Over 34,000 Unclaimed Remains! @ Singapore Teochew Memorial Park [新加坡潮州公墓]

Coming back to my entry on the Teochew Memorial Park in Yishun, i previously indicated my skepticism for that small space to contain unclaimed remains for over 20,000 people.

The truth shall now be revealed.

Referring to the incident that happened back in 2007 - An unusually heavy downpour resulted in a small landslide that exposed thousands of earthenware urns buried in a hill right beside an MRT track. You may click here for the news story.

taken from http://visionsanasini.blogspot.sg/2007/01/hidden-treasure-or.html

It was hot news, especially in Yishun where many residents were simply not aware of their existence. Even if they were aware, they would not have imagined the burial ground to stretch beyond the structural compound of the memorial park. 

One interesting segment in the article caught my attention; "Mr Baey Theng Mong, 62, administrative secretary, told The New Paper: 'According to our records, there are over 34,000 urns in the memorial park." 

In essence, we are not just looking at 20,000 but a hefty 70% increase in the number of unclaimed remains!

Even though it would likely be futile to check out the "main" site after six long years, I made the decision to climb up the hill, hoping to catch sight of any urn sticking out of the ground. 

As expected, nothing at all except tall grass with a potential for ugly snake encounters! Damn, my fear for snakes is proving to be a major impediment for me to explore places alone! 

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Commuters travelling from Yishun to Sembawang train stations would be able to spot the hill on the left side of the train carriage. 

Placards Held During the May Day Protest 2013 @ Hong Lim Park [Singapore]

Once again, i have shot too many photographs and it would definitely take a bit more time before i can give a proper take on the protest organised by transitioning.org for Labour Day. 

In the meantime, i have sieved out twenty eight pictures of placards/signs/notices seen on that day at Hong Lim Park. By showing them in this blog doesn't necessarily imply i am agreeable to what was written or drawn. 

01 - man who was unhappy with the stop at 2 policy which had inevitably resulted in the current situation where our birth rate is one of the lowest in the whole world. 

02 - same man on CPF and high cost of living. 

03 - the importance of people power; i hope the gentleman meant election and not violent protest to overthrow the government

04 - local Singaporeans versus newly mint citizens; this has been a contentious issue in recent years. 

05 - a hot button issue for general election 2011. Honestly, i don't care whether it is public or world class transportation. What i desire is a transportation system that is reliable (minimal breakdown), efficient (on-time) and responsible to its commuters (i detest the lack of effective communication whenever there is a breakdown). 

06 - from quite a number of friends in the private sector who shared with me their personal experience on foreign PMETs (Professionals, Managers, Executives and Technicians) being given preferential treatment over locals, i would not be surprised to find this topic hotly debated in the coming years. 

07 - Singapore has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world but the wealth of the country is not well distributed among its citizens with a widening income gap. To be fair, it's not easy to tackle this problem that is also faced by many other countries.

08 - a quote by the late J. B. Jeyaretnam.

09 - short, sweet and to the point. 

10 - xenophobia is a term used frequently nowadays by supporters of the white paper. Defined as "an irrational or unreasoned fear of that which is perceived to be foreign or strange", i am of the opinion that one must first rightfully define "irrational or unreasoned fear" in a specific context.

11 - this was already used in the last protest in February.

12 - is the government always wrong? 

13 - not exactly a placard for the protest although it did portray the meaning of participating in this protest; the love for Singapore.

14 - i understood the quote by the 32nd president of united states but what's the meaning with the drawings? Nice drawings by the way.

15 - a humongous label on a person's head! 

16 - the righteous man was actually holding on to the above two placards. Can't really agree with the one on healthcare though; the benefit of working in healthcare for the past one month. 

17 - some of the placards were tied to lamp posts. 

18 - and people sure loved the succinctness of their content! 

19 - like many participants, i wondered initially why there was a roll of toilet paper until i realised it was white in colour (hint: white paper and its obvious reference to throw it in the toilet bowl).

20 - the dilution versus the extinction of the Singapore core 

21 - and the supposed remedy at the back. 

22 - another placard on the income gap.

23 - hm.....

