Walk of the past

Date:13.12.2008
Location: Singapore

Decide to give an insight in one of our research. Bidadari used to be one of the oldest cemeteries in Singapore. Bidadari Cemetery was a multi-religious burial ground started around 1908 while some stated it was 1910. Bidadari is believed to be derived from the Sanskrit widyadari meaning "nymph of Indra's heaven" or houri, a similar meaning in Persian mythology. In some related stories stated that Bidadari, which covers 57-acre of land, was originally a palace ground. The palace was built by Sultan Abu Bakar for his second wife in 1885. No one knows why the palace was demolished, but it has vanished and all that remains is the small building which used to be Bidadari Mosque.

Almarhum Paduka Sri Sultan Sir Abu Bakar ibn Almarhum Dato Temenggong Sri Maharaja Ibrahim was the first sultan of modern Johor in Malaysia.He began to rule Johor in 1862 and he gained the title of Maharaja in 1868 and later the title of Sultan in 1886.

Sultan Abu Bakar was born on 3 February 1833 in Teluk Belangah Singapore. He was from the Temmenggong Daeng Ibrahim family descended from Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah IV, a Bugis. Abu Bakar married an English woman also from London by the name of Cecelia Lange. Her name changed to Zabedah binti Abdullah upon conversion to Moslem and she was given the title "Cik Besar Zabedah". Another wife of Abu Bakar, Che Engku Fatimah, who bore him the crown prince Ibrahim became the Queen. She was of Acheh-Dutch descent and she was given the title "Sultanah Fatimah". One of the hospital in Johore is named after her. He died on 4 June 1895 at Bailey's Hotel, London. His body was brought back to Johor by the P&O Bombay merchant ship from London and laid to rest at the royal mausoleum named Makam Mahmoodiah. He was succeeded by his son, Sultan Ibrahim, after his death.

Old picture of burial in Bidadari cemetery. The cemetery contained burial sites for several religions and races, including Roman Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Hindus. When it was opened, the Roman Catholic and Protestant sections also each had their own chapel. The cemetery was also used for military burials, and was the resting place for a number of prominent individuals. One of these was the English sailor Augustus Podmore Williams, upon whose life Joseph Conrad based his novel Lord Jim. Jose d'Almeida was also a leading merchant who was buried there. Even Singapore first catholic priest was buried in Bidadari cemetery. A Bidadari Memorial Garden approximately 1,746.6 square metres was then established at Vernon Park to commemorate 20 people who were considered important to Singapore’s history, and who had been interred at Bidadari Cemetery. They included doctor and philanthropist Lim Boon Keng, Ahmad Ibrahim, and R. A. J. Bidwell–the architect who had designed the Raffles Hotel, Goodwood Park Hotel, and Chesed-El Synagogue. The old gates of the Bidadari Cemetery, which bore the lion emblem of the Singapore Municipal Council, were then placed at the entrance of the garden.

This how Bidadari cemetery used to look like. Bidadari Cemetery was closed in 1973, and was then slated, in the Singapore government’s 1998 Mater Plan, to be cleared to make way for the development of public housing and other facilities. In December 2001, the Housing Development Board began exhumation of the estimated 143,000 graves found in the cemetery. Exhumation was completed by the end of 2006, and the cremated remains from the exhumed were placed to rest at the Choa Chu Kang Columbarium. Due to religious reasons, the exhumed remains from Muslim graves could not be cremated, and were reinterred at Pusara Abadi Muslim Cemetery at Choa Chu Kang. The cemetery was thus cleared to make way for the development of a road interchange at the junction of Bartley Road and Braddell Road, and for the construction of the Woodleigh MRT Station situated along the North-East MRT Line.

