Erasing the countryside

The winds of change that are blowing through the area around the area of Bah Soon Pah Road seem to be gathering pace. Long an area in which the march of urbanisation was resisted, it has started to take on the appearance of a site being prepared for the inevitable spread of public housing in Singapore’s relentless quest to overpopulate and overbuild an already overcrowded and overly concretised island nation.

The former Bukit Sembawang assistant plantation manager’s residence near the entrance to Bah Soon Pah Road in 2021.

I am thankful that I had the opportunity to have known the area in its previous form. Located off a section of Sembawang Road that I first set eyes on in the early 1970s, it was set for much of the time that I knew it across a green and rolling landscape that in spite of several changes over the course of half a century, has long had that feel of the countryside. Seeing it The many drives that I was taken on and have myself taken over the years brought great joy to me, as did the escapes that I found in the space whenever I took a long walk through it.

A recent view from Lorong Chencharu towards the bungalow, with clearance work in the foreground.

As frequent and necessary as change may be in Singapore, it is hard to grow accustomed to it. When change does come, it can often be swift and cruel. Not only does change erase that sense of familiarity one has with a space in the blink of an eye, it can break a bond that one may have developed with the space over a course of several decades. This seems to also be the case with the Bah Soon Pah Road area in the sense of the rather abrupt manner that change is taking place as it is being readied for its next chapter as a residential area.

Bah Soon Pah Road no more, August 2022.

Named after the illustrious Lim Nee Soon and originally constructed to serve as a access road to a government holiday bungalow, there have been several iterations in Bah Soon Pah Road’s transformation over the years. Besides being closely associated with the Bukit Sembawang estate by virtue of the prominent placed bungalow that served as its assistant plantation manager’s residence, the area also played host to Malaysian military establishments, a field experimental station, rubber plantations and more recently, farms and plant nurseries.

Nurseries along Bah Soon Pah Road, August 2021.

The spread of what will presumably be an extension to Yishun town, extends to the area now occupied by Orto leisure park and Kampung Kampus and several tropical fish farms in the area south of Bah Soon Pah Road by Lorong Chencharu. Based on a Straits Times report published on 7 August 2022, both Orto and Kampung Kampus will have until June 2023 to operate at their current premises. Judging from reactions amongst members of the public to the news, it seems quite clear that spaces such as these are of great value to many. They provide a much needed and location friendly alternative to the cramped, confined, very concrete and rather infuriating leisure and recreational spaces found in malls and integrated complexes in which one can’t seem to escape from the madness that Singapore has become.

Kampung Kampus at Lorong Chencharu, which will closed by June 2023.

Orto is not only a welcome place of escape, the sight commuters on the MRT line from and to Khatib MRT Station catch of it, breaks the monotony of the journey.

Another change that is already altering the face of the area is the construction of the North-South Corridor, a new expressway that will carry traffic from Singapore’s north to the city centre, the northern part of which will be carried on a viaduct up to the Marymount area after which it will run underground. The widening of roads over which the viaduct will run is already being taking place. This is in order to divert traffic onto whilst the viaduct is being built. Preparations for this are well underway along the stretch of Sembawang Road by Bah Soon Pah Road, where the viaduct will run over before it turns toward Lentor Avenue and before long, a road that I knew for half a century will be quite unrecognisable.

A harbinger of change: hoardings being erected along Sembawang Road in November 2021 in preparation for the widening of the road to allow the North South Corridor viaduct to be built.

One consolation is all of this is that the area to Sembawang Road’s west, the site of Sembawang Air Base, will remain relatively uncluttered. Interestingly, evidence of the air base’s links with the Admiralty, having been develop to serve the fleet air arm, can be found in a few Admiralty land boundary markers placed along Sembawang Road. Hopefully these will survive the construction of the viaduct along Sembawang Road and remain in situ to at least tell the story. The story is part of a greater and more important story of the huge naval base that provided employment and made a significant contribution to the pre-Independence Singapore economy that to this very day has left a mark on the Sembawang area.

