10 million anyone? At 5.4m, we are already