Malabar Muslim
Jama-ath Mosque
Malabar Muslim Jama-ath Mosque at 471 Victoria Street
Also known as the Golden Dome Mosque, we first noticed it ‘out of the
blue’ (no pun intended) as we were making our way from Bugis MRT station to the
Malay Heritage Center.
This standalone building of the Kampong Glam historic district is the
only Mosque in Singapore that is for the Malabar Muslim Community who
originally came from Kerala, Indian in the early 19th century. Most of them were traders of goods such as textiles
and jewellery. Later, they formed an association, Malabar Muslim Jama’ath
(Jama’ath is Arabic for ‘Assembly’) in 1927 to take care of the interest of the
Malabar community.
Malabar
Masjid Fund Raising Project 2015
The mosque was officially opened by the
Yang di-Pertuan Negara of Singapore, Inche Yusof bin Ishak on 24 January 1963. Today,
the Mosque continues to undergo improvements by raising donations through the
Malabar Masjid Fund Raising Project 2015 for its Mosque extension. We saw this
continuity as a vivid reflection of its past, where the Malabar Muslims received
donations from the public to build a mosque back in 1950s.
We raised some unanswered questions such
as whether the Mosque should be extended since it has been gazetted for conservation,
and why the state was not funding it’s redevelopments if it is permissible for
the conserved heritage building to change its form. We also wondered if future
generations would still be able to find a sense of the past by looking at a
conserved building that had lost its original face.
Blue mosaic-ed Malabar
Muslim Jama-ath Mosque with SG50 flag
We thought it funny that they were flying the ‘SG50’ flag in their
mosque. We were expecting their own religious icon, but we accepted it as part
of nationhood. Our true feelings revealed that much of the Malabar identity has
been subsumed into the Singapore national identity— afterall, “one united
people”. We, and they, as part of “one people, one nation, one Singapore” understood
our national need to be a cohesive society; to be unique as one nation, rather
than distinct in our own separate ethnic community. By-gone are the days where
the colonial masters promoted and exploited on our racial differences along
ethnic lines.
Si Hui and Melody
checking out the mosque
One of the first things that we did was to touch the smooth blue tiles.
We raised some questions as to whether tiles were actually used in the original construction of the building.
We did not know if there was an ‘original’ but we speculated because we could
not reconcil what we see with what we
knew about the Malabar community, who
had experienced challenges in fund-raising to build this mosque, and were
mostly running food or provision businesses. We harzarded a guess that the tiles
would have been too costly for them.
We unanimously felt that the mosque looked too new and too clean to be
called a ‘historic’ building. But we were more at odds with the distinctly blue
tiles that were a mismatch to what we knew about traditional Malay-Muslims’ use
of yellow for important buildings
like mosque and houses of royalties.
On a whole, we were a little dumbfounded at what we were witnessing— sort
of a “mish-mash” of past and present, nicely packaged under the name of
‘conservation’ for the future. We were apprehensive about what the future would
see and were only a little appeased when we later found out from the signage of
the heritage building that “The walls of the building were initially painted,
but were entirely tiled in its distinctive blue tiles by 1995.” We then
understood (no doubt not quite satisfied) that what we were seeing were but a ‘sanitized’ version of
the past.
Thumbs-up for
their Kampong Spirit!
What truly manifested as the spirit of Kampong Glam was undoubtedly felt
at the moment when we were warmthly invited into their mosque and cordially
treated with a ‘tour’ of its insides. The people and the recitals of their
prayers instantly revitalized the place. All our unfair and exclusive
misconceptions about how they would deny us (a bunch of touristy, non-muslim
ladies) an entry to their sacred ground were instantly dissolved. We were
cautious to abide in respecting their faith— shoes were removed (refer to photo
above), and here is a photo of us draped in traditional khaleeji abaya, a black
robe with embroidery and sequins, that they provide for all visitors to cover
themselves in order to enter the musallah (Mussallah
is a Muslim place of congregation and prayer that, unlike a masjid, is not
consecrated because it is temporary or rented.):
Khaleeji Kabaya is
known for its style, elegance and modesty
(‘khaleeji’
is Arabic for ‘of the Gulf’, and is traditionally associated with Eastern
Arabia Gulf states.)
