A green corridor down memory lane
Letter from Lee Seow Ser, TODAY, 17 May 2011.
On a recent Saturday, a handful of enthusiastic nature and heritage lovers like myself participated in a guided walk along the tracks of the rustic Bukit Timah Railway Station. This was followed by an insightful sharing session – “The Green Corridor” forum – organised by the National Library Board and Nature Society of Singapore (NSS).
In a proposal titled “The Green Corridor – A Proposal to Keep the Railway Lands as a Continuous Green Corridor” submitted by NSS last year to the authorities, representations were made to preserve the railway lands which brim with historical value and biodiversity in flora and fauna, after the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station ceases to operate on July 1.
Source: TODAY
The Green Corridor Poems by RGS Inkspiration
During The Green Corridor Forum, four students from the Raffles Girls’ School’s Inkspiration writing group shared their excellent poems. Here are the poems, enjoy!
The Planks
by Ho Ting En
Of history;
Of memories;
That carried years and years on their backs.
Lying sadly, forlornly, dejectedly
By the tracks
That are also forgotten and hidden.
Extending into the future,
Trailing into the past,
Walking in the present,
The planks were well used
But they are abandoned now. Read more
tracks by madeleine lee
The series of 9 poems shared by Madeleine Lee during The Green Corridor Forum:
tracks by madeleine lee
i    railway
at five each day give or take
a trundling rusty centipede
creaking past beaten panels
zinc tokens of sound proofing
awakening grumbling
its steely tiger head suddenly
silenced after a century
background noisy dischord
foreground political jar
in between some elevator music
stepping onto meter tracks
between s and m infinite h’s
now less risky
now equidistant
still wanting perspective Read more
The Green Corridor Forum [14 May]
Saturday, 14 May, 2.00pm – 4.00pm, level 16, POD, National Library
The ‘Green Corridor’ forum is a public discussion on the idea of converting the Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM) railway track literally into a “green corridorâ€, free of urban re-development plans once the land parcel is handed over to Singapore on 1 July 2011. This includes reasons why Singapore should protect the natural biodiversity already existing along the railway tracks as well as the community benefits that it brings.
The discussion is led by the Nature Society of Singapore and is joined by established local writers including Madeleine Lee, Suchen Christine Lim & South African writer, Melissa de Villiers.
Participants of ‘Bear Fruit: Railway Memories’ will also be presenting their works based on their memories of the Malayan railway.
About the Speakers
Dr Ho Hua Chew is currently the Chairman of the Conservation Committee in the Nature Society of Singapore. He co-ordinates conservation activities of the Society, such as the formulation of conservation proposals, feedback to government land-use & development plans, biodiversity surveys, etc. He has been doing conservation work for the Nature Society for more than a decade, in the course of which he was involved in the formulation of the conservation plan for Sungei Buloh, the Master Plan for the Conservation of Nature in Singapore, the Society’s EIA pertaining to the government’s golf course at Lower Pierce, etc.
His main field of expertise is bird life and biodiversity conservation, for which he has obtained a great deal of field experience in Singapore and Malaysia, and formal training from Imperial College and the University of East Anglia. He also lectures part-time on Environmental Ethics as well as on Biodiversity Conservation at tertiary institutions.
Tham Wai Hon’s interest in the Green Corridor sprang from his final year thesis at NUS Architecture School in 2006-it questioned the future of Malayan Railway Land. Wai Hon has worked in the fields of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and is currently working on the National ArtGallery, Singapore at studio Milou Singapore.
Neu Wa O’Neill has previously worked on issues of biodiversity and connectivity with the Wildlands Project in Montana and Colorado in the U.S.A., mapping areas of roadless wilderness and habitat for endangered species. Neu-Wa has a BA in Urban Planning from the University of Hawaii and a Master’s in Architecture from the University of Toronto, and currently works as an architecture associate in Singapore.
This forum is open to the public.
Registration is required at the NLB website.
Source: National Library Board
