Speech by 2M Desmond Lee at Ubin Day

Jun 24, 2018

Good morning and welcome to Pulau Ubin! First, it is a tradition, this is our seventh Ubin Day, the sixth that I’m host, and each year the Friends of Ubin Network makes it a point to invite a special guest to come and join us on the pinnacle day of Pesta Ubin known as Ubin Day. This morning please join me in warmly welcoming Minister Chan Chun Sing who is gracing the occasion today. 

It is good to be back here on Ubin and it has been a distinct pleasure seeing this celebration grow, the ground-up way, over the years. Ubin Day was first held in 2002, and the second was held in 2003. The third Ubin Day was not held until 2014, when the Friends of Ubin Network was formed and we decided, based on community feedback, to revive this annual tradition. Ubin Day has become so successful that in 2016, the celebration was extended – again by the community, to a five-week long celebration, and it became known as Pesta Ubin. This was entirely a ground-up effort by various members and community groups of the Friends of Ubin Network. In fact, more than a hundred groups have taken part, and the number has been growing year on year. So, if you are counting, this is our seventh Ubin Day, and our third Pesta Ubin. But whether it is your first or your seventh, the Friends of Ubin Network and this emerald island welcome all of you! 

The significance of the Ubin community

Let me begin first by thanking the Friends of Ubin Network, or FUN, members, our organising groups, our volunteers, NParks officers, and friends who have worked very hard over the last four weeks to make Pesta Ubin possible. It is an entirely ground-up community initiative and that is what makes it truly special. Some 500 volunteers and 40 organising groups have come together to showcase all that Ubin has to offer. In total, they conducted 50 activities for more than 3,500 people, running a broad range of interests. These include kayaking, nature walks, bird watching, film screenings, kampong games, and many more. 

Today on Ubin Day, we have nine new groups joining us, and a total of 17 booths at the Volunteer Hub. Later today, for the first time, we have Mr Lim Chen Sian from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies – Yusof Ishak Institute who will give a talk about the recent archeological dig conducted on Pulau Ubin. I joined them a couple of months ago, a very exciting exercise by many volunteers, passionate archeologists who wanted to participate in the work on Ubin. Also for the first time, the Photography Society of Singapore, PSS, will be presenting photographs taken of Ubin in an exhibition titled “The Island in Focus”. Please go take a look at their perspective of this beautiful island. 

But Ubin is special because the community is very diverse, very committed and active year-round. In fact, I look at your Facebook page, every other day and night you have activities going on, and the volunteers’ enthusiasm is just so encouraging. For example, during the Lunar New Year period, our community group known as Kawan Ubin and other FUN members organised our very first ever Balik Kampong reunion. This Balik Kampong reunion saw more than 150 past and present Ubin villagers returning to the island for an evening of games, fellowship and food. It was nice to see the villagers – both living on the island and those who used to live on the island, coming back in a night of nostalgia, looking at old photographers, meeting old friends and family, and getting reacquainted with this place they used to call home, or continue to call home.

Now to drive all of this, is the Friends of Ubin Network – which is a diverse group of stakeholders, supported by Government agencies but spanning environmental groups, heritage groups, educators, outdoor adventure groups, mountain bikers, artists, musicians, designers, architects, and many more. This community group meets every quarter, every three months they hold a meeting and everyone comes together to discuss as equal partners, as stakeholders who are committed to this island, to discuss ideas and proposals we have for this island. We come together knowing we have different passions and areas of expertise, but bound by a common mission to protect and enhance Ubin for future generations of Singaporeans to enjoy. 

At our last FUN meeting, we had the pleasure of having Mr Seow Soon Hee, who is a former Ubin villager, share about a book he had written together with other former residents to document the everyday life of the Chinese community on Ubin. The group spent two years on the manuscript, gathering artefacts and old photographs, and they lovingly compiled it into this book. Mr Seow will be at the Volunteer Hub Assembly Area later today to showcase the completed project. The book is titled <<情牵石岛，心系敏江>>, and 敏江 was the name of the school that used to be on the island in the village area. This book is translated as “Bin Kiang – Our Heart and Soul”. I am glad to know that there are plans to have this book translated into both English and Malay, so that more people can enjoy the heartfelt stories of Ubin’s heritage. If you look at the book later, you will see that they even have whole family trees there, they have traced generations of Ubin villagers, and tracked this very carefully.

Today, I want to share some new developments and updates with the community here. First, I will give you updates on the enhancements to Ubin’s infrastructure. Second, some updates on Ubin Living Lab. Third, some exciting new findings from our biodiversity conservation efforts. Our citizen scientists and our environmental groups have put in a lot of work into the biodiversity survey, and today we will announce some new findings.

Enhancements to Ubin Infrastructure

Let me start with enhancements to Ubin’s infrastructure. Two years ago in 2016, NParks officially took on the role as the central managing agency of Pulau Ubin. In the past, we had many agencies each looking at different things on the island, and in 2016 we announced that NParks will oversee the entire island, and be that single point responsible for all things on this emerald island. We did that to make planning and management of the island more holistic, and in line with the overall vision for the Ubin Project.  

One of NParks’ first priorities was to explore how best to enhance the facilities and services on the island for our residents – for our villagers still living on the island. I am happy to share some progress in this area.  We have improved the earth tracks and the drains throughout the island, for better walkability and accessibility. We have distributed fire extinguishers and litter bins to every household, so that all residents can enjoy a safer and cleaner environment. We are also in the process of setting up Compact Water Treatment Units to treat water from taps at all public toilets to ensure that clean water is more easily available to visitors on this island. 

