Choa Chu Kang Cemetery Chapel - Christian Cemetery Path 3

Rest in peace

Spotted a wild boar

Nice and quiet chapel, easily accessible from bus stop.

Security deployment mmnear there

Peaceful & Serene ✝️

Choa Chu Kang Muslim cemetery: Almost every day for the past three years, at about 8am, the grave caretaker puts on his sunglasses and high-cut shoes, drapes a towel over his head and starts cycling around the cemetery, looking out for visitors who need help caring for their loved ones’ graves. Besides de-weeding and grass-cutting, the 63-year-old also helps to wash tombstones and touch up headstones where lettering has faded. Scroll to continue with content Scroll to continue with content On weekdays, he earns about S$30 a day, tending to up to 10 graves. On weekends, he can earn “hundreds”, “especially on Sundays (when it is) most crowded”. A total of 80,500 Chinese and Muslim graves at Choa Chu Kang Cemetery, which currently occupy 100ha of land, will be exhumed progressively to make way for the expansion of Tengah Air Base. The first to go will be 5,000 Muslim graves across two blocks in the fourth quarter of next year, followed by 45,000 Chinese graves from the fourth quarter of 2019. The move will see the size of the cemetery shaved by a third. END OF THE LINE FOR GRAVE CARETAKERS Mr Mamat is among the handful of grave keepers in the 318-hectare cemetery — the only one here still open for burials since 1993 — who may see their peaceful and idyllic jobs vanish as the graves are exhumed. It was his desire to be his “own boss” that made him quit his full-time job as a gardener to take up this line of work. “I quite like to work here because it is peaceful, not too difficult,” he said. On days when “business” is slow, he either belts out his favourite tunes on his harmonica or chats with fellow grave keepers. The cemetery also gives him space to let his creativity run wild. His “favourite corner” — the grave of someone named Jasman Haji Jaffar — is neatly landscaped with shrubs of various colours and pink flowers. An arm’s length away are potted plants propped up on three beams, another of his masterpieces, with pots he had specially bought from the now defunct Sungei Road flea market. “I am a gardener so I can make it beautiful. Before I (tended to it), it was like (the) others,” said Mr Mamat, who supports his daughter and son-in-law in providing for four grandchildren. Asked what his plans are once the graves are gone, he said: “Maybe I will go become a busker with my brothers.” Over at the Chinese cemetery, Mr Huang Ya Jiu tends to two blocks of graves and takes home about S$1,000 a month. Unlike Mr Mamat, Mr Huang — who is in his 70s — has been in this line for more than 10 years and works for a company which he declined to name. “It’s not as easy a job as you think. We have to carry heavy loads and the weather can sometimes be quite punishing,” he told TODAY. He rests under a shelter made out of canvas sheets tied to trees; a black stray dog accompanies him as he does his rounds on foot. On whether he is concerned that his livelihood could be affected, Mr Huang would only say: “I am ready to retire any way.” CONCERNED FAMILY MEMBERS The planned exhumation of the 80,500 graves will be the second-largest in scale in the last two decades, after the removal of 58,000 Christian graves and 68,000 Muslim graves at the Bidadari Cemetery from 2001 to 2006 to make way for housing. While claims and registration for 50,000 of the graves that will be exhumed first — dated between 1955 and 2000 — will begin only in September, some families have already sought clarifications from the National Environment Agency and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) regarding the process.