An Admiralty land boundary marker.

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Lorong Chencharu

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URA Master Plan 2019 identifies the area as a future residential site subject to detailed planning.

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Views around Bah Soon Pah Road, mostly from August 2021:

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Views around Lorong Chencharu, Orto, Kampung Kampus and Sembawang Road, in August 2022:

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Putting a chill into Chong Pang City

I never thought I will admit to this but I shall miss the old market at “Chong Pang City” when it goes. The old market will go sometime around 2027, when it is scheduled to move into a soulless new age all-in-one integrated development now coming up in place of a former community club building and a low-rise block of flats that both were recently acquired and demolished.

A queue for roasted meat

Chong Pang City, which counts as Nee Soon (later Yishun) New Town’s very first neighbourhood centre, acquired its name in 1993, when shopkeepers banded together to rebrand the place in response to the opening of Northpoint shopping mall. The development of the neighbourhood had taken place several years earlier, having been built over a period spanning seven years, from 1977 to 1984. When development first started, much of its surroundings were occupied by cemetery land, farms and on the side of Chong Pang Camp opposite it, fishing ponds and vegetable plots. Leaving its rural past behind the area, around where Chye Kay Village was located, very quickly took on the vibe of a neighbourhood centre typical of any new public housing town built in the era. The market, which was completed in 1984 as one of the last old-style wet markets built by the Housing and Development Board (HDB), became one of its draws, and is today one of the more lively marketplaces.

The Pork Section.

The marketplace at Chong Pang City — I use the word “marketplace” because much of the surroundings in the immediate vicinity of the market, such as the kiosks, commercial units, plazas and pedestrian malls, contributes to the special buzz of Chong Pang’s market. A wide range of produce is available at the market with traders catering to the various segments of the neighbourhood’s population, and this also draws many from further afield. And now, even in the age of supermarkets, online shopping and dining out, the marketplace continues to have a buzz that makes it one of Singapore’s liveliest market places.

A new day at the marketplace.

To me, Chong Pang’s market is one of the places that make Singapore, Singapore, and it is sad to think that this rather unique side of us will in five years or so be a thing of the past. Change, of course, is inevitable in a Singapore that moves much too fast, and we don’t seem to have much of a choice with this with work on the oddly but maybe aptly named integrated development, “Chill @ Chong Pang”, is already underway. Once completed, the “Chill” will literally take Chong Pang to new levels and put a chill on Chong Pang City.

Fruits and vegetables are also sold in the shops in the vicinity of the market.

Stacked onto Chill’s multiple tiers with the wet market will be a community club, a food centre, a swimming complex, gyms, fitness studios, banks, eateries, community spaces and shops. What Chill will also have is an outer garment of vertical greenery that can only be maintained with much effort, and possibly a green roof to enhance its green credentials. All nice and good, but the how of fitting all that is comfortably, and with a setting that is conducive for market shopping, can only be seen in five years time.

Fresh fish is available at the market’s many fishmongers.

Integrated developments have been around for quite a while, and they do take some getting used to. These developments almost invariably seem to have constraints of space and there is never enough around key access points, intended waiting areas and even around lift landings and getting from one level to the next, is often not a pleasant experience. Closed-in markets are also not the most pleasant of places to do one’s marketing in and while it may be a thing of the future, it isn’t something that I will be looking forward to.

Another fishmonger’s stall.

Stalls / shops in the vicinity of the market.

A roasted meat seller.

A shrine outside the market.

A fruit seller.

Crowds during the lockdown led to further crowd control measures being implemented for entry to the market.

Another scene during the lockdown.

The calm before the storm. The former Community Club on the right, which was demolished, forms part of the site for Chill @ Chong Pang.

Another shrine, this one behind the market.

The marketplace.

An Egg dealer.

More fishy business.

