The soon-to-be demolished Rochor Centre is most famous for their colourful facade.
Earlier this week, PropertyGuru ran a story on a cluster of historical buildings in Upper Serangoon that will be torn down to make way for a new condo. Perhaps what was most striking about the piece was how the state made a decision whether or not these buildings were worth preserving in a relatively short period of time, while the history that these buildings have accrued took a slow steady march of years, from colonial Singapore, through the Second World War, and Independence, until today.
It is, of course, the role of the state to be the arbiter of what is worth preserving for posterity and what ends up in the rubbish heap of history. Singapore, as has been drummed into us since early education, is vulnerable in part because we have fewer available natural resources than our neighbours. Land – to live, learn, work and prosper on – is a limited commodity, and needs to be hoarded for future generations to come. For their sake therefore, buildings are demolished, graves are exhumed and nature reserves are eroded.
Yes, we in Singapore plan for our future citizens, and even expect their gratitude. But it is also necessary for more of us to speak up for the past, to choose history over expediency, to think if we can, not of our vulnerability, but of the millions of lives quietly lived in the past 51 years and before, behind the facades of our buildings both plain and colourful. For a people that constantly deride our lack of culture and history, we often overlook what is right in front of our noses, until it ends up as a sight-offending pile of debris to be shoveled into a landfill.
It was therefore refreshing, that over the past weekend, an act of conservation took place at the old Rochor Centre. No, the state did not reverse its decision to demolish the Technicolor towers that rise over Ophir Road to make way for the new North-South expressway.
Instead, a group of photojournalism students from the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication at Nanyang Technological University held a photo exhibition at Rochor Centre, titled “Last Weeks with Rochor”, to document and showcase the lives of the residents within these iconic blocks. The video below, produced by the students, narrate a little of Rochor’s history.
The photos are poignant, telling stories of the people and families who have lived and worked at Rochor Centre. Several shots are of families just going about their daily lives in their homes, or posing on the couch. These are familiar scenes to so many of us which are playing out in our very own homes each day. The photos also highlight the lesser known interiors of these flats and shops, especially for those of us who have only seen the building’s colourful facade.
An elderly couple, residents of Rochor Centre. Courtesy of Last Weeks with Rochor, Esna Ong
What really struck me was a short video of a group of boys who live in the area and had bonded over football, with a young boy exclaiming that he wanted to continue kicking a ball with his buddies forever. It’s an incredibly heartwarming moment, for its innocence and optimism. These bonds were forged within a context, the site of this soon to be gone space.
Many of the residents and business owners at Rochor Centre have already moved out, with the fate of Rochor Centre largely known since 2011. Most of the residents are moving to the new replacement flats in Kallang Trevista and will continue the community they know there. This past weekend is likely the last time Rochor Centre will see such noise and liveliness before the wrecking balls come, before the piledrivers and the efficient engines of our infrastructure start their work on the North-South Expressway.
Perhaps this nostalgia is misplaced. Perhaps we of the present are too enamoured of an imagined past and are neglecting the denizens of our amorphous future. Let’s also hope that what we can pass on to our young football players of the future is more than just a highway, but a sense of history that allows them to know who they are and where they come from.
Visitors to the Last Weeks with Rochor photo exhibition. Courtesy of Last Weeks with Rochor, Christy Yip.
This article was written by Chang Hui Chew.
