prep-room | Sites, Stories and Subsequence

Sites, Stories and Subsequence is a NUS Museum prep-room project with Asia Research Institute that excavates, assembles and envisages the complex physical and immaterial tapestries of the Southern Islands, with a specific focus on St John's, Lazarus and Seringat Islands. This blog functions as a means to consolidate all materials, resources and public responses to the project.

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“CHINESE SWITCH TO ENGLISH SCHOOLS” The Straits Times, 21 February 1953, Page 7

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“Pupils on islands may apply for ferry allowance” The Straits Times, 24 February 1974, Page 3

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“Mr Teo Yan Eng, 90, used to help two of his younger brothers who ran a provision shop on Pulau Seking. He says there were 58 families on the island and the 400 to 500 people there "all knew one another”.

The Teos were the only Chinese family there, but felt totally at home. He says: "Neighbours dropped by to chit-chat even if they had nothing to buy.”

He and his brothers did not fish, but their fishermen neighbours often shared their catch.

During Malay weddings and Hari Raya, the brothers exchanged gifts - usually something from their provision shop or a hongbao - with their neighbours, who gave them kueh and nasi briyani.

Although the islanders mostly interacted among themselves, with some inter-marrying, they also caught up with those from other southern islands, where they had relatives.

There was an annual sports meet called the Pesta Five S, drawing participants from the five islands of Sudong, Semakau, Sakijang Bendera (now known as St John's Island), Seking and Seraya. Pesta is the Malay word for carnival.

The islands took turns to host the games, which took place over a few weekends. There were land games such as tug-of-war and soccer, as well as water games such as sampan races.

Mr Rosli Manan, 51, a constituency support executive who was born in Pulau Sudong, recalls turning up with other village children for these meets. "It was a very lively time for the islanders," he says. Life was austere then, as most of the islands lacked running water and sometimes, electricity.

Mr Teo of Pulau Seking remembers using kerosene lamps at night. To get fresh water for cooking and drinking, his brother took 15-minute motor boat rides to Pulau Bukom, returning with big covered pails of water.

Pulau Bukom was one of the more developed islands in the south because Singapore's first offshore oil refinery opened there in 1961. It also had a hospital where Mr Teo's brother was sent to when he got a sharkfish bone stuck in his foot while walking on the beach.

Living so near the coast also made them more vulnerable to the elements. A big storm once blew off the roofs of a few attap houses, including that of the Teos’.

Despite these challenges, Mr Teo has fond memories of his island life. He says: "The air was fresher and we had fresh fish to eat every few days.””

Wee, L. (2016, January 19). Lives of residents of Singapore's southern islands captured in documentary. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/lives-of- residents-of-singapores-southern-islands-captured-in-documentary

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A grim collection of 14 skulls which were unearthed from unmarked graves on the pleasure island of Sentosa in April and May last year will keep their macabre secret for the time being at least. 

The skulls now line a wall shelf in the Pathology Department at Outram Hospital.

Police have closed their files on the investigation of the remains and classified the case as “unsolved”.

Bullet found

The investigation will be re-opened if new facts or developments come to light, police said. 

At a recent coroner’s inquiry into the case, the State Coroner, Mr. Chee Wai Pong, recorded a finding of “murder by person or persons unknown” in the case of one skull which had been split into four by a bullet. Open findings were recorded against the other 13 skulls and broken-up skeletons. 

Dr. Chao Tzee Cheng, head of the government pathology department, told the court that the skulls and skeletons belonged to person whose ages ranged from 20 to 60 years old.

Of the 14 skulls and skeletons, two belonged to women, he said. 

The court also heard that two of the skulls bore fractures but how they were caused could not be ascertained, he added.

Apart from this, no other evidence on the cause of death of the 13 was put before the court. The Coroner returned open findings. 

Personal belongings, including two ladies’ canvas shoes were also shown in court.

These were of a type not found in Singapore and the inference was that they were of Indonesian make.

The first skeletons were found when a construction worker was digging at a site for the Sentosa Coralarium on April 26 last year. 

He found two human skeletons in the sand and later notified the police.