Yishun and its links to a 1847 secret society attack off Batam

Yishun is a satellite town in modern Singapore with a reputation for being in the news for the wrong reasons. It does seem that this may also have been the case in its earliest days — at least as the settlement that the town traces its roots to. The settlement would eventually to be known as “Nee Soon”, Yishun’s name in Teochew and the name of a since-erased village that through its association with the illustrious Lim Nee Soon in the early 20th century, was named after him.

Yishun, on the left bank of what is today Lower Seletar Reservoir. The reservoir was created through the construction of a dam across the mouth of Sungei Seletar.

Located on what could be thought of as the left bank of Sungei Seletar — now Lower Seletar Reservoir, Yishun occupies one of several riverine areas of Singapore that attracted pioneering pepper and gambier planters in Singapore’s earliest days as a East India Company factory (or some say even before). The early planters were almost exclusively from the Teochew dialect group, and had links to the secret societies whose assistance and protection were essential to survival in the early days. The secret societies were however, also a constant source of trouble, with violence often being used as a means towards resolving disputes.

A beautiful sight along the Springleaf Park Connector, this now spruced up upper section of the Sungei Seletar permitted the area to be accessed and provided for its development for gambier and pepper cultivation.

In 1847, the discovery of six boats armed with cannons along with a huge cache of arms in a plantation by Sungei Seletar by a police party, led to them to the arrest of Neo Yang Kwan (Neo Liang Quan). Neo, who was described to have been of “doubtful character”, had come over from the Riau islands and was affiliated with Ngee Heng Kongsi, a Teochew secret society. It was also discovered that he had been behind a well planned and brutal attack on plantations on Galang Island south Batam from Singapore just prior to the discovery, which resulted in the destruction of twenty-eight plantations and the violent deaths of over a hundred.

Still waters do run deep.
It was in a plantation by the river that a cache of arms and cannon-armed boats belonging to a Secret Society affiliated Teochew planter were discovered by the police in 1847. The weapons and boats were apparently used in a brutal reprisal attack on an island off Batam.

Neo’s exit from the plantation scene, possibly after he was taken into custody, nor the issue of land titles that J T Thomson’s 1846 survey of Singapore’s interior provided for, did little to end the disputes that were often over control of land. The first land title that was taken up was in fact related to the area in which Neo had his plantation. Allocated to another Teochew man by the name of Chan Ah Lak in 1850, the settlement came to be known as Chan Chu Kang (曾厝港) [chu kangs (厝港) were river clan settlements that were established up several rivers in Singapore].

Locations of Kangkars (riverside landing areas) and Bangsals (plantation plots) related to chu kangs in Singapore in 1885 (source: Chinese Agricultural Pioneering in Singapore and Johore)

Chan, who seemed well connected and of apparently good standing, was another who was affiliated with Ngee Heng Kongsi. Among the contributions he made was a sum of money that went towards the construction of the temple of literature, Chong Wen Ge, at Telok Ayer Street. As with his predecessor, Neo, Chan cultivated gambier and pepper, on his land allocation, which amounted to some 44 acres (17.8 ha).

A gambier plantation, c. 1900.

Despite the legitimacy of land occupation that the land title offered, secret society activities continued and continued to be a source of trouble. The anti-Catholic disturbances in 1851, during which Catholic owned plantation were targeted, was an example of this. Although not directly affecting Chan Chu Kang, an outcome of this would be the erection of a police thannah (a station or outpost) in Chan Chu Kang that same year. The presence of the thannah however, did little to prevent Chan Chu Kang from being drawn into an even more serious disturbance in 1854 that would leave some four to five hundred dead across Singapore and over three hundred houses destroyed. Remote areas, including Chan Chu Kang, were especially badly affected, and reports had a number of ”wholesale murders” along with the burning of homes taking place at Chan Chu Kang.

An 1865 Map of Singapore showing locations of settlements such as Chan Chu Kang.

