Plans to exhume a grave located at Moonstone Lane, near the Kallang River, was stopped at the very last minute as new details emerged to indicate that the grave was of a significant historical value to Singapore. The exhumation was slated to have taken place on March 26, as part of the government's motherhood plan of of handover the land on which the small nondescript building was located, back to the State.
However, members of the heritage committee managed to persuade the authorities to halt the exhumation, after their extensive investigations showed that the woman buried in the residential street was the great-granddaughter of renowned healer Habib Noh, whose shrine is housed at the Haji Muhammad Salleh mosque in Palmer Road. It was also understood that the grave of the Muslim woman named Syarifah Zainah Alhabshi, was also related to the Aljunied family, who hails from a line of established traders in Palembang who set up base in Singapore after the British set up a trading post here in 1819.
This just proves that the current Singapore authorities does not really pay special care to the historical significance of Singapore's old buildings and landmarks. What is clear though, is that any piece of old buildings in Singapore that can be demolished to build shiny new residential apartments or roads will gain precedence over history. Remember Bukit Brown and the Stamford National Library.
