DiscoverTell You FirstSingapore’s Forgotten Cemetery of Pioneers, Bukit Brown
Singapore’s Forgotten Cemetery of Pioneers, Bukit Brown

Singapore’s Forgotten Cemetery of Pioneers, Bukit Brown

Update: 2025-10-07
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At over 200 acres, Bukit Brown was once the largest Chinese cemetery outside of China, home to the graves of more than 100,000 people including pioneers like Ong Sam Leong, Chew Boon Lay and the ancestors of Lee Kuan Yew. When plans for an eight-lane highway threatened to cut through it, activists and historians rallied to defend a site rich in heritage and biodiversity. Together with Munah Bagharib, we uncover the history beneath the headstones, the legacies of those buried here, and what is truly at stake when the dead meet the needs of the living.


Tell You First is an original podcast produced by Mediacorp and Ministry of Funny (@ministryoffunny).


Credits:


Hosted and Produced by Terence Chia (@tchia) and Haresh Tilani (@hareshtilani)
Guest - Munah Bagharib (@munahbagharib)
Sound Engineering - Tristen Yeak (@yeakstreet)
Commissioning Editor - Danny Koordi


If you're a fan of our work, you can follow the podcast on the meLISTEN app, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.


You can also watch this episode first on the meLISTEN app, or on YouTube one week later through the Mediacorp Entertainment channel.

 

https://www.melisten.sg/podcast/playlist/Tell-You-First-2577946


Podcast artwork by Denise Nicole Yap, you can reach her on Instagram @deniseardenise

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Singapore’s Forgotten Cemetery of Pioneers, Bukit Brown

Singapore’s Forgotten Cemetery of Pioneers, Bukit Brown

Mediacorp