SINGAPORE - For 27-year-old Nor Syazwan Abdul Majid, Pulau Ubin is not merely an island, but also a symbol of rich cultural heritage.
His mother, Madam Noorriah Sulong, 65, grew up as part of the island’s Orang Pulau community and lived on Ubin for 20 years until 1979, when she moved to the mainland after getting married.
From listening to her stories about her life on the island, Mr Syazwan developed a fascination for the kampung lifestyle there and planned a guided tour to Ubin.
The Ubin tour is among more than 120 programmes hosted by the Singapore HeritageFest, which runs from May 1 to 26.
The 2024 festival, its 21st edition, celebrates Singapore’s built heritage and tells the stories behind the country’s buildings, sites and structures.
Mr Syazwan’s tour, the Malay Kampong Heritage Tour on Pulau Ubin, aims to educate the public about the relationship of the Ubin Orang Pulau (which means the people of Pulau Ubin) with the environment around them.
“It will be a tour from the main village to the Malay kampung (Kampung Sungei Durian) as well as the former Malay kampung (Kampung Surau) – a way for the (tour participants) to travel in time and for them to be able to actually experience what used to be there,” said Mr Syazwan.
The social work undergraduate at the Singapore University of Social Sciences also runs the online Wan’s Ubin Journal as another way to preserve the stories of the Ubin Orang Pulau community.
Another tour in the festival is (Her)story Of Samsui Women With Pauline Fun.
Ms Fun – a 53-year-old heritage researcher and former principal of CHIJ St Joseph’s Convent – is passionate about the history of samsui women, who were known for their trademark red headgear and found work as labourers in the construction industry.
Her grandparents moved from the Samsui region in China’s Guangdong province to Singapore in the 1930s, and her grandfather started a transport company to ferry samsui women to construction sites for work.
Through the tour, which takes participants around Chinatown, Ms Fun hopes to highlight the struggles of samsui women in Singapore.
For those interested in architecture, the HeritageFest offers Architrek Through Time: An Architectural Odyssey Through Landmarks, Design, And Urban Lore, a series of weekend walking tours through downtown Singapore.
Helmed by architectural firm DP Architects, the tour features architectural landmarks, and delves into Singapore’s urban planning history and the various elements that are part of Singapore’s built environment.
“There are a lot of these stories that designers will know that we’d like to take the opportunity to share,” said Mr Ziggy Chua Zi Jun, a director at DP Architects.
One landmark included in the tour is Golden Mile Complex, which was built in 1973 and is one of Singapore’s first modern buildings to be given conserved status. “It’s one of the key iconic buildings that one of our founding fathers built,” said Mr Chua.
The festival will also go off the beaten track. Dark Changi, The Walking Tour includes a stop at Changi Creek, where there is a stone bridge believed to have been used for executions by Japanese soldiers.
It will be led by Mr Eugene Tay, founder of Supernatural Confessions, a platform for people to discuss their supernatural experiences.
Mr Tay – along with his co-host, playwright, director and theatre performer Jonathan Lim – is keen on expanding on the “notorious reputation” that Changi holds for its haunted tales.
“I was born and raised in Changi – it’s my own kampung. There is a lot about Changi that isn’t talked about,” said Mr Tay, who hopes the tour will create a “newfound appreciation” for Changi and allow its stories to live on.
Some tours are free to join, while others charge a fee. For example, it costs each participant $25 to join the Malay Kampong Heritage Tour, and $20 for Architrek Through Time: An Architectural Odyssey Through Landmarks, Design, And Urban Lore.
Referring to the featured buildings and sites, Singapore HeritageFest festival director David Chew said: “These are just structures that would not come to life if not for the stories and the history of the people who lived in them, those who passed away, worked and played in them, and it’s really the communities and these stories that make these buildings come to life.”
Other highlights of the festival include an installation, Homeground: We Built This City, held on the lawn of the National Museum of Singapore. It will feature the evolution of Singapore’s public housing, as well as a replica of the bandstand gazebo at the Singapore Botanic Gardens, the country’s first Unesco World Heritage Site.
The 2024 festival coincides with the 40th anniversary of Total Defence, which is commemorated with programmes highlighting Singapore’s military past, and the 35th anniversary of Singapore’s conservation programmes.
Total Defence was introduced in 1984 as a whole-of-society defence concept.
All HeritageFest programmes are now open for registration.
For more information on the programmes, visit https://www.sgheritagefest.gov.sg/