We were told that it was alright for us not to cover our heads. They
also did not require us to wash our hands and feet since we were not going to
pray with them. Through some informative posters in their mosque, we learnt
that purification through wadu’ (ablution) is an
obligatory component of the Islamic prayer ritual that is to be observed in
accordance with their prayers five times a day; prayers carried out in impure state are not valid.
We proceeded to the second level of the mosque where we were able to
observe the them praying. It was a very intriguing experience as we did not
expect the Malabar-Muslims to be so open and friendly with us concerning their
faith, and furthermore, to allow outsiders to enter and take photographs freely
in their sanctuary.
For a split-second, it aroused the skeptical side of us to wonder if
receiving foreign guests into their premise was all part of the state’s
bidding, for being a part of the heritage conservation zone. They were all too
welcoming and too prepared that it had felt planned. But we were inclined to
believe that they were genuine.
Bird’s eye view
We observed that men and women prayed in separate chambers in the
musallah, with the females at the balcony on the top floor. We thought that it
was another racist gender discrimination. However, our shallow understanding of
the Muslim culture was to be put to shame as Ayesha Stout, contributor of ‘Hats, Mats and Hassocks: The Essential Guide
to Religious Etiquette’, highlights that “Each gender has its own line to
maintain modesty and concentration during the physical movements of standing,
bowing and prostration. Their separation does not indicate relative superiority
or inferiority.”
We noticed that both men and women aligned themselves in neat ranks
during prayers, with one difference— men prayed, stood and bowed together but
women adopted the ‘own-time-own-target’ style. We had a chance to ask one of
the female worshipper, who shared with us that it was not compulsory for women to come to the mosque to pray, though she piously
kept to it. We noted that there was a significant difference between the number
of men and women at the mosque that day (Wednesday afternoon).
Kubor
Muslim Cemetry
Old Malay Cemetery
Kg Glam along Jalan Kubor (meaning Grave Street)
Our next stop is not a typical tourist hotspot, but a locally contentious point that unwittingly
fell right outside the conservation
boundaries of Kampong Glam historic district, under the Urban Redevelopment Authority
(URA) Draft Master Plan 2013.
Constantly
under threats of redevelopment, this historically marked ‘Mohammedan cemetery and Tomb of the Malayan princes’
in old maps; later various names like ‘Kubor Muslim
Cemetry’,‘Sultan Kramat’, ‘Victoria Street Cemetery’ and
‘Sultan’s Burial Ground’; then marked ‘Old Malay Cemetery Kg Glam’ on
our present-day map— is Singapore’s oldest surviving cemetery. (Now do we
hear some cheers?) Yes! Kudos! to Singapore that we do have a site that is fully preserved(whether intentionally or
unintentionally by the state planners) in
its original form, from the ancient royal
port city of the Malays in Kampong Glam dating back to the first Sultan of Singapore, Sultan Hussein, in 1819.
However, we expect this joy to be short-lived given URA’s
strong emphasis on redevelopment over conservation, and we cannot help but
wonder how much longer these monumental legacies would continue to prevail
before they are being flattened out by the bulldozer for some pragmatic reasons
tending towards an economically demand-curve.
Tombs aligned towards Mecca
Our
exploration of the place proved futile without some research. We could only
broadly discuss these two hundred years old slabs, which were all unmarked and
laid out in a disorderly fashion. We also talked about
the tomb-carvers and stonemasons, who probably belonged to the Muslim community,
as religious burial would require ceremonial rituals that non-muslims would not
have been more familial and fit to perform.
The only commonity was that they were all oriented in one
direction (no doubt leaning left and right, front and back). With some navigating
sense, we deduced that the tombs were aligned towards Mecca, the Islamic holy
city.
The various slab designs stood out most prominently and we
wondered if they were symbolic of different (or others) social strata within
the Malay community in Kampong Glam. For this part of history, we consulted the
official curator of every single signboard of the heritage buildings in Kampong
Glam historic district— the National Heritage Board. We found out that the
royal burial ground was opened to the public on 26 August
1848 by Sultan Ali (Sultan Hussein’s son) and it became the final resting place
of numerous traders and individuals of diverse ethnicity from the old port
towns of our region and beyond – including Riau, Palembang, Pontianak and
Banjarmasin as well as Javanese and Bugis ports further afield. This
information was supported by Berita Harian article dated 25 September
1984, and evident from slabs with a mix of Bugis, Arabic, Chinese, English and
Jawi inscriptions. We also noted (from
our map) that this is called the Malay
Cemetery while the one on the opposite side of Jalan Kubor is called the Muslim Cemetery. Since not all Malays
are Muslims and not all Muslims are Malays, we were
convinced that, contrary to popular opinion, the different tomb designs were not indicative of different gender or
social classes, rather different influential ethnic social groups within the
Malay community in Kampong Glam itself.
