INTERLUDE
It woke up Tan Kim Ching (son of Tan Tock Seng).
He yelled out to his friend below, Cheang Hong Lim (Speakers’ Corner): You feel that, Hong Lim?”
Hong Lim shuddered and nodded: “Let’s go find out what’s happening.”
Together they stroll down the lonely path till they came up to 2 brothers Lim Chong Pang (Chong Pang Market) and Lim Chong Kuo, with their mother, Mrs Lim Nee Soon (Yishun Estate).
Mrs Lim looked at the 2 elderly gentlemen strolling towards them and ask: “Is it time?”
No one had the answer, and the group decided to cross the valley and ask others.
Gan Eng Seng (Gan Eng Seng School) came down from his hill and met them They were joined midway by Tan Kheam Hock (Kheam Hock Road). The group, now slightly larger than when it started, visited Chew Boon Lay (Boon Lay MRT), who was chatting with Tan Eng Neo (Eng Neo Avenue).
Together they climbed the hill to Ong Sam Leong (Biggest Grave in Singapore), who was with his sons Boon Tat (Boon Tat Street) and Peng Hock (Joint owner of New World Amusement Park)
From that highest point in Bukit Brown, Boon Lay shouted across the hills to Teh Ho Swee (Bukit Ho Swee), who was with his family, a distance away.
“Do you know what’s happening?” Boon Lay yelled.
” I don’t know.” Ho Swee shouted back, dropping whatever he was doing and running to join the group. “Could it be related to the Bukit Brown MRT being constructed behind me?”
The wind blew stronger as if to answer him, and the group moves down the hill.
Around the bend, they were joined by Tan Boo Liat (Great Grandson of Tan Tock Seng), Hu Shien Nien (OCBC Director), Tan Ean Kiam (OCBC Founder), Khoo Yang Thin (Father of Khoo Tech Puat [Hospital]).
The group, now considerably larger, swelling in size as other Notables and their families joined the march towards the Bukit Brown Cemetery Gate.
“Wait up!” came a voice from behind, as Chew Joo Chiat (Joo Chiat Place) came running from behind and joined the group.
Now nearing the Gate, Ang Seah Im (Seah Im Food Center) stopped the group and hushed everyone.
“Can you hear that?”
There are distinct sounds of machinery in the air, rumbling of metal crawlers across cart tracks.
‘Is this the end?” Someone wailed from behind.
“We once lived! Please don’t! Remember us please!”
The wind howled louder…………
Reflections of Bukit Brown
Below are some websites/blogs by people who have been on our DIY or Guided Tours or have visited BBCC:
http://bukitbrown.org/ (Regular updates of Raymond Goh’s new tombs discoveries in Bukit Brown)
http://www.facebook.com/groups/bukitbrown/ (Facebook Group for all API discussion and updates relating to BBCC)
http://www.api.sg/forum/viewforum.php?f=108 (API Forum page)
http://sosbukitbrown.wordpress.com/
http://clayman79.blogspot.com/2011/10/bukit-brown-cemetery-heritage-walk.htm
http://swirlmylife.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/bukit-brown-cemetery/
http://myitchyfingers.wordpress.com/2011/10/11/
http://oceanskies79places.blogspot.com/2011/06/notable-people-who-are-buried-in-bukit.html
http://lupbear.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-are-there-no-coffee-beans-on-coffee.html
http://yangyangy.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/kopi-sua/
http://piqture-perfect.blogspot.com/2011/06/singapore-bukit-brown-cemetery-notable_28.html
http://cbsingapore.blogspot.com/2011/07/bukit-brown-chinese-cemetery.html
http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com/2011/06/21/the-unkempt-beauty-of-coffee-hill/
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/06/when-the-day-is-finished/
http://leelilian.blogspot.com/2011/06/commemorating-bukit-brown-municipal.html
http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a101b.htm
http://intheweehours.wordpress.com/2010/09/29/bukit-brown-cemetery/
http://wondercreation.blogspot.com/2011/09/night-at-bukit-brown-cemetery.html
http://sgn090608.blogspot.com/2011/09/110916-bukit-brown-cemetery.html
http://www.expatadventuresinsingapore.com/2011/06/bukit-brown-cemetery.html
http://remembersingapore.wordpress.com/bukit-brown-cemetery/
http://www.lindykerr.com/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=2004
http://joyloh.com/blog/?p=2945
http://cavinteo.blogspot.com/2011/10/bukit-brown-cemetery-coffee-hill.html
http://www.goodpaper.sg/saving-bukit-brown-cemetery/
http://latitudes.nu/land-scarcity-heritage-conservation-in-singapore-bukit-brown-cemetery/
Open Letter to Our President – From the Residents of Bukit Brown
A few days ago, we saw you sitting at the highest chair in the parliament, yes, you are the newly appointed president.