While the apparent trigger for the riots may have been a dispute over the price of rice between a Teochew buyer and a Hokkien shopkeeper, tensions between the two dominant Chinese communities had been brewing for some time. Reasons for the rift were wide ranging and included control of gambier and pepper plantations, into which the Hokkiens were making inroads. An influx of an unusually large number of Chinese fleeing China in the wake of the Small Sword Society’s uprising in 1853 together with the disputes that arose over contributions between the two communities to the effort to oust the Qing emperor could also be added to this mix.

A poster depicting the Small Sword Society’s uprising in Shanghai (source: https://chineseposters.net/posters/e37-374)

The troubles in Chan Chu Kang, did not end with the quelling of the riots. On the basis of newspaper articles throughout much of the 1800s and early 1900s, murders, riots, instances of arson, fights between members of rival secret societies or communities and break-ins kept the police thannah very especially busy. Chan Chu Kang’s transformation into Nee Soon Village, which followed Lim Nee Soon’s establishing a rubber processing plant in the village around 1912 and his subsequent purchase of the estate, did little to stop news of murder and crime being reported with regularity.

Besides rubber, Lim Nee Soon’s ventures in the area also included pineapple cultivation and canning. This, together with its location at a three-way junction, made Nee Soon village a significant rural centre for the agricultural north of Singapore. Its position would be further augmented with the development of Singapore as a military garrison from the late 1920s. Not only was huge naval base built at the end of Chan Chu Kang / Seletar Road, which passed through Nee Soon, the village would also benefit from the construction of Nee Soon Barracks late in the 1930s. At the same time, a fully equipped post office was also added to the village late in 1939.

Not long after the construction of the barracks was completed, it became the scene of a murder. In March 1941, an Indian soldier with the Royal Artillery quartered in the camp’s H-Block was brutally killed with a machete. A suspect, a fellow soldier, was charged for the murder but was acquitted. War and occupation was on the horizon, during which time Nee Soon Camp become a POW camp for British Indian Army soldiers.

A view down Transit Road towards Nee Soon Village in the 1960s (David Ayres on Flickr).

The end of the war in 1945, saw Nee Soon Barracks turned into a holding camp for Dutch and Javanese refugees, and as No.1 British Transit Camp transit camp for demobolised military personnel being sent home. Its role as a transit camp would continue, serving for personnel and their families arriving from Britain (hence the name Transit Road). Just before the British pullout in 1971, it became a camp for the Royal New Zealand Army. Australian units, were housed in it as part of the ANZUK force deployed in Singapore post-British-pull-out, after which it became the Singapore Armed Forces’ School of Basic Military Training (SBMT) from 1975. All through this post-war period, murders, gangland activities, and violent crime, continued to make the news — even as the village was being vacated in the early 1980s.

Today, little is left to remind us of a place whose very colourful and eventful modern chapter in its history goes back to the early 1800s. The much altered camp is still around, as its the former post office. The building that house the post office, could be thought of as quite literally having gone to the dogs, having been repurposed as a veterinary clinic. At least it is still there. Also in the area is Springleaf Nature Park. The beautifully spruced-up waterway that is a feature of the park and of the Springleaf Park Connector, could be thought of as a reminder of the waterway that first brought settlement to the area. The use of the former village’s name for the new town does also provide a connection to the past, although this comes through a difficult to relate to and rather different sounding “Yishun”. The physical displacement of the place name by several kilometres, and the subsequent use of the name “Springleaf” to describe the area of the former village, does however, minimise that link that the area has with its colourful and somewhat eventful past.

The sun rises in Singapore’s north

A collection of 51 photographs taken at sunrise that show that the north may have some of the best spots in Singapore to greet the new day.

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Sunrise, Selat Tebrau (Straits of Johor), 6.54 am, 16 April 2016.

Sunrise over Beaulieu Jetty, 6.41am, 7 May 2016.

Through the trees at Gambas Avenue, 7.08 am, 18 February 2012.

