Land dedicated to Allah Arab community and Waqf land in Singapore, 1860s -2010

Stephanie Po-yin CHUNG (Draft)

Land has been a highly contested factor in the history of Singapore. Among other examples, this is
reflected in the zealous defense of private property rights through an Islamic institution known as
waqf. This paper traces the historical roots of the problem and examines the conflicts surrounding the
reimaging and reordering of the citys historic Muslim center - the legendary Geylang Serai area.

Introduction

Over the past few decades, we witness the rise of a new paradigm for studying Southeast Asia. These
researches, acknowledging that the pattern of seas and waterways has been a decisive factor in
historical development, emphasize networks of trade mediated by nodal centres of power (eg. port
cities) rather than state structures.1 The resulting debates highlight the role of diaspora merchant
groups, and their interactions with emerging state power. 2 The study of diasporic communities in
Singapore is an important example illustrating these debates.

1
Starting from the 1980s, historians like Anthony Reid, Heather Sutherland and Tony Day have
contributed to building up a new discourse on exploring ways of defining regional identity in
Southeast Asia. See, for examples, Anthony Reid, Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680,
Vol. II: Expansion and Crisis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993). Tony Day, Fluid Iron: State
Formation in Southeast Asia (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2002). Heather Sutherland,
Southeast Asian History and the Mediterranean Analogy, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 34
(2003), pp 1-20. Heather Sutherland, Contingent devices, in Paul H. Kratoska, Remco Raben, &
Henk Schulte Nordholt (eds), Locating Southeast Asia: Geographies of Knowledge and Politics of
Space (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2005), pp.20-60. Heather Sutherland, Geography as destiny: The role
of water in Southeast Asian history, in Peter Boomgaard (ed.), A World of Water Rain, Rivers and
Seas in Southeast Asian Histories (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2007), pp.27-70.
2
On Fernand Braudels contribution, Heather Sutherland comments that if early twentieth-century
German historiography emphasized the state, jurisprudence and administration, the historians of the
Annales looked more to geography, economics and anthropology. They focused on material and
cultural linkages at either regional or supra-national levels, while their abandoning of linear time was
informed by a questioning of progress and Western superiority. See her Southeast Asian History and
the Mediterranean Analogy, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 34 (2003), p.2. Craig Reynolds also
suggests that scholars have allowed modern states too influential a role in shaping their perceptions.
See, for example, Reynolds, Craig, A new look at old Southeast Asia, Journal of Asian Studies 54,
2(1995):419-46.

1
In Singapore, an ethnically and religiously diverse society, social identities and cultural values are in a
constant state of flux. Recently, scholarly studies of Arab diasporic communities have focused on the
Hadhrami traders, who began leaving their arid homeland at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
Most of them were Hadhramis, tracing their ancestry to Hadhramaut on the southern tip of the Arabian
Peninsula, in the present-day Republic of Yemen. At the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East, and
Asia, Hadhramaut had been an important post on the ancient spice routes. Its hostile desert
environment drove many Hadhramis to seek their fortunes elsewhere.3 At the same time the harsh and
lawless desert environment that had shaped their economic and religious life continued to do so even
after they left the Arabian Peninsula. Survival in the desert was determined by loyalty to the family
and the tribe. When the Hadhramis migrated, they brought their belief in family and small group
loyalty, and the institutions, such as the religious endowment called the waqf (as we shall see below),
that supported it.4

In this paper, I will investigate how Arab heritage interacts with changing state policy in colonial and
post-colonial Singapore. It will explore the ways that urban processes intersect with religious groups
and address such issues as: 1) how is the urban environment used to construct social identities and
delineated political spaces; 2) how do religious properties and ethnic identity matter in this city?

The Port of Singapore and its Grid Pattern Early Settlement

In 1819 the island of Singapore was a thinly inhabited domain, populated by a few Orang Laut (sea
nomad) and Malay Muslims and situated in a far corner of the Johor Empire. Prior to colonization by
the British, the region was home to the Malay aristocracy of Singapore. After the signing of a treaty

3
Ulrike Freitag, Hadhramaut: A Religious Centre for the Indian Ocean in the Late 19th and Early
20th Centuries? Studia Islamica, No. 89 (1999):16583. See also Jonathan Miran, Red Sea
Translocals: Hadhrami Migration, Entrepreneurship, and Strategies of Integration in Eritrea, 1840s-
1970s, Northeast African Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1, (2012):129-68.
4
Ulrike Freitag, Reflections on the Longevity of the Hadhrami Diaspora in the Indian Ocean, in
Ahmed Ibrahim Abushouk, Hassan Ahmed Ibrahim (eds.), The Hadhrami Dispora in Southeast Asia,
Indetiy Maintenance or Assimilitation?, pp.17-32. Siraj Sait & Hilary Lim, Land, Law and Islam:
Property & Human Rights in the Muslim World (London: Zed Press, 2006); Moshe Yegar, Islam and
Islamic Institutions in British Malaya (Jerusalem: The Hebrew University, 1979). Serjeant, Robert
Bertram, The Hadhrami Network, in Denys Lombard and Jean Aubin (eds.), Asian Merchants and
Businessmen in the Indian Ocean and the China Sea (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2000), pp.145-
53. Feener, M., Hybridity and the 'Hadhrami Diaspora' in the Indian Ocean Muslim networks, Asian
Journal of Social Science, 32 (2004):353-372; Engseng Ho, The graves of Tarim: Genealogy and
mobility across the Indian Ocean (Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2006); Mobini-
Kesheh, N., The Hadhrami awakening, Community and identity in the Netherlands East Indies, 1900-
1942 (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1999).

2
between the British EIC and Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor, the EIC was given the right to set up a
trading post in Singapore.

A vibrant array of multicultural communities was maintained in Singapore. From 1819 to 1867,
Singapore was under the jurisdiction of the British EIC, which made substantial allocations of land to
many local religious communities of all faiths. The politics of identity were intimately associated with
their own social space, always inseparable from territory and social division of labour. Urban life was
associated with intricate webs of symbiotic ties, both within and between localities. Yet, Sir Stamford
Raffles was dismayed by the disorderliness of the young colony. In 1822, for instance, he formed a
town Committee to set out the layout plan of the city. Under the Raffles Plan, the settlement was laid
out in a grid pattern according to ethnic functional subdivisions. These ethnic residential areas were
generally segregated into four areas, including a European Town, a China Town, a Kampong Chulia
and a Muslim Kampong (for Arab, Malays and Bugis). Although the concept of ethnic segregation
was later abandoned, the impacts of such layout still linger to this day.

The European Town accommodated residents who consisted of European traders, Eurasians and rich
Asians. West of the European Town were administrative and commercial districts. Land was taken
from a hill to reclaim a small portion of land which became the Commercial Square, which was later
renamed Raffles Place. This area evolved into the Downtown Core. The Chinatown, located in the
southeast of the Singapore River, was for the ethnic Chinese. Located north of it was Kampong Chulia
where ethnic Indians originally resided. A Muslim Kampong Glam was founded north of the
Singapore River.

The name of Kampong Glam owes its origin to the old Malay language. The word Glam is probably
derived from the cajeput tree ("gelam" in Malay; with "Kampong" as "village"). Prior to colonization,
the area was home to the Malay aristocracy of Singapore. After 1819, Kampong Glam was designated
to the Malay and Arab communities. With the rapid growth of immigrant communities in Kampong
Glam, different kampongs (like Kampong Malacca, Kampong Java and Kampong Bugis) were formed
in the region. There was always a small but extremely wealthy Hadhrami Arab community in this area.