My grandfather was buried in Bidadari Muslim cemetery, so as a young child I used to visit my grandfather's grave weekly with my mom. I got used to it until even without my mum, I would still visit my grandfather grave regularly. One day my mum told me that when my grandmother visit my grandfather's grave, she would spent long hours till late night alone. Reason because she misses and love my grandfather dearly, even though he had passed away for a very long period. One night I decide to gather my guts and do the same as what my grandmother did. Took a bus down and reached Bidadari around 8pm. Slowly I make my way in to the cemetery alone. Before entering the big gate, the chill and dull feeling greeted me till down my spine. As I walked further I noticed there were some people who had just finished the prayers in the mosque. I walked further in slowly till I reached my grandfather grave. I sat down and recite some Holy verse from the Al-Qur'an. Nothing particular strange, till I saw quite number of people walking pass by. Feeling very curious I tried to follow to where they were heading. Further in I noticed there were large numbers of people gathering at a particular grave, which later I knew it was called "Kubor Keramat Kuning".

Not knowing, what were they actually doing, I tried to get closed without letting them noticed. Soon that I knew that this place was actually a gathering for some kind of magic ritual. Not very far from the "Keramat Kuning" was another group at the top of the cemetery were practicing Kuda kepang.

I wondered to myself upon seeing this, why would people do such ritual practices in this cemetery at night? Why wouldn't they just do this in some other places and leave this soul in peace? So soon I begun to visit Bidadari cemetery late at night regularly, just wanting to see all this strange things around there. Not much paranormal sighting, till one particular night, while sitting nearby at my grandfather's grave, I heard someone walking. So I turned my head around to see who was it......It was a sight which haunted me when I was still a young child, but this time I just watch it walked pass by.

That were just some experiences I have to share. So one of the nights, Bro5 and Farid suggest to recce out the area. Bro5, Yusof and myself met up with Kamarul, Farid and FatDin at a location nearby which what used to be a cemetery. We still want to know even after the exhumed would there still be any paranormal activity like it used to be.

We started walking in from an old mosque nearby. The moon was full on that particular night, so everyone was hoping to have a glimpse of something interesting. "What could we find here tonight? Something interesting I hope." I told Farid. This pic above was taken while we were just entering the area.

Here is a pic of Bro5 concentrating at a particular spot. At first we noticed something strange at a particular tree. As soon as we were about to go nearer, Kamarul told us it's actually 3 bangladesh people sitting below the tree. Kamarul sharp eyes did save us some time and energy. So we went to look upon other directions.

Here the above picture you could noticed something strange in front of bro5. And one particular tree I spotted something strange which look like a pair of red eyes on the branches. Soon I notice it was actually a bird, and the rest comfirm too it was just a bird.

Above Picture: Notice something strange from the ground. We walked carefully and silently around the area few times to see if there were any thing strange in particular.

Above Picture: Notice as if there were something rising from the ground. To our despair, there were nothing strange to see nor any strange sounds. Most of us sat down and rest while bro5 feeling unsatisfied he walked by himself to look further in.

After 5 minutes of rest, we continued to search around the area. Everyone move by themselves. Suddenly at particular spot I smell something strange out of the ordinary, I soon pointed out a particular tree to the rest of the guys.

Above Picture: Strange kind of orbs within the tree. Soon after Bro5 approached the particular tree to have a better look. Everyone soon began to smell something strange at this certain spot. The fragrance was so strong as if the smell was among us.

Above picture: Bro5 taking a look at the particular tree.Soon after the smell fade away, but Yusof insist the smell was very nearby him.

Above Picture: The guys posing while walking. But notice the strange green light behind somewhere near Farid. After sometimes, we decide to moved out and proceed to another location.

If you asking if there is anything strange here? Well other then foreign workers hiding among some trees not knowing what their doing there, the fear factor here had definitely decreased for me. Because there were not much trees as it used to be, and of course all the gothic graves were not here anymore. There is only one particular spot where everyone smell a kind of weird fragrance. Well we never say it's finished, so be patience of what we have to show in future about is place.

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Walk of the past

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