Greeting the new day, Sembawang Park, 17 April 2016.

Silhouettes at Kampong Wak Hassan, 6.35 am, 25 May 2014.

The angry sky over Beaulieu Jetty, 6.55 am, 16 April 2016.

Sunrise, through the incoming Sumatras, 6.30 am, 28 May 2016.

Colours of the forgotten shore, 6.47 am, 24 July 2013.

A sunrise through the storm, 7.09 am, 9 June 2013.

Solitude, Kampong Wak Hassan, 22 May 2013.

The rising sun over the strait, 7.11 am, 30 March 2013.

Over the strait, 6.41am, Christmas Day 2014.

Colours of the morning, Lower Seletar Reservoir, 6.34 am, 18 December 2013.

Colours of the morning, Kampong Tengah, 6.55 am 30 March 2013.

Rising of the sun, the straits, 7.00 am, 31 May 2013.

Colours after the storm, 6.43 am, 9 October 2013.

Light through the darkness, 7.03 am, 18 August 2013.

The early harvest, 6.47 am, 2 May 2013.

The seawall, 7.02 am, 2 February 2013.

The rising sun over Pasir Gudang, 6.58 am, 21 November 2013.

Light rays, 6.50 am, 24 June 2012.

Dark and light, 6.45 am, 7 June 2014.

Walking on water, 6.44 am, 14 June 2014.

First light, the forgotten shore, 6.25 am, 15 June 2014.

Red clouds over the straits, 6.55 am, 22 June 2012.

The rising sun through the haze, 7.09am, 21 June 2012.

Morning glow, 7.19 am, 22 December 2012.

Sunrise over Mandai, 6.51 am, 3 October 2013.

Colours of the new day, 6.54 am, 5 June 2014.

The bench, 6.45 am, 7 June 2014.

The bench, 6.31 am, 8 June 2014.

The incoming tide, 7.14 am, 14 June 2014.

Happy campers at sunrise, 6.45 am, 19 June 2014.

A pastel shaded morning, 6.22 am, 31 May 2014.

The cyclist, 6.38 am, 30 May 2015.

The fisherman, 6.36 am, 5 June 2015.

The finger pier, Sembawang Shipyard, 6.41am, 9 June 2015.

Pretty in pink, 6.22am, 1 June 2015.

On the jetty, 6.52 am, 28 February 2015.

The beach, 6.22 am, 28 March 2015.

Tossing the trap, 7.02 am, 1 March 2015.

The last trees of the Sungei Seletar mangrove forest, 7.06 am, 26 May 2016.

Dreamy morning, 6.39 am, 24 November 2014.

Three’s company, 6.36 am, 13 November 2014.

The sun rises on a changing landscape, 6.52 am, 30 October 2014.

The new world, 6.55 am, 21 November 2014.

Bubu man, 6.49 am, 13 November 2014.

The rising sun, 6.50 am, 24 November 2014.

Play, 6.53 am, 24 November 2014.

Under the clouds, 22 November 2013.

Over the last forested hill, 9 July 2016, 6.24 am.

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The full moon of Panguni

The full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni paints the Sembawang area with the colours of a Hindu festival, Panguni Uthiram, celebrated by the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple. The celebration of the festival, which involves a street procession of kavadis, is a tradition that dates back to 1967 during the days of the British Naval Base.

The temple back then was off Canberra Road within the base and the procession took a route from the laundry shop at the junction of Canberra and Ottawa Roads, down Canberra Road, left into Dehli Road and into Kowloon Road, before continuing back up Canberra Road, ending at the temple.

The procession this year, as with the one last year, took a shortened route from Canberra Drive, down Canberra Lane to Canberra Link and to Yishun Industrial Park A. Now surrounded by the obvious signs of urbanisation and change, the procession now has a very different feel to it than it did in the good old days.

