Apr–Jun 2021 (PDF)
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Vol. 17 Issue 01 APR–JUN 2021 10 / A Banquet of Malayan Fruits 16 / Nature Conservation – A History 22 / A Beastly Business 38 / The Nature of Poetry 44 / Finding Magic Everywhere 50 / Plantation Agriculture The Nature Issue Deforestation’s deadly impact in early Singapore p. 56 Our cultural beliefs influence how we view the natural environment as well as our understanding Director’s and attitudes towards animals and plants. These views and perceptions impact our relationship with the natural world. Note Some people see nature as wild and chaotic while others view nature as orderly, acting according to natural “laws”. There are those who perceive nature as an economic resource to be exploited for profit or for human enjoyment, yet there are also many who strongly believe that nature should be left untouched to flourish in its natural state. This issue of BiblioAsia looks at how human activities over the past 200 years have affected and transformed our physical environment, and how we are still living with the consequences today. This special edition accompanies an exciting new exhibition launched by the National Library – “Human x Nature” – at the Gallery on Level 10 of the National Library Building on Victoria Street. Do visit the exhibition, which will run until September this year. Georgina Wong, one of the curators of the show, opens this issue by exploring the relationship between European naturalists and the local community as plants and animals new to the West were uncovered. Not unexpectedly, indigenous input was often played down, dismissed, or exoticised. Farish Noor examines this phenomenon by taking a hard look at Walter Skeat’s book Malay Magic. Faris Joraimi sees a similar impulse at work as he examines the beautiful paintings of Malayan fruits in the Dumbarton Oaks collection, which relied on anonymous Chinese artists and Malay informants. One exception to the rule was Ishak Ahmad, whose knowledge helped create an under- standing of the economic potential of the seas around Malaya. Anthony Medrano outlines the contributions of the man who, among other things, was the father of Yusof Ishak, Singapore’s first president. Turning our gaze landward, we look at the environmental destruction caused by humans. Timothy Pwee documents the history of plantation agriculture as Chia Jie Lin (the exhibition’s co-curator) examines the impact of deforestation caused by these plantations. Ang Seow Leng explores how attitudes towards conservation have evolved over time while Fiona Tan writes about a failed attempt to control the wildlife trade in 1930s Singapore. For most city dwellers, the closest we have to nature is the greenery in our housing estates and the easily accessible parks and recreational areas. All this is thanks to a deliberate effort to turn Singapore into a Garden City. Lim Tin Seng tells us how that vision has evolved since the 1960s. Also, don’t miss Michelle Heng’s essay about Singaporean poets who have tackled nature in their work and Jacqueline Lee’s piece highlighting how writers of speculative fiction envisage Tan Huism Singapore’s environmental future. Director We hope this issue amply demonstrates that the fates of humanity and nature are ulti- National Library mately intertwined. Editorial & Production Editor-in-Chief Contributors Jacqueline Lee Please direct all correspondence to: On the cover Jimmy Yap Ang Seow Leng Lim Tin Seng National Library Board A painting of the nutmeg plant from the William Anthony Medrano Michelle Heng 100 Victoria Street #14-01 Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings, Editorial Consultant Chia Jie Lin National Library Building c. 1810. Gift of G.K. Goh. Courtesy of the National Francis Dorai Timothy Pwee Museum of Singapore, National Heritage Board. Faris Joraimi Singapore 188064 Farish A. Noor Email: [email protected] Senior Editor Website: www.nlb.gov.sg Veronica Chee Design and Print Fiona Tan Oxygen Studio Georgina Wong Designs Pte Ltd All rights reserved. National Library Board, Singapore, 2021. BiblioAsia is a free quarterly publication produced by the National ISSN 0219-8126 (print) Library Board. It features articles on the history, culture and heritage ISSN 1793-9968 (online) of Singapore within the larger Asian context, and has a strong focus The views of the writers and contributors do not reflect the views of the Publisher. No part of this on the collections and services of the National Library. BiblioAsia is publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission from distributed to local and international libraries, academic institutions, the Publisher and copyright owner(s). government ministries and agencies, as well as members of the public. biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg Whilst reasonable care has been taken to ensure The online edition can be accessed with the QR code on the right. the accuracy of the information in this publication, the Publisher accepts no legal liabilities whatsoever for the contents of this magazine. biblioasia VOLUME APR 17 JUN CONTENTS ISSUE 01 2021 01 Director’s Note Is there hope for animals like the An attempt in the 1930s to regulate the 04 Singapore’s Environmental Histories The paintings of fruits in the Dumbarton critically endangered Sunda pangolin? wildlife trade in Singapore failed. Georgina Wong explores how European naturalists 10 Oaks collection feature fruit names in Jawi. 16 22 leveraged indigenous knowledge to catalogue the natural world and also shares highlights from the National Library’s latest exhibition, “Human x Nature”. 