Bukit Brown Cemetery

It is my rest day today and I went to church. We had a guest speaker who was the Reverend Kenneth W Hagin. I had some spare time after that, so I went out for a leisurely drive to the area just outside my workplace. Yes, I went to Bukit Brown Cemetery. Gamblers and punters usually go there praying for luck, bringing with them joss-sticks, joss papers and food offerings.

People with the surname Ong used to live at Bukit Brown as a self-contained community. They also used the land for burial.

The graves of Mr Ong Sam Leong and his wife

I went to check out the late Mr Ong Sam Leong's grave, the main attraction in the cemetery. It is also the biggest grave in Singapore, with his wife buried next to him. Mr Ong was an influential man who made his fortune by supplying mining workers to phosphate-rich Christmas Island. There is a road off Jalan Besar which is named after him.

Sam Leong Road off Jalan Besar, named after the late Mr Ong Sam Leong

A building named after the late Mr Ong at Sam Leong Road

A Sikh "Jaga" with a rifle at Mr Ong's grave

During Mr Ong's time, he had Sikh watchmen as his bodyguards, so did the other Chinese who also used them to keep watch on banks and businesses. That is why you see two Sikh "Jaga" statues, the tallest among the rest and guarding his grave.

Bukit Brown is also known to have graves of people significant in Singapore's history. They are Chew Boon Lay, who used to grow rubber trees in the area now known as Boon Lay, and Tan Kim Cheng, the eldest son of Tan Tock Seng.

Water and concrete piping through an opening into the Circle Line tunnel

Bukit Brown Cemetery is not as tranquil as before. Tunnels for the upcoming Circle Line MRT system now run beneath and there are small openings which link from the top. Concrete and casting works are now in the process.