The Bukit Brown Caretakers
-Documentary
Country: Singapore
Length: 9min 09sec
Language: Mandarin
Subtitle: English
Completed date: 2015
“1, 2, 3… Huat ah!” Repeat in tandem with your family wishing your ancestors prosperity. Behind the scenes at Bukit Brown Cemetery, caretakers have been tending to the graves before visitors arrive. Do you know the oldest male caretaker Mr Chua, has worked for 68 years?#sgmemory
Bukit Brown Cemetery, also known to the local community as Kopi Sua or Coffee Hill, was a public Chinese cemetery that had been established in the early 20th Century. It was the biggest Chinese graveyard outside China. Estimated to house 100,000 tombs in a vast landsize of about 0.86 square kilometers, Bukit Brown Cemetery has been abandoned since its closure in 1973. It was opened in 1922 by the Municipal Council.
In September 2011, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced the plan to construct a new road, parallel to Lornie Road, to cut through part of Bukit Brown. About 5000 tombs are expected to be affected. Fearing that Bukit Brown will be further developed as a high-end residencial estate, Asian Paranormal Investigators (API) are campaigning a “Save Bukit Brown Project” to recuse this century-old site, which has also been carefully preserved as an undisturbed natural area for decades.
About I Remember SG
irememberSG is the official companion blog to the SingaporeMemory.sg portal by the Singapore Memory Project. The nation-wide Singapore Memory Project was started in 2011 to collect, preserve and provide access to memories and stories related to Singapore.
The goal of the Singapore Memory Project is to engage individuals, communities, groups or institutions who have formed memories and content about Singapore and would like to contribute them. This will build a culture of remembering which willnurture bonding and rootedness.
The Singapore Memory Project is a whole-of-nation collaborative initiative led by the Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) and facilitated by the National Library Board, in partnership with other institutions such as local and overseas libraries, heritage agencies and research institutions. The Project is directed by a Steering Committee and managed by the Project’s Secretariat.
