The Gloomy Past of Haw Par Villa
Save Haw Par Villa from being torn down
Haw Par Villa was a big attraction in the 1960s and 1970s. But in
the fad-happy Singapore of today, it may have outlived its
usefulness. Should it go?
The king of Tiger Balm left a gaudy mark on Singapore's landscape
67 years ago - and the Lion City has been left holding his cub
ever since.
Managed since 1990 by International Theme Parks, a joint venture
between beverage group Fraser & Neave and Times Publishing in
shares of 75:25, the operator of Haw Par Villa announced last
month that it would return the loss-making park's keys to the
Singapore Tourism Board by March 31 next year.
Life! conducted a straw poll on whether the park should be spruced
up or shut down for good, among 80 men in the street this week.
These were the top-of-mind impressions of 49 of them: "Close it
down." "It is incurring massive losses." "It is boring."
Still, many of those in the minority, who were older Singaporeans,
said that the park should be preserved for sentimental reasons.
But does that fact alone warrant its conservation in land-scarce
Singapore, in this day and age?
Says architect Tay Kheng Soon, without hesitation: "Tear it down.
It's so old and out-of-date. Singaporeans don't have any
sentiments left for it. I went there once as a child and I have no
intention of ever going back there again." Mr Tay made a case
recently for preserving the National Library building, which is
slated to make way for the Singapore Management University.
A Burmese by birth, Mr Aw Boon Haw, a Hakka, built Haw Par Villa
in 1937, at the cost of $1 million. It was the magnate's way of
rewarding his younger brother, Boon Par, for helping him hit the
jackpot by marketing their medicated balm, Tiger Balm.
The villa and its grounds were destroyed in World War II but he
rebuilt it from 1950 to 1959. Then, in a twist of fate, Mr Aw died
in Hawaii in 1954, so he never did get to see what the restored
compound looked like finally.
Today, tourists and trek-happy locals see it as a uniquely quirky
attraction, while others would go so far as to call it a national
monument.
With its hundreds of garishly-hued statues and figurines depicting
famous characters from Chinese myths and legends, no one would
dispute that, as a park, it is in a class of its own.
Recalls Mr Chin Kean Kok, 28, an architectural associate, who
first visited the villa as a boy: "Even the floors of his swimming
pools were crammed with gaudy figurines. I remember wondering how
anyone could swim in such pools. It was so weird." Caught in a
sudden afternoon shower on Wednesday, first-time visitor to
Singapore Nirmal Agarwal, 40, huddled under the Laughing Buddha
pavilion together with his wife, two daughters and son.
The chartered accountant, who had flown in from New Delhi that
day, says: "My brother, Raj, recommended this place as a must-see
for my kids. But when I asked staff at the hotel where I'm staying
if tour guides would cover Haw Par Villa in their itineraries,
they said 'No'. So, after lunch, I decided to take my family here
first, before we join our tour group for all the other
attractions."
Says Ms Amanda Yeo, a sales executive with International Theme
Parks: "Apart from placing Haw Par Villa brochures in hotels
island-wide, we've done zero advertising and promotions since we
closed down the flume ride and amphitheatre in 1997."
Ms Jenny Meng, a stall hand at the park's Pavilion cafe, says:
"Four to five years back, tour guides would bring groups of
tourists -- mostly Indonesians -- here. But, once they were in the
park's grounds, they'd leave the visitors to wander around on
their own, while they sipped their drinks.
"When I asked them why they wouldn't explain the myths and legends
of the park to visitors, they replied, 'Why should we take them
around if we're not paid any
commissions?' "
For Singaporeans in earlier days, much of the thrill of visiting
the park lay in the fact that they were being allowed to tour the
private grounds of a larger-than-life millionaire.
Now, 67 years on and one failed multi-million dollar theme park
later, the Singapore Tourism Board wants to revive its grounds.
Architect William Lim, 67, supports the move. Says the former
president of the Singapore Heritage Society: "Tourists will be
more interested in visiting if they
can get to know more about folk mythology and legends from the
park."
He adds: "They should go back to the original concept of a public
access park like the Botanic Gardens. Just look at how many people
visit the Botanic Gardens."
The issue, then, is: Does Singapore need two Botanic Gardens?
Plus, while the Botanic Garden is just a stone's throw away from
Orchard Road, the Villa sits along a slip road in out-of-the-way
Pasir Panjang.