10 A Banquet of Malayan Fruits Who commissioned the beautiful paintings of local fruits in the Dumbarton Oaks collection?Faris Joraimi attempts to unravel the mystery. 16 Nature Conservation in Singapore Over the last 200 years, the balance between biodiversity conservation and development has evolved, says Ang Seow Leng. Local fishermen received a helping The Garden City vision has blossomed 22 A Beastly Business 28 hand from the father of Singapore’s first 62 over the years. Fiona Tan looks at the attempt to regulate the wildlife president. trade in Singapore in the 1930s. 28 Ishak Ahmad and the Story of Malayan Waters A senior officer in the Fisheries Department, Ishak Ahmad helped boost the Malayan fishing industry and the work of local fishermen, saysAnthony Medrano. 34 Man vs Nature: Speculative Fiction and the Environment Jacqueline Lee looks at works of speculative fiction that imagine a Singapore beset by rising sea levels and mass extinctions. 38 The Nature of Poetry Michelle Heng reveals how poets writing in English have charted the changing contours of Singapore and Malaya. 44 Finding Magic Everywhere According to Farish A. Noor, much of the magic in Walter Skeat’s book Malay Magic is an illusion. 50 From Gambier to Rubber: Plantation Agriculture in Singapore Timothy Pwee guides us through the pepper, gambier, nutmeg, pineapple and rubber plantations that once blanketed Singapore. 56 Deforestation in 19th-century Singapore Rampant deforestation made Singapore warmer, a phenomenon that was apparent as early as the 1840s, says Chia Jie Lin. 62 Of Parks, Gardens and Trees: The Greening of Singapore Lim Tin Seng traces the journey from the first botanical garden in 1822 to the “City in Nature” vision in 2020. Image credits: (This page) Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. (Facing page clockwise from the top) Wildlife Reserves Singapore; Tong Seng Jungle fires were common because burning Mun Collection, National Archives of Singapore; Ministry of Information and 56 was the usual practice for clearing forests for the Arts Collection, National Archives of Singapore; Skizzen aus Singapur and crop cultivation. Djohor, National Library, Singapore; National Archives of Singapore. BIBLIOASIA APR - JUN 2021 VOL. 17 ISSUE 01 FEATURE mid-20th century, the research fund of the Georgina Wong is a Curator with Programmes & Exhibitions at the National Library, Singapore. She is Colonial Office in London had grown to one 2 co-curator of the “Human x Nature: Environmental million pounds sterling annually. While the Histories of Singapore” exhibition. EIC’s primary agenda for natural history research was to maximise the company’s profit, naturalists and scientists were also motivated by the prospect of expanding “[I]t is apparent that but few years the frontiers of science.3 can elapse before the whole island will be denuded of its indigenous European Study and Patronage vegetation, when its climate will The naturalists conducting research in no doubt be materially altered Southeast Asia had strong connections to (probably for the worse), and Europe and often built on the study and countless tribes of interesting insects collecting work of others in the same line with Charles Darwin in 1858,4 he is better become extinct. I am therefore of work. Naturalists would donate or sell remembered in this region for his research working hard at the insects alone their specimens in Europe and elsewhere into the natural history of the Malay Archi- for the present, and will give you to be stored and displayed in museums pelago. He spent eight years, from 1854 some little notion of what I have and research collections for further study. to 1862, exploring present-day Malaysia, Georgina Wong explores the relationship between done and may hope to do.”1 the human and natural worlds, and shares highlights This enabled other naturalists to examine Singapore and Indonesia, collecting and the region’s flora and fauna remotely recording – by his own count – more than from the National Library’s latest exhibition. – Alfred Russel Wallace, without having to leave Europe at all. 125,000 species of wildlife.5 Singapore, 9 May 1854 The collections of the famed natural- While in Singapore, Wallace spent a ist Alfred Russel Wallace were extensively significant amount of time collecting over studied across Europe, where he sold many 700 species of beetles in the Dairy Farm The National Library’s latest exhibition, of his specimens in order to fund his expe- and Bukit Timah areas.