Photo courtesy of
Singapore Tales blog
Our next question was prompted by the sight of a rather
unkempt and impossing Islam Saracenic styled pavillion, comfortably resting under
the cool of a tree— “Are these the tombs of the decendents of Sultan Ali?” Its
statue, as well as the yellow and green cloths drapped over it, hinted that it
is likely the tombs of the Malay Muslim royal decend (with yellow denoting royalty
and green for muslims). We were unable to proceed any closer to get some clear
shots as our curiousity frequently felt checked by the need to be sensitive and
respectful not to trample on ancestorial tombs or arouse the spirits of the
dead which the abundance of butterflies do visit in this place.
A personal visit to this site is well paid off by a sense of the
historic spirit of the Malays beyond what is earmarked ‘Kampong Glam’. This raises
the question as to whether it should be reconsidered for conservation where
there seemed to be an oversimplification of the complexity of human-spatial
interactions through a top-down modernist planning approach, as James
C Scott, author of ‘Seeing like a
State’ suggests.
North Bridge Road
From Old Malay
Cemetry Kg Glam, we crossed North Bridge Road…
Shop houses that has
been set up since then is still seen as we strolled past them, taking the
occasional photo. North Bridge Road serves as a link from Crawford Street to
the Elgin bridge, and connects the different trades that took place both in the
past and present. The number 718 store, “Haji
V. Syed Abu Thahir Trading” is interesting as it is one of the few stores that
still dabbles in trading, even more so with as it deals only with three
products; Hajee Makkah VSA medicated herbal oil, Indian mangoes and
non-alcoholic perfumes. Being one of Singapore’s oldest roads part of Raffles’
Town Plan in 1822, this site has a historical value to the Kampong Glam, a
place of sentiment that still serves the same purpose that it used to, with a
modern angle to it now.
Unknown to many, and
left out of the narrative, this very long stretch of road was Sir Crawford
imposition on the Malay settlers. The Sultan’s domain was literally cut into
two.
Alsagoff Arab
School
Madrasah Alsagoff a.k.a.
Alsagoff Arab School at 111Jalan Sultan
Madrasah are religious school that
were introduced in Singapore in the early twentieth century. As the name suggests, this is a religious school built in the name of
Syed Mohamed
bin Ahmed bin Abdul Rahman Alsagoff, who used the land and fund in his will to
establish the school in 1912. This endownent, known as the Syed Mohamed Ahmed
Wakaf Fund, prescribes that the land cease to belong to any person or even the state,
in perpetuality, belonging only to Allah, and dedicated solely for that purpose.
We
had a chance to interview Mr Ibrahim Syd, the school’s maintenance officer, who
spotted us loitering outside the school gate. He shared that there are currently
309 students from Primary 1 to Secondary 4 studying in the Madrasah. Theirs is
a 10-year Islamic education programme, which does not differ from mainstream
subjects other than the addition of Arabic and Islamic studies. Their students
also sit for compulsory national examinations like the General Certificate of
Education (GCE) ‘O’ Level examination. Their pre-university programme allows
students to either sit for the GCE 'A' Level examination or pursue a diploma in
Islamic studies based on the diploma programme offered by Egypt’s Al-Azhar
University. He added (with some pride) that graduates from the school usually
teach Islam or further their studies at Egypt’s Al-Azhar University.
Mr
Syd shared that there was an extension to the school building in 1995
(The extension is on the right side.)
Front view of the extension
Despite being the oldest surviving madrasah in Singapore, the Alsagoff
Arab School was only recently recognised
as one of Singapore’s heritage schools in 2010 by the Urban Redevelopment
Authority. This reassessment of what is considered ‘heritage’ seems to suggest, as
noted in the Concept Plan Review of 2001: “The values we ascribe to our
resources change over time.”, and perhaps bring fresh hopes for the
preservation of Old Malay Cemetery Kg Glam at Jalan Kubor (refer to our
previous post!).