Of course, in recent years, it did not help its image that
International Theme Parks used to charge $15 (and, later, $16.50)
for admission. Before Haw Par Villa turned into a theme park,
admission was free.
The entry fee per person has since been slashed to $5 for adults
and $2.50 for children (NOW IT IS ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE), but checks with the handful of shopkeepers
scattered about the park confirmed that visitors are
fast-dwindling.
Looking at the park, then, strictly as a recreational feature,
what it suffers most from, perhaps, is its "once is enough" shock
value. It is, for instance, hard to shake off the profusion of sex
and gore themes in its Ten Courts of Hell, even if they are meant
to be educational.
True to Singapore's pragmatic spirit, it may well be better to
close the park as it is, and put the hilly land to better
(inevitably commercially-viable) use (see story on this page).
The issue it all really boils down to, then, is: Haw Par Villa may
be a sleeping tiger, but what price memory?
(Source: Cheong Suk-Wai, The Straits Times Interactive, Life, May
5, 2000)
The Bright Future Ahead
Exhibition centre to connect with Chinese diaspora.
Set up at Haw Par Villa, it will show how the Chinese set up home
outside China.
Many Chinese, when they migrate, do not speak the language of
their adopted homeland. But decades later, many blend in
while still retained their culture. This phenomenon has
spurred the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) to set up a permanent
exhibition centre at Haw Par Villa to connect with the Chinese
diaspora.
To be called Hua Song, the board wants the centre, which will show
how the Chinese have made their homes outside China, to be a
tourist attraction, particularly to migrant Chinese.
It is hoped that they, in turn, will donate images and artefacts
for display. Hopefully, Haw Par Villa will attract a million
visitors a year once the centre and other attractions are open,
said STB's senior director of special projects, Mrs Pamelia Lee.
It is hoped that the centre will be ready by 2005. Latest
figures show that about 400,000 people visited Haw Par Villa
between last April and last month.
The centre will sit on a 0.8 ha site. It will have a main
exhibition gallery, a theatrette, a learning a gallery for
children, food and beverage facilities and a souvenir shop.
The gallery will, among other things, display old photographs of
Chinese immigrants living in foreign countries as well as
artefacts, such as old wedding gowns, which reflect the adopted
country.
So far, the board has collected more than 260 images from around
the world. The Chinse Heritage Centre, set up in May 1995 on
the grounds of the Nanyang Technological University, will help to
verify the materials and decide on the content.
(Source: Straits Times, 27 March 2002)
The Man who Paints the Statues
Artisan Teoh Veoh Seng, 67, can probably relate the tales of the
Ten Courts of Hell better than anyone else. That's because
he has been working at Haw Par Villa since he was 13.
Mr Teoh lived in the well-known Chinese mythology theme park for
40 years until 1991 when he moved into a three-room flat at Bukit
Gombak. In those days, the grandfather of 10 earned only $60
a month. Today, he gets $1,600.
"My grandfather and father worked at the park as artisans.
Then, they worked for the Aw Brothers who ran the park which was
known as Tiger Balm Gardens," he recalled.
"There's northing else I can do except pain and fix the statues in
the park. This is the only skill my father has taught me."
These days, Mr Teoh keeps himself busy re-painting the statues and
monuments which are vandalized now and then.
He told Streats: "I wish people would just appreciate the artwork
and not damage it. The culprits are usually children who
climb up the exhibits.
"In some cases, people are up to mischief. Look at the Zhu
Ba Jia (the Pigsy character from the Chinese fable Journey To The
West) near the entrance. Someone took away the broom he was
holding and threw it away. His finger was broken too."
Mr Teoh painstakingly repaints and repairs the damaged statues and
other exhibits each time the vandals strike. Sometimes, a
repair job can take up to two months.
The Eight Immortals, for example, took Mr Teoh more than two
months to finish. It also happens to be his pride and joy.
But his work no longer requires him to touch up the paint jobs on
the towering exhibits.
Mr Danel Lim, 26, Haw Par Villa's events and programme manager,
said: "He is very eager to help the artisans we hire from China.
But we discourage him from climbing the scaffolding. So we
let him do the simpler jobs."
(Source: Cara van Miriah, Streats)
Compare the two
pictures below.
Haw Par Villa has been expanded to more than twice its original
size.
you will see
the amphitheater, three indoor theaters, a large dragon that
houses the Courts of Hell,
and a water ride that were constructed to renew interest in the
gardens
|
Answering
Mysteries
Come