An open letter to Tan Chuan Jin.

An open letter to the Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin.

Dear sir,

You said, "Singapore is not perfect, no society is perfect." You also said that Singaporeans who were not happy with the country should try to improve things instead of running down the country.

Countless  letters have been written and sent to various agencies pointing out deficiencies and proposing improvements, e.g.like the one about removing the traffic light outside the SICC to reduce traffic jams on Lornie Road. The cost would have been negligible. However, the LTA proposed a new highway which would cost SGD 134.7million. But the cost is not merely in dollars and cents. It is the destruction of the nation's heritage and wildlife habitat, a visible denial of history.Am I running down the country?

In 2011, the URA and LTA published their report for the new highway. "A total of 3,746 graves out of the more than 100,000 graves currently sited at Bukit Brown cemetery will be affected by the construction of the new dual-four lane road1 , lower than the earlier estimation of 5,000 graves." (http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/text/2012/pr12-26.html)

But in 2013, "4,153 graves that would be affected by or are in the vicinity of the new road." (http://www.ura.gov.sg/pr/text/2013/pr13-48.html) Did the URA and LTA spend a single cent to document the affected graves? No, the task was undertaken by volunteers. The news release advised the public, "Members of the public can visit the project website at www.bukitbrown.info for more information on the graves."

You see, Singaporeans are improving things, repairing the harm done by a bureaucratic thinking that lacks breadth and depth of Singapore's need to preserve a corner of the island that is rich in heritage, history and the habitat of wildlife species found only in Singapore. A group of volunteers are serving the dead and the living.

I hope you are listening and that you have heard the voices of these volunteers.