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  Straits Times 20 Oct 06
Cultivating a Singapore identity through nature
by Ho Hua Chew

IF ONE looked at the Google satellite map of Singapore, one might be surprised to see that a significant part of the country is still undeveloped - an area probably amounting to 30 per cent of the total land area.

Many of these areas are what I would call the 'countryside'. By 'countryside' I mean open land covered with semi-natural greenery. It is different from public parks and gardens in the urban zones, where the greenery is highly manicured and maintained.

But neither is it markedly wild or predominantly natural. As such, it is also very different from nature reserves such as those in the Bukit Timah and Central Catchment areas.

Some of these countryside areas, around Kranji Reservoir and in Lim Chu Kang for example, already have farms on them. Other areas are cordoned off for military use, like the Ama Keng area. Many other areas are abandoned farmland, orchards and rubber plantations - now declared state land - and are quietly returning to the wild, as in the Upper Thomson Road area.

Given that the Singapore economy has shifted gear into the knowledge economy, where the need for the extensive use of land is relatively minimal, these bits of countryside will remain intact - at least in the near or medium-term future.

Does this mean that our countryside is going to waste? Far from it. What is left is charming and interesting.

It has tremendous untapped potential for shaping our national identity and sense of rootedness. Nature certainly abounds in these areas, but nature is not the only value that accrues to these treasures.

Other important values are embedded in our countryside, and conscientious care is needed to nurture and maintain these values so that they are not inadvertently destroyed.

Given Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call to all Singaporeans to sink their roots into, and to identify with, Singapore, the nurturing of our countryside can help towards this goal.

And as Mr Lee also suggests that Singapore should present itself as a welcoming destination for foreign talent, a bucolic counterpoint to the vibrancy of our downtown can only round out the attraction of living and working in Singapore.

For these reasons, the use of our remaining countryside must be sensitive.

Land-use planning for these areas should not be of the kind where you clear and build from scratch. Planners need to be attuned to the land in all its aesthetic, morphological, ecological and cultural manifestations.

There is a need to open up the countryside and make it better known to residents for the sake of widening our day-to-day living horizon and to dispel the 'small dot' mentality.

Tracks and trails connecting countryside areas should be created so that movement from one area to another can be without hassle. Also, camping grounds, eateries and chalets can be set up at strategic locations.

Here, a good start has already been made by allowing farms such as Bollywood Veggies and Nyee Phoe Flower Gardens at Kranji to each open up an eatery and, in the latter case, offer farmstay accommodation. There can be other similar developments, done on a small scale, that are eco-friendly and aesthetically in harmony with the rural landscape.

Large-scale and cluttered seafood venues and eateries, such as in the East Coast Park, should not be allowed. Ditto resort-style development.

Planning should safeguard the existing natural attractions - the hills and valleys, woodland and grassland, marshes and ponds, and flowing streams and rivers with their native wildlife.

For these are what make our countryside lovely and offer an entirely different experience from our urban landscape, with its gardens and public parks.

Singapore is now being promoted as 'a city within a garden'. This will no doubt be an important element in making Singapore even more attractive as a tourist attraction.

But is this enough for those who live here? Residents need to be able to do more than stroll along concrete- paved avenues lined with planted trees and flowers.

They also need areas where they can relax as far away as possible from the concrete and predominantly humanised landscape, yet one that is not too wild or dangerous for activities such as hiking, cycling, jogging, nature excursions and camping.

Pulau Ubin provides this - to some extent.

But this small island is getting crowded. As the population grows, there is a need to widen our horizon by opening up for the benefit of all residents the countryside that has lain so long unrecognised in our own backyard.

Of course, we cannot and should not try to recreate the countryside of pre-industrial, pre-modern Singapore. That would be unrealistic and disastrous to the economy. But we can and should allow the countryside to assume a new role - as a resource for forging our national identity and rootedness, for our cultural and aesthetic enrichment as well as an arena for nature- oriented recreation and a psychological safety valve for the tension and stress that come from urban life.

The writer is a volunteer with the Nature Society, for which he chairs the Conservation Committee. The views expressed here are in his personal capacity.
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