From the International Herald Tribune.
It is Singapore’s secret Eden, a miniature village hidden in trees among the massed apartment blocks, where a fresh breeze rustles the coconut palms and tropical birds whoop and whistle.
White butterflies flutter among the mango and star fruit trees, and tiny fish swim in a tiny stream.
With just 28 houses in an area the size of three football fields, it is Singapore’s last rural hamlet, a forgotten straggler in the rush to modernize this high-rise, high-tech city-state.
But apparently not for much longer. The village, called Kampong Buangkok, is slated by the government for demolition and redevelopment, possibly in the near future. When it is gone, one of the world’s most extreme national makeovers will be complete.
Read the full article here.
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ole great
last kampong also chiongkong…….
not to worry peeps
you all can alway followed me to little china
for i can bring history to you
LIVED……….
unless
TOC want to give me a special followed up topic to show all my little china experiences LIVED…
i have done before
in singapore and lancashire england
they loved my narration
machiam machiam mini dicovery channel
It is reminiscence to read but at the same time it is heart wrenching. So much of memories lost forever in the name of progress. For the older generations like me, I think we can only sigh and say grace; for people in our twilight years need not have to witness further traumatic experience of such transformation. One consolation indeed (if there is one) is that people who can afford, still have the chance to re-live their childhood dreams (but in another location), might as well. The nation albeit prosperous (to some) but had nothing left for older folks who grew up with so much Kampong camaraderie to reminisce. Really sad.
i wonder if you can buy land in pulua ubin. I don’t mind staying there if i can afford, and also a boat so i dun have to depend on the ferry all the time.
The lady looks so heartbroken…
Visit the place(kampong Buangkok) before it vanishes.
It is peaceful, simple, kind of serenity not available in the heartlands.
I was once as sad, when my village suffered similar fate more than three decades ago and the terrible thing is nothing can make up for it.
patriot
Well, I’m not surprised that the NYT picked up this story. Now this is newsworthy.
the urban renewal of singapore island is completed. ;(
They should just make the whole island concrete, including those that are used by SAF for training.
sad sad sad…now my kids can only see kampong in museum…made from plastic leaves and plastic wood…
Ok this is what will likely happen. They will snap snap snap pictures of the kampung, then tear it down, then maybe over at Sentosa or at Marina Bay next to the IR, they will rebuild the whole kampung. But the grass are golf turf, the dogs and cats are animatronics, you will have to pay five dollars to play marbles, but not really marbles but Nitendo WII kind. The Kampung people will somehow talk in a Mainland Chinese accent, and they will keep asking you to buy the special Kampung Chicken, which is strangely cooked in a microwave oven. And at night, they will start selling alcohol and play the latest techno stuff, and all the kampung buildings will emit disco lights. And they will call it a homage to our last kampung. Maybe they will hire the auntie in the picture to be cleaner.
wei wei
you all har
ungrateful cow/buffaloe and lembu…
malay village was setup with so many millions
sured looked liked kampong what
only differences
no high tides
no gaylek gaylek malayu geylarg dancers
where you can seek 1 dance for just a $0.30cents coupons….
those were the days
of GAY world
where you can danced
you can have a barfight
and called chicken by midnight….
I’ve not been home in a couple of years now, have they started to build that “resort” planned for Pulau Ubin yet? It’s one of the more charming rural islands of Singapore and I’d hate for it to go the way of Sentosa.
Hooo……..I am crying as it remind me of my Somapah Rd home.
But joke aside , I am more interested in that lady .I am sad and pity her as she will be resettled into a city facing many cunning and materiaristic people who always think of nothing besides status,money,power etc.
She will naively left her new flat ‘s door open like what she will do to her kampong house and will be surprise that her bicycle is missing.
A typical simple housewife leading a simple life.She wakes up at 5am,do laundry and feed some poultry ,prepare breakfast for the big family for school and work.,will eventually have to face the cunning city folks .
This is the type of Sua Teng lady that will become good wife.A bicycle is the only luxury that she will ask for………..where to find now?Hooo……can only find oversea…..
I have seen cases of resettlement where a once close kampong community was uprooted, houses demolished and then the govt simply let the land become a piece of wasteland and there was no development for years. E.g. Koh Sek LimRd in Bedok/Changi. Another site is along Upp Yio Chu Kang Rd. Govt projects shld be compelled by law to undertake Environmental Impact Assessments and report to Parliament or hold public consultations before damaging people’s lives and the envrionment. Sometimes, just shifting a road/expressway or a boundary 10 metres can save some of Singapore’s heritage. But govt is often moneyfaced and lazy or cant be bothered to study alternate ways. Like Chinatown, they destroy and then put back facades!
/// 7) boh liao on January 5th, 2009 5.37 pm
the urban renewal of singapore island is completed. ;( ///
Yup. Long before the renewal of Singapore island is completed, the re-renewal of Singapore had already started. Witness all the en-bloc sales for private housing and SERS (Selective En-bloc Renewal Scheme) of public housing. Perfect good and functioning properties, some just over 10 years old, and others around 20 years old are torn down. Such waste in the pursuit of profit.
This is really sad; just look at all the so-called redevelopment of Chinatown, Little India & Geylang. Did you notice that everything the gov touched has turned into dust? They will chase everyone off their land, touch it up a bit & then charge crazy rates for ppl to rent it for business or for stay. Just take a look at Chinatown now, everywhere is selling chopsticks & bowls & spoons & caligraphy at a crazy price!! What’s attracting the tourists to Singapore when Malacca is so much cheaper & filled with its own unique culture?
So what’s Singapore’s culture? All I could think of is we have NONE!! None, when they made it sinful to speak dialects, thus making us lose our culture & mother tongue & also they made it sinful for regular folks to live in some old shophouse unless you are renting from URA at S$5000 a month!! I do say our lives got better with 50inch plasma, the latest Nokia or a full BOSE home entertainment system, but we have also gotten less caring for our neighbours & more selfish towards another human being.
/// So what’s Singapore’s culture? All I could think of is we have NONE!! ///
Yes, we have culture. It is $$$!!!
And our official religion — $$$!!!
I remember our elites tore down the old Seletar market and the 4 HDB blocks around it in the name of redevelopment many years ago. However the land has been left empty since then with no signs of development on that piece of land taking place.
I guess the reason they wanted to clear the estate back then was to force the residents there to take up the new flats being built back then at Fernvale.
To me it is more like maximising profits for them and rather than optimising the land use.
Profit can be measured. Money can be counted. This is progress and success.
What is a kampong? It is backward and inconsistant with the projected image of our planner. So we have to move on for the visitor to see the changes.
One who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing…
Resettlement and the upheavals caused to the people.
All those villagers who were small time farmers before been resettled were gainfully occupied with members of the family helping out. Their farms were producing fresh organic primary produces, poultries, pork, vegetables, fruits and eggs etc.
Many villages cleared, became state lands and left to breed mosquitoes and became hide-out for illegal immigrants. Former villagers lost their occupations and incomes and roamed the void decks aimlessly liked lost souls.
So, what the bloody hell are our leaders doing all these?
patriot
“So, what the bloody hell are our leaders doing all these?”
I dunno. But to illustrate an example… my family moved to yishun 18 years ago. Back then there are many empty plots of land, just covered with grass. On the URA map, there are supposed to be flats built on these lands. Till now the lands are still unused, except for the occasional remote controlled helicopter hobbyist on weekends. Not that I’m complaining, we got nice wind and good view which otherwise would have been blocked have there been buildings. I think all these is probably somewhat linked to HDB as well.
anybody knows how to get there? please help, i really wanna go there and take a look.
i’ve never been to a kampong, it’s unfortunate that my first one will also be my last.
I would like to ask,
Is this the last kampong left in Singapore? Till now, has it been demolished? because im doing a project on the conservation in Singapore. thanks!
I just went last week. it is still there. I also discovered a new village sprouting out in Lower seletar reservoir. Isn’t it enlightening to know how some Singaporeans are trying to revive the old singapore. I spoke to the people there and it seemed to me that it is not just the landscape but the attitudes that they are most concerned about. They simply missed the old Singaporean. The one that all the courtesy and Kindness campaign could not bring back.
Some citizens complaining that they can get HDB flats… Now land going to be used for redevelopment, you start making so much noise! What do you want?