‘Bukit Brown meeting never intended to be type of dialogue desired and claimed by these groups’

Chua Yini SingaporeScene Yahoo News 20 Mar 12;

A meeting held on Monday night was not intended to satisfy Bukit Brown interest groups, said MND Minister Tan Chuan-Jin. (AFP file photo)A meeting held on Monday night was not intended to satisfy Bukit Brown interest groups, said MND Minister Tan Chuan-Jin. …

The Bukit Brown meeting between interest groups and government agencies was "deemed to be an inadequate effort at genuine engagement" because it did not satisfy their demands, said Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the Minister said that Monday's two-hour closed-door meeting on the fate of Bukit Brown was "never intended to be the type of dialogue desired and claimed by these [environment and heritage] groups".

"Because we failed to conduct a session that was in line with what they [environment and heritage groups] wanted [to have their own briefs and invite others on their invite list] it was deemed to be an inadequate effort at genuine engagement," Tan wrote.

Tan said that the meeting was held to share with the group background information and considerations, and to highlight the road plans which were announced by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) on Monday.

LTA had revealed that one-third of a new road across Bukit Brown will be elevated 10m off the ground, a move which is expected to cost more but is seen as a concession to the environment and heritage groups.

Following the meeting on Monday night, the group released a statement at about 10.25pm, requesting for a moratorium on all works at Bukit Brown.

The eight-point statement said that plans to develop the Bukit Brown area should be halted until there is "clarity over long-term plans for the area and discussions over alternatives have been exhausted".

The statement, which also expressed "dismay and disappointment" at the way the meeting was organised, was signed by Nature Society (Singapore), the Singapore Heritage Society, Asia Paranormal Investigators, All Things Bukit Brown, SOS Bukit Brown, Green Corridor and Green Drinks.

The statement alleged that government agencies had postponed an original meeting scheduled for 20 February with 31 representatives from the groups. An invitation for another meeting was sent out on 14 March, but only to a few of the original 31 representatives.

According to the statement, the two decisions to allow only those invited by the Ministry of National Development (MND) and to one representative per group gave "a strong impression of the lack of good faith on the part of MND".

The interest groups were also unhappy that the meeting was only held after LTA's announcement of the road plans, which "demonstrates the old practice of presenting decisions" instead of having "genuine engagement and discussion".

In an earlier Facebook post at about 9pm on Monday, Tan said that the decision to proceed with the construction of the road "has not been an easy one".

"While we have not been able to fully accommodate their [interest groups] wishes, we have taken many of their views into consideration," he wrote, citing the decision to document graves that would be exhumed due to the road construction.

He added that LTA has also factored in feedback from the interest groups in the design of the road, so as to "minimise impact to the cemetery, hydrology and biodiversity".

Bukit Brown session was to explain govt's decision: Tan Chuan-Jin
Channel NewsAsia 20 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE: Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin said the session with the Bukit Brown interest groups on March 19 was to explain the thinking behind the government's considerations.

He said the session was meant to provide information on how the government came up with its final decision, and more importantly, to discuss on "how to move forward".

Mr Tan was responding to queries from Channel NewsAsia over the meeting which he described as "cordial".

He noted that the subsequent statement issued by the seven interest groups, was one of the perspectives on the issue.

Despite several consultations in the past six months, civic groups are still unhappy and have continued to raise concerns over the road alignment.

The Ministry of National Development added it has also been engaging a broad spectrum of Singaporeans who have an interest in Bukit Brown.

This is in addition to the feedback from forum letters and emails.

- CNA/fa

Bukit Brown meeting 'not a consultation'
It was not in response to interest groups' request: Tan Chuan-Jin
Goh Chin Lian & Royston Sim Straits Times 21 Mar 12;

WHEN government officials met nature and heritage groups over plans for a new road in Bukit Brown on Monday, they never meant it to be a consultation on whether the road would be built or not.

The session was also not called in response to those groups' earlier request to meet government agencies, said Minister of State (National Development and Manpower) Tan Chuan-Jin, who had chaired the meeting.

He was responding to criticisms by seven groups, including the Nature Society (Singapore) and the Singapore Heritage Society (SHS), that they were not given time to make their own presentations of alternatives at the meeting.

The groups also said government agencies had postponed a Feb 20 meeting the groups had requested with 31 of their representatives, only to have the Ministry of National Development (MND) invite only a few of the original 31 representatives, and others, to the Monday night meeting.

