Welcome to SOS Bukit Brown – Save Our Singapore!

This website was created by a group of ordinary Singaporeans who firmly believe that Bukit Brown Cemetery should be kept intact. Everyone is most welcome to join in our common effort, & we wish to complement all other existing efforts by the Singapore Heritage Society, Nature Society (Singapore), Asia Paranormal Investigators, Bukit Brown Facebook groups & many others. For more information on who we are, please read [About Us].

1) Please sign our petition to save Bukit Brown 100%. In our open letter to the government, we have elaborated on the following:

• Bukit Brown is an invaluable historical site for a young nation seeking to define itself.
• Bukit Brown is a necessary green lung and wildlife sanctuary for a sustainable city.
• Bukit Brown can become a heritage park and public space enjoyed by all Singaporeans and visitors.

We aim to collect 100,000 names – one for each grave in Bukit Brown Cemetery. Please help to spread the word! Click on [Action > Sign Our Petition] for more details.

2) You can write to our Ministers and Members of Parliament to voice your opinion on protecting Bukit Brown from the bulldozers. Click on [Action > Write a Letter] for more details.

3) You can like the SOS Bukit Brown Fanpage and tell your friends to do so too. [Action > Like Fanpage > Volunteer]. You can be informed of volunteer opportunities to help with the cause.

4) Unfortunately, the petition is currently only in English & Mandarin. Sorry! We are looking for people who can help translate the petition into Malay & Tamil. Please contact us at sosbukitbrown@gmail.com if you can help. Thank you!

5) If you are an economist/ sociologist/ architect/ civil engineer/ environmental engineer etc, and are willing & able to do a pro bono public cost-benefit analysis of Bukit Brown’s proposed destruction, please contact us at sosbukitbrown@gmail.com. As far as we know, this has not been done, or at least not made public. This would definitely help add perspective to the current debate.

For more information and other related sites, please see our [FAQ] or [Blogroll]. Suggestions are most welcome. Thank you!

Rail, not roads, the way of the future in Singapore: Budget 2012

In his recent Budget Speech for 2012, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam stressed that the future of Singapore’s transport system lay with the public rail system. This suggests road-building over Bukit Brown may be a stop-gap solution to a temporary problem.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, enhancing the public transport is “a significant initiative in this year’s Budget.” He went on to begin his discussion of transportation with the statement:

“Reliable and convenient public transport is critical to the quality of daily life for the majority of Singaporeans. When the planned Downtown Line, Tuas West Extension, Thomson Line and Eastern Regional Line are completed in a decade’s time, our rail coverage will be comparable to that of cities with the most developed rail networks today such as New York. We will also have 400,000 housing units within 400 metres of MRT stations, double the number today.”

This is consistent with the LTA 2010 Land Transport Master Plan‘s call to make public rail transport the mode of choice for commuters.

Given the emphasis on rail, why emphasise the destruction of Bukit Brown with the proposed road construction? A temporary gain in easing the commute for some drivers is not worth the permanent loss of natural environment, heritage, and national identity to Singapore. This comes on top of the potential downstream effects of flooding as well as the loss of a green area that can both retain water and act to lower the ambient temperature.

Saving Bukit Brown goes way beyond history lovers and tree huggers. It is about all Singaporeans, past, current, and future.

Singapore Heritage Society Releases Position Paper on Bukit Brown Cemetery

The Singapore Heritage Society makes a great case for preserving Bukit Brown in its entirety. Read the position paper here.

SOS Bukit Brown response to Minister of State’s Note on ‘Bukit Brown… work in Progress’

This gallery contains 3 photos.

In response to Minister of State, Mr. Tan Chuan-Jin’s note posted on Friday, 3 February 2012 at 17:42. SOS Bukit Brown stand by the position of our petition and we reiterate the need for a fundamental review and open dialogue about … Continue reading →

Bukit Brown and Singapore’s Flooding Situation – Possible Linkages

The recently released “Report on Key Conclusions and Recommendations of the Expert Panel on Drainage Design and Flood Protection Measures” notes that Bukit Brown is within the Marine Basin drainage area. This puts it upslope to the flood-prone Bukit Timah and Orchard areas. The Report also attributes part of Singapore’s recent issues with flooding to urbanisation. To date, there appears to be no public information about studies examining how developing Bukit Brown might affect flooding. This data needs to be in the public domain.