24 - translated to English, this would mean to pull Ah Long down the political stage in the next election. Ah Long, in this case, refers to the current prime minister of Singapore. 

25 - i am especially heartened to see the active participation by the younger generation; some of whom were barely ten years old. 

26 - pet peeve by many concerned Singaporeans even though i have never seen it as a major issue myself. 

27 - an elaboration.

28 - an abruptly written placard; guess he/she must be quite carried away by the speakers' speech! 

- to be continued with a proper post on the protest - 

Singapore Teochew Memorial Park [新加坡潮州公墓] - A Cemetery for Over 20,000 Unclaimed Remains @ Yishun

Similar to a lot of places in Singapore, the town where i stay was the subject of numerous ghost stories when i was studying in the neighbourhood schools. 

However, mentioned the existence of a columbarium in Yishun (not Mandai) and you would likely draw blanks from many of my fellow classmates.

I am going to leave the columbarium for another day as my focus today is on this memorial park (circled in red) next to the columbarium. What's so interesting about it? Well, you would know shortly.

Before Ahmad Ibrahim Primary School was built, my apartment has a direct view of the memorial park and strangely (and shamefully) enough, i never gave much thought about it and didn't know anything of its history.

An incident six years ago piqued my curiousity but even then, the first time i stepped foot into the memorial park was only two weeks ago. Want to guess how long it took me to walk from my house to the park?

Five minutes. 

A bit of history about this memorial park. In the 1950s, a number of Teochew cemeteries in Outram and Orchard were acquired for redevelopment. Ngee Ann Kongsi, the company managing those cemeteries, decided to relocate the unclaimed remains to Guang De Shan (广德山); the cemetery in Yishun where the memorial park stands now.

It's true after-all; Yishun was really a cemetery! 

The iconic memorial plaque that seriously looks like a super-sized tombstone was first erected back in 1953 before undergoing renovation in 1962 and again in 1986. 

Elaborate praying ceremonies and rituals were held annually to remember these unknown Teochew pioneers, although on most days, you would be lucky to see anyone in the vicinity. 

To the back of the plaque was a small altar facing a large patch of greenery. Notice the latch on what seemed like a metal door? I was so tempted to open it and take a peek! 

Living next or near to a cemetery is taboo for Chinese yet i am aware that Chinese cemeteries are also known to have fantastic Feng Shui in order to ensure a good life (in this respect, it would usually mean prosperity, wealth and good luck) for descendants of the deceased. By aligning to this concept, i am actually trying my best to comfort myself for living so close! 

I am not the closest by the way! Residents of block 123 have a much clearer view of the memorial park than me. Going back to my previous concept, those residents would also have a much better life than me! 

This is the Yishun Columbarium to the left of the park. Unfortunately, i could not afford the time to explore its surrounding that day.

追思先人 - four simple Chinese characters that hold a strong meaning to all Singaporeans. Without the contribution of pioneers, regardless of race, Singapore would not be what she is today. For that, they deserve our utmost respect and a space in our memory. 

Question time! The memorial park is not big so how could it house over 20,000 unclaimed remains? The answer shall be revealed in another entry. A teaser - this is related to the incident six years ago. 

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Location

As above [red star].

New Record for Super Monsters Ate My Condos!

I finally broke the record for "Super Monsters Ate My Condos"! For those who have never heard of this iPhone application, please click here. 

This time round, i succeeded in strategising all the special powers unique to the four monsters and besides the score of 101,796,243,435; i also managed to drag the game beyond nineteen minutes! 

Luck continued when i secured a whopping 5,000-coin jackpot from the very entertaining monster wheel! 

An additional wave of happiness for gaining 4,924 coins from the condominiums i cleared from the game. Technically, i made some gain from initially investing 5,000 for the special event and 2,250 for boosts (peace, double good and extra time).

Global rank is 321 and i should have been ecstatic. 

But i am not. 

According to the leaderboards, the top rank gamer has a score of 9,223,372,036,854,775,807 and there are 45 having the same points. Gamers who hack games for the sake of feeling good in front of their friends should be ashamed! 

If you don't have what it takes to score, move on!

p.s. this is coming from a man who cheats in Fishing Joy.