Burials

Subsequently, 12 more skulls and skeletons were uncovered in the same area. All of them were found buried within an area of 0.45 sq metre and in depths of a metre or slightly more.

From this, police were convinced that the skeletons had been buried and not washed ashore.

The Pathology Department established that the burials took place over a period of ten years from the date they were found. 

Sentosa skulls keep their grim secret [ARTICLE] 

The Straits Times, 10 April 1975, Page 11

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(19) “What might be the cultural motivations behind such a house construction? From the above description fo the house, what tends to stand out as important are two areas - the verandah and the kitchen, which are connected by a narrow passage way. Geoffrey Benjamin’s historical analysis of the evolution of what he calls ‘Malay’ type societies has suggested that in such societies because of their early preoccupation with trade, the men tended to dominate the extra-domestic public sphere, whereas the domestic sphere became the special concern of the women. This is a different social orientation from the other societal types in the peninsular, namely the Semang who were hunter and gatherers and the Senoi who were sedentery farmers. Given that collecting for trade necessitated the men establishing relations with domains outside the village, domestic and village organisation normally tended towards a matrifiliative bias and the sister-sister links became the conjuctive components. In a personal discussion, he made the plaustible suggestion that such an ideological orientation towards division in spheres of activity could then have been manifested in their house construction - the physical separation between the verandah and the kitchen. The verandah then, as observed in Malay villages - is the place where the men usually sit around and interact in a relatively formal, etiquette-ruled manner, can be thought of as the ‘public’ domain of the house. The women on most occasion gather together in the kitchen - the ‘domestic’ domain of the house. There are usually two doors, as mentioned above one leading right into the verandah and the other just besides the kitchen door. This again seems to mark the separation of the public and ‘domestic’ domains of the house. The passage-way at the exterior of the house then (as the door leading to the kitchen) among other things of course provides for the women’s easy access to their domain, the kitchen. There is thus no interruption to whatever that is going on in the verandah. The other significant characteristic about most of the houses on Seking is that the doors are at the side of the house, thus facing the neigbouring house along its side. Having doors at the front of the house would mean on the other hand, facing the open ground of the island, or the various community structures, or just the hilll-side for the peoiple at Sebelah Sebong. This preference to face one’s neighbours is to my mind a reflection of something fundamental in Malay culture - that is the need to extend social relations to others.”

Manap, N. (1983). Pulau Seking: Social History and an Ethnography. Unpublished Honours Thesis, University of Singapore.

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In November, the Officiating Curator spent four days on Pulau Pawai (Alligator Island) to collect the fauna of the adjacent coral reefs.

[1933] Raffles Museum Annual Reports Extracts, Annual Report of the Raffles Museum and Library

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The navy moved to the Brani Naval Base in 1973 from Sentosa (Pulau Blakang Mati).

[1985] “Expanding armada keep sea-lanes open”, Singapore Monitor, 1 July 1985, p.14.

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“The total landmass of the main island and surrounding smaller islands is approximately 650km2, though land reclamation is constantly increasing this figure. There are numerous patch reefs in the waters south of mainland Singapore and many of the small islands have fringing reefs.” (Study area, para 1)

“Chou (1988) surveyed four of Singapore’s southern reefs, including cyrene reef and Pulau Hantu which are studied here, and found between 25.3% and 62.0% live coral cover at 3m depth with a range of 15 to 28 genera.” (Study area, para 1)

“Raffles Lighthouse (Pulau Satumu), Located 15km from the main island of Singapore, Raffles Lighthouse is the furthest offshore of the southern islands.

Pulau Hantu is predominantly made up of land reclaimed in 1974 and the island is now used for recreational purposes. Although most of the original reef flats have been covered, the reef slopes are still intact. However, these were delteriously affected by sedimentation from the reclamation project and are still subject to sedimentation from similar work and dredging in the vicinity, making the levels here slightly higher than at Raffles lighthouse” (Study area, para 2,3)

[2001] P. A. Todd, P. G. Sanderson, and L. M. Chou. “Morphological variation in the polyps of the scleractinian coral favia speciosa (Dana) around Singapore” Hydrobiologica 444, no. 1-3 (2001):227-235.