You have never disappoint your parents and ancestors, and they are certainly proud of you.
When you were a young student, you already excelled in your studies, in 1957, you were the top student in Singapore with 8 distinctions for the Cambridge School Certificate, and in 1959 again you topped the Cambridge Higher School Certificate while in SJI.
It is a pity your father Seng Hwee died young, at the age of 47, in 1962. At that time your mother Jessie Lim has to bring up herself the 4 children.
But she certainly had a full and wonderful life, and she died in 1999 at a ripe old age. If there is one rule which she lived by, it was to get on with life, as she has done with determination for 36 years after your father Seng Hwee passed away.
But your grandfather Cheng Siong died young too as he died at the age of 42, just at the peak of his career as GM of Overseas Chinese Bank, and managing the United Sawmill Ltd, of which the directors included Lim Nee Soon, Ong Peng Hock and Lim Boon Keng
Your grandfather was a JP and a prominent citizen of the community, and was ever willing to give a helping hand in any charitable cause.
Tan Cheng Siong’s tomb – your grandfather
At that time, yourg grandfather has two wives, Lee Guay Eng and Wee Chai Neo. Both widows were left with young children of their own after Cheng Siong died. Guay Eng was just 35 and Chai Neo was 40 years old
Wee Chai Neo passed away in 1934 while Lee Guay Eng passed away in 1965
Wee Chai Neo’s tomb, your grandmother
You may not know, but in the past many years ago, there was a group of 36 businessman from Malacca who came to Singapore in the early days when Singapore was just founded.
This group of 36 young Hokkien Chinese baba traders, in their early 20 and 30s, from middle to upper income families most in Malacca, too came to seek their fortune in this new city.
Although they came from well to do families, business at that time was still considered risky. They have alliances with the Europeans, and can take goods on credit with them, but depending on the business situation, they will have to pay the Europeans with equivalent goods or cash in a few months. Sometimes if the goods cannot be sold within this period, they would have to “lelong” the goods, resulting in financial problems for them hence the need to form such a mutual aid association for these businessman and their families. This mutual aid association was Kheng Teck Whay.
Each of the 36 member would have to contribute 100 big dollars to the Association fund, which will be used as seed money for the businessman’s families.
If a member would unfortunately passed away or fall into financial difficulties, then this mutual help group would help the family.
Many of the 36 members did well in later life and have successful business. Some of them were managers of the neighbouring Thian Hock Keng. They constructed their HQ just next to Thian Hock Keng.
One of the 36 founding member was Ang Choon Seng.
Now Ang Choon Seng was born in 1805 in Malacca. Set up Chop Chin Seng in Philip St. He had 2 sailing ships Patah Salam and Kong-Kek, travelling between Saigon and Bangkok. He also have nutmeg plantations in Moulmein Road.
Ang Choon Seng
His son Ang Kim Tee was the chief of Keng Teck Whay from 1890 – 1892
From the tomb, we can see that Ang Kim Tee has 5 daughters. Do you know he married 3 of his daughters to Tan Jiak Kim because they unfortunately died successively at young age?
The first daughter of Kim Tee married to Jiak Kim died in 1898, and he married then the 4th daughter of Kim Tee, Giok Yan.
At that time, they decided to buried Giok Yan there. As it was in Europe, the usual Chinese funeral rites could not be observed, and a European coffin
The next year, Jiak Kim married another daughter of Kim Tee, which is Geok Lan
Tan Jiak Kim third wife Geok Lan (also daughter of Ang Kim Tee) and 2 sons (pic from G.R. Lambert & Co)
Now the first daugher of Kim Tee married to Jiak Kim gave birth to a girl Tan Sun Neo in 1894.
