Grave decision for Downtown line

[Apollo]

UPFRONT Teochew cemetery's last Qing Ming By April Chong

 

MADAM Ng Cheng Huay has spent most of the 80 years of her life on the grounds of a cemetery.

She maintains the Tua Pek Kong Temple at the Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery on Woodlands Road.

Her late father was one of its earliest caretakers and the family had a house behind the cemetery, where they reared chickens, ducks and pigs.

She took over looking after the graves when he died in the 1930s and now her 49-year-old son is doing the job.

But not for much longer.

The 14.6ha cemetery, one of the oldest here, is to be cleared in October to make way for the depot of the proposed Downtown Line.

The families turning up here to mark this year's Qing Ming - the Chinese memorial festival - with prayers and offerings at their ancestors' tombs are therefore doing it for the last time.

Qing Ming, which falls today, means 'clear and bright'. During the 10 days in the run-up to and following from the actual day, families carry out the annual ritual of tidying up the graves and columbarium niches of kin who have died, as a show of filial piety.

Offerings of food and drink are made. Joss sticks are lit. Prayers are said.

Madam Ng recalls when families would descend by the lorry-load, bringing all sorts of offerings.

'They used to bring roasted pork, chicken and duck. Now it's mainly fruit and, perhaps, packed vegetarian food,' she said in Hokkien.

There are also fewer young people who come to tend the graves.

One extended family of seven who were at the cemetery on Wednesday were mainly in their 50s. Boat captain Yeo Theng Kow, 52, said: 'The younger generation is moving away from such traditions.'

He was there to pay his respects to his grandfather, who died in 1952, with an assortment of fruit and paper offerings made out to look like liquor and beer bottles, clothes and shoes.

The Kwong Hou Sua Teochew Cemetery was owned by the Ngee Ann Kongsi before the land was acquired by the Government in the 1980s.

Burials stopped in the 1970s. An estimated 10,000 bodies are believed to be buried in the 3,000 graves - the mismatch in numbers the result of several members of a family being buried together in many cases.

Madam Ng pointed out one of the oldest graves - a circular tomb, adorned with stone lions and carvings.

It was easily 20m across, the width of an Olympic-sized pool. Buried there is a man who died in 1928, with his wife.

The name on one of the headstones is no longer discernible. Madam Ng said it was hit by a mortar shell during World War II.

Another large tomb, half the size of a tennis court, stands guard over the graves of a man and his five wives.

Nearby is a tomb of a man who died in 1935. Buried with him are his seven wives.

Madam Ng said that in the old days, wealthy men usually set aside space for their spouses. Graves would be reopened for coffins that came along later.

The tombs of the wealthy stand out by their size, as well as the figurines and coloured tiles that adorn them.

All the structures will go when exhumation starts in October. The Land Transport Authority has already put up notices asking descendants to claim the remains of their dead by Oct 15.

So far, about 368 parties have done so.

The LTA will bear the cost of the exhumation and the installation of the urns in a government columbarium. Unclaimed remains will be exhumed and stored for up to three years before being cremated. The ashes will be scattered at sea.

The first phase of exhumation will affect 2,000 graves. Another 1,000 or so with larger, more elaborate tombs will be cleared later.

Family members who have been coming to the cemetery every Qing Ming waxed nostalgic about the annual remembrance of the dead.

Retiree Lee Mee Yoon, 70, who will move her grandmother's remains to a columbarium, said her annual trips to the cemetery date back to her childhood.

'It's very sad that this place will be gone. I have a lot of memories here,' she said.

'This was where I got to meet other family members besides during the Chinese New Year.'

Now the older folk worry that as time goes by, their long-dead ancestors will be forgotten by the younger generation, who admit that they are not sure what the rituals are and how to perform them.

Engineer Chan Huiling, 25, said: 'I guess I will learn when the time comes.'

But project manager Anabelle Tan, 30, said that honouring the dead need not be confined to Qing Ming.

In fact, she stores joss sticks and paper offerings in the boot of her family's car so that they can drop in at the columbarium to pay their respects any time.

Cemeteries cleared over the years to make way for development include the Bidadari Cemetery in the Upper Aljunied area, which housed at least 10,000 Christian and Muslim graves.

Many housing estates, such as Bishan and Tiong Bahru, are sitting on past burial grounds. Even bustling Ngee Ann City used to be the site of an old Teochew cemetery.

For Madam Ng, the closure of the cemetery in Woodlands marks the end of three generations of work by her family.

She is so well known there that regular visitors bring her gifts of food when they come at Qing Ming.

She now lives in Queenstown with a daughter. Her son Ah Huat is scouting for a new location for the cemetery's temple so that the deities will have a proper home.

Soon her years in the cemetery, and the stories of the graves and tombs will be a memory.

'I will miss this place and the people,' she said.

[email protected]

 

 

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fwah... lidat how abt the cost of the land deh? LTA no compensate meh? if one grave occupy 3 m2 n based on elite's viewpoint every pc of land got potential to b tagged to Raffles Place, that means smelly smelly also each family can get $50K doh.

[Adawang]

Where is the location?

nver see or noticed cemetery in Woodlands area

[Jayk]

Taking of MRT in the downtown line will be scary next time... ...

 

The MRT is full but in actual fact only 1 person...

 

"Everyone" will alight at downtown east station?

[Apollo]

GPGT!!

 

[inline cement.gif]

[Comfy]

last time when bishan train station area is done up also got story coming out ley... now u see that train station area.. so crowded, ghost also run away liao...

[Altivo]

ya... there are stories of the train drivers seeing 4 pallbearers carrying a coffin in the tunnel just before reaching bishan..

 

novena station also got story... something about headless nun etc

[Rickster]

习惯就好

[Altivo]

wahahaha... no thanks!

[Comfy]

novena also got ar? aiya.. these ghost thing is every where de la... only see if we could see them or not...

[Rickster]

U r right. They are everywhere and perhaps one of them is looking over your shoulders as you are typing that message.

[Comfy]

ya... there's another one sitting on your shoulders now.. that's why u feeling a bit sore over the neck area..