Balik kampung to Singapore for Hari Raya might sound strange to Malaysians. Singapore a kampong? To a whole generation of Singaporeans, kampung is only indigenous to Malaysia or Batam.

Kampungs were completely phased out under Singapore's urban renewal programme. I was nine years old when we were "phased out" from the "slum" in Kampung Amber in Tanjong Katong to a flat (as they were called then) in Beach Road. Beach Road, I later discovered, is situated in a very historic area called Kampung Gelam. We grew up completely oblivious to its historical significance.

When meeting elderly Malays in Singapore, one is usually accosted with the question, " Dulu kampung mana? " (Which is your kampung?). Older Malays track your origins this way.

" Orang Melayu lama " for example are the Johor-Riau peoples who are of various bangsa like Bugis, Javanese, Banjar, Minang, Mandaling, Siak, Menado and so on. " Orang Kota " means origins with the Kota Nong Chik, located within the range of a cannon shot from Istana Kampung Gelam.

Kampong Gelam is an urban Malay settlement which grew around the Istana and its masjid (the Sultan mosque) with a British constructed cantonment to contain the Arab, Indian-Muslim and mainly Malay speaking peoples who were also traders, jewelers, boat makers, blacksmiths and mariners.

There were no farmers at the time of the East India company. The Sejarah Melayu (Malay Annals) did mention rice fields in Temasek (the old Malay name for the island). There is an account of Iskandar Zulkarnain chatting up the sisters Wan Empok and Wan Malini who were harvesting their rice fields. Sang Nila Utama a.k.a Parameswara renamed Temasek Singa Pura after sighting an animal which his companion said was a singa (lion).

Different settlements

The 1819 Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, concluded by Raffles with Sultan Hussain of Riau and Temenggong Abdul Rahman of Johor facilitated the 1819 Arrangement made (according to its preamble) "for the better guidance of the people of the Settlement, pointing out where all the different castes are severally to reside (in) their campongs". Hussain was in exile from Johor and was fetched by Raffles to Singapore for the treaty.

Article 2 of the 1819 Arrangement directs that "all the Chinese move over to the other side of the river, forming a campong from the site of the large bridge down the river, towards the mouth, and all Malays, people belonging to the Tumungong and others, are also to remove to the other side of the river." Those not within the "campongs of the Sultan and the Tumungong, are all to be under the control of the Resident" (Article 1).

An old map of Singapore by Jackson (circa. 1828) showed the Chinese campong on one side of the Singapore river (now the Central Business District or CBD) and the Arab and Bugis campongs around the Sultan's environs (collectively called Kampung Gelam) between the Singapore and Kallang rivers.

I think most of the orang lama from Kampung Gelam have died and taken its history with them.

I remember Wak Timah's tale of waiting by the streets of Jalan Sultan with other children on Fridays for the Sultan's entourage to the mosque for Friday prayers. The Sultan would pass coins to the waiting children. Wak Timah lived just outside the Istana along the road called Sultan's Gate in Kampung Gelam. Wak Timah is a second generation orang Melayu lama .

We might have some sense of Kampung Gelam's history from William R Roff's Origins of Malay Nationalism (first published in 1967).

A KL model for Singapore

I was especially pleased to find the popular Haji Singapura story recorded in Roff. Singapore of old was the centre of the Haj pilgrimage in the region. The Haj pilgrimage trade was located in Kampung Kaji in Kampung Gelam. Many hopefuls who could not finance their journey after Singapore were often stranded in Singapore. They nevertheless earned the title Haji Singapura.

I first read Roff decades after the urban renewal of Kampung Gelam and found that I knew very little of Kampung Gelam, and even less of Malay nationalism.

One of the last survivors of Malay settlements on the island is the Kampung Melayu in Jalan Eunos. The proceedings of the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements of Feb 7, 10927 recorded the speeches of council members Mohamed Eunos Abdullah and Tan Cheng Lock calling for a settlement "as has been done in the vicinity of certain towns in the Federated Malay States" like Kuala Lumpur.

The Jalan Eunos Malay Settlement was modelled on Kuala Lumpur's Kampung Baru. Kampung Baru, KL was established as early as 1899 as a Malay agricultural settlement in the outskirts (then) of KL.

The Kampung Melayu in Singapore was declared open in 1929. It was named after Mohamed Eunos Abdullah, the "father of Malay journalism". He was editor of the first Utusan Melayu (1907-1922). The early Utusan was in fact a Malay language edition of the Free Press .

The settlers to Kampung Melayu had to clear the land themselves to built their new homes. The register of settlers was closed in 1965 when it had some 1,300 houses. It was de-gazetted for urban renewal in 1981 to make way for the Pan Island expressway.

It is not likely that younger Singaporeans would comprehend the " Dulu kampung mana? " question. The likely answer to the old folks who raised it would be, " Huh? Kampung? " or " Mana ada kampung lagi Tok! ".

I wonder who in Singapore reads Roff these days?