Xianglin's reflection

Personal Experience

The heritage trail to kampong glam was definitely a whole new experience for me. Frankly speaking, I have never really venture around the kampong glam area before. I was fortunate to be able to explore this area with my group mates, who are from the Malay community and hence much more familiar with the area.

As the only Chinese member, I was filled with apprehension of doing anything that might seem inappropriate or offensive inside the mosque. It was my first time stepping inside a Mosque and I even followed my group mates to the washing area (where they had to wash and clean up before prayer). I was at a loss, unsure of what to do and I tried to imitate whatever they were doing. I think I must have looked really silly then. Though I did not participate in the actual praying ceremony, I did take a look at the prayer hall after it. The entire place felt sacred and the first thought that I had was that it is much cleaner and orderly than the Chinese temples. The Malays treat their mosque with respect and the dress codes and conducts are strictly adhere to. The sultan mosque is a national monument and many tourists are seen around the area.

I have to admit I learnt a lot from this heritage trail. Before, I did not have the slightest idea that Sultan Mosque was named due to Sultan Hussein, and he is being buried there. Initially, we also couldn’t figure out what was interesting about the dome (goes to show how unobservant we are). After finding out the black area below the domes was actually made up of soya sauce bottle, we were all amaze at the discovery. I was also surprised to note that there was a Muslim cemetery in the city area and that some of the streets were named due to the heavy Arab influence in Kampong Glam. The trail allows me to see the area in a whole new light.

How far is conservation and commercial reuse of historical sites in Singapore successful in preserving our historical heritage?

Without the heritage trail, I would probably never visit some of the places, much less find out about the historical background of the area. Through this trip, I can see the conscious effort of the government to conserve some of the buildings through including them as national monuments and efforts to restore or revamp the structures. Traditional shophouses and buildings also remained and converted into commercial establishments such as restaurants, shops and others. But this is just one side of the story.

Looking more carefully, out of the list of places we visited, only two are categorized as national monuments. Among others, some were already torn down (Pondok Java), burnt down (Lee Loy Hin Blacksmith), converted (from Istana Kampong Glam to Malay Heritage Centre), some were not taken proper care of, and looks like would be non-existent in the future (Kubor Muslim Cemetery). Preservation of the historical sites is important for future generations (like us) to discover more about the area and history. Yet practical considerations have transformed the area to a tourism attraction, perhaps pretending to retain some of its original authenticity to draw the crowds. Only certain ‘spots’ in the map, instead of the entire street can be considered as historical sites. For example, the shops dominating the region around the sultan mosque are selling souvenirs targeted at tourists. Also, only the two national monuments have information regarding its past and origins, others with equally rich historical background, seem to be long forgotten by people. I feel that what they manage to conserve is only the exterior of the place and not the history and spirit of the area.

It seems as if locals actually have no interest in the history of the places we live in. The majority of the crowd there seems to be going for prayers, shopping or eating. Except for the tourists and us, no one actually bothered to go to the heritage museum. Interestingly, we came across a tour group when we were doing our trail. Out of curiosity, I approached the tour guide and asked him if he knew the presence of a Lee Loy Hin blacksmith shop in the vicinity. He was busy asking the tour group to buy-this, buy-that and was taken aback when I questioned him. So, all he did was say, “Why do you want to know about that? Later later, go look around the shop.” Apparently, he knew nothing much about kampong glam. It disturbs me that the tour guide knew nothing about the historical background of the place. The presence of kampong glam seems to serve as a symbol to attract tourists to go there and spend money, instead of sharing our rich and colourful history of Singapore to others. What good is the National Monuments conserved when people know nothing about them?

To top it off, the visitsingapore website describes the Sultan Mosque and the site of the old Istana Kampong Glam as “they all carry an air of royalty from the past”, “The building and architecture has been meticulously restored to retain its flavour and authenticity”. I find this highly dubious especially after visiting the sites for myself. As far as I can tell, there was nothing ‘authentic’ nor really ‘from the past’. I guess what our government has preserved is not our historical heritage but our tourism industry?