More information on the celebration, as well as some photographs of the celebration of the festival at its original site, can be found at the following links on the temple’s website:

• http://www.holytreebalasubramaniar.com.sg/special-significant-events/panguni-uthiram/
• http://www.holytreebalasubramaniar.com.sg/about-us/archives/# 

Posts and photographs from the celebrations of the previous years’ that I managed to catch can be found at the following links:

• Panguni Uthiram 2015: Panguni Uthiram 2015 in photos
• Panguni Uthiram 2014: Colours of April
• Panguni Uthiram 2013: The Silver Chariot returns
• Panguni Uthiram 2012: The sun rises on a Sembawang tradition
• Panguni Uthiram 2011: A lesser known Hindu festival with a Kavadi procession

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More photographs from Panguni Uthiram 2016

The end point was at the temporary temple as the temple building is being rebuilt and will only be ready later this year.

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Northern Singapore’s chariot procession

Colouring the evening in a prelude to the Hindu celebration of Panguni Uthiram in Singapore is the procession of the silver chariot. Carrying the image of Lord Murugan, it makes a journey from the Sree Maha Mariamman Temple to the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple, stopping at designated points along the way to allow devotees to make offerings of fruit, flowers and incense. The festival proper, which features a kavadi procession similar to Thaipusam, follows on the day of the full moon and is a tradition in the Sembawang area that goes back to the latter days of Her Majesty’s Naval Base.

For photographs of Panguni Uthiram 2016, please visit this link: The Full Moon of Panguni.

Light in the darkness

Light in the darkness after the storm, 6.41 am, Lower Seletar Reservoir, 28 May 2014.

Celebrating a new day in an old world made new

The celebration of the new day as seen in the relatively new world at Lower Seletar Reservoir Park.

6.33 am

Work on the reservoir, formed by the damming of the Sungei Seletar estuary, was completed in the late 1985. The construction of the 975 metre long dam at a cost of some S$60.8 million, cut off a river around which the Nee Soon area developed and with which is an association with the indigenous community of sea dwellers known as the Orang Seletar.

6.53 am

The dam now provides a link between what is today the Yishun (the public housing estate named after Nee Soon) area of Singapore with the Seletar area and has created a reservoir with a surface area of some 352 hectares. The reservoir was originally named as the Sungei Seletar Reservoir, and was renamed in May 1992.

7.06 am

7.09 am

7.09 am

Raising the flag on Guru Nanak Jayanti

The Sikh holy day of Guru Nanak Jayanti commemorating the birth anniversary of the first Guru and the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, is celebrated by the Sikh community during the full moon in the month of Kartik. This year’s celebration took place on 17 November and I had the opportunity to observe the festivities at the Sikh temple in Yishun, the Gurdwara Sahib Yishun.

The commemoration of festivities at gurdwaras or Sikh temples often sees the appearance of sword wielding armed guards who represent the Five Beloved Ones.

The festival, is said to be one of the most sacred in the Sikh religion. As with all festivals that is celebrated in the Sikh religion, it is one that is involves the entire community, involving prayers offered in the morning, the singing of hymns and the sharing of a meal at the gurdwara or Sikh temple.

The Darbar Sahib or prayer hall.

The highlight of yesterday’s celebration at the Gurdwara Sahib Yishun, was the raising of a new flag. The flag, the sacred Sikh religious flag, known as the Nishan Sahib, is traditionally flown on a tall flagpole outside the gurdwara. This serves to identify the location of the gurdwara as it is flown in such a manner that it can be seen from afar.

Inside the prayer hall or Darbar Sahib.

Sweet pudding is distributed after prayers.

The five beloved ones at the flagpole.

It was with much ceremony that the old flag is lowered and the new flag raised. With the community gathered around, together with five saffron robed sword wielding guards (who represent the Panj Pyaras or the five beloved ones) prominent at the base of the flagpole (and throughout the religious part of the observances), the flagpole is lowered so the the old flag can be removed and the the flagpole prepared to receive the new sacred flag by washing with water and milk. 

The lowering of the flagpole.