Together with the decision to limit the representation of groups to one person from each group, these moves 'give a strong impression of the lack of good faith on the part of MND', they said in a statement released at 10.25pm on Monday.

Barely six hours later, in a Facebook posting at about 4.30am yesterday, Mr Tan said: 'It is illuminating to read the statement issued by the various groups.'

He said the meeting 'was never intended to be the type of dialogue desired and claimed by these groups. Nor was it a response to their earlier request'.

'I had explained that our intent was simply to share with a range of stakeholders some of the background information and considerations we had previously shared with other groups and to also highlight the road plans which were being announced,' he said.

'It was not a consultation effort to debate whether the road would be built or not. That has already been stated in Parliament,' he said, referring to the debate on MND's budget on March 5.

He added that the meeting was to announce the details and alignment of the road. 'However, it was clear that it did not matter. Because we failed to conduct a session that was in line with what they wanted, for example, to have their own briefs, to invite others on their invite list, it was deemed to be an inadequate effort at genuine engagement.'

Participants of the meeting described the atmosphere as largely cordial and civil.

Last night, MND said Mr Tan initiated Monday's session as part of ongoing engagements with stakeholders to share the considerations in the road design.

'It was a separate meeting from the one where some of the interest groups had asked to meet the Land Transport Authority,' the MND said, referring to the Feb 20 meeting.

It added that Mr Tan had clarified this point with the participants during Monday's session.

Mr Tan's posting attracted 67 comments as of press time last night. Some said officials had done enough to engage interest groups. Others said that since the Government was already set on building the road before it consulted other parties, there was no genuine engagement.

Interviewed last night, the groups stuck to their criticisms of the Monday meeting. An SHS spokesman said it was disappointed that the authorities did not present sufficient data to show that every possible solution had been considered.

SOS Bukit Brown co-founder Erika Lim said Monday's meeting was the first time the groups' representatives were meeting the Government collectively.

She said: 'This was our first real chance to sit down as a group to talk about Bukit Brown. If we don't, what other chance is there?'

Nominated MP and Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan said both sides would learn valuable lessons on engaging each other through this episode.

Nature Society president Shawn Lum - who was not at the meeting - felt the episode boiled down to a difference in expectations.

While the Government has tried to retain much of the heritage in the affected area, the gap in expectations between the groups and the authorities could have widened somewhere along the line, he noted.

'How do you bridge those sets of expectations? Finding that bridge will be the way going forward.'

Naysayers want all works halted at Bukit Brown
They insist on not having a road across the cemetery
Goh Chin Lian & Royston Sim Straits Times 20 Mar 12;

After more than two hours of listening to officials on Monday night, representatives of several environment and heritage groups emerged from the closed-door meeting unconvinced that a road had to be built across part of Bukit Brown Cemetery.

They released a statement at 10.25pm calling for a moratorium on all works at Bukit Brown.

They also criticised the way the meeting, chaired by Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin, was handled.

The statement was signed by seven groups: Nature Society (Singapore), Singapore Heritage Society, Asia Paranormal Investigators, All Things Bukit Brown, SOS Bukit Brown, Green Corridor and non-profit environmental group Green Drinks.

They argued that plans to develop housing and transport infrastructure in the Bukit Brown area cannot be made while national discussions were under way over housing, transportation and immigration, and before the public has had a chance to fully consider the details of the proposals.

This includes releasing detailed findings of studies of biodiversity and hydrology, as well as projections on housing and transport.

They said: 'This moratorium should be in place until there is clarity over long-term plans for the area and discussions over alternatives have been exhausted.'

In their eight-point statement, they also alleged that government agencies had postponed a Feb 20 meeting that the groups had requested with 31 of their representatives, only to have the Ministry of National Development (MND) invite only a few of the original 31 representatives, and others, to Monday night's meeting. It was held at the Urban Redevelopment Authority headquarters in Maxwell Road.

Together with the decision to limit the representation of groups to one person from each group, they said, these moves 'give a strong impression of the lack of good faith on the part of MND'.

They also objected to the meeting being held after the Land Transport Authority (LTA) had already announced its road plans to the media earlier on Monday morning, and alleged that they were told no time would be given at the meeting for them to make their own presentations of alternatives. 'We regret that this meeting has largely turned out to be a unilateral dissemination of information by particular agencies,' they said.

