Bukit Brown preservation group surprised by NHB support offer

A group advocating the preservation of Bukit Brown Cemetery says the National Heritage Board (NHB) has offered to support its programmes.

This comes as the cemetery, which holds the graves of pioneering Chinese immigrants to Singapore, was earlier this week included on the 2014 World Monuments Watch list of at-risk sites.

[Take a virtual tour of the Bukit Brown Cemetery in our slideshow here.]

Welcoming the inclusion of the cemetery on the watchlist, All Things Bukit Brown (AtBB) co-founder Catherine Lim told Yahoo Singapore on Thursday, “They (the NHB) also think that Bukit Brown is an important heritage site, and they’ve approached us. They want to support us in our different programmes.”

She said the group was surprised when it got NHB’s call, but described it as a "very positive and encouraging" move. AtBB will work towards engagement with public officers, she added, although its primary focus is more in raising awareness about the cemetery’s cultural value.

Less of a focus will be seeking to change the Ministry of National Development’s decision over the need to exhume more than 4,000 graves at the cemetery to make way for the construction of a 2km dual four-lane road starting early next year, said Lim.

"We are not doing anything about that (the MND's decision). We are just concentrating on our own efforts, and we've revved up efforts now that we're on the listing," she said, noting that they have "gone past that stage of trying to engage the MND".
 
Now that Bukit Brown Cemetery has been included on the 2014 World Monuments Watch, the government could, however, consider making the 221-acre plot of land part of the bid to get wider international recognition for the importance of Botanic Gardens to the city-state, said Lim.
 
She spoke in reference to Singapore's plans to nominate the Botanic Gardens to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation (UNESCO) for listing as a world heritage site.
 
With the World Monuments Watch listing, the first time a site in Singapore has been included, atBB thinks that Bukit Brown and the Gardens, which are located fairly close to each other, could be paired up for a stronger nomination, said Lim.

"What we're saying is there's an opportunity here to relook our application (to UNESCO)," she said. "It has started, but it's going to take two years (to complete), so why not explore? We're offering up an opportunity of a possibility… It's for the government to consider this. I'm not sure whether they actually have considered the actual status that's accorded Bukit Brown being on the list."

All Things Bukit Brown continues its public tours of the site, which you can find out more about here or on their Facebook page here.

Read also:
Why the fuss over Bukit Brown?
‘Bukit Brown meeting never intended to be type of dialogue desired and claimed by these groups’
Take a virtual tour of Bukit Brown