Gedung Kuning
Gedung Kuning at 73 Sultan Gate
It was no challenge
for us to identify the ‘Yellow Mansion’ even though it clearly reflected
European architecture style on the outside; and was state-converted into a
Javanese restaurant (in 2003) on the inside. Its distinct yellow still stood
out prominently, no doubt having lost much of its Malay influence with
westernization, modernization, globalization and comercialization of local
cultures in Singapore.
Gedung Kuning (Jawi
for: ‘Yellow Mansion’) is also known as the Bendahara House, where yellow
represents the colour of royalty. The bendahara
is a hereditary administrative post comparable to a high-ranking political
advisor, said to be the very backbone of the Malay Sultanate.
Built around 1840s
next to the former Istana Kampong Glam, Tengku Mahmud, the grandson of Sultan
Hussein, was known to reside in this mansion.
Tali pinggang
In 1912, the mansion
was purchased by a Javanese merchant, Haji Yusoff who made his fortune from the
Haj trade. His breakthrough product was
the tali pinggang (belt with a small pouch) for the Haj pilgrims. The house
continued to serve as a residence for Haji’s descendants till the 1999, when
the area was acquired by the state for the preservation of the Malay culture. Renovated
and restored, the mansion was opened to the public in 2003.
Similar to our
experience at the Malabar-Muslim Mosque, we could not convince ourselves that
this aesthetically pleasing monument is a historic
building. While we were not against functional and adaptive reuse of
historic buildings, we hoped to see more of our past than what we could achieve
in present. Indeed, such redevelopment projects were more often prized as
‘progress’ by state planners.
Sultan Mosque (National Monument)
Sultan
Mosque at 3 Muscat Street
Next,
we went to Masjid Sultan (Sultan Mosque). As its name suggests, the original mosque (built
in 1824) was named
after its builder and first Sultan of Singapore, Sultan Hussein. At
first sight, we were thrilled and awed by its majesty, beauty and style.
Besides the Indo-Saracenic styled minarets and balustrades, the building’s most
striking features were the glass bottles that lined the base of its golden
onion-shaped dome. From our research, we know that these glass bottles were donations from the poor.
The
present building was designed by architect Swan & MacLaren from 1924. It
was designed in Islamic Saracenic architecture, a blend of Persian, Turkish,
Moorish and Indian elements. The work was done in phases over the years as
funds were being raised, and prayers continued to be conducted in the midst of
the construction.
Group
photo at the
‘heart’ of Kampong Glam J
Located
at the ‘heart’ of Kampong Glam, one would expect this area to be filled with Muslims.
Rather, it seemed to receive more visitors as we observed that day. Nonetheless,
the spirit of the Malay community contributed tangibly to the vitality of this cultural
hearth as could be felt most tangibly during prayer times, when recitations resounded
through its sacred walls and could be heard publicly. This is where we observed Muslims and
non-Muslims alike pause in their activities to beam at the very beacon of the
Malay world.
Bussorah Street
Bussorah
Street at 17 Bussorah Street
Lying right at the doorstep of Sultan Mosque is Bussorah Street (formally
known as Kampong Tembaga; ‘Tembaga’ means ‘copper’ in Malay). The imposing influence of the mosque rivitalized
the place vitality and this is still the most
bustling part of Kampong Glam, especially nearing prayer times.
Bussorah
Street in the past, courtesy of Singapore Press Holdings
(looks like Old Chinatown?)
It
was interesting to note that in the past, the community here (comprising also
of large numbers of Chinese) was noted for its decorum. It was reported that up
till the mid-1900s, outsiders would not enter Bussorah Street unless they
covered their heads. The residents also tended towards a more formal manner of
speech, influenced by Javanese pronunciation and lingo. The community here was
generally more cultured, and there were a number of educators and white-collar
professionals.