3
Photo 1. The Plan of the Town of Early Singapore

Arab Community in Singapore

In colonial Singapore, there was no unified Muslim community. Muslims were divided along ethnic
lines into two main groups: those from the Malay Peninsula and nearby archipelago; and those from
more distant lands, such as South Indians and Hadhrami Arabs. The Malaysian immigrants usually
brought their wives and children with them, but the Arabs married local Muslim women, forming their
own communities of Malay-Arabs of Hadhrami descent. They were the elite of the Muslim population
because of their wealth and alleged kinship to the Prophet. Regarded as the inheritors of the wisdom of
Islam and exemplars of religious piety, they were held in high esteem by local Muslim communities,
both Malay and Indonesian, in the young colony. 5

5
See, for example, Natalie Mobini-Kesheh, The Hadhrami Awakening: Community and Identity in the
Netherlands East Indies (Cornell:SEAP, 1999); William G. Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Entrepreneurs
in the Malay World, c. 1750 to c. 1940, in Freitag & Clarence-Smith (eds.), Hadhrami Traders,
Scholars, and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, p.303.

4
The British colonial administrators were well aware of the high status of the Hadhrami Arabs in the
region. While the pilgrimage to Mecca (Haj) had connected the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean
world economies through the practice of Islam a thousand years before Western capitalism was able to
do so, the rise of the British EIC, and corresponding demise of Dutch influence, opened up new
business opportunities for Hadhrami Arab traders in Southeast Asia.6 When Singapore was found in
1819, Sir Stamford Raffles encouraged them to settle in the new colony, and his blueprint for
Singapore included an Arab district. 7 Raffles noted that the enterprise of the Arabs, Chinese and
Bugis is very conspicuous. They are in general fair traders and Europeans acquainted with them can
rely on their engagements and command their confidence. In his instructions to a Singapore town
committee in 1822, Sir Raffles stated that the Arab population would require every consideration. No
situation will be more appropriate for them than the vicinity of the [Malay] Sultans residence.8

The Arabs migrants had a number of advantages. Unlike migrant groups such as the Chinese and
Indians, most Hadhrami merchants already were established traders in the region, in Java or India,
before they moved on to Singapore.9 As British influence grew in Southeast Asia the Dutch lost their
monopolistic grip on the spice trade and the Arab traders, among others, moved in. This pattern of re-
migration gave them an economic advantage in the new colony.

6
See, for examples, Steensgaard, Niels, The Asian Trade Revolution of the Seventeenth Century: The
East India Companies and the Decline of the Caravan Trade (Chicago: University of Chicago Press,
1973); Joseph Kostiner, The Impact of the Hadhrami Emigrants in the East Indies on Islamic
Modernism and Social Change in the Hadhramawt during the 20th century, in Raphael Israeli and
Anthony H. Johns, (eds.), Islam in Asia, Volume II Southeast and East Asia (Boulder: Westview Press,
1984), p. 210. Freitag, Ulrike, Arab Merchants in Singapore, Attempt of a collective biography, in
Huub de Jonge and Nico Kaptein (eds.) Transcending borders: Arabs, Politics, Trade and Islam in
Southeast Asia (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2002).
7
This paragraph is cited in J.A.E. Morley, The Arabs and The Eastern Trade, Journal Malayan
Branch Royal Asiatic Society, 22, 1 (1949), p. 165. See also Charles B. Buckley, An Anecdotal
History of Old Times in Singapore (Singapore: Fraser and Neave Limited, 1902), p. 85.
8
Raffles noted that the enterprise of the Arabs, Chinese and Bugis is very conspicuous. They are in general
fair traders and Europeans acquainted with them can rely on their engagements and command their
confidence, cited in J.A.E. Morley, The Arabs and The Eastern Trade, Journal Malayan Branch Royal
Asiatic Society, 22, 1 (1949), p.165.
9
Mandal, Sumit K., Finding their place: A History of Arabs in Java under Dutch rule, 1800-1924,
Ph.D Dissertation, Columbia University, 1994. William G. Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Arab
Entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Malaysia: Facing the Challenge of the 1930s Recessions, in Peter
Boomgard and Ian Brown (eds.), Weathering the Storm: The Economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s
Depression (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2000), p.229-303;

5
In 1824, under British rule, there were only 15 Arabs in a total population of 10,683. Although they
were few in number, Arabs were important in the migrant merchant community. For centuries, the
Arabs had been influential in economic, political, social and religious developments in the region.
After centuries of trade diaspora, Hadhrami seafaring traders settled in countries around the Indian
Ocean and on into Southeast Asia, especially in places where Islam was observed. The Hadhramis
were influential not only as traders but as religious authorities among Muslims in the Malay World
(Alam Melayu).10 Hadhramis with the honorific title Syed was said to be descendants of the holy
prophet Syedina Mohammed.11 They were respected for their education and their spiritual authority,
and this respect facilitated their business connections as well. Hadhramis were welcome to marry into
Malay Muslim communities, which included most of the Malay archipelago. Since the Arabs had
close ties with Malay leaders through marriage and trade, and an influence on local culture through the
practice of their religion, it made sense for them to step into the leadership position left vacant by the
local Malay rulers. In this way the Arabs became intermediaries between the British and the Malays
and other Muslims. Let us consider the case of the Alsagoff family.

Weaving Webs

By the 1860s, there were several important Arab merchant houses in Singapore.12 Notable among
them were the Alsagoffs, who traced their descent from Syed Abdul Rahman Alsagoff, a spice trader

10
On the origin of the idea of Malay, please see Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica Guide to the
Islamic World Guide to the Islamic World. Religion, History and the Future (London: Constable &
Robinson Ltd., 2009), pp. 378-82; see also Engseng Ho, The Graves of Tarim: Genealogy and
Mobility across the Indian Ocean; Ulrike Freitag & William Clarence-Smith (eds.), Hadhrami Traders,
Scholars and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, 1750s-1960s (Leiden: Brill, 1997).
11
See, for example, W H Ingrams, A Report on the Social, Economic and Political Conditions of the
Hadhramaut (London: HMSO, 1937). Riddell, Peter G., Religious Links Between Hadhramaut and
the Malay-Indonesia World, C. 1850-1950, in Freitage & Clareance-Smith (eds.), Hadhrami Traders,
Scholars, and Statesmen in the Indian Ocean, pp. 217-230.
12
Other significant Arab families include the Alkaffs and the Aljuned. See, for example, Freitag,
Arab Merchants in Singapore: Attempt of a Collective Biography, p.119. See also The Enterprising
Alsagoffs of Singapore: Men of Property, in Singapore Days of Old, A Special Commemorative
History of Singapore Published on the 10th Anniversary of Singapore Tatler (Hong Kong: Illustrated
Magazine Pub. 1992), p.15. Alsagoff, Syed Mohsen,The Alsagoff Family in Malaysia A. H. 1240 (A.D.
1824) to A.H. 1382 (A.D. 1962) (Singapore: Mun Seong Press 1963), p.28-30. See Also Transcript of
interview with Professor Syed Mohsen Alsagoff, Pioneers of Singapore series, Oral History Centre,
the National Archives of Singapore [thereafter, Alsagoff Transcript, NAS].

6
from Mecca who was a pioneer merchant adventurer.13 He left Arabia for Malacca, where he
established himself as a spice trader. In 1824, he moved to Singapore with his son Syed Ahmad. In
1848, father and son established Alsagoff and Co. for spice trading within the islands of the
archipelago. 14 By the 1850s Alsagoff and Co. was a famous wholesaler, supplying a wide variety of
foodstuffs to Arab retailers in the region. Under Syed Ahmad, the family business diversified to
include shipping and retailing. 15

As the Alsagoffs wealth grew, their status rose among local Muslims, including the indigenous rulers
and royalty. The Alsagoffs became more securely rooted in Singapore when Abduls son Ahmad
married Raja Siti, the only daughter of the wealthy Bugis Sultana Hajjah Fatimah.