For the full report mentioned above, see the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources

Drainage in Singapore

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The New York Times: In Madrid’s Heart, Park Blooms Where a Freeway Once Blighted

December 27, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition of the New York Times. By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN. MADRID — Even on a chilly Thursday afternoon in December, the old men, engulfed in cigar smoke and reading newspapers, were … Continue reading →

Position Paper of the Nature Society (Singapore)’s on Bukit Brown

Thank you to the Nature Society. In addition to setting out the position of the Nature Society on conserving Bukit Brown, the paper includes useful information on BBC as well as some data on government development plans. See: http://www.nss.org.sg/documents/Nature%20Society%27s%20Position%20on%20Bukit%20Brown.pdf

咖啡山

早报 | 201-12-19 给人印象很深的是，有些坟墓看来很新。武吉布朗墓园关闭已数十年，但许多人还是关心自家人在这里的祖坟，定期修葺。咖啡山是新加坡华人历史的一个板块，但也是属于生者的…… 近来报章常说到咖啡山，相关的争论我早已注意到，但一直没有自己去看看；奇怪——咖啡山地处哪里我大约知道，离我家也并不远，但未曾知道山中尚有路径，从车窗看，只能见到一片莽林。 从报上得知，围绕武吉布朗（即咖啡山）那场议论的活跃分子，亦有国大历史系的同事，因此向她打听讯息，上个周末就动身，用自己的眼睛看看。 在网上找到了咖啡山的地图，还记住网民的嘱咐：森林区，穿长裤长袖较合适，戴防晒帽子与矿泉水；另外还买了瓶驱虫剂。只是家里并没有手杖，也不愿意去 买，因而干脆拆开了我们的扫把；太太还抱怨这样子在路上走颇为滑稽，我却置之不理。结果，在深草中探路，或上山下山，扫把柄还是相当管用。 墓园大门很容易找，周日天气格外晴朗，风和日丽，咖啡山毫无阴森气氛，反而是遍地茂密的森林，绿汪汪的许多老树木；阳光从树叶间透出，洒落弯曲的步道， 十分舒畅，不亚于临近的自然保护区。山中大小道路都保养得很好，散步起来很轻松。走了一会，马路上的车声渐渐消失，只听到各种鸟鸣；蝴蝶亦时隐时现，是一 片丰盛大自然。 跟麦里芝蓄水池与武吉知马自然保护区一样，咖啡山区域丘陵多，山间又有低谷，地貌多变，山坡与谷中细流，森林与草坪，一弯一景。山水如此婉妙，一代代华人选择在此下葬，也是不难理解的。 我们这一次到咖啡山，当然想了解其文化意义。武吉布朗最早的坟墓，据说来自19世纪初期；其历史也就涵盖了新加坡的全部历史。今天的咖啡山，靠南边的多为平民的葬地；北边山坡上则是本地豪门家族的坟墓，有许多富于特色的墓葬工艺。 拐进一条小步道，再往上爬，穿越两尺深的草丛，找到了几座工艺特别优秀的坟墓；文字中英双文，两侧是画有南洋风景的瓷砖以及二十四孝浮雕的岩石，左右则矗立着两个水泥锡克武士，充当护卫。坟墓许久没人管理，遍地是枯叶，瓷砖有些已剥落在地，捡起时吓跑了一只蜈蚣。 不远处有另外一座墓引起我们的注意，这里的护卫并非印度士兵，而是五只怪兽——是饕餮，抑或是猫？怪兽同样是水泥制作，贴着许多彩色琉璃瓦片，瓦片多处已 丢失，怪兽形状看不大分明。这原是一位女士的坟墓，41岁逝世，后代为何为她修建如此特别的一座坟墓，今天似乎已无从考究，只能当作咖啡山历史的谜团之 一。 在山间走路，迎面来了一群参观者，而其中便有我历史系的同事。我们便跟着团走，拜访了几位本地名人与商家的坟墓；最大的是富商王三龙之墓，设计浩大，装饰繁复，位于咖啡山最高处，风水最佳的地方。据介绍说，王家的后代都还定期来这里拜祖宗。 给人印象很深的是，有些坟墓看来很新。武吉布朗墓园关闭已数十年，但许多人还是关心自家人在这里的祖坟，定期修葺。咖啡山是新加坡华人历史的一个板块，但也是属于生者的。 快到了中午，走完了一大圈，天也渐渐变热，我们便走回到马路，搭车回家。一路上还在思索这次咖啡山一行的所见所闻。位于岛国中心一带，咖啡山联接着新加坡的过去与现在。咖啡山，既是自然遗产，又是文化遗产。 为什么在这里要修马路？多修马路并不会解决交通问题，而只会吸引更多车辆——类似的经验，许多其他城市早已有过。忽然想起，政府几十年前，有远见而投巨 资填海，修建滨海新区；今人却要用这个最昂贵的地盘，来修建一个人造公园。而武吉布朗原有的自然林区，却要填平来盖别墅？新加坡很爱讲持续性发展：咖啡 山，是自然与人文两方面持续性发展的最佳案例。为何不从此开始？ 编按：目前被人们误称为“咖啡山”的武吉布朗（Bukit Brown）坟场其实原非咖啡山；陆路交通管理局后年要进行的新道路建设工程，受影响的为武吉布朗坟场。