Up
till the mid-1970s, Singapore was the pilgrim hub in Southeast Asia. Muslims
making the haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca would come to Singapore. Bussorah Street,
reputed for its sheikh hajis – pious men known in the community for their
knowledge of the haj – was where most of the pilgrims and their accompanying
families stayed while waiting for the ships. Here, a whole array of services
was available. There were sheikh hajis to prepare them spiritually, pilgrim
brokers to take care of logistics, cheap lodging houses, moneychangers and
shops selling necessary supplies such as food, blankets, shawls and tali
pinggang (money belts popular with pilgrims going on the haj).
Adaptable
and Creative reuse of Bussorah Street
Although Bussorah Street used to be the busiest street for
pilgrim and copperware, most of the shops along Bussorah street had been
replaced by new shops and restaurant, such as textile, toys and traditional
instrument shops.
The
sign outside the oldest bookstore in Kampong Glam say:
Reading is not history…
One of the traditional shop business still thriving in
Busorrah Street is ‘Wardah Bookstore’. An important place for Muslims elitist
in the past, this was where politics was trashed out, and ideas for Malay
nationalism sprung. Today, it provides books elated to Muslim religion, such as
history, philosophy, educational, prophets and more.
It was cozy and quiet inside. We had a chat-up with the shop
assistant and learnt that Wardah bookstore has been serving as a medium for
Muslims in Singapore to learn more about their religion through the English
Islamic books available. They also encouraged Muslim parents to teach their
children about the religion through easy to understand story telling books
which could help spread the ideology to the next generation. Not only does the
shop owner sell Islamic books, but he also give educational talks, interviews
and such to promote and educate the Islamic religion as well. Its strategic
location near the mosque and the amount of people patronizing the shop, we
believe that it was without a doubt one of the important shop around Bussorah
Street.
Kandahar Street
Kandahar Street,
which was previously unnamed, was officially named by the Municipal Commission
at 1909. As British had a practice of naming their street after their
conquests, the name were taken from places in the present-day, Afghanistan.
Restored
shophouses and their elegance
Rows of restored shop houses lined Kandahar Street. Among
them, was the oldest carpet store in Singapore,
‘Amir and sons’. Mr
Amir, a passionate and knowledgeable carpet collector, sells
handwoven Persian pieces. His
was a three generation business inherrited from his grandfather. When asked
about the future of his shop? – Mr Amir only laughs.
A
beginner’s lesson to carpet…
Literally called to the carpet for a
knowledge reserved only for the upper class, we listened attentively as Mr Amir
shared a great detail about the craft. We were impressed with the skills of
carpet-weavers (we thought they were mass produced by machines!) and surprised
by the tedious process to produce each piece of carpet. Now do we better
appreciate carpets.
“Cheers!”
to the beers?
(“Cheers”
is an English slang used for toasting; meaning: ‘Let’s drink-up!’)
Mr
Amir also told us that most of the shop houses at Kandahar Street were owned by
new tenants over the years. He expressed regret that traditional trades were
being replaced by new market forces such as bars, massage parlors, restaurants and
more recently, cafeterias. We tend to agree with him on this point as we
observed, with a sense of pity, that there was little historicity left of the
conserved site even though the elaborate colonial style of the shop houses
remained. The presence of obscene and other popular trades also exhibited insensitivity
to the Malay Muslim culture. The street was rather empty that afternoon and it
seemed to have fallen into a sleep…
The
shop houses no. 44-54. seem to reflect the opulent lifestyle and societal
status of the people in the twentieth century. Known for their flamboyant
ornamentation such as colourful tiles and elaborate bas reliefs, it makes us
wonder if past residents were rich traders or persons of importance as the
style reflects the
Pondok Java
Pondok Java at 47 Sultan Gate?
A dilapidated house
with an abandoned fenced field at 47 Sultan Gate seemed to be the location of
the Pondok Java that was demolished in 2003.
Pondok is the Malay
word for ‘cottage’. As its name suggests, Pondok Java served as an
accommodation for Javanese migrants who had just arrived in Singapore. It was
also a significant cultural hub for Javanese arts and music, such as wayang
wong (classical Javanese theatre), wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre) and
ketoprak (a form of popular theatre).
Our only exploration
of the place was through an opening that was blocked by a piece of cupboard…
The insides were hollowed-out, dusty and dim. It looked a little ghostly
especially with the broken rectangular wall mirror that looked directly at the
opening where we were gazing in. Its high ceiling walls (and what appeared to
be a two-storey building on the outset) suggested that a staircase was needed.
