Spaces for the Living – Bukit Brown Symposium (19 Nov 2011)

I have edited and uploaded the audio footage for the symposium so that people can listen to the presenters and hopefully continue the dialogue from the symposium. The info on the symposium is below and the audio clips (youtube) are below. 

On 19 November there was a Symposium held at the Asian Civilisations Museum on Bukit Brown, with speakers discussing Bukit Brown from many different perspectives. Listening to their speeches which imagined alternative futures for Bukit Brown, I wanted to document it so that others who could not be at the symposium might also be able to imagine these alternatives for the many old heritage spots in Singapore that are all at risk of demolition, to be “sacrificed on the altar of development”.

This is a compilation of the information shared, as well as the salient suggestions and ideas raised at this Symposium.

Event Description:

Chew Boon Lay, Gan Eng Seng, Cheang Hong Lim, and Teh Ho Swee – these are names of our roads and MRT stations. They invest these places – and our everyday life – with a deep historical meaning.

Our sense of who we are is continually tested by the tension between heritage and development. On 13 September, the Land Transport Authority announced that part of Bukit Brown Cemetery will be redeveloped to ease traffic congestion. This will affect 5,000 graves, both of well-known pioneers mentioned above and unsung immigrants who began the task of building Singapore in the 19th century.

Bukit Brown highlights the genuine value of our shared history and its relevance to our future. The resting places of the dead underline our ties as members of a living community.

We invite concerned members of the public to a discussion of the past, present and future of Bukit Brown. A panel of experts will speak on the rich cultural heritage of Bukit Brown and the need to conserve it.

Programme Speakers:

• Mr Raymond Goh, co-founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators and heritage guide
• Dr Irving Chan-Johnson, Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS), who launched an online petition for the conservation of Bukit Brown
• Dr Hui Yew-Foong, Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, who led the documentation of Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery
• Dr Ho Hua Chew, Exco member of Nature Society (Singapore), who has been at the forefront of conservation projects like Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and the Green Corridor
• Mr Chew Kheng Chuan, great-grandson of Chew Boon Lay and co-author of Chew Boon Lay: A Family Traces its History
• Dr Lai Chee Kien (Chair), Department of Architecture, NUS