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Man #1: The Sisters.

Man #2: You know, I still don’t understand why Dad would choose this place. Out of all the places we’ve been together.

Man #1: I didn’t understand it either at first. But when I found out about the legend, it all made sense.

Man #2: What legend?

Man #1: You don’t know why they’re called the Sisters’ Islands? Their names were Lina and Nina. Two sisters who spent their days playing together. Their mum was concerned about how much time they were spending with each other.

Vargas, M. A. (Director). (2017). Sisters Islands [Video file]. Retrieved from https://theaudienceawards.com/films/sisters-islands-202685

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“The rhyming of 'Meleking' with 'Seking' is not accidental: in older Malay, me-, le- and se- (or si-) are Austronesian prefixes carrying a variety of meanings. In particular, the S- that begins the names of so many islands throughout Riau and Singapore's Southern Islands, is an abbreviated form of the individuating, humanising prefix si-,”

Wee, V., & Benjamin, G. Pulau Seking: the final link to pre-Raffles Singapore.

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In the early years of this century I enjoyed the friendship of Mat Salleh who was a sort of kind of Rajah Kechil of Pulau Brani...

[1930] “The Malays of Pulau Brani”, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Adviser (1884-1942), 25 June 1930, p.406.

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Guitar Island or perhaps “Rayfish Island” which, being placed immediately south of Singapore, must be identified with St John’s Island, or the group of three islands, west St John’s Island, East St John’s Island and Peak Island

[1937] J.V. Mills “Malaya in the Wu-Pei-Chih Charts”, JMBRAS, 15, 3, (1937), pp. 1-48.

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[1974] “Of Matters Maritime”, Straits Times, 15 September 1974, p. 10.

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The assistant curator was able to use the steam launch Shark during August, for the purpose of investigating the habits of a sea-snake common on the Raffles Light Island… Marine collections and a few kinds were obtained from the neighbouring islands.”  “In addition numerous trips were made to various parts of Singapore Island to collect freshwater fishes, earthworms and land and freshwater molluscs. Pulau Renggis, near Blakang Mati, was twice visited; marine worms and two species of reef spider were obtained.

[1930] Raffles Museum Annual Report Extract, Annual Report of the Raffles Museum & Library

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(p. 33-34) Kampong Kayu consists of 63 houses, 57 of which are owned and occupied by Malays. The rest are occupied by Chinese (2); Indian Muslims (2); and Arabs (2).

All the dwelling houes on the island are built on stilts on the slop facing the sea, and on the foreshore facing the village, making the shape of the settlement rectangular. These houses are of simple wooden construction with either thatched or corrugated iron roof. Generally a house contains a sitting room where visitors are usually welcome during the day. At night, if the family is big, this sitting room is often used as a bedroom, as well as a bedroom proper, usually with a four poster or a modern bedstead. And a kitchen. Most of the houses are not painted and quite a number of them are in such a state that they need repairs.

There are two sundry shops in the village, selling various articles from foodstuff to certain gishing gears such as hook, nylon strings, floats and lead weights. The shop also contain luxury beverages such as bottled soft drinks, Ovaltine, Milo, condensed and powdered milk. (These things are not obtainable in the shops in some similar villages in Kelantan or Trengganu.)

The village also has a Malay school to meet the educational needs of the island children and also those of the nearby islanders. There are seven classes in the school comprising of 90 children. The school has seven Malay teachers, all of them from Singapore. The location of the school is at the peak of the slope and, as it were, behind the village. Nearby there is a football field. This field is situated on part of the land owned by the island Ketua, who has given it on loan to the school, for that purpose. 

Abdul Rahman Ahmad , Wan. (1960). The island malays: A study of a group of malays in an island off singapore: Their life, customs, beliefs, and the degree to which they communicate with other places to meet their various needs

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[1991] “Set Up marine parks to save coral reefs, conservation group urges Govt”, Straits Times, 6 October 1991, p. 3.

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[2008] “Maritime Nuggets”, Nautilus, 4 (2008 3rd Quarter)