either.
Let us be remembered not only as a nation of smart, dynamic and resourceful profiteers, but above that, a nation that always looks back into the heart of rich Asian culture.
Thank you.
Yes, there are many creative ways to remember our past. However a visit to Bukit Brown will certainly appeal to our passionate hearts and remind us of the importance of filial piety and of our roots. Of more importance, the rich culture and foundations of our founding fathers and their toils that make Singapore what it is today, is richly entombed at Bukit Brown. Therein lies a unique treasure trove of Singapore. With creativity, we can certainly retain and develop Bukit Brown to an icon of Singapore for both locals and tourists alike. Certainly we can also creatively create adequate and comfortable living space for our citizens and foreign friends on mainland Singapore. Bukit Brown once lost will be gone forever. Nothing can replace this precious invaluable piece of unique estate and the very many lessons and values that it holds dearly for generations to come.
I’m interested in creating an online database that enables volunteers who are cataloging the graves at Bukit Brown to upload data about the grave including photo, description of the grave and its history, GPS co-ordinates,etc – while enabling public to leave comments.
Anyone interested in doing a project like this?
Andrew
i would love to get involved in a project like that.
Well, let’s think out of the box. The fact is not all those buried there are celebrities, right? So how about allocating a place, probably have to involve the government, and transfer all those celebrities tomb to group together. The place can be somewhere near Bukit Brown or even down town, where people can reach by public transport. This practice has been done in Europe country. Places like Mozard, Beethoven’s tomb were centralised though they may not be buried at the same location in those years.