Sunday, April 11, 2010
Public Housing for the Deceased? A Look at the 'Geographies of Death'.
As the Qing Ming Festival is still ongoing, my family as well as my uncle's took the Sunday to pay respects to my deceased maternal grandparents and aunt. My grandparents's remains have been cremated and their ashes are stored inside Choa Chu Kang Columbarium, while my aunt is still buried at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery.
In a week when my GE2206 module talked about 'Landscapes of Death', with reference to the various spatial practices regarding the handling of dead bodies, this short journey to pay respects to my deceased relatives certainly felt like a field trip to me. What makes it more interesting is that I have been reading up on public housing as part of my revisions for SSA2204 and somehow, somewhere, I was able to see many parallels when it comes to housing the dead and the living.
To cut the long story short, there was a massive traffic jam, and when we've reached and begun paying respects and burning offerings, there were already a lot of people around and the place was filled with smoke, blended with the chatter of living relatives of the deceased who used the occasion as an opportunity to gather together as well.
Anyway, during the time which I happened to be idling, I looked across the street from the columbarium and saw the other site for the dead, the cemetery. It was a vast piece of land, neatly occupied by rows and rows of graves. Indeed, it was a rather magnificant sight from where I was standing, and looking back at the physical layout of the columbarium, I was immediately reminded of the types of housing we have here in Singapore. But first, let's look at the different types of "housing" for the deceased.
And...
Personally, I feel that the first picture shows us a glimpse of what "private housing" is like for the deceased. Well, at least they look like terraces to me. As for the second picture, it is no doubt very similar to our high-rise, high-density public housing provided by the state. These "housing", where the cremated ashes of the dead are stored, even have their own block numbers, floors and niches (unit numbers). They are also neatly arranged into clusters, much like the public housing estates or precincts we have for some of the older housing estates in Singapore. Repeated, and homogeneous, not unlike the one shown in the photo below:
Furthermore, the housing for the dead also mirror the way the housing of the living is spatially allocated. That is, private housing sometimes can be seen side by side with public housing. I mean, it's just across the street, isn't it? Furthermore, for land-scarce Singapore, the graves at the cemeteries are also subject to certain regulations, such as the 15-year lease. Furthermore, many are pending to be exhumed to make space for, well, the living. Similar, yes, yet the utilisation of space for the living and the dead is a rather exclusive issue.
I wonder if the deceased do get subsidies for "staying near" their relatives? Well the truth is, no. In fact, putting the ashes of the related dead together would definitely cost more. Oh well, in the name of family harmony and togetherness...
/ traffic lights.
