New alignment for road cutting through Bukit Brown?
By Hoe Yeen Nie | Posted: 05 December 2011

SINGAPORE: It is likely that the proposed new road that cuts through Bukit Brown cemetery in central Singapore will get a new alignment.

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A tomb discovery by Raymond Goh in Bukit Brown Chinese Cemetery revealed a startling Myth that everyone had accepted as a fact for a hundred years!

Above: The tomb of Boey Chuan Poh found by Raymond Goh in Bukit Brown. 

UNRAVELLING THE NAME OF HOUSE CALLED BIN CHAN

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

On 4 Sep 2011, Singapore leading Newspaper The Sunday Times published on its front page an interesting headline...

Abandoned and derelict, but beautiful and brimming with history

The article featured a number of houses, seemingly abandoned in Singapore. The 1st house mentioned in the ST article was the Chee Guan Chiang House. 

Built in 1938, the House was designed and built by Ho Kwong Yew, one of the leading architects of the Modern Movement (ie., De La Warr Pavilion) in Singapore during the 1930s.

The House was named the Chee Guan Chiang House, after 1 of its 2 owners. The other owner being the Chee Swee Cheng & Company Private Limited. The Company owned many properties in Orchard including The Heeren. 

The House was given Conservation Status by URA on 23rd May 2008. (link)

According to the ST report:-

A red mailbox hung from the gate, alongside two signs warning against trespassers and illegal parking on the private property..... in 2007 that the property could be seen only by residents from neighbouring condominiums who used it as a short cut to Orchard Road.

Before 2008, residents from a condomimum still could use an old road to gain access to the back gate of their condo.......