Long-Term Plan Review Phase 2

Dedicated this morning to taking part in a public engagement session (on Zoom) organised by Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), part of a year-long consultation exercise for their Long-Term Plan Review (LTPR). The LTPR is a review of Singapore’s long-term land use plans.

Around 110 of us were divided into groups for breakout sessions, and I was assigned to Group 1, which explored ways and means for Singapore’s built environment to be more inclusive.

Some ideas I shared during the session:

1. Convert open-air carparks in older housing estates into community plazas.

2. Pedestrianise more under-utilised roads in towns, and convert them into civic spaces.

3. Develop “dead” spaces below expressway flyovers.

Some of them could be converted into bus terminals for intra-expressway bus services which can offer a fast connection between towns.

4. New neighbourhoods to incorporate housing blocks of varying heights - 40 storeys, 10 to 15 storeys, two to four storeys.

5. For each housing estate, organise regular migrant worker appreciation nights for residents and migrant workers to bond over meals - a small way to thank the people responsible for maintaining the estate.

Everyone was given ample opportunities to share, and the session was well facilitated. In all, it was a fruitful morning, and I felt I had done my duty as a concerned citizen.

URA’s summary of the results of the session:

Here’s hoping more government agencies similarly engage us with regards to long-term plans - after all, these plans affect each and every one of us who share this island we call home.

Kampong Wak Selat Muslim Cemetery

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon an old Muslim cemetery near Old Choa Chu Kang Road End, what was once the western end of the trunk road known as Choa Chu Kang Road.

Now, I have chanced upon another old Muslim cemetery near Kranji Road End, the northern end of the trunk road that was once Bukit Timah Road-Kranji Road.

This cemetery is tucked away in the small patch of forest between Kranji Loop and Kranji Water Reclamation Plant, next to a small lane called Jalan Wak Selat. The lane is the access road to a carpark serving the ageing JTC flatted factory buildings of 2, 4, and 6 Kranji Loop.

“Wak” means “Uncle” or “Grandfather” in Javanese, an honorific for an elder. “Selat” is Malay for “Straits”. Hence, “Wak Selat” could mean “Uncle of the Straits”, possibly a reference to a community leader of the area, which was near the Straits of Johor.

The place name belonged not just to the road, but a kampung which used to exist around the road.

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Kampong Wak Selat was established just after the end of World War II (1945) at the junction of Kranji Road and the Keretapi Tanah Melayu railway track running to the Woodlands Checkpoint. People could have settled there because it was near two pineapple factories, which would have been a source of employment.

Below is a map of the area in 1961. The village is shaded light blue, Jalan Wak Selat is dark blue, and the railway track is pink. The village’s Muslim cemetery is also marked on the map.

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

Kampong Wak Selat and Jalan Wak Selat made the news in 1972 when the road was metalled. At the time, it was 660 feet long, while the village had a population of 300.

Below is a map of the area in 1970. Again, the village is light blue, while the road is dark blue.

Base picture credit: Survey Department, Singapore.

Kampong Wak Selat made the news again in 1992 and 1993 as its residents were resettled and the village cleared for redevelopment. There were calls for the village to be preserved, but it did not happen.

Below is a map of the area in 1991, just before clearance. By then, Kranji Loop and Blocks 2, 4, and 6 had been built.

Photos were taken of Kampong Wak Selat before and during demolition.

Below is possibly Jalan Wak Selat, running into the village.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Kampung houses.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

The insides of kampung houses.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A makeshift outdoor gym.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A provision shop.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

A football pitch.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

The village surau.

Credit: Courtesy of National Archives of Singapore.

Below is the site today. The railway track was removed after 2011. Most of Jalan Wak Selat and a good part of the former village site have been swallowed by forest. It is possible that remains of the road still lie inside the forest.

Base picture credit: Google Maps.

This is Jalan Wak Selat today - it has been rerouted to run into a carpark, and it does not even have its own signpost.

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At least part of Kampong Wak Selat’s Muslim cemetery, possibly as old as the kampung itself, has survived.

The junction of Kranji Road and Jalan Lam Huat. The cemetery is hidden beyond the trees.

Walking down Kranji Road, I would have missed the cemetery if not for the large sign erected by the authorities.

Beyond the sign...

Most of the surviving graves are nondescript and in various stages of crumbling to nothing.

I wonder as to the stories of the people who are buried here.

Behind some bushes, I discovered a grave that stands apart from the rest in terms of ornateness.

Aminah Ibrahim, died 1945.

According to the 2019 Master Plan, the site of the former village - where the cemetery is today - is a “reserve site”, which means the area should stay as it is for the time being. Madam Aminah and her neighbours can continue resting for now, as they have done so for the last eight decades.

The future of Mount Pleasant

The inevitable has happened - soon, much of the historic Old Police Academy in the Mount Pleasant area will be demolished for an HDB estate.

The Old Police Academy opened in 1929 as the Police Depot, then was renamed the Police Training School (below) in 1945, and the Police Academy in 1969. It was the primary training facility for the Police until the Home Team Academy opened in 2006 at Old Choa Chu Kang Road.

Credit: Remember Singapore.

When plans for Mount Pleasant MRT Station were announced with the rest of the Thomson-East Coast Line in 2012, I already knew the physical heritage of the Mount Pleasant area was on borrowed time.

The arrival of an MRT station to an undeveloped area always means future intensive development - that is the only way the construction of billion-dollar infrastructure can be justified. It is only a matter of time before the development takes place. In the case of the Mount Pleasant area, it will take up to 15 years - the first flats go on sale in five years.

When plans for the 33-hectare HDB estate were released, I hurriedly studied maps showing the layout of development.

Credit: The Straits Times.

Fortunately, it seems effort has been put into ensuring the estate avoids much of the natural heritage of the area. The forest surrounding the colonial bungalows and the Heritage Road known as Mount Pleasant Road will be untouched.

More importantly, the Hokkien cemetery known as Kopi Sua (below) lying to the west of the estate will also be untouched - for now. In fact, the original plan had called for the road network of the estate to cut through the cemetery, but was later revised to allow access via Onraet Road instead, avoiding the cemetery.

I have a keen interest in the fate of Kopi Sua, because my paternal grandfather rests there. For the time being, he - and I - can rest easy.

Looking ahead, there is still the unresolved issue of the Circle Line’s Bukit Brown MRT Station to the north of the Mount Pleasant area.

Presently, Bukit Brown MRT Station remains a “shell”, to be activated and open in the future when the area is more intensively developed. This involves the fate of much of Bukit Brown Cemetery, which to me has far, far greater heritage value than the Old Police Academy.