The LTA had embargoed the release of the road plans until 9pm.

Mr Tan acknowledged last night that the decision to go ahead with building the road disappointed those who wanted to conserve Bukit Brown. In a Facebook post at about 9.30pm after the meeting with the groups ended, he said the decision was not an easy one. 'While we have not been able to fully accommodate their wishes, we have taken many of their views into consideration,' he said.

This included a serious documentation of the affected graves, following advice from the Singapore Heritage Society. The road design also factored in feedback to minimise impact to the cemetery, hydrology and biodiversity, he said.

'Going forward, we need to continue with these conversations,' he said. 'We are now looking at working with interested stakeholders on public outreach to commemorate the history and heritage of Bukit Brown even as we continue with work on documentation.'

Preliminary documentation of affected graves was completed earlier this month, and a team of researchers and field workers will continue to document the family histories, stories and memories associated with the cemetery, as well as the rituals carried out during the Qing Ming festival and exhumation of graves, the LTA said.

Public exhumation of affected graves will begin from early next year to give the next of kin more time to register their claims, it added.

Members of Parliament like Ms Lee Bee Wah, Mr Seah Kian Peng and Mr Lim Biow Chuan, as well as political observers interviewed, felt that the latest plans reflect an effort to strike a balance among competing interests, and were the result of active consultation and engagement with various interest groups.

'Singapore is so small and needs land for redevelopment. We need to strike a balance,' said Ms Lee, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for National Development and the Environment.

Asked if the authorities had accomplished this in its latest decision, she said: 'It shows there is give and take. There are bound to be people who have differing views, but sometimes it's difficult to make everyone happy.'

Dr Hui Yew Foong, an anthropologist from the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, who heads the documentation efforts, declined to comment on the elevated road project when contacted, saying it made 'no difference' to his work.

'Minimal impact' to Bukit Brown surrounding
Sumita Sreedharan Today Online 21 Mar 12;

SINGAPORE - The new road across Bukit Brown Cemetery will feature a vehicular bridge that will run for nearly a third of its 2km length, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) as it announced the road's final alignment yesterday.

The 670m vehicular bridge, which will run over existing creeks in the area, will minimise "impact to the existing terrain and surrounding environment", while allowing for wildlife movement under it.

The construction of the new road will also see less graves being exhumed. A total of 3,746 graves from Bukit Brown and Seh Ong cemeteries will be affected, less than the 5,000 originally expected.

Next-of-kin of graves affected by the construction have till the end of this year to register their claim before exhumation begins in early 2013. A full list of affected graves will be published in the newspapers and on the LTA website, and next-of-kin can register with the LTA by post, fax, online, or in person.

In arriving at its final alignment, the LTA said yesterday it "minimises land take in the area and impact to the existing terrain and surrounding environment".

First announced in September, the new dual four-lane road is expected to alleviate the congestion currently experienced along Lornie Road and the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) during peak hours and cater to expected growth in traffic. Lornie Road will also be converted to a dual two-lane road with the extra area to be used as a park.

Despite several consultations over the past six months, some civic groups continued to raise concerns over the road alignment yesterday. Dr Ho Hua Chew, who is an executive committee member at the Nature Society Singapore, told Channel NewsAsia: "A lot of forest birds can be badly affected. If it's under shadow, the vegetation will not flourish."

Minister of State for National Development Tan Chuan-Jin, who chaired a briefing and discussion with groups on the road last night, said the decision to proceed with construction has understandably "caused disappointment to those who want to conserve Bukit Brown". "I want to give assurance to those who have been giving us their views on this matter that the decision has not been an easy one," Mr Tan wrote on his Facebook page. "While we have not been able to fully accommodate their wishes, we have taken many of their views into consideration."

For instance, he noted the decision to embark on a serious documentation of the affected graves was a result of advice received from the heritage society. The LTA has also factored in feedback in its design of the road to minimise impact to the cemetery, hydrology and biodiversity, said Mr Tan. "Going forward, we need to continue with these conversations ... For example, we are now looking at working with interested stakeholders on public outreach to commemorate the history and heritage of Bukit Brown even as we continue with work on documentation."

When asked if the vehicular bridge would impact the cost of building the new road, an LTA spokesperson said: "Tenders have not been called at this point and the project cost will only be available after the tender is awarded." Construction of the road is expected to complete by 2016.