http://www.temasekreview.com/2011/06/14/online-petition-for-bukit-brown-cemetery/
Online Petition for Bukit Brown Cemetery
June 14th, 2011 |
Author: Temasek Review
An online petition has been setup by an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore to conserve the Bukit Brown Cemetery, which has been marked for redevelopment.
According to Mr Irving C. Johnson who started the petition, the Bukit Brown Cemetery is one of Singapore’s oldest and historically rich cemeteries but it would have to make way for a housing development project and a mass rapid train station.
Bukit Brown is not the first cemetery to come under the bulldozer. Many old burial grounds in the nation state have suffered similar fates, all in the name of “development”.
Responding to queries from the Temasek Review Emeritus, Mr Irving C. Johnson said that when he wrote to the newspaper, calling on the government to conserve what little is left of local history, the reply was a simplistic and “Bukit Brown is needed in the future for housing” (Straits Times, June 11: A42).
“No mention was made of possible ways to conserve the cemetery or of its rich historical record. The destruction of the 19th cemetery burial ground with its magnificent tomb stones and wondrous histories of the founding fathers and mothers of Singapore will eradicate a slice of Singapore’s history forever.” he added.
He hoped to strongly urge the government of Singapore, through this petition to reconsider its plans for the “future” and conserve the old burial ground and appreciate the need to “protect what little we have left of history in the urban metropolis. ”
“A nation lacking in local material histories is a nation without a cultural backbone and hence one that sadly lacks an identity.” – Mr Irving C. Johnson
The petition is available at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bukitbrowncemetery and there is also a Save Bukit Bukit Brown Facebook group.
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History of Bukit Brown Cemetary
The bukit brown cemetery was named after a british ship owner called george Henry Brown, who bought the area and initially called it Mt Pleasant. Subsequently, the land was bought over by Ong Kew Ho and the hokkien Huay Kuan. The government took over most of the land in 1919 and opened it as a public burial ground in 1922.
To the chinese, it is known as kopi sua (coffee hill). It must have been difficult for the locals to call it brown. In chinese, the colour brown is coffee. that was how it came to be called kopi sua.
Online Petition for Bukit Brown Cemetery
An online petition has been setup by an Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore to conserve the Bukit Brown Cemetery, which has been marked for redevelopment.
According to Mr Irving C. Johnson who started the petition, the Bukit Brown Cemetery is one of Singapore’s oldest and historically rich cemeteries but it would have to make way for a housing development project and a mass rapid train station.
Bukit Brown is not the first cemetery to come under the bulldozer. Many old burial grounds in the nation state have suffered similar fates, all in the name of “development”.
Responding to queries from the Temasek Review Emeritus, Mr Irving C. Johnson said that when he wrote to the newspaper, calling on the government to conserve what little is left of local history, the reply was a simplistic and “Bukit Brown is needed in the future for housing” (Straits Times, June 11: A42).
“No mention was made of possible ways to conserve the cemetery or of its rich historical record. The destruction of the 19th cemetery burial ground with its magnificent tomb stones and wondrous histories of the founding fathers and mothers of Singapore will eradicate a slice of Singapore’s history forever.” he added.
He hoped to strongly urge the government of Singapore, through this petition to reconsider its plans for the “future” and conserve the old burial ground and appreciate the need to “protect what little we have left of history in the urban metropolis. ”
“A nation lacking in local material histories is a nation without a cultural backbone and hence one that sadly lacks an identity.” – Mr Irving C. Johnson
The petition is available at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bukitbrowncemetery and there is also a Save Bukit Bukit Brown Facebook group.
.
History of Bukit Brown Cemetary
The bukit brown cemetery was named after a british ship owner called george Henry Brown, who bought the area and initially called it Mt Pleasant. Subsequently, the land was bought over by Ong Kew Ho and the hokkien Huay Kuan. The government took over most of the land in 1919 and opened it as a public burial ground in 1922.
To the chinese, it is known as kopi sua (coffee hill). It must have been difficult for the locals to call it brown. In chinese, the colour brown is coffee. that was how it came to be called kopi sua.
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