Singapore Indian Muslims condemn conversion of 180 year old shrine to coffeeshop and gallery
Nagore Durgha Shrine
Over the last month the mainstream media has been announcing that an Indian Muslim heritage centre will be opened. The state run media has been claiming that the shrine has been converted into a heritage centre so that Indian Muslim youths can learn about their heritage. The pro-government lackeys involved in the project held a drive to collect old items as exhibits for the gallery. However the whole project has invited nothing but extreme dissatisfaction from the Indian Muslim community.
SIGNIFICANCE OF SHRINE TO TAMIL MUSLIMS
The Nagore Dargah was constructed more than 180 years ago in Singapore by Tamil Muslims who arrived from the corramandal coast of India. They constructed a replica of the shrine that exists in the city of Nagore which is the resting place of a saint who lived in India 500 years ago. It is not just Tamil Muslims but all Indian Muslims who regard this site as the most sacred Muslim shrine in southern India. It was due to such reverance that the early immigrants constructed a replica not just in Singapore but also in Penang. Even till today there is an annual celebration in the Indian city of Nagore which sees close to a million devotees of all religions attend. The state government in Southern India will also send their officials to grace the celebrations.
In Singapore, the Indian Muslims have been conducting celebrations on a smaller scale till the shrine was closed in the 1990s by the government. There has been a growing wahabism and puritanism amongst Indian Muslims since the 1990s largely due to the influx of Saudi evangelism. The puritanists frown on the practise of visiting shrines of such saints. They have been waging an aggressive campaign to force Muslims to stop going to the shrines. Nevertheless there is still a strong turnout and following at the sufi shrines. In Singapore even up to today the INdian Muslims including those non Tamil speaking Muslims have been doing celebrations at their houses in honor of the saint during the annual celebration period.
SHRINE CONVERSION DISGUISED AS CONSERVATION
During the 1990s MUIS decided to shut the Nagore Dargah on the grounds that it is unsafe. It was clear all along from then that the puritanists elements in MUIS and outside were bent on a plan to force people away from the shrine. MUIS kept the shrine closed and refused to make any plans for the shrine for more than a decade. Unfortuantely for MUIS, the shrine has been gazetted as a national monument and therefore it cannot demolish it. Clueless on what to do, it took a long time to think of a strategy. A few years ago, there were announcments that the Nagore Dargah will be conserved. The Indian Muslim community was asked to contribute for the conservation expenses. The Indian Muslim community responded in ernest desire to see the shrine be conserved and reopened.
However after a few months of renovations and uplifting works, the shrine was kept shut for more than two years. Again the Indian Muslim community was kept in the dark to what was unfolding. Recently there was announcement that the shrine will be opened as a heritage centre and that Banquet has been awarded a tender to operate a coffeeshop.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH WHAT IS DONE?
The Singapore Indian Muslims are furious at the way the authorities and their lackeys have handled the issue. In order to manage the fallout, the authorities have used certain supportive individuals and groups in the Indian Muslim community.
Mr.Ibrahim, an Indian Muslim businessman, said "Converting a sacred religious shrine into a coffeeshop and heritage centre is sacreligious… It doesnt take an idiot to know that". This seems to
be the core of the outcry in the community. Apparently weeks before the soft opening, those involved in the project have been going around to claim that the coffeeshop was intended to raise funds for the monument. This was in reaction to the supposed outcry in the community over the set up of a coffeeshop at the shrine.
Mr Syed Maricar, a retiree, disagreed that the monument need such a coffeeshop for funds. He pointed out that the monument has waqf endowment bequethed over 180 years period and which today is valued at around $30million and which generates close to $2million of annual revenue. This revenue is supposed to be spent for operating expenses of the shrine along with other Indian Muslim spaces as per the demands of original donors who bequethed the waqf endowments. Mr Syed Maricar also shared the information that MUIS has not been giving distributing the annual revenue of the waqf as per the wills of the donors.
Another aggrieved Indian Muslim, Mr Abdul Rasheed, questioned the sincerity of MUIS and government authorities on the heritage of Indian MUslims. He argued that the Bencoolen Mosque located along Bencoolen street is a major heritage site along with the original Umar Pulavalar School at Tanjong Pagar. Apparently there were other heritage sites also and none were preserved. He explained that Bencoolen Mosque was the place of arrival of Indian Muslim immigrants during 1950s. They apparently will stay there for a month at adjacent quarters within the mosque ground till they find accomodation and work. During the 1990s, the Bencoolen Mosque was demolished and on the same grounds a hotel was built while he mosque was tucked away at the basement.
Mr.Abdul Rasheed informed that during the Bencoolen Project there was absolute secrecy by everyone involved. MUIS and other authorities refused to share any information with community. Instead the community was told about plans only after finalising them. The Nagore Dargah project apparently was handled in a same manner and was coordinated by the same group of people from MUIS and community groups.
In fact this policy of secretly planning and executing plans against the will and wishes of the community is another grievance that many Indian Muslims have expressed. If anyone it should be the community who should be involved and whose input be used. Mrs Rasool Nachiyar, a housewife raised the argument that given these are community spaces, it should be community who should decide and not government servants in MUIS and their supporters in other agencies. She cautioned that such factionalism has created a rift and serious divide and disconnection between the community and MUIS and its supporting agencies and inviduals.
Several Indian Muslim youths interviewed also questioned the need for converting the shrine into a heritage centre with the purpose of educating them on their heritage. Fakhrudeen, a part time student said "the shrine itself is meaningful enough to educate us of our heritage… the history of the Dargah (shrine) is 200 years old, the history of the original shrine is 500 years old and the sufi order the saint came from is 800 years old… why do we need a silly gallery with silly exhibits? "
Many Indian Muslims have expressed their disappointment at the handful of Indian Muslim organisations which claim to be community organisations. Mr Yusoof, who is self-employed, said that it is these handful of Indian Muslim groups that have been lending full support to MUIS and other government agencies in all the unhelpful and controversial plans. Mr Yusoof highlighted that ordinary Indian Muslims stay away from such groups. In fact he expects the community wide disappointment will push many Indian Muslims to vote for non-PAP parties at the next election. He noted "ultimately MUIS and these Indian Muslim groups that support MUIS are part of the bigger PAP framework… they are led by the PAP Malay Muslim MPs… it is not clear where they get their directions from but in all those policies are not helping the community"
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M Balakrishnan
* The Nagore Durgha is a shrine in Singapore built by the Muslims of southern India in 1828–1830, and was originally known as Shahul Hamid Dargha. When this shrine was first built, Telok Ayer Street, where the shrine was located, was a sandy beach crowded with sailing craft. While its physical surroundings have changed beyond recognition, the monument itself – save for conservation and preservation work in 2007 – has changed little since the late 19th century. It has a unique blend of Classical and Indian Muslim motifs.
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Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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