Washing the flagpole.

All hands to the flagpole.

Milk is also used in the washing.

A new flag is attached.

With the flagpole washed, the new flag is then attached to it and its is with much jubilation that the flagpole and the flag is then raised. Following the raising of the pole, members of the community stream around its base, placing flowers and offering prayers. The members of the community then head back up to the Darbar Sahib or prayer hall for the singing of hymns, with the morning’s festivities culminating in the sharing of a community meal – a practice that is central to all Sikh celebrations.

Raising of the new flag.

The new flag is raised.

Singing of hymns.

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About the Gurdwara Sahib Yishun:

The Gurdwara Sahib Yishun which opened on 27 August 1995 traces its origins to two gurdwaras located in Singapore north which merged when the land on which they stood was acquired for redevelopment. The two were the Gurdwara Sahib Guru Khalsa Sabha Sembawang (Sembawang Sikh Temple) and the Gurdwara Sahib Jalan Kayu, both of which are connected with the establishment of bases by the British military in the 1930s.

The Sembawang Sikh Temple had it origins in the British Naval Base, being set up in 1936 in the settlement outside the base which later became known as Chong Pang Village  to serve the Sikh community involved in the construction of the base, and later workers in the base as well as Sikh members of Naval Base Police (who has their barracks at View Road).

The Gurdwara Sahib Jalan Kayu, traces its origins to the Sikh community which came to the area to serve in the RAF Seletar Police Force who set up a temple in their barracks in the 1930s. The Gurdwara Sahib Jalan Kayu itself was set up in the village just outside the air base after the war in 1947 when the Police Force was disbanded.

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The Silver Chariot returns

A set of photographs taken stop points along the procession route of the Silver Chariot. The procession takes place on the eve of the festival of Hindu festival of Panguni Uthiram which is celebrated on the full moon of the Tamil month of Panguni. Since 1967, a kavadi procession, similar to that during the more well known Thaipusam festival, has taken place in the Sembawang area, organised by the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple. The temple was original established in the Naval Base off Canberra Road and moved to its current location at Yishun Industrial Park A in 1996. The chariot is a representation of the chariot in which Lord Murugan or Lord Balasubramaniar is believed to use on his annual visit to his devotees on Earth. The procession this year takes place along a new route starting at a vacant plot of land off Canberra Lane / Canberra Drive. Photographs of the preparations for kavadi bearers from the previous years as well as more information on the festival can be found on two of my previous posts: A lesser known Hindu festival with a Kavadi procession: Panguni Uthiram (2011) and The sun rises on a Sembawang tradition.

Singapore’s first multiplex closes for renovations and PCK came to look-see

The 11th of August had a lot to do with renovations and “Singapore’s favourite contractor”, Phua Chu Kang. Somehow, the day had started with the sight of him, and ended with the sight of him, not what one might think of a perfect day. The “Life” section of the morning’s newspaper had actually carried a photograph of PCK, as he is fondly referred to, with a caption urging him to hang his bright yellow boots up. In his article in Life which the large photograph and the less than flattering caption had referred to, John Lui had in fact given the lowdown on PCK, suggesting even that PCK should have ideally been involved in a fatal construction site accident. I guess this would have easily drawn my attention to the article, not having been much of a fan of PCK, but with an date with the “best in Singapore and JB and some say Batam” looming that evening at the GV Yishun (Yishun 10) renovation launch, I was more than interested in what John Lui had to say.

PCK arriving at Yishun 10 ... bright yellow boots and all!

Well, we all know that PCK is in fact a fictional character from the 1990s vintage local sitcom, PCK Pte Ltd, played convincing by actor Gurmit Singh, and John Lui was not harbouring any murderous intent and was in fact referring to the plot for the movie, Phua Chu Kang The Movie, which was to be screened at cinemas in Singapore the following day. I don’t really know if it was planned, or by some sheer coincidence, Yishun 10, having served the public for some 18 years since its opening in 1992 was to screen its last movie that evening before closing for some 3 months for extensive renovations. It seemed that it was a brilliant from a publicity viewpoint, that GV decided to have a GV Yishun Renovation Party that evening and engage the services of the man in the yellow boots.