Fatimah was from a well-known Malaccan family. She had married the Sultan of Gowa Karaeng
Chanda Pulih, a Bugis prince whose family owned many ships and had a trading post in Singapore.
Widowed young, Fatimah took over her husband's business and prospered. 16 When Fatimah died in
her 90s she was buried in a private enclosure behind the mosque, where the anniversary of her death is
still commemorated with an annual feast. This enclosure gradually became the Alsagoff Family
Burial Ground as more and more deceased Alsagoff members were buried there. 17

Today, the Hajjah Fatimah Mosque can be regarded as an icon symbolizing the story of the Arab
community in Singapore. Located in the historic Kampong Glam (Malay) area, the mosque is known
for its unique minaret, which resembles a church spire (see Photo 2). The mosque was designed by an

13
Alsagoff, The Alsagoff Family in Malaysia, p.9.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid., see also Alsagoff, The Alsagoff Family in Malaysia, pp.9-10.
16
On the discussion of matriarchy on the Malay archipelago and Java, see Andaya, Barbara Watson,
Gender, Islam and the Bugis Diaspora in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Riau, Sari, 21 (July
2003):77-108; Jeffrey Hadler, Muslims and matriarchs; Cultural resilience in in. Indonesia through
Jihad and Colonialism (Ithaca, New York: Cornell. University Press, 2008). See also Alsagoff &
Co., in A. Wright (ed.), Twentieth Century Impression of British Malaya (London: Lloyds Greater
Britain Publication Company, 1908), pp.705-6. See also Buckley, C. B., An Anecdotal History of Old
Times in Singapore: 1819-1867 (Singapore: Oxford University Press, 1984), pp.564-5.
17
Singapore Preservation of Monuments Board, Report 1972-1973 (Singapore: Preservation of Monuments
Board, 1973), p.15.

7
unknown British architect and built by French contractors and Malay labourers - a blend of Islamic,
Malaccan and European styles - like the hybrid identity of the Alsagoff descendants.18

Photo 2.The Hajjah Fatimah Mosque, Singapore. The Hajjah Fatimah mosque, combining Eastern and
Western design, was a blend of Malaccan and European styles.

The marriage of Ahmad and Fatimahs daughter Raja linked the families and their trading ventures.
With the addition of Fatimahs fleet of Bugis sailing vessels, Alsagoff & Co. enlarged their trading
network substantially. When Syed Abdul Rahman died in Gersik, Surubaya (present-day Indonesia),
his son Ahmad inherited all of his business. Upon Fatimahs death, Ahmed inherited a thriving
business which, combined with his own property, amounted to a considerable fortune.

The union between Ahmad and Raja produced one son and six daughters. The combination of Bugis
and Alsagoff businesses brought extensive trade connections and a veritable fleet of ships. Ahmads
only son was half-local, the maternal grandson of Fatimah. His Arab name was Syed Mohamed bin
Ahmad Alsagoff (18361906), but he was known as Nong Chik to his family and in the Malay

18
Singapore Preservation of Monuments Board, Report 1972-1973 (Singapore: Preservation of
Monuments Board, 1973), p.15. In 1990, the official Singapore census recorded the Arab population at
around 7000, but the unofficial estimate was 10,000, because about 3000 Arabs choose to be classified
officially as Malays, to get benefits such as a free education.

8
community. Syed Mohamed and his nephews were popular and influential in Malay circles, and not
only because they were wealthy Arab merchants with Syed titles, but also because they were
maternal descendants of Hajjah Fatimah. (The Malay Sultans gave some of them the honorific Dato.)
19

As well as engaging in Haj and money-lending ventures, Mohamed diversified his investments by
buying land in Singapore. By the 1890s, Mohameds properties included about 1000 acres of
plantation land in Geylang Serai, Paya Lebar, and many houses and shophouses around Jalan Sultan,
North Bridge Road, Kallang Road and Jalan Besar. With such extensive property holdings, the
Alsagoff family was anchored to the British colony by setting up a number of awaqf.

Waqf and Wealth Storage

With the money from their various business enterprises, the Hadhramis set about preserving their
family estates through a traditional Muslim institution known as the waqf. For centuries, Muslims
have fulfilled their responsibilities to their families and communities through this form of religious
endowment. As an ideal, a waqf (awaqf in plural) ties up property in perpetuity by transferring its
ownership to God, or endowing it for perpetuity for the sake of Allah, so that it can never again be
subject to the rules of private ownership. The waqf assets of land and properties were ordained to be
held in perpetuity. To justify this perpetuity of assets, beneficiaries were defined and their interests
and shares were fixed. To create a religious endowment, or waqf, a founder would assign the usufruct
of a revenue-producing property to either a person or an institution in a way that was pleasing to
God. This meant a portion of the waqf went to charity, and charity in Islam is broadly defined.20In
General, there are two types of religious endowments or awaqf : the public waqf, which is dedicated to

19
Alsagoff, The Alsagoff Family in Malaysia, pp.21-38. See Also Alsagoff Transcript, NAS.
20
Fatimah & Ors. vs. Logan & Ors., (1871), in Kyshe, James William Norton, Cases Heard and
Determined in Her Majestys Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements 1808-1884. Vol. 1: Civil Cases
(undated) Somerset, Legal Library (Publishing Services), 1885, p. 269, Abdul Qadir, Institution of
Wakf in Southeast Asia, in his Wakf, Islamic Law of Charitable Trust (Delhi: Global Vision
Publishing House, 2004), pp. 151-8; Heffening, W., "Wakf," Encyclopedia of Islam (1st edition, Vol.
7), (Leiden: E. J.. Brill, 1931), pp. 1096-102, Gregory C. Kozlowski, Muslim Endowments and Society
in British India (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp.1-2; Siti Mashitoh Mahamood,
Waqf in Malaysia: Legal and Administrative Perspectives (Kuala Lumpur:University of Malaya Press,
2006), pp. 27-38.

9
a religious or charitable institution; and the familial waqf, which provides a way to pass on property to
descendants without the property being divided into many small shares under Islamic inheritance law.

For many Arab merchants in Singapore, the waqf was an attempt to contain their scattered assets,
despite taxation or family conflicts, for a far-flung web of descendants and polygamous families in the
Middle East and Southeast Asia. These awaqf supported not only local projects, but also those in
Hadhramaut, such as building mosques and schools, so as an institution the waqf was both localized
and transnational.21

Awaqf in Singapore were created to protect land ownership. But the idea of owning a particular piece
of land, delineated by boundaries, was not part of indigenous Malay thought. The idea of owning a
particular piece of land delineated by precise boundaries was alien to indigenous Malay thought. The
Malays always saw land as a resource to be used rather than a commodity to be bought and sold.
Land itself was frequently cultivated and then abandoned. It tended to be used rather than
possessed.22

The growth of the idea of real estate was related to the rise of capitalist nation-states. At the core of
this concept is land ownership. 23 Starting in 1819, with British rule under the EIC, land gradually
became alienable (marketable) in Singapore. Yet in the early years of British rule, the categories of
landed property that came into being in Singapore were hybrid, and loosely regulated by laws and
customs from multiple sources.14 With the introduction of the Crown Land Ordinance in 1826, land
became an alienable commodity in Singapore. Despite attempts to implement a coherent system of law,

21
Freitag, Arab Merchants in Singapore: Attempt of a Collective Biography, p.119. Brown, R.,
Islamic Endowments and the Land Economy in Singapore: The Genesis of an Ethical Capitalism 1830-
2007, South East Asia Research, 16, 3 (2008):343-403. See Also Cizaka, Murat, Islamic Capitalism
and Finance: Origins, Evolution and the Future (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2011); Cizaka, Murat, A
History of Philanthropic Foundations: The Islamic World From the Seventh Century to the Present
(Istanbul: Bogazici University Press, 2000); Cizaka, Murat, Comparative Evolution of Business
Partnerships (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1996). Kuran, T., The Provision of Public Goods under Islamic Law:
Origins, Impact and Limitations of the Waqf System, Law and Society Review, 35, 4 (2001):841-98.
22
Anthony Milner, The Malays (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, 2008), p.57. See also Anthony
Milner, The Malay Raja: A Study of Malay Political Culture in East Sumatra and The Malay
Peninsula in the Early Nineteenth Century. PhD. Thesis, Cornell University, 1977.
23
Brian Simpson, History of the Land Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986).

10
legal practitioners acted according to their own ideas of equity, modified by what they knew of Malay
and Chinese custom and the Indian or the Straits Penal Code. After 1867, when the Colonial Office
took over control of Singapore, more British land laws were transplanted into the new colony. Under
the new legal regime, land in the SS became an alienable, marketable commodity protected by British
laws. Land was divided into small lots, numbered, and auctioned out. A state-maintained register of
land holdings guaranteed an indefeasible title to those in the register and facilitated easy land transfer
under British law.

Under British rule, land became a hot commodity in Singapore. A land-owning class came into being,
making Singapore unique in the Malay world. 24 By 1885, the 80 Arab commercial firms in Singapore
comprised 29 percent of all Arab firms in the Malay Archipelago, with capital of over 10,000 guilders,
making Singapore one of the most flourishing Arab colonies in the Indian Archipelago.25 By 1885 the
estimated value of Arab real estate in Singapore was 4 million guilders, or a quarter of the estimated
total value of Arab-owned real estate in the Malaya Peninsula and the Dutch East Indies.26 The
confusion created by multiple legal jurisdictions allowed these merchants plenty of room to maneuver.

24
B. L. Chua, Land Registration in Singapore and the Federation of Malaya, Malaya Law Review, 1
(1959):318. Lim, Lu Sia, The Arab of Singapore: a sociographic study of their place in the Muslim
and Malaya World, BA Thesis, Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, 1987, p.
23. Syed Othman Alhabshi, Waqf Management in Malaysia, in Mohamad Ariff (ed.), The Muslim
Private sector in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Institute of Southeast sian Studies, 1991), pp.188-216.
On colonial law in British Malaya, see also Iza R. Hussin, The Politics of Islamic Law: Elites and
Authority in Colonial Malaya, India and Egypt, Ph.D dissertation, University of Washington, 2008.
On a discussion on land and economy, please refer to Douglas North, Institution, The Journal of
Economic Perspectives, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Winter, 1991), pp. 97-112. Economists suggest that land is one
of the most dominant production factors in pre-industrial economies. Since the neo-institutional turn in
economic theory, economic history has focused on the delineation and enforceability of modern
property rights as an important explanatory variable in development processes and economic growth.
A large part of the literature has come to look at economic development through the lens of
institutional innovation, understood as incremental or radical change in property rights, transactions
and enforcement.
25
L.W.C. Van den Berg, Le Hadhramout et Les Colonies Arabes (Batavia: Imprimrie du
Gouvernement, 1886), pp.146-7; see also T.J. Newbold, Political and Statistical Account of the British
Straits Settlements on the Straits of Malacca, Volume 1 (London: John Murray, 1839), pp. 29-30.
Mandal, Sumit K., Finding their place: A History of Arabs in Java under Dutch rule, 1800-1924.
26
Same as footnote 15, Buckley, An Anecdotal History of Old Times in Singapore, pp.562-7; See also
Yasser Mattar, Arab Ethnic Enterprises in Colonial Singapore: Market Entry and Exit Mechanisms
1819-1965, in Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 45, 2 (August 2004):165-79; Arnold Wright & H.W.
Cartwright (eds.), Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya: Its History, People, Commerce,
Industries, and Resources (London: Lloyd's Greater Britain Pub.,1908), pp.705-7, 710-2.

11
By the turn of 19th century, the Arabs owned around 75% of the private land alienated by the British,
or about 50% of Singapores total land area. Arab land ownership peaked in the 1920s when Arabs
owned 80 percent of the large estates, including the prestigious Raffles Hotel (the Alsagoffs) and the
Hotel Europe (the Alkaffs). By the early 1930s, 13 Arab families in Singapore owned the highest
proportion of urban property, and it was valued at $2.5 million. By 1931, Arabs and Jews together
owned more housing than any other group, despite being only 0.34 percent of the population (1939 in
number) in Singapore.27

Politically and economically British Singapore was comparatively stable, while most of the Middle
East was in political turmoil. Given its rising value under British legal protection, SSingaporean real
estate attracted Hadhrami money from far away. Many Arabs with fortunes made in the Dutch East
Indies and India invested in Singapore property, as did Hadhramis residing in Hadhramaut. This
created a need for property agents, and some Arab landowners in Singapore became real estate
managers as well. As moneylenders they were able to use real estate as collateral for loans instead of
asking for interest payments; in this way they also could avoid the Koranic ban on usury. Among these
endowed property is the Alsagoff waqf properties in the Geylang Serai region.

The Making of Geylang Serai

The significance of Geylang Serai lies in its Malayness. To Malays, Geylang Serai is one of the
oldest Malay Settlements in Singapore, and a meeting place of the community from various parts of
the country. It was also a well-known area of Malay settlement with close links to the Alsagoffs.

The history of Geylang Serai begins with a small settlement consisting of Orang Laut and the Malays
on the banks of Geylang River. Since the 1830s, Hajjah Fatimah acquired a large plot of land in that
area. During this period, other Arab families, like the Alkaff and Aljunied, also acquired large landed
property in Geylang. After Fatimah passed away, her son-in-law Syed Ahmad inherited the land plot.

27
Freitag, Arab Merchants in Singapore, p.11; Pepler, R. D., Unpublished reports from Royal
Tropical Research Unit, Singapore, to Med. Res. Co.s R.N. Personnel Research Committee, 1951.
William G. Clarence-Smith, Hadhrami Arab Entrepreneurs in Indonesia and Malaysia: Facing the
Challenge of the 1930s Recessions, in Peter Boomgard and Ian Brown (eds.), Weathering the Storm:
The Economies of Southeast Asia in the 1930s Depression (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, 2000), p.229-303; Yasser Mattar, Arab Ethnic Enterprises in Colonial Singapore: Market
Entry and Exit Mechanisms 1819-1965, in Asia Pacific Viewpoint 45, 2 (August 2004):165-79.

12
This large section of Geylang Serai forms part of the Perseverance Estate (also known as the
Alsagoff Estate) under the Alsagoff family (see photo 3).

In the 1840s, the EIC dispersed the Malay floating village at the mouth of the Singapore River because
of its obstruction to port traffic. As more of these sea nomads and Malay populations moved inland,
some setting up home on the bank of the Geylang River. A Malay settlement was formed there. The
new settlement was known as Geylang Kelapa (kelapa referring to coconut plantations in Malay).
Some suggest that the name Geylang is a corruption of the Malay kilang meaning press or mill,
referring to the mills in the coconut plantations. From the 1850s, the Alsagoffs used part of the estate
they inherited from Fatimah to grow lemon grass for overseas market. They hired English managers
and leased out individual tracts of land to local farmers. This extensive cultivation of lemon grass
plants led the area to be renamed as Geylang Serai (serai is Malay for lemon grass). In the early 1900s,
after the failure of the lemon grass industry (because of market depression in Europe and the USA),
the Malays and the Chinese farmers remained on the Alsagoff estate but turned to cultivating coconut,
rubber, vegetables, and rearing poultry for a living. By 1910, Singapore's first tramline service had its
eastern terminal at Geylang Serai. When the better-off Chinese gradually left the area, more Malay
people moved in. Geylang Serai became predominantly Malay. 28 The Alsagoffs set up their awaqf
with their estate in Geylang Serai. More settlers moved to the area in the early 1920s, where it began
to be too crowded in Kampong Glam. In 1932, a main street in the region was named Jalan Alsagoff
indicating the intimate link between the region with the Alsagoff family. The area is bustling with
activity during Ramadan, when Muslims fast for a month and prepare for the festival of Hari Raya
Puasa, a celebration to indicate the end of their fasting.

28
At the start of the twentieth century in Singapore, there were about 36,000 Malay-Muslims in a total
population of about 230,000. Half of the 36,000 were peninsular Malays, over 12,000 were from Sumatra,
Java, Riau, and other islands. About 1,000 were of Arab descent and 600 were Jawi-Peranakans (local-born
Arabs). Many of them lived within the town area, around Kampong Glam - which had been officially
allocated to Malay-Muslims and Arabs in Raffles' town plan. See also Roff, William R., The Malay-
Muslim World of Singapore at the Close of the Nineteenth Century, The Journal of Asian Studies 24
(1964):76-90.

13
Photo 3. The Alsagoffs Perseverance Estate in Geylang Serai

14
Photo 4. Geylang Serai in the 1840s

Photo 5. Malay Houses in Geylang Serai in the 1850s

15
Waqf and British law
In the British colony of Singapore, setting up a Muslim waqf that would protect a familys estates
required an awareness of the legal issues that might be raised by the British law against perpetuities.
Singapore had been founded as a free port, so how this law would be interpreted and enforced was not
clear. 29 The Alsagoff wills illustrate how Ahmed and Mohammed handled this uncertainty.

In 1868, Syed Ahmed drew up a will in Arabic in which he directs that his land and houses shall not
be sold but shall be made into a waqf forever.30 He declared that his freehold and leasehold estate
shall be managed and descend to future generations according to the rule of Mohamedan law. The
Perseverance Estate in Geylang Serai formed the core of his waqf properties. Several days later
Ahmad made a second will in English to address possible legal problems from the British rule against
perpetuities. The second will stipulated that if the waqf, which controlled over 50 properties in
Singapore, became void under British law, then two alternative income trusts should be set up: one
during the time when Ahmed was still living, and one for a period of twenty-one years after the death
of his last descendant, the maximum time allowed for such a trust under British law. 31 The double

29
Choa Choon Neoh v. Spottiswoode (1869), in Woods, R.C., A Selection of Oriental Cases decided
in the Supreme Court of the Straits Settlements (Pinang: S. Jeremiah, 1869), Appendix, pp. 1-102. See
also Khoo Salma Nasution, Colonial Intervention and Transformation of Muslim Waqf Settlements in
Urban Penang: The Role of the Endowments Board, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 22,
Issue 2 (October 2002):299-315. Abdul Qadir, Institution of Wakf in Southeast Asia, in his Wakf,
Islamic Law of Charitable Trust (Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House, 2004), pp. 151-8; Peletz,
Michael G., Islamic Modern: Religious Courts and Cultural Politics in Malaysia (Princeton and
Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2002), pp 48-9.
30
Syed Ali bin Mohamed Alsagoff & others v. Syed Omar bin Mohamed Alsagoff [Singapore Suit
No. 1917, Appeal No. 12 of 1918], Straits Settlements Law Report, vol. 15 (1918):111-25.
31
Ibid.,104-6. In this Will, Ahmed explained that: I am advised that it is uncertain whether or not
the rule of the English law against perpetuities extends to the Colony of Straits Settlements and that if
it should be found so to extend that the hereinbefore mentioned trusts in regard to my freehold and
leasehold property may be held to be void and ineffectual. Therefore I hereby declare and direct that,
in the event of its being found that the said rule against perpetuities extends to the Colony and that the
trusts hereinbefore declared in regard to the said freehold and leasehold property are in consequence
inoperative and may be set aside, the trustee or trustees of this my will for the time being shall stand
possessed of and entitled to the said freehold and leasehold property upon trust from time to time.See
also Alsagoff Will Case: Mr. Justice Sproules Decision Upheld, The Strait Times, 31 Jan 1920, p.9.
On his property list, please see Estate of Syed Ahmed bin Adbulrahman Alsagoff, Deceased: Auction
Sale of Valuable Singapore Properties, The Straits Times, 6 July 1961, p.12. These properties were at
Arab Street, North Bridge Road, Beach Road, Jalan Sultan, Aliwai Street, Jalan Pinang and Kandahar
Street.

16
wills show that Ahmad recognized that English law could supersede Islamic law; but even as he made
allowances for that eventually, he made it clear that the Arabic will was to be used unless directly
challenged.32

Ahmads son Syed Mohamed also prepared two wills, one in Arabic setting up a waqf and one in
English that included an alternative trust and its expiration date.33 In their attempt to transplant
Islamic law from Arabia to Singapore, both Alsagoffs were prepared to make concessions to English
law.34 Their decision to set up their awaqf in Singapore suggests that they believed their interests were
well served in the British colony, even if they could not endow their familial awaqf in perpetuity, to
accord with Islamic tradition. Instead, the Alsagoffs tried to preserve their estates for as long as
possible under colonial law.35 Under British rule, they opted for pragmatism. Yet, by the turn of the
century, land policy in British Singapore underwent drastic changes.

Changing Land Policy

In the history of early Singapore, the British EIC was more interested in trade than in governance, so
their land development policies were flexible, aimed at attracting immigrants and opening up virgin

32
Same to footnote 59, see also Two Judgments: Alsagoff Will Case, The Singapore Free Press and
Mercantile Advertiser, 20 November 1917, p.10.
33
Yahaya, Colonial Development of Islamic Family Law in the British Straits Settlements and the
Netherlands Indies," Paper presented at Law-Engaged Graduate Students Seminar, February 14, 2011,
Princeton University; Lu, The Arab of Singapore: a sociographic study of their place in the Muslim
and Malaya World, pp. 78-80.
34
Same to footnote 59, see also Syed Ali bin Mohamed Alsagoff and others v. Syed Omar bin
Mohamed Alsagoff and others, Straits Settlements Law Reports, Vol. 15 (1918):126. Appeal Will
Case: The Alsagoff Estate, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 4 December 1919,
p.356; Singapore Appeal Court: Alsagoff Affairs again being discussed, The Straits Times, 4
December 1918, p.7. Alsagoff Will Case: Mr. Justice Sproules Decision Upheld, The Straits Times,
31 January 1920, p.9.
35
After a series of legal disputes among Syed Ahmads descendants in the 1930s, the court ruled that
Ahmads estate was preserved as a trust, as set out in Ahmads English will. As a trust, it had an
expiry date. Ahmads estate was finally dissolved in 1961 21 years after the death of the last
grandchild born during Ahmads lifetime. See Estate of Syed Ahmed bin Adbulrahman Alsagoff,
Deceased: Auction Sale of Valuable Singapore Properties, The Straits Times, 6 July 1961, p.12. See
also Alsagoff Transcript, NAS.

17
territories.36 When Straits Settlements administration was transferred from the EIC to the India Office
in the 1830s, and then to London in 1867, land-usage policies changed.37 By the turn of the twentieth
century, the colonial office wanted more control over land use in Singapore.

As some of the largest landowners in Singapore, Arabs were disproportionately affected by such
policy changes. To complicate matters, awaqf properties were seen as fostering slum conditions. In
1906, to forestall complaints about the mismanagement of religious trusts, a Mahomedan and Hindu
Endowments Board was set up to supervise properties under Muslim and Hindu religious
endowments.38 As housing and slum clearance became a priority, a housing commission was set up in

36
The Straits Settlements (Penang, Singapore, Malacca) were the first area to be settled by the British
EIC in peninsular Malaysia. The British settlement at Penang was founded in 1786, at Singapore in
1819. In 1824 the Dutch ceded Malacca to the British Crown. In the following year, Malacca and
Singapore were transferred to the administration of the East India Company, and became, with Penang,
the Straits Settlements. On EICs changing land policy in the Straits Settlements, please see
Dharmalingan, Vanaja, The British and the Muslim Religious Endowment in colonial Malaya,
Masters dissertation, National University of Singapore (1995); Roland St. John Braddell, The law of
the Straits Settlements : a commentary (Kuala Lumpur : Oxford University Press, 1982); see also
Barbara Watson Andaya, Leonard Y. Andaya, A History of Malaysia (London: Palgrave Macmillan,
1984).
37
See, for examples, Yeoh, B.S.A., Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations in the
Urban Built Environment (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003), pp.28-84; Yi-chun Liu &
Kuo-cheun Chen, The Characteristics of Agricultural Land-Use in Prewar Singapore, Journal of
Geographical Research, No. 49 (Nov 2008):93-6. See also Farrington, Anthony, Trading Places: The
East India Company and Asia, 16001834 (London: British Library, 2002); Lawson, Philip, The East
India Company: A History (London: Longman, 1993). Sen, Sudipta, Empire of Free Trade: The East
India Company and the Making of the Colonial Marketplace (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 1998); On land and governance, see J. de Vere Allen, Malayan Civil Service,
18741941 Colonial Bureaucracy/Malayan Elite, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 12
(1970):149-78. Allen commented that when the British first became involved officially in the Malay
States in 1874 they were represented there by a very small and oddly assorted group of men quite
separate and different from, and only loosely controlled by, the official colonial establishment in the
Straits Settlements. By the time of the Japanese occupation this had grown to a group which was very
large by normal British colonial standards and had become much more homogeneous, conformed
much more closely to general Colonial Office type.
38
Siddique, Sharon, Administration of Islam in Singapore, in T. Abdullah & S. Siddique (eds.),
Islam in Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986), pp. 315-31.
Sinha, Vineeta, The Mohammedan and Hindu Endowments Board, 1905-1968: the Singapore
Experience, in Religion-State Encounters in Hindu Domains, from the Straits Settlements to
Singapore (Singapore: ARI-Springer Series, 2011), pp.125-84. See also Moslem Loyalty, The
Straits Times, 16 December 1915, p.10; Muhammedan Advisory Boards, The Singapore Free Press
and Mercantile Advertiser, 25 January 1930, p.13.

18
1918 to review living conditions in central Singapore, where overcrowding in shophouses and squatter
settlements had led to widespread disease and civil unrest. Following the recommendations of the
commission, a Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT), composed of professional architects and
contractors, was set up in 1927 to build affordable public housing.39

These urban renewal projects targeted a number of immovable properties in the city centre, including
Alsagoff waqf properties. The family was asked to give up their land, which instigated a number of
legal disputes in the 1930s. At the same time a new breed of Malay Muslim leader, mostly men who
had been educated in England, was becoming influential in the Muslim community. They not only
challenged Arab leadership of the Muslim community in Singapore, they also wanted more land for
the Malay community.40 Land became an increasingly sensitive political issue in colonial Singapore.

Post-War Changes
For decades, Islam had played a major role in the Hadhramis assimilation, but where once the
Hadhrami elites has been seen as custodians of Islam, after decolonization they shared that role with
other Muslim groups. The British colonial government received help from Hadhrami elites like the
Alsagoffs as intermediaries in governing the Muslim population in Singapore. This situation came to
an end starting from the 1940s, when the British were forced to retreat as new nations emerged in the
region. The tide turned against the Arab elites.

39
Yeoh, B.S.A., Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations in the Urban Built
Environment (Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003), pp.28-84. Ooi Giok Ling, Sharon
Siddique & Soh Kay Cheng (eds.), The Management of Ethnic Relations in Public Housing Estates
(Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies/Times Academic Press, 1993).
40
Nagata, J. A., The Reflowering of Malaysian Islam: Modern religious radicals and their roots
(Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1984). Roff, William R., The Malay-Muslim
World of Singapore at the close of the 19th century, Journal of Asiatic Studies, 24, 1 (1964):15-90.
Mohammed Taib Osman, Islamization of the Malays: A Transformation of Culture, in Ahmad
Ibrahim, Sharon Siddique & Yasmin Hussain (ed.), Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia (Singapore:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1985), pp.44-7. At the start of the twentieth century in Singapore,
there were more than 36,000 Malay-Muslims in a total population of about 230,000. Half of the
36,000 were peninsular Malays, over 12,000 were from Sumatra, Java, Riau, and other islands, about
1,000 were Arabs and 600 were Jawi-Peranakans (local-born Arabs). Many of them lived within the
town area, around Kampong Glam - which had been officially allocated to Malay-Muslims and Arabs
in Raffles' town plan.

19
When Britain resumed its rule over Malaya after World War II, competition for land was fierce.41 To
alleviate widespread hardship as many Malays returned to Singapore from rural areas, the British
introduced a rent control act in the late 1940s.42 The Hadhramis were still an impressive landowning
class in the lucrative center and southern areas of the island, but rent control would freeze the rents of
properties bought before the war, which these properties and most awaqf were, and lead to a long-term
decline in real income for private Arab landlords and most awaqf. 43

Newspapers reported widespread approval for the rent control proposal, especially in the poor Malay
communities. The general public believed that much of the Arab-owned land in Singapore belonged to
absentee owners in Hadhramaut,44 and that rental costs drained wealth out of Singapore to these other
countries.45 During debates over the Rent Control Act, a member of the Alsagoffs (Dato Syed Ibrahim
Alsagoff) was a spokesman for discontented landlords. He condemned the Rent Control Act, and
claimed that it would impose undeniable injustice on the small property owners and would benefit
tenants of business premises.46

During the drafting of the Rent Control Acts, Arab landlords in Singapore had tried in vain to
convince the government to include a clause to enable landlords whose properties had been bought
before the war to evict tenants in order to house family members or beneficiaries of the trusts. Without
the clause, it was extremely difficult to evict an undesirable tenant. All the large landowners lost
money through rent control, but without the clause there were repercussions along ethnic lines, since

41
The Singapore Landlord on his critic, The Straits Times, 30 July 1947, p.4.
42
Untitled, The Singapore Free Press, 20 July 1946, p.4. For a general background, please also read
Huge Interests of the Local Arab Community, The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser,
17 August 1936, p.3.

43
Rajeswary A. Brown, Capitalism and Islam: Arab Business Groups and Capital Flows in Southeast
Asia, in Chris Smith, Brendan McSweeney & R. Fitzgerald (eds.), Remaking Management: Between
Global and Local (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp.217-50.
44
The landlords petition, The Straits Times, 24 March, 1947, p.4.
45
Ibid., this firm is referred to as an entity founded by a wealthy Arab family in Singapore.
46
Landlord Attacks Rent Bill, The Straits Times, 1 July 1947, p.3.

20
most shophouse tenants were Chinese and most landlords Arab.47 These landlords claimed that the
Rent Control Act had indirectly transferred a huge income from the Muslim owners to the Chinese
tenants. Due to inflation and loss of revenue the awaqf could not refinance and redevelop dilapidated
properties as the government required, and this allowed the rising Chinese merchant class to buy the
shophouses themselves.48

Independent Singapore: Looking for New Institutions to Manage Diasporic Groups

After World War Two, land ownership, citizenship, and ethnic identity had become sensitive political
topics, especially in a new-born Singapore a small city-state surrounded by hostile neighbors. By the
time Singapore attained self-government in 1959, the housing problem was regarded as a crucial
political issue. The new government was keen on setting up new institutions to manage its various
migrant and religious communities as citizens loyal to Singapore. The new government paid special
attention to reorganizing its land policy, which would affect the way it dealt with waqf properties.
Allowing the courts the role of final arbiter and handling waqf as family disputes were not in the
best interests of the new republic. Other, more efficient institutions, notably the Housing and
Development Board and the Singapore Muslim Religious Council, were established to deal with these
complicated land and religious issues.49

47
Twenty percent on rents, The Straits Times, 25 June 1947, p.4; See also The Singapore Landlord
on his critics, The Straits Times, 30 July 1947, p.4. Yeoh, Brenda, Contesting Space: Power
Relationships and the Urban Built Environment in Colonial Singapore (Singapore:Singapore
University Press, 2003).Chua, Nemg Huat, The Golden Shoe: Building Singapore's Financial District
(Singapore: Urban Redevelopment Authority:1989). Goh, Robbie, Yeoh, Brenda, International
Conference on the City, Theorizing The Southeast Asian City As Text: Urban Landscapes, Cultural
Documents, And Interpretative Experiences (Singapore, World Scientific Pub Co Inc., 2003). Lee Ho
Yin, The Singapore Shophouse: An Anglo-Chinese Urban Vernacular," in Ronald G. Knapp (ed.),
Asia's Old Dwellings: Tradition, Resilience, and Change, ed. (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003), pp.115-34.
48
Rajeswary A. Brown, Capitalism and Islam: Arab Business Groups and Capital Flows in South
East Asia. See also her Islamic Endowments and the Land Economy in Singapore: The Genesis of
an Ethical Capitalism 1830-2007, South East Asia Research, 16, 3 (2008):343-403.
49
Ooi Giok Ling, Sharon Siddique & Soh Kay Cheng (eds.), The Management of Ethnic Relations in Public
Housing Estates (Singapore: Institute of Policy Studies/Times Academic Press, 1993). See also Yeoh,
Brenda, Contesting Space: Power Relationships and the Urban Built Environment in Colonial Singapore
(Singapore: Singapore University Press, 2003). Sharon Siddique, Administration of Islam in Singapore, in

21
Under Lee Kuan Yews leadership, People's Action Party (PAP) was keen on building a new
Singapore with stronger government control, particularly over land usage. 50 As a newly independent
republic, the government in Singapore set out to reorganize the state. Their urban redevelopment
projects targeted a number of properties in the city centre, including waqf properties. In 1960, SIT
was dissolved and replaced by the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to provide low-cost public
housing on a large scale.

In 1966, the Lands Acquisition Act granted the HDB the power to purchase any private land required
for housing development. Compensation was based on a predetermined formula and was far below
market value. 51 The Act challenged the holding of awaqf by the Arab community. Pre-war properties
were the major target for acquisition as Singapore underwent a modernisation program. Since rent
control had left the Arab landlords without enough revenue to modernise their holdings, the
government was able to acquire significant properties owned by Arab awaqf for modest compensation.
52

It is not accidental that in 1966 the Singapore parliament passed the Administration of Muslim Law
Act (AMLA), paving the way for the formation of the Singapore Muslim Religious Council (also
called Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, or MUIS) in 1968.53 MUIS was a corporate body with the
power to oversee waqf administration in Singapore.

T. Abdullah & S. Siddique (eds.), Islam in Society in Southeast Asia (Singapore: Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies, 1986), pp. 315-31. Kevin Y.L.Tan, Singapore: A Statist Legal Laboratory, in E. Ann Black,
Gary F. Bell (eds.), Law and Legal Institutions of Asia: Traditions, Adaptations and Innovations
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 330-70.
50
Kevin Y.L.Tan, Singapore: A Statist Legal Laboratory, in E. Ann Black, Gary F. Bell (eds.), Law
and Legal Institutions of Asia: Traditions, Adaptations and Innovations (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2011), pp. 330-70.
51
Yeung, Yue-man (1973), National Development Policy and Urban Transformation in Singapore: A
Study of Public Housing and the Marketing System, Research Paper No 149 (Department of Geography,
University of Chicago, 1973). Moshe Yegar, Islam and Islamic institutions in British Malaya: policies
and implementation (Jerusalem:Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1979).
52
Abdul Qadir, Institution of Wakf in Southeast Asia, in his Wakf, Islamic Law of Charitable Trust
(Delhi: Global Vision Publishing House, 2004), pp. 151-8; Yeung, Yue-man (1973), National
Development Policy and Urban Transformation in Singapore: A Study of Public Housing and the
Marketing System.

22
After decades of operation, as the senior Arab family members who had managed them passed away,
most awaqf in Singapore were mismanaged. There were legal disputes among family members and in
many cases professional trustees had to be appointed. After MUIS, fewer waqf were created. MUIS
undermined the Arabs authority over their waqf properties, and once waqf administration was
institutionalized it became impersonal, and the Arab benefactors less socially visible.54 This
development affected many Arab landowners; to examine the impact of these new institutions in depth,
we shall visit the history of Geylang Serai again.

Post-war Restructuring a New Geylang Serai

The history of Geylang Serai was especially politically sensitive in post-war Singapore. Its
significance lies in its reputation as the Malay emporium of Singapore, known to Malays of Malaysia,
Brunei and Indonesia. In 1948, political boundaries were restructured with the unification of
Peninsular Malaya as the Federation of Malaya, which achieved independence in 1957. In 1963,
Singapore, North Borneo, and Sarawak joined with Malaya to become the new Federation of
Malaysia. Yet by 1965 Singapore had been expelled from the Malaysian Federation due to
ideological and political conflicts. 55

53
. On the history of MUIS, please refer to Anthony Green, Muslim Religious Council of Singapore,
Honouring the Past, Shaping the Future: The MUIS Story: Forty Years of Building a Singapore Muslim
Community of Excellence (Singapore: Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, 2009).
54
Before the enactment of AMLA in 1968, all waqf were placed under the Boards supervision
according to the Muslim & Hindu Endowments Ordinance. The Arab family trustees were in control
of their waqf. Yet, their authority over the waqf was undermined by the formation of MUIS, as all
waqf in existence at that date were automatically transferred to the administration of MUIS. There has
been a move to circumscribe waqf of a personal or family nature. Siddique, Sharon, Administration
of Islam in Singapore, in T. Abdullah & S. Siddique (eds.), Islam in Society in Southeast Asia
(Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 1986), pp. 315-31. Tunku Alina Alias, Unleashing
the Potential of the Waqf as an Economic Institution: Policy, Legal and Economic Reforms, D.Phil.
Thesis, INCEIF (International Centre for Edu. in Islamic Finance), 2011, pp.449-61.

55
See, for examples, Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, The role of Hadramisin Post-Second World War
Singapore A Reinterpretation, Immigrants & Minorities, vol. 25, no.2 (July 2007):163 - 83; Talib,
Ameen, Hadhramis in Singapore, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 17, no.1 (April 1997): 89-97.
.

23
Photo 6. Geylang Serai in Post-war Singapore

24
Photo 7. Clearance of Alsagoff Estate in Geylang Serai

25
In the late 1960s, urban Muslim villages in Geylang Serai and other areas of Singapore where Malay

and Arab population resided were cleared for redevelopment. Muslims, as well as other Singaporeans,

moved from their traditional neighborhoods into housing estates. The material interest of the Arabs

was upset. The process reflects our concern - how is the urban environment, again, used to construct

social identities and delineated political spaces?

The auction and clearance of the Alsagoff Estate in Geyland Serai attracted attention within and

outside Singapore. Since Geylang Serai was a Malay region, some of the Alsagoff men asked the

young Singapore government to acquire the land, cut it up and sell back plots to those now living

there.56 Some Alsagoffs went even farther and suggested redeveloping the Alsagoff estate themselves

for the good of Malay residents on the auctioned land plots. They proposed to establish a limited

company to build two-storey shophouses and low-cost flats for sale to Malay families at $6,000

each.57

This redevelopment proposal occurred at a critical moment in Southeast Asian history, the birth of Malaysia

in 1963. The proposal was politically charged and immediately attracted the attention of the Malaysian

Federation government in Kuala Lumpur. Prime Minister Tengku Abdulrahman expressed support for the

plan, publicly commenting that it was a good idea. 58 But not all Alsagoff waqf beneficiaries supported

redevelopment. Some main beneficiaries, wielded more shares and power than most other Alsagoffs, insisted
56
Dont wait for a Fire: Government urged to buy crowded areas for resale to residents, The Straits Times,
14 December 1961, p.4.
57
$6 mil. offer for Geylang land, The Straits Times, 16 June 1964, p.1; Alsagoff Estate Home Plan:
Beneficiaries are likely to form a limited company to build shops, low-cost flats for sale to Malay families,
The Straits Times, 17 June 1964, p.11. New low-cost Homes Scheme: 850 acres in Geylang Serai to be
developed for housing, The Straits Times, 11 March 1965, p.5.
58
Development project at Alsagoff Estate, The Straits Times, 14 April 1965, p.9.

26
that the family property be sold and the redevelopment plan scrapped because of its expense. They preferred

to receive cash.

In the meantime, relations between Singapore and the Malaysian Federation worsened. A series of riots

erupted in Singapore. In April 1964, a bomb exploded at Geylang Serai, killing two men. In July, rioting

broke out on the eve of planned celebrations for Prophet Mohammed's birthday. The violence lasted for days.

The future of the Alsagoff Estate in Geylang Serai became even more politically charged in such a volatile

atmosphere. In April 1965 the Malaysia government sent the Federal Minister of Lands and Mines to

Singapore to meet with Alsagoff men about buying the 1000-acre estate to build houses for their Malay

population in Singapore.59 But this plan was never enacted. Amidst mounting conflicts, Singapore was

expelled from the Malaysian Federation in 1965. Even then, the Alsagoff promoters told the press repeatedly

that they would continue their own redevelopment plan, and asked for support from Malay residents on the

estate.60 They promised that if their project materialized, the Malay residents could purchase their own houses

so as to live there permanently, but this did not happen.61 The Alsagoff redevelopment proposal was never

realized, partly because of waqf members opposition, partly because of Singapores new urban renewal

policy.

59
Alsagoff Estate: Minister meets the trustees, The Straits Times, 15 April 1965, p.13. Development
project at Alsagoff Estate, The Straits Times, 14 April 1965, p.9.
60
In December 1966, for instance, they still told the press that should their proposal be approved by the
Singapore Government, Geylang Serai would be transformed into a big housing estate with low cost houses,
shophouses and factories. Buy your land off: Geylang Serai Homes Plan, The Straits Times, 2 December
1966, p.8.
61
Dont buy advice in Parliament, The Straits Times, 16 December 1966, p.8. Alsagoff trustee wrangle:
Main beneficiary and trustee say: we intend to sell, it would be too expensive to develop it ourselves, The
Straits Times, 18 June 1964, p.11.

27
Geylang Serai - the First Public Housing Estate in Singapore East

In the nation-wide push for public housing across Singapore in the 1960s, Geylang Serai became the first

public housing estate built by the Housing and Development Board in eastern Singapore. It was rebuilt as a

stereotypical ethnic district. The new Geylang Serai Market Complex, completed in 1967, became a pilgrim

spot, earning it the reputation the Malay emporium of Singapore. But despite the ethnic packaging, the old

Malay community had been dispersed. With its disappearance the Alsagoffs lost their historical links to

Geylang Serai.

Photo 8. Geylang Serai A Plan for Post-war Reconstructing

28
Under PAP, the role of the government played an active role in Singapores urban development. Between

1960 and 1979, the percentage of land owned by the Singaporean government rose from 44 to 67 percent. By

1976, more than 50% of the population was living in HDB flats, a significant increase from the 8.8% in SIT

flats in 1959.

Figure1. Ownership of Land in Singapore 1949-1990

Year State ownership (%) Private ownership (%)

1949 31.0 69.0

1960 44.0 56.0

1965 39.3 50.8*

1970 60.0 40.0

1975 65.5 34.5

1985 76.2 23.8

1990 80.0 20.0

Sources: Motha (1989:7-8). Low (1997:82). Mattar (2004:76-8).

Photo 9. Under the leadership of PAP, Lands Acquisition Acts were passed. Singapore set out to

29
rehouse its population in Le Corbusier-inspired apartment blocks starting from the 1960s (HDB
Photo)

In 1960 less than ten percent of the population lived in public housing. By 1988, HDB apartment

complexes housed 86 percent of the population. Many mosques, and the Muslim communities that had

surrounded and supported them, were lost in this urban redevelopment. Further disintegrating the Arab

communities were government policies to promote ethnic integration. The government set maximum

proportions for the various ethnic groups in each HDB block and in each HDB neighbourhood, so will

not approve the sale of a new or resale flat to a particular ethnic group if that ethnic group's limit has

been reached. 62

In present-day Singapore, the Arabs are no longer major landowners. A survey carried out in 1980

revealed that before the 1920s, an estimated 80 percent of Arabs in Singapore lived on rental revenue;

by the early 1960s, this had fallen to somewhere between 30 and 40 percent. Most Arab families were

unprepared for the drastic drop in their income.63 As the glory of the Arab families faded in Singapore,

events in Hadhramaut triggered an even more drastic change.

Although Haj traffic between Southeast Asia and the Middle East gradually resumed after World War

II, political change in the Middle East weakened and finally severed familial and economic ties

62
Ooi Giok Ling, Sharon Siddique & Soh Kay Cheng (eds.), The Management of Ethnic Relations in
Public Housing Estates; see also Yeoh, Contesting Space in Colonial Singapore: Power Relations in
the Urban Built Environment.
63
The company set up by Syed Omar of S.O. Alsagoff, Landowners, Merchants and
Commission Agents, downsized its property management business, and moved into the import
and export of rubber and timber in the mid-1960s. S.O. Alsagoff, 1947-1972, Registry of
Businesses, ROB 149, National Archive of Singapore. See also More Colony trade with Middle
East sought, The Straits Times, 2 November 1956, p.14.

30
between Singapore and Hadhramaut when, after years of bloodshed, the British pulled out of South

Yemen in 1967. A communist government in the newly formed Peoples Republic of South Yemen

put an end to the Singapore Hadhramis returning home. The Suez Canal was closed, depriving Aden

of economic resources. Under communist rule, the new Yemen government took control of a massive

public sector, nationalized private fixed property, and drove political rivals and entrepreneurs abroad.

All waqf properties were confiscated and their assets nationalized. Co-operatives were set up to

redistribute land and small boats. All schools were taken over and given a national curriculum.64

The result was that the Singapore Hadhrami community lost its connection with its homeland. The

Hadhramis no longer sent their sons back to Hadhramaut to be educated. The younger generations

living in Singapore now have no affiliation or contact with Hadhramaut and few of them speak any

Arabic at all, which some claim as major factors in the loss of Arab identity among Singapore

residents. The post-war rise of the independent nation state in both Singapore and Yemen transformed

the Hadhrami Arabs and their descendents relationship to the Indian Ocean world.

Conclusion

In Singapore, descent, property holding, and state control interacted in a particular way to weave extensive

family networks for Hadramis. The confusion created by multiple legal jurisdictions gave them room to

maneuver between different structures and discourses of law and property. Religious properties in the form of

awaqf are probably the glue that helped cement the diverse people of Hadhrami Arab descent into a family.

During their diasporic journey from the Middle East to the SS, the Hadhrami Arabs created and sustained

multi-stranded relations through marriage. As they traded and settled around the Indian Ocean, it was

64
Sheila Carapico, Civil Society in Yemen: The Political Economy of Activism in Modern Arabia
(London: Cambridge University Press, 1998), p.101.

31
common for Hadhrami men to marry local women, and for their children to grow up speaking their mothers

language and living in their mothers homeland. These individuals had diverse cultural outlooks, but waqf

membership/benefit defined them as a family based in Singapore, and maintained threads of descent that

linked them across space and time.

After WWII, with independence, Singapore emerged as a secular state (without a national religion) with an

expressed mission to use state land for all of its citizens. The Hadhramis who had created legal and

economic shelter in colonial Singapore with waqf, gradually lost them as the new government set up

institutions (such as the Housing and Development Board and MUIS) to manage their communities. As the

new state re-articulated control over its citizens, the boundaries of religious identity also had to be adjusted.

32
APPENDIX 1

Syed Mohamed B Ahmed Alsagoff (from Alsagoff, The Alsagoff Family in Malaysia, book cover)

33
 Madeleine Zelin 2/6/13 4:47 PM
SYED AHMED B. ABDULRAHMAN ALSAGOFF 1875 (d) + RAJA SITI*
Comment [1]: Very useful

AISHA* LULUK* SAFIAH* MAHANI* RUGAYAH* KHADIJAH*

MOHAMED B. AHMED (SMA) (1906)

AHMAD BAHIA* HASSAN ZAINASHAROFF* ALI ZAINAL ABIDIN AMINAH* FATHOUM*

MUHAMMAD MUHIDDIN

ALI ZAINALABIDIN ABDURRAHMAN

MOHAMED AHMED ALWEE ABDULRAHMAN ABUBAKAR ZAIN

MUHAMMAD ALI HASHIM OMAR MUHSEN

SAGAFF OMAR ALI

HASSAN HASSIEN ABDULLAH IBRAHIM AHMAD ZAINALABIDIN

MUHAMMAD

MUHAMMAD IBRAHIM AHMAD

ALI MUSTAFA

MOHSEN HASHIM

AHMAD ABDULLAH

SALIM

HAMID MUSTAFA ZAKARIAH

ALAWI AHMAD SHAIKH ABD KADIR TAHA AGIL HUSSIEN OMAR

* Female members

APPENDIX 2

Family Tree of the Alsagoffs in Singapore (from Alsagoff, The Alsagoff Family in
Malaysia)

34
35