Malays beyond Kg Gelam: Kg Penghulu Kesang

This is Part 8 of a 10-part series of excerpts from an NHB HRG Research Project (Ref. 029, 2019-2021) led by Dr Imran bin Tajudeen.

Raffles’ earlier allotment for a Malay Town

The Singapore Town Plan of Nov 1822 drawn by Lieutenant Philip Jackson (henceforth the Jackson Plan) following the instructions of the East India Company factor Lieutenant Thomas S. Raffles, is remarkable for its omission of a specific urban ward or Campong allotted to Malays. In the Town Plan drawn by Jackson, we find a Bugis Campong, Sultan’s area, Arab Campong, European Town, Chuliah Campong, and Chinese Campong. Raffles opined that Malays were expected to live with the Sultan or the Temenggong, or in the estuaries of rivers away from the limited town area under the EIC’s jurisdiction before the 1824 cession treaty (Buckley 1902, 85). Raffles thus reduced the Malays to a flat characterisation of rural habitation under traditional leaders in justifying why no specific Campong or ward had been allocated for them besides the Sultan’s compound.

In fact, however, Raffles’ earlier instructions for the town in June 1819 did allocate space for a Malay Town in addition to a Chinese Town and a Bugis Town. This was in response to the need to relocate the Malays settled on the north bank of the Singapore River in the first site of Kampong Melaka, which in 1819 was adjacent to Kampong Temenggong. This has been discussed earlier in Section 2.5 in connection with the relocation of Kampong Melaka. Malay ownership of urban property, however, was not confined to their allocated neighbourhood.

Malay-owned properties north and south of Singapore RIver

Besides building drawings, information on Malay-owned properties can also be found from various estate auctions. Two may be highlighted for illustration: that of Haji Osman Kaya, a Banjarmasin Malay merchant, in 1905, and of Daing Passandri, a Bugis merchant of Wajo’, in 1925. Using just these two property auctions, it is clear that Malay-owned properties are distributed across Singapore Town, both north and south of the Singapore River.

Combining the properties listed for the two auctions just mentioned, they are spread across the following streets:

Daing Passandri (Bugis), 1929 auction

South of the Singapore River:

Boat Quay
Upper Hokkien Street
New Market Road
Wayang Street
Merchant Road
New Bridge Road
South Bridge Road
Smith Street

North of the Singapore River:

Beach Road
Crawford Street
Java Road
Rochore Road
Muar Road

Haji Osman Kaya (Banjar), 1905 auction

South of the Singapore River:

Hokkien Street
China Street

North of the Singapore River:

Beach Road
Arab Street
Middle Road
Bain Street
Rochore Road
North Bridge Road
Victoria Street

In addition, there are numerous building drawings of Malay, Javanese, and Bugis-owned properties along Victoria Street, and several along Queen Street, Bencoolen Street and Waterloo Street. Besides Haji Osman and Daing Passandrik, two other names that stand out for owning numerous properties along Victoria Street are Hadjee Alley (Ali) and Hadjee Mohamed Nor.

Utusan Melayu at Kampong Dhoby’s no.64 Queen Street

Kampong Dhoby is also significant for the Malay community as it was the site of the first office and printing press of Utusan Melayu, at 64 Queen Street. The drawing for this premises, a three-storey shophouse by architect Ho Kwong Yew (NAS 197/1939), has been found, dating to the year of its founding. It is signed by H.A. Sooloh with the address 103 Java Road – this is the Bugis merchant Haji Ambo Sooloh, Justice of the Peace and Municipal Commissioner representing the Malay community of the Colony after Mohamad Eunos bin Abdullah.

Jawi and lontara’s scripts on drawings

Three drawings bear Jawi signatures of the owners: for Hadjee Alley’s shed at Victoria Street by R H Omar (NAS 10241/1910); Hadjee Alle’s structure at no. 186 Victoria Street by Almeida (NAS 10088/1910); and for Inchek Samad’s stables at 233 and 234 Victoria Street by W. T. Moh (NAS 9693/1909). Two more drawings bear Jawi chops of the draughtsmen: for A M Ibrahim at 239 Bencoolen Street, by H D Ali, whose Jawi stamp states “Ali bin Hasan Daulat Tukang Plan” or “plan maker” (NAS 328C/1926); and for Shaikh Daud’s 63 Queen Street, by Omar bin Gempih with a Jawi chop (NAS 14G/1928). Another two drawings bear the Bugis lontara’ signature of Haji Wat Wallah bin Abdullah, whose projects for altogether five shophouses at Victoria Street both involved Tan Seng Chong as draughtsman (NAS 10228/1910; NAS 10260/1910).

Other aricles in this 10-part series:

Part 1: Campong / Kampong: Forgotten shared urban ward names in colonial Singapore

Part 2: Compound houses and compound shophouses

Part 3: Lorongs in Kampung Bengkulu: The forgotten alleys of history

Part 4: Kampong Serani: Some Notes on the Eurasian Community in Town

Part 5: Kampong Melaka and the other story of Singapore River

Part 6: Chinese beyond Chinatown: Kampong Melaka

Part 7: The multiple sites of the Chulia community

Part 8: Malays in the heart of “Chinatown”: Kg Penghulu Kesang

Part 9: Kampong Bengkulu’s Jewish Mahalla and Japan Town

Part 10: Kampong Dhoby, Queen Street: A lost North Indian quarter