But the staircase was missing, perhaps removed, and in its place were iron rods firmly holding the building upright.
There were some Chinese ochestra musical instruments like Gu-Zhen and Gu-Qin
stacked at the left corner… Pondok Java?
Looking at the shabby historic building that used to be so culturally attractive, we experienced a strange sense of loss and a conservation-redevelopment dilemma. This was obviously one dead monument in a conserved zone, where even the Kubor Muslim graves (falling outside the conserved zone) felt more alive… Demolition due to structural safety issues were not convincing reasons why Pondok Java could not be restored. In the face of rapid heritage loss, this was something that we could not easily accept.
Lee Loy Hin Blacksmith shop
Jagjit Dhaba
All we knew about Lee
Loy Hin Blacksmith shop was that it was situated at 39 Sultan Gate before it
was burnt down. We relied on several maps to relocate it. We navigated up and
down the streets and vincinity of Sultan Gate, Pahang street, Jalan Sultan and
Aliwat Street. After what seemed like an eternity long, we were convinced that
it should be this Indo-Pakistan restaurant ‘Jagjit Dhaba’, which is at the
junction of Sultan Gate and Pahang Street. We were so happy (hungry and weary
too) that we forgot to take down the exact address of the place, having found
it.
Hajjah Fatimah Mosque
Hajjah Fatimah Mosque
Nicknamed “the
leaning tower of Singapore”, Hajjah Fatimah
Mosque was originally built on sandy land between 1845 and 1846. It was a site
that we were looking forward to visit since prior to this trail, we had no
knowledege that there was a leaning tower in Singapore. We were a little
disappointed to find that the building was not quite leaning, unless upon close
observation. To be exact, the minaret only leans about 6 degrees towards the
onion-shaped dome of Sultan Mosque ever since the 1970s preservation works that
effectually stopped the gradual tilt.
Surprisingly, the unintended tilt at the Leaning Tower of Pisa was even
lesser— 5.5 degrees before preservation and 3.99 degrees after preservation
works, and yet it appears so tilted on photographs! Upon this ground of
comparison, we were satisfied at our own experience of the fame of the place.
But the real fame was that it was recognized as a building that is “lasting representation[…] of the growth of our country and people amidst a constantly evolving landscape.”, and gazetted as a National Monument on 6 July 1973.
Hajjah Fatimah, a wealthy business
widow, whose house was robbed twice and then set aflamed, donated her money and
land to build this mosque as thanksgiving to Allah for the divine protection. A
philanthropist, she built houses for the destitute. The honorific “hajjah”
indicates that she had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Her mosque is painted in brown and cream colours and built by British
engineer John
Turnbull Thompson, using a rich combination
of Malaccan and European style, as well as Chinese features in its design.
Five hours into the trail, we were all leaning
people of Singapore...
Arab Street
Our final stop-point
brought us to Arab Street, site of the Arab kampong in Raffles’ 1822 Town Plan,
which had retained its original name since 1824.
Coming from the same
stock as Hajjah
Fatimah, the small but influential Arab community was known to perform economic
and philanthropic functions that left indeliable historical and cultural marks
on the fabric of Singapore society.
At first glance, its
streetscape was dominated by shops selling middle-eastern carpets, silk and
handicrafts. As we sauntered in, shops selling spices, textiles, basketing
items and songkoks were a common sight. We were much fond of their specialty
shops which packed ever nook and corner of the five-foot
way from Arab street to Bussorah Street to Muscat Street and Baghdad Street. Their
influence in the area was evident through these street names that were
named after Arabian cities.
What we liked most about
the unique character of Arab Street is its long-standing role as a Muslim
shopping and trading centre. This place-identity was upkept by the
market-interaction among a fair mix of locals of different ethnicity and
tourists of different cultural diversities.
We collectively felt
that Arab street not only successfully retained its name, it also retained much
of its historic and cultural character, mainly because the designs and
functions of the place were largely the same. It remains a busy market as ever;
whose main players of the familial trades were mostly Malays. There was not
much tourist influence here as compared to Bussorah Street, Muscat
Street and Baghdad Street where we found many high-end
restaurants, suvenior shops and other inappropriate use of the historic
district that capitalizes on tourism.
