Bukit Brown National Heritage Park?
3
The Case for a Bukit Brown (National) Heritage Park
by Chew Kheng Chuan
7 November, 2013.
Sometime ago when I was looking at Google Earth to check out Bukit Brown, I was struck by what a huge green lung it was that was contiguous to the main Water Catchment Area of MacRitchie and Pierce Reservoirs. In that sense the greenery was part of a single “critical mass,” whose significance – ecological and environmental – depended critically on its mass to create the climatic and rainfall needs of Singapore. I felt that taking away this greenery would be a major detraction and subtraction that cannot be replaced by the addition of many other smaller parcels that may add up to the same area if aggregated.
Otherwise I am very sympathetic to the pressures of the planners needing to look to the provision of housing and road requirements of a developing city and nation.
However I feel it is highly regrettable that Bukit Brown Cemetery has to be sacrificed on the altar of development. It will be an irretrievable loss. This is a resting place of the pioneers of our nation and is a cultural and historical heritage that is the physical expression of our sense of origins and identity.
Bukit Brown (photo public domain)
Are there alternatives? This is a serious question that must be considered further and deeper. When Bukit Brown is developed into a future residential estate, the beneficiaries are limited to the fortunate people who will live there, next to the greenery of MacRitchie Reservoir. However it will be lost to the larger public.
Yet if Bukit Brown were to be gazetted as a National Heritage Cemetery Park, and developed as such, keeping all the graves which represent the earliest of burials in Singapore, and are an authentic expression of the anthropological rituals, ceremonies and culture of a people (still alive and active annually every Cheng Beng period), it can benefit all residents of Singapore, and into the future. Let me explain why.
Indeed the National Parks Board can look to developing this into a National Heritage Cemetery Park (or should that be the Bukit Brown Heritage Cemetery National Park?), develop the landscape and plantings, preserving the old trees, and grow new flora. Then it becomes a NEW environmental, recreational, cultural, historical, educational, natural, and yes, economical-tourism resource for all residents in Singapore – citizens, PRs, migrant workers, visitors, tourists, students, nature lovers, birdwatchers, filial descendents who observe the rites and rituals of Cheng Beng
It then becomes a public space rather than a private, historical, forgotten, “under-utilised” cemetery. Perhaps a stronger case can be made that this serves more powerfully the larger public good than the limited number of the lucky few future residents of the new residential estate of Bukit Brown?
An MRT has been planned and will be built for Bukit Brown – indeed, that will not detract from nor be wasted by the new identity and purpose of this National Heritage Park, for all of Singapore will need good transportation access to it to enjoy its benefits. The Bukit Brown MRT in a new status of Bukit Brown will in the longer run better justify its location and existence, bringing a far greater number of commuters to it than that planned for just residents of the area were it to be an exclusive residential district.
I would argue for considering such an alternative future for Bukit Brown to preserve its past of pioneer burials, and enhance its future, even if my ancestors were not buried there. Indeed, as a child I used to accompany my father and relatives every Cheng Beng, but with their passing I have discontinued this ritual for many decades, which explains why my children have never visited the grave of their great-great-grandfather Chew Boon Lay until recently
I asked my children what thoughts they might wish to share. They said:
“Our father told us we are 5th generation Singaporeans, which we think is cool. We wonder how many of our friends have been in Singapore for 5 generations? Our great great grandfather Chew Boon Lay and great grandfather Chew Hock Seng, are both buried at Bukit Brown. We’re kinda sad that when the cemetery is gone they will be just a memory and lost in our future.”
Chew Boon Lay (photo Rojak Librarian, http://mymindisrojak.blogspot.sg/)
Chew Kheng Chuan is the great grandson of Chew Boon Lay.
Bukit Brown has been a favourite place of mine in Singapore since I stumbled across it when I trained for my first Singapore Marathon in 2004. Bukit Brown was an oasis of calm in a busy city. As a place to visit it offered so many interesting aspects. It was wonderful to see the interesting monuments to the people who were instrumental in building the foundations of modern Singapore. To hear the birds sing, see the butterflies flutter their wings and see the flowers and trees was a privilege. I hope hope you are successful in saving this sacred place.
Thank you Liz. Please help spread the word of this special place.
I could not agree with you more. I go up to Bukit Brown most mornings to walk my dog and each day I admire both the natural beauty of this place, as well as the remarkable carvings of the man made gravestones. Every visitor I have taken there (and there have been many) are really awestruck by the tranquility and beauty of this place. It is unique and can NEVER be replaced or replicated. It should be preserved and it should be turned into a heritage park (with the added eco-cafe and facilities people expect nowadays). Highgate cemetery in London has many regular visitors not just relatives of those buried there. This is such an important part of SIngapore’s heritage. I am saddened to think it will soon be lost for all future generations.