18th November, 2013

From Raymond Goh:

Today, the tomb keepers helped to clear the thick vegetation around a cluster of old graves in Hill/Blk 2, believed to be relocated from Tiong Bahru in the late 1920s due to development, thereby revealing more tombs previously hidden among thick vegetation. Some of these old graves are affected, while some are not due to the angle of the road project which slices  this cluster into half. One pioneering immigrant, that of the mother of Chee Yam Chuan has been found in this cluster. We believe other pioneers could be uncovered soon.

Read about how Raymond identified Madam Chee Kim Guan here

1830s cluster cleared (photo Raymond Goh)

Seeing the cleared tombs for the first time inspired Claire Leow to pen these lines for these pioneers, who arrived about the time of Sir Stamford Raffles, making them the earliest immigrants of recent history.

The Sentinels of Bukit Brown

We stand
Sentinels of Bukit Brown
Watched this land we called Sin-chew (星 洲) from afar
Put down roots, rebuilt our lives,
Cajoled our families to join us.
We, the sinkehs, arrived.

Farewells aplenty in our lifetimes
To family, to China.
Here in our new home, to our former burial grounds which looked after us,
As we made way for our descendants, and for more sinkehs.
Goodbye Tiong Bahru, hello Bukit Brown.

Years have passed. Like a gentle breath. Like the wind.

Bombs came, new inventions we did not yet know.
Shouts of languages we did not fully understand.
In death, others whispered to us that which we did not witness
The Japanese came with shouts of Banzai! The British scrambling in the undergrowth to hide amongst us.

Then peace and quiet again.
Roots grew around us, sheltered us.
And we hosted the birds and monkeys and spied an occasional dog. Hid a few snakes in our time.
We enjoyed the distant voices of children at play.
We, the sentinels of Bukit Brown.

And now,
Time for more farewells.
Our friends and neighbours in death,
Long have we stood together.
Decades have come and gone and among many farewells, we never expected the dead would be parted.
Not like this.

Ong, I see you over there. Chew, you look bright and clean with the grass trimmed. Lim, I never knew you had that many children!
So many years, and now, not enough time!
We don’t have time left to get to know each other better.
We thought we had eternity…

We thought we were the sentinels of Bukit Brown.
All we had was time.

Come, let us not tarry.
Lets get to know each other better.
Before our final farewell.
We who know how to depart and how to find new homes, come.

Footnote:

“Sin Chew” is a sobriquet for “Singapore” popularized by Nanyang literatus Khoo Seok Wan (also buried at Bukit Brown and to be exhumed for the highway). Singapore is an island surrounded by the sea, and with vessels and boats large and small anchored around it; the glitter of artificial lights at night are like a crown of illuminated stars (“星”) when viewed from afar. “洲” (zhou, island) and “舟” (zhou, boat) are homonyms: while the boat lights are like stars, those on the island are like the Big Dipper to accentuate the constellation. This is why the term “Sin Chew” is widely known by folks here and afar.

(Liang Shao Wen, “Nanyang Travels”, p. 62, circa 1920s, translated by Lai Chee Kien)

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Memory (Photo: Peter Pak)