Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the relationship between state and civil society using an example of All Things Bukit Brown (ATBB), a civil society group that advocates for the preservation of Bukit Brown Cemetery (BBC), a disused municipal Chinese cemetery located in central Singapore.

Paper long abstract:

This paper addresses the relationship between state and civil society using the example of All Things Bukit Brown (ATBB), a civil society group that is advocating for the preservation of Bukit Brown Cemetery, a disused municipal Chinese cemetery in central Singapore that was open for burial from 1922-1973. ATBB's advocacy is controversial on four points: a) the Singapore state has already made a firm decision to completely clear the cemetery by 2030 for public housing and has already completed the construction of an eight-lane highway and a shell train station in anticipation of increased population needs; b) ATBB's expectation that the state preserve a Chinese cemetery with rich heritage clashes with the state's housing policy that espouses multi-ethnic harmony in which different races are required to live together; c) it unravels the conflict between what is perceived to be national heritage versus community heritage arising from collective groups in society, and d) it evokes questions on state-society relations which have been characterised by antagonism and paradoxically, partnerships. This paper contributes to emerging anthropological literature on civil society in Singapore by examining the structure, composition, operations, and management of ATBB as an example of a civil society group that carries out its advocacy under Singapore's strict and constraining legal regulations as well as within the backdrop of an increasingly vocal society of educated individuals.