Tan Sun Neo was married to Lim Kian Peng and has a daughter.
That daughter was Jessie Lim which was actually your mother.
So you can see you came from a very illustrious family, not to mention that Jiak Kim’s mother See Keng Neo also comes from the illustrious See Family.
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Do you know that all the above tombs were found in Bukit Brown Municipal Cemetery? I think you probably have not visited the tombs of your grandfather and grandmother,
Perhaps you may not even know they are buried in Bukit Brown. There are so many pioneers and forefathers of Singapore being buried there, that the list go on and on….
There is so much history yet to be uncovered in Bukit Brown, but recently you would have heard the news from LTA recently about redevelopment of Bukit Brown.
A new road is being planned to cut right across Bukit Brown, a road that will cover an area of 24 hectares and affect approx 10,000 tombs.
Did the relevant authorities did a proper historical survey of the place before deciding on this new road? Or do they think it is just a cemetery?
Do you know that many tombs from the Qing dynasty era are relocated to this cemetery such as your ancestors? Tombs as early as 1833 and the mid 19th century can be found there.
Every one of those tombs tell a story, a story of birth, life and death, but in the end, they are all builders of what modern Singapore is standing on.
Our roots and links to the past are all here, buried in this cemetery, many still waiting to be discovered.
It is only in the recent past, that people are just rediscovering their roots.
For us, when we remember our roots from whence we came, can we really love the country and the people that nurture us to what we are today.
This cemetery definitely has historical and social values of great significance to our young country.
The present generation seem to have forgotten about the previous generation of nation builders and pioneers, but the current generation’s existence lies in the roots of these tombs, the roots of which are going to be dug up for a road if nobody do everything.
So, please come, dear President, please come to Bukit Brown. It has been such a long time, but I think your grandparents and other relatives are waiting for you to come and visit them, and remember your roots.
And in the meantime, please try to let the authorities fully understand the implication of what they are going to destroy. There is still time, although time is running out for the residents of Bukit Brown Cemetery.
It will be an irreplaceable loss.
From a Singapore citizen
Singapore Graveyard Stirs Lively Debate
Singapore Graveyard Stirs Lively Debate
By Chun Han Wong
Chun Han Wong/The Wall Street Journal – Visitors stroll past hillside graves near the main entrance to the Bukit Brown cemetery, located in a remote, densely vegetated part of central Singapore.
Life is abundant after death in a remote Singapore graveyard, where a struggle over a forgotten stretch of the island nation’s history has stirred strident debate over the spirit of its future.
Authorities and activists are jousting over the fate of the remains of up to 100,000 dead people – including luminaries of the island’s colonial yesteryears – interred at the Bukit Brown cemetery, located in a densely-vegetated part of Singapore just south of the city-state’s central water catchment area and nature reserve. Should government plans proceed, the 86-hectare burial ground will gradually be transformed into a residential district, starting with road construction slated to begin in early 2013.
In the eyes of advocates, though, the development plans would mean irreversible loss of cultural heritage and wildlife in a city-state where economic imperatives have often superseded preservationist impulses.
Read more here.
My piece of Bukit Brown
My piece of Bukit Brown
Ng Tze Yong on what he found at the historic cemetery slated to make way for a new highway.
By Ng Tze Yong
ST Online Social Media Editor
tzeyong@sph.com.sg
I have only been to Bukit Brown Cemetery twice. Once, when I got lost on a bicycle. And the second time, last Sunday, when my wife and I signed up for a tour with the Asia Paranormal Investigators (API) on a whim.
Oh, I thought, it would be such a yuppie thing to do, to explore a forest of ancient graves threatened by modernisation and all things evil. What a memorable Sunday it would make, to stand up and be counted, to break the monotony of daily living and join hands against the capitalists, the condo-lovers, the unsentimental.
A 50-strong crowd of families, bushwalker-types and expats had already gathered when we arrived at 9am. The API guide handed out maps and notes on the genealogy of the pioneers buried there, and touched on the finer points of Chinese grave design in the 1800s.
It was shaping out to be a quaint morning of intellect pursuit. Definitely something to lament about to friends over a latte at Dempsey.
We spent the next hour combing through lush undergrowth, exploring the more notable graves among Bukit Brown’s 100,000.
Read the rest here.