The images and stories told in this section of Singapura Stories are dedicated to the life and times of the part of Singapura’s urban history that few remember, and only those in the older generation know about.

The story of Malayo-Nusantara communities who once built their shophouses and residences in old Singapore Town is fading from memory and hardly figures in common knowledge on the history of these communities in particular. It is also neglected in the writing of Singapore’s history in general.

Little wonder then, that there is a persistent and oft-perpetuated myth that Malays did not live in urban areas, and did not participate in the urban economy and real estate investment mechanisms that built Singapore Town.

[On a critique of these prevailing myths and its perpetuation in stereotypical representations of Malays, see this article from 2007: Imran bin Tajudeen, “State Constructs of Ethnicity in the Reinvention of Malay-Indonesian Heritage in Singapore,” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 18.2 (2007): 7-27. ]

One of the reasons for this myth is also the evolving popular understanding of the term “Kampung”, whose original meaning as also a town unit or urban neighbourhood seems to have been entirely forgotten.

The area of Singapore Town covered in this section had the greatest concentration of Malayo-Nusantarian real estate investments and economic activities, and was naturally the focus of their socio-cultural life in Singapore since the early 19th century.

Today all that remains of this area, Kampung Gelam Conservation District (gazetted 1984), corresponds to less than half of the extent of the original town. This Conservation District’s limited boundaries roughly correspond to the original property of the Sultan which had subsequently been subdivided and built up as shophouses and street networks as part of the densification process of the area. The most prominent landmark of this remnant area is Sultan Mosque:

Kampung Gelam, partial view
The area around Sultan Mosque
(Image courtesy of Khir Johari)

The story of the other portions of the town that was important to the Malayo-Nusantara urban communities of Singapura has not been adequately told.

From the late 1960s right up to 1995, more than half of this town area, covering whole swathes of shophouse districts, underwent total demolition (indicated in red in the image below):

The large area shaded red in the foreground in the photograph above is called Kampung Rochor. This was a large urban district that began as the earliest part of Singapore Town to have been developed with numerous Malay street names.

Here is a closer look at the shophouses and residences found in Kampung Rochor:

Hajjah Fatimah Mosque is the sole remnant of this area today.

Two other very historic mosques were not so lucky.

Masjid Maarof at Jeddah St & Clyde St was demolished in 1995, when it was already 125 years old. It belongs to the southwestern extension of Kampung Gelam: the area after Arab Street and Haji Lane – Bali Lane (on the left side of the image below):

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