GV Yishun held a renovation party to commemorate it's last screening before being closed for extensive renovations.

GV Yishun screened its last movie before its makeover on 11 Aug 2010.

I know that GV Yishun had turned a little grimy of late, but when it opened in May 1992, it represented a landmark in the cinema industry here in Singapore, being Singapore’s (and probably Asia’s) very first multiplex (somehow we refer to these as a cineplex these days). When the idea was conceived, Singapore had been dominated by the single screen cinemas of old, where everything was run very much in the old scheme of things. Tickets were bought over the counter at the Box Office, and seats were manually assigned, with patrons selecting them from a laminated cardboard plan at the counter and the Box Office clerk would then scribble the seat numbers onto the tickets with a chinagraph. The appearance of Yishun 10, looking as if it was a rocket ship that had dropped out of the sky onto the newly developed Yishun New Town (it was designed to look like a rocket ship that had landed in Yishun by the architect, Mr. Geoff Melone), changed all that, also bringing with it some futuristic concepts which included computerised ticketing that we now take for granted.

GV Yishun on its opening day in May 1992 ... it was designed to look like a rocket ship that had landed in Yishun by the architect, Mr. Geoff Melone (Photo provided by GV during the Renovation Party).

Yishun 10 was developed by a joint venture between Golden Harvest of Hong Kong and Village Roadshow from Australia, the then newly formed Golden Village, and there was much fanfare that accompanied its construction, with even Jackie Chan on hand to launch the final phase of construction and Carina Lau officiating at the opening ceremony. Featuring 10 cinema auditoriums, the multiplex revolutionised movie going in Singapore, giving audiences a choice of what to watch in a single location, and was seen to be a phenomenal success. It also set the benchmark for the industry, bringing with it plush carpets and much more comfortable seating, rendering the existing single and two screen cinemas unfashionable almost overnight.

Jackie Chan had a hand in launching the final phase of construction for Yishun 10.

Carina Lau photographed with Edmund Chen at the opening ceremony.

Now, some 18 years later, Yishun 10 has closed its doors, and for the three months it will remain closed, it will undergo a much needed extreme makeover (it is scheduled to reopen on 3 Nov 2010). To commemorate this occasion, GV somehow thought of this great idea to throw a renovation party, which turned out to be a whole load of fun for everyone present. Guests were first treated to a movie: Phua Chu Kang being the one I watched – a perfect choice, not so much for the movie itself, but that it fit the theme so well. Along with this, we could view an interesting “My Memories of Yishun 10” exhibition that provided much of the historical information contained in this post. There was also some interesting memories and memorabilia on display … transporting us back in time to the early days of the cineplex (which somehow doesn’t seem that long ago).

Memories of Yishun 10.

The best was yet to come though … after the movie, guests were also treated to the appearance of the contractor who claims to be the “best in Singapore and JB”, bright yellow boots and all, and his wife Rosie to add some fun to the whole evening. Next, was the highlight for many … a chance to take a piece of GV Yishun home at its a Demolition Hall … there was lots to grab, limited to one piece a person. Many were taken by the movie posters and movie poster stand ups … I am not sure how the guests who took the stand ups actually got them home … while it may not actually have been a perfect evening … with some initial poor crowd control at the demolition hall, I guess for some … it might have been a perfect evening.

Singapore's favourite contractor made an appearance with Rosie.

Guests were allowed to take home a piece of Yishun 10 at a demolition hall.

The crowd eagerly waiting to go into the demolition hall.

Inside the demolition hall.

Making a getaway with her loot! I wonder how she managed to get that home?

The proud new owners of a piece each of Yishun 10.

A final look at the Yishun 10 as it was: