Stop snatching away my estate in the name of progress. Stop destroying our history in the name of convenience. Stop violating my right to rest in peace. These are some of the cries rising from the ground of Bukit Brown. The estate of the dead and their descendants are being encroached for some stupid road to smoothen traffic flow and convenience.
The critics would argue, what is more important, the flow of cars or the history behind the once people buried there? Every one of them was a part of our history, something gone but preserved only waiting to be bulldozed away.
The livings are now competing with the dead for their estates. And the dead obviously would lose unless they unleash their unseen spiritual power to make the livings go down on their knees. This is what we called disturbing the peace. Why can’t we let them live in peace?
We do not have to come to such a state if we have been more prudent, less greedy, and more sensitive to our past and our future. The human greed of today, in the name of progress, is going to destroy everything that will allow the human beans to live a little longer. Destruction of mother earth, unrestrained consumption of resources and livestock will deplete them doubly fast. We are still clamouring for more.
We want more progress. Progress is good. Don’t you want progress? The sheep sheepishly say yes without knowing what progress means, what progress entails. In its simplest form, it is like a glutton eating himself to a faster death with all the associated illness of fat, obesity, high blood pressure and cancerous growth. That is basically what this material progress is all about.
It is not a wholesome thing. It has nothing spiritual, nothing about the general well being of the people and the land. It is stupidity at its highest unthinking level. Progress to them is material acquisition, material well being, money, concretes and every little invention that are really worthless to a holistic and fulfilling life. What is so great about owning the latest ipad or iphone, to play games and watch TV? What is so great about that expensive pet? What is so great about the tenth luxury cars? Things in excess become meaningless. Gates and Buffett knew.
Living and the meaning of living, the well being of the human beans is not just a mad scramble for money, for economic growth, for more concrete infrastructure, for lesser space to live on.
If we have stopped this crazy progress thing earlier, we would not have to quarrel with the dead for their little piece of real estate. There will be plenty to go around. Now we say not enough. And at the same time we keep bringing more people to stake their claims for more space and real estate.
Progress is really wonderful when you don’t think about it. Unfortunately the dead could not offer their real estate at market price. They and their descendants should sell the piece of real estate en bloc to the highest bidder and benefit from the profits of the sale. Why should they give up their real estate to benefit the motorists in the name of progress?
Robbing the dead or disturbing the peace?
I beg to defer, most people cannot be bothered with this development, beside the passionate pleas on the internet, the support for Bt Brown has been astonishing low.
ReplyDeleteThis blog is just noise.
They came for the dead. Next they will come for the living.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Chua
ReplyDeleteJeffrey may be right, your statement "They came for the dead. Next they will come for the living." is just crap.... The livings has all been chased out long ago, we are all in cages liao, not the old villages and kampongs; we are all in cages with "large personal space".. cause headcount per household has been going down. Just spend some time to go around our dear Singapore and you will see the amount of land for future developments, Bt Brown is just but a piece of that statistics, they will find a reason for it is prime land.
I really believe this is some sort of conspiracy. LKY is always ardent in erasing our collective memories, making us forget about our history.
ReplyDeleteFirst PAP rigged the history textbook. This time, knowing that bulldozing the whole Bukit Brown is unpalatable, PAP propose to build a small road first. Slowly and slowly, Bukit Brown will be gone.
When I look at the map, I really dont see any much gain by building the road across Bukit Brown. Bukit Brown and environs are just private property build up area that you really don get too much traffic.
I don think the road make much sense and there can always be alternative solutions.
I will support 2 hands up if people tear down bungalows in Oxley road to make better road. Traffic there is much heavier.
I agree that our land is very limited. But who is making the situation worst by importing more migrants?
ReplyDeleteIf we don't treasure whatever little land that we have, we will lose them. I am not too particular about protecting graveyards as we cannot afford to have precious little plot of land for the dead when the livings are coped up in little pigeon holes with good quality living.
Every Sinkie must do its part to protect our land from turning into concrete to house more foreigners with new pink ics.
ReplyDeleteWhen you die, you are no longer "you", and are no longer human. You are a corpse. And therefore have no more RIGHTS.
ReplyDelete"Rest in peace"? Don't be a stupid selfish motherfucking arsehole. A dead person is DEAD. No rights. Can do whatever to that piece of dead meat.
Get over it lah.
Don't be so selfish. Your life, if you are lucky, you have 80+ years. You are ONE PERSON, with one opinion to match your one arsehole.
Millions of people live at the same time as you do, many millions have past, many countless of millions will come after you.
What the fuck right do you have to stop progress, just because you can't keep up.
Fuck you, and those like you!
Dead people are no longer able to vote wisely.
ReplyDeleteChances are they probably voted for the Pro Alien Party anyway.
The dead, like the living, got the government they deserved.
Matilah, you having problem again?
ReplyDeleteLast night he no cum or cannot ? Today show tantrums lah
ReplyDeleteredbean,
ReplyDeleteI have no problem. It's people who have a fixation to medieval death rituals who have a problem. -- i.e. burying the dead. WTF?!? Seriously? This is the 21st century -- why the fuck are we still placing some form of "importance" on deceased persons ... especially those who have been deceased for many decades? Are you people insane??
Time to dig up the remains of those dead motherfuckers, and put the prime real estate to much better use.
A huge portion of the land now used for the (productive) benefit of 5 million people -- ALIVE people (and growing) -- was made possible because tens of thousands of graves were exhumed.
I have never heard one of those exhumed dead persons complain. No a single one.
Time to do some digging!
The authorities have no idea how to deal with superstitious beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThough we have progressed much from the dark and bloody middle ages, we are still spooked by the supernatural.
In the name of God and the dead, you can still rob,steal,kill and make fools of gullible people today.
Our laws permit it.
ooooh, I just posted a thread in a similar vein.
ReplyDeleteMatilah spura,lets give some respect to the dead. Though we should accept the living have priority over the dead. Why the uproar over Bkt Brown? BIDADARI was exhumed withou a whimper of protest.
ReplyDeleteHi albony, welcome to the blog.
ReplyDeleteYou got a point there. The only difference is the value of the landed properties and also the ownership, rich man poor man.