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The Ghoulish Trail
(1st Stop) |
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Fort canning Park
Kampong
Java Park
Bukit Brown
Cemetery (Kopi Hill)
Mt Pleasant Cemetery
Devil's Bend
Old Changi Hospital
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History
Fort Canning is the most historic part of Singapore. The Fort
was named in 1861 in the honor of Viscount Charles John Canning, the
first Viceroy of India. The hill underwent several name changes.
The Malays called it Bukit Larangan (Forbidden Hill) for several
possible reasons. (1) it reputedly contains the tomb or keramat
of Sultan Iskandar Shah, the Malay ruler of the Kingdom of Singapura,
who is said to have forbidden ordinary people to come to the hill
because his concubines and wives used to bath at a spring there.
(2) the Malays were fearful of climbing the hill as they thought the
palace of their ancestor kings had once stood there. (3) the
site had sightings of fabled lion for which Sri Tri Buana, ruler of
Temasek, later named the island Singapura (Lion City). (4)
besides the fabled lion, the Malays believed that the hill is haunted
by many other ghosts and spirits.
Sir Stamford Raffles claimed the hill for his residence, naming it
Government Hill in 1822. Until mid-19th century, Singapore's
governors were residents here; thus the epithet 'Government Hill' as
well as 'Central Park'.
The later Malay name for Fort Canning was Bukit Tuan Bonham, after Sir
Samuel George Bonham, Governor 1836-48. In the latter part of
the 19th century it was called Bukit Bendera (Flag Hill), because of
the signals made for shipping from its flagstaff, the red ensign for
the closing of the P&O mails for Europe, a yellow flag for the China
mails, for Calcutta the blue ensign, and for Australia the white
ensign.
There is archaeological evidence of a 14th century town at Fort
Canning and along the Stamford Canal and Singapore River. During the
construction of the 30 million gallon capacity reservoir in 1928,
Hindu Javanese gold jewelries dated to about 1360 was found.
Ruins of ancient brick buildings were found, that gave support to the
legend of an ancient palace.
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The Battle Box
The Colonial Building and park was
once a British barrack before they were bombed by the Japanese
during WWII. Construction of this Underground Far East
Command Centre began in 1936. It was to be used in the event of
war as the nerve centre for British Military operations in South East
Asia. The Centre was a maze-like complex of 26 rooms and
corridors 9 meters underground. It was there, during the WWII,
on the morning of 15 February 1942 that Lt. Percival made the crucial
decision to surrender to the Japanese.
Some 400 coolies were mobilized in
leveling 3 hectares of hilltop and constructing the elaborate fort
complex of barrack blocks, hospital, gunpowder magazines and
supporting artillery. In 1867, the fort had seven 68-pounder
guns, eight 8-inch guns, two 13-inch mortars and some 14-pounder
cannonades. A cannon was fired three times a day (at 5am, 1pm
and 9pm) in colonial times to announce the hour.
Those weapons were destroyed upon surrendering to the Japanese in
1942. Today, a wax museum has been built bringing alive the days
of the latest military operation complex in Singapore. Admission
to the wax museum costs $8. Some public-accessible areas of the
barrack have found to be used for ritual cult probably because of its
unique spirit-filled sinister ambience. |
The Keramat Iskandar Syah - The Royal Tomb?
Meaning "a sacred place" in Malay, a Keramat is the traditional burial
ground of a revered leader. It is uncertain who was buried here,
though some people believe this to be the resting-place of Raja
Iskandar Syah, a ruler of Temasek. Malay traditions state that
the first Malay king and his chief minister were also buried there.
Iskandar Syah was the last of the five kings who ruled Singapore
during her golden age in the 14th century. Singapore was
attacked by an enemy but Iskandar Syah escaped and founded another
kingdom, Melaka (Malacca). Chinese records report that Iskandar
Syah died around 1420, but do not tell us where he was buried.
The Keramat came in a form of a
terrace. It has a 14th century-styled Malay roof called a 'pendopo',
supported by twenty wooden pillars carved in a fighting cock motif of
Javanese origin, shelters this structure. On the day that we
visited the Keramat, we saw two Malay ladies offering flowers and
incense to the tomb. By law, no offering is allowed and the
public are prohibited from sitting on the tomb. Would they be
the descendants or relatives of Iskandar Syah? |
A Park or a cemetery?
The park walls are made up of tombstones and Fort Canning Park was
once a graveyard for some 600 Christian grave. This used to be
the old Christian Cemetery until 1865. The only graves left are
at the far end of the Green (near Drama Centre). Those
tombstones that were removed were set into the wall surrounding Fort
Canning Green.
Tombstones can be seen
everywhere at Fort Canning Park
Pause here for a moment and imagine
the famous men and women who gave their lives to the young colony.
They are the elite people having titles of lieutenants, generals or
sergeants, etc. Most of them died at about mid-age during
battles. Their short histories embedded in the walls that line
the former cemetery. There is a rumor saying that the tombstones
came from Kampong Java Park that used to be a Jewish Cemetery instead
of Fort Canning itself. |
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 Answering
Mysteries |
1. Why Fort Canning was once called a
forbidden hill?
2.
Was Raja Iskandar Syah really buried at Fort Canning? If
not, who was there?
 Come
share your views with us! |
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