Jeremiah Seow's Reflection

A) What is your impression of Singapore History and Cultural Heritage before going on the trail?

Having visited different countries such as Europe and China which have so much cultural depth and history prior to entering University, I developed a mentality that Singapore’s history and cultural heritage lacked in richness and depth as compared to such countries which possessed historical background and cultural practices dating back to over a thousand years whereas Singapore’s history and cultural heritage could only be dated back only a few hundred years as population mainly consisted of immigrants from other lands who brought with them the diverse cultures that they had.  

Furthermore, in all honesty, I was not really expectant that I would learn much about Singapore’s culture and history during this heritage trail because I was of the Impression that it was going to be like the National Education tours conducted for school where students are forced to walk around these heritage trails to ‘immerse’ themselves in the culture of that area.

Ironically, my secondary school’s National Education tour was also held in Joo Chiat and the tour was rather fruitless as my class was forced to “immerse” ourselves in the culture of the area which mainly consist of looking out for street signs and listening to a man talk about world war 2 which did not have much relation to the culture and history of this place.

Thus overall, I went for the heritage trail with the mentality that I would not really learn much about Singapore from it due to bad experience in the past.

a.    Share some insights (if any) about Singapore’s past and the way it is represented (symbolically and physically) that you have gained from the trail.

a.

B) How has your experience of the trail change your perception of Singapore history and her cultural heritage? Share some insights about Singapore's past and the way it represented that you have gained from the trail. 

As mentioned earlier, I started the trail with the mindset that I would probably not learn much from it due to the bad experience as a student but as the trail proceeded, my mentality about it started to change as I started to discover new facts about the area of Joo Chiat which caused me to realise that there is so much more about Singapore History for me to learn which are not within the published texts.

I started to realise the reason for the tour guide asking us to look out for street name was for us to discover the historical significance that are tied to the different street names. One good example which I discovered about the significance of street name would be Ceylon Road.

Ceylon Road was named as such because of the Ceylon Tamil immigrants who came from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to Singapore for better job opportunities and settled in close proximity to the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple. Thus, due to the influx of Ceylonese Tamils who came settled in the area, they named the road, Ceylon Road.

Though the Peranakans and Eurasian’s presence was dominant in the Joo Chiat and were often seen to be of a higher social status, I was surprised to discover the presence of the Ceylonese Tamil Community residing among them, though they were a minority group. The presence of the Ceylonese Tamils in the midst of a predominantly Peranakan and Eurasian community is evidence that there was some form of peaceful co-existence among the different racial groups.

The mentality of Singapore not having rich and in-depth culture and history has also changed as I stop comparing Singapore to other countries in terms of the depth of culture but instead examine Singapore in a lateral perspective where despite its lack of richness and depth of culture and depth, Singapore has managed to create a multicultural society that accommodates the various cultures through mutual understanding and tolerance of each other’s differences. The creation of such a society is a feat that not many countries have been able to achieve and for the case of Singapore, this concept of multiculturalism has already surface throughout its history.

Another discovery would be that immigrants viewed places of worship as important monuments and would prefer to settle in close proximity of it as it represents a strong connection between them and their own religious and cultural practices back in their homeland. This can be seen through the building of the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple where the Ceylonese Tamil not only resided close to it, they even contributed to the building fund to construct it and the establishment of St Hilda’s Anglican Church which draw many Eurasian to the Joo Chiat area as seen by the number of private properties built opposite the church which are predominantly occupied by Eurasians.

I also learnt that even in the past, there was some form of religious harmony seeing that St Hilda’s Anglican Church which was established for the Christian community which primarily consisted of the Eurasians was built down the road from the Sri Senpaga Vinayagar temple which catered to the Hindu Ceylon Tamil community living around the area. Thus, the close proximity of these places of worship from each other could have helped fostered a form of religious harmony and tolerance between the two religious groups. The placement of two religious places of worship within such close proximity would thus represents the existence of religious harmony in Singapore

I also recognised that I have been believing in a perceived idea of what a Eurasian should be. The Eurasian was often misrepresented as they are always assumed to be part of the upper strata of society as portrayed in Joo Chiat where the Eurasians are often seen to be living in land properties. However, the existence and function of the Eurasian Association caused me to realised that there are also Eurasians who are in the low and middle income bracket and thus the need for the Eurasian Association to give counselling services, scholarships and bursary to underprivileged students. This has caused me to realise that there are underprivileged Eurasian families in Singapore though the idea of a poor Eurasian does not resonate well with many people in Singapore.

I have actually learnt a lot more of Singapore’s history than expected and I am really looking forward to discovering hidden gems that may be hiding in plain sight in the different places in Singapore.