Rustic islanders off glitzy Singapore face uncertain future

By Xinghui Kok

People in wealthy Singapore have taken for granted comforts such as electricity and air-conditioning for decades, but a dwindling band of residents on a tiny island to its east saw the arrival of a solar grid 11 years ago as a miracle they still talk about.

The outlying island of Pulau Ubin, a rare rural spot amid the futuristic architecture of the southeast Asian financial hub, is a treasure trove of biodiversity and home to wetlands once under threat of reclamation until the plans were postponed.

Though electricity was expensive, said Chu Yok Choon, one of 30 people living on the island that spans just 10 sq km (4 sq miles), he loved the fact that the solar grid let him hit a button by the village well to pump water to his home.

"Life on the mainland doesn't feel natural," said the 79-year-old, who had to draw water from the well and use generators to provide electricity until 2013. "Life here is quieter."

For those living in the busy city the island is a relaxing getaway just a 10-minute ferry ride away, offering hikes amid lush greenery and lakes in former quarries, bicycle rides on roads free of vehicles and seafood meals by the water's edge.

Yet, apart from mail delays and trips to the city to buy groceries and electrical gadgets, the ferry rides can also sometimes prove inconvenient for island-dwellers.

For visits to the city, Chu said he would have to wait until the ferry filled up with 12 passengers paying S$4 ($3) each, comparable with Singapore's efficient public transport, or, if in a hurry, pay the S$48 ($36) cost for the entire boat himself.

Still, the band stay on, drawn by a lifestyle they say contrasts with busy, stressful conditions in the city, to which many of their children relocated, after going there for school.

"The energy is so fantastic," said Koh Bee Choo, 54, who lives in a wooden stilt house that juts over the waves.

"I go for morning walks and I absorb the energy in the jungle," added Koh, who returned to the island to run a bicycle rental shop after living in Singapore for nearly five years.

Still, with the island's youngest inhabitants in their 50s, conservation experts worry about its future, as no one is allowed to shift there from the city. In 2001, the government said it was safe from changes until required for development.

In its heyday, almost 4,000 people lived on the island, working in granite quarries and plantations.

But the largest quarry closed in 1970 and many moved to the city, where an industrial drive grew the economy and covered a once-impoverished nation in gleaming infrastructure.

DYING OFF

Each June for the last nine years, Singapore authorities have celebrated "Ubin Day" to foster affection and appreciation for the island's heritage and ecosystem, the National Parks Board says on its website.

Celebrations bring games and enrichment booths, but also plans for the island's future. The government, which shelved a 1991 plan to extend the subway there, now talks about conserving the island, but there will come a day when it has no residents.

"The old people have died off, one by one, and the young ones are not comfortable," said Chu.

Koh said she hoped authorities would allow more people to stay in guesthouses on the island. "Not the high-end ones but the kampung-type," she added, using the Malay term for a village.

"If this place becomes like Sentosa, then that's the end," said Lim Csye See, 69, who runs a bike rental shop, referring to Singapore's theme park island crowded with luxury hotels, condominiums and a marina.