We will keep this momentum going. It is not very big and exciting news but these small little enhancements mean a lot to the people living day-to-day on this island, and a lot to the people who work on all our projects on Ubin. Doing these little things, added together are important. We will continue to enhance Ubin in a way that respects the character and integrity of its built heritage while ensuring that our residents continue to enjoy and continue their way of life. Drains, roads, water – important things, but maintaining the rusticity of the island, not compromising on that. 

Updates on Ubin Living Lab

I move on to the second, which is the update on where we are here today – the Ubin Living Lab. This used to be an old resort, it was given up. Some educators came together a few years ago, did a presentation at the Friends of Ubin Network meeting. They suggested having an Ubin Living University, or ULU, so we decided to call it Ubin Living Lab instead, ULL. Their plans were translated from paper to reality that you see around you. This was in 2014. 

Two years ago, we launched this Ubin Living Lab to serve the very purpose that they came up with. ULL, or Ubin Living Lab, was to be a home base for field studies, environmental education and community outreach on the island, and also serves as an outdoor nature classroom. 

NParks has been working very closely with our educators to create a multi-disciplinary and experiential programme for students to learn about this island. This is the first time that such learning journeys will be conducted. Our FUN member and teacher, Ms Tan Beng Chiak – who first conceived the idea of ULL, has already started organizing these walks. Beng Chiak recently brought her students to visit Chek Jawa Wetlands, Pekan Quarry and the kampong houses, so that students could experience first-hand the different parts of the island’s history and heritage. New outreach activities will also be held at ULL. For example, the “Leave No Trace” workshop for youths by community group Trexx. The workshop aims to inspire people to protect and enjoy the great outdoors in a responsible way. These kinds of activities are taking place using the ULL as a base. In fact, the first session of the “Leave No Trace” workshop is taking place today. 

NParks has also added a carpentry working space to ULL, this comes complete with work benches and wood-working equipment. This is intended to support our various community groups who are doing various restoration projects on Ubin. A workshop on ULL allows groups to do preparation work on Ubin itself, rather than constructing various pieces on the mainland and then having difficulty trying to ship them over to this island. Among the first to use these new facilities is a group of NUS architecture students who are helping with the reconstruction of Ah Ma Drink Stall. Many of you would know Ah Ma Drink Stall, even if you do not know it by name because when you cycle around the island you can’t help but stop by her stall to have a drink and to chat with her. Ah Ma Drink Stall has been very run down and in need of repair, and our architecture students have worked very hard with our community groups, worked with NParks, and you will see the completion of Ah Ma Drink Stall very soon.    

I am also happy to announce that a water treatment system has also been installed. The system ensures that potable water can be supplied to ULL, so that toilet and shower facilities can be used. This opens up more opportunities for groups to stay overnight for research and educational activities. 

Finally, let me to direct your attention to the area behind me, which is the mangrove arboretum. Back in 2016, when it was a fledgling nursery, I helped to plant a sapling known as a Dungun, its scientific name is Heritiera littoralis. Today, the arboretum has finally been completed. All 34 true mangrove species in existence in Singapore can be found right here in our arboretum. I want to thank the students from Singapore Chinese Girls School, also led by Beng Chiak, who designed and made the interpretive signs that you will see at the arboretum. 

Five new species recorded for Singapore on Ubin 

Now I will move on to the last part of my announcement which is some exciting new updates arising from our ongoing biodiversity conservation and research efforts on Pulau Ubin. Ubin is treasured because it is home to unique and diverse flora and fauna. If you take off from Changi in the daytime and you fly over Pulau Ubin, take a photo of Ubin, you will see it is entirely green from the top. We already knew Ubin was home to 730 native plant species, more than 300 species of mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, and 240 species of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. 

Today, I am happy to announce that we have recorded five new species for Singapore on this island. First is the Little Stint, which is a migratory shorebird. Last year, two Little Stints were spotted by NParks staff during a survey at Chek Jawa. In fact, a number of migratory birds are regularly found at Chek Jawa, that are uncommon in other parts of Singapore, including at Sungei Buloh – the birds that you find at Sungei Buloh and Chek Jawa some of them are the same, and some of them are different. The Little Stint is one that is found at Chek Jawa. Some of the waders include the Grey Plover, Red-necked Stint and Bar-tailed Godwit. The spotting of the Little Stint and these other birds are very significant observations. They tell us that Pulau Ubin is a possible stopover for migratory birds which travel north to south, and back north again, along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. It is a very important migratory pathway, and Singapore, small though we may be, plays a very important part in that pathway, complementing the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, which is one of the major stops on the Flyway. 

Aside from the Little Stint, we have also recorded on Pulau Ubin two new species of insectivorous bats – the Long-winged Tomb bat and Big-eared Pipistrelle, the Arrow Emperor dragonfly, and the Raccoon Pseudo-orb Weaver spider. All of these new records were uncovered during various surveys conducted by NParks and the research community.  

We are excited about these new records. They are testament to the biodiversity that Ubin contributes to Singapore, and remind us – young and old, of our role as stewards, custodians and guardians of our natural heritage. We may be a city, but we are a City in a Garden, and we have a lot of biodiversity, a lot of wildlife, and unlike in bigger countries, our conservation approach must involve the whole community as people who appreciate, treasure, and are good stewards and custodians of all the life there is on this island. In fact, the Comprehensive Ubin Biodiversity Survey launched last year at Ubin Day is still in full swing. So I look forward to seeing if there is more that this little island has yet to uncover! 

Every Ubin Day is an opportunity for us to look back on what we have achieved as a community – our interest groups, volunteers, Ubin lovers and government agencies – and look forward to what more we can do together. I look forward to more laughter, camaraderie and fruitful partnerships in the years ahead, as we work hand-in-hand to protect and enhance this little island for future generations of Singaporeans. 

On that count, in the presence of our Guest-of-Honour Minister Chan, I would like to declare Ubin Day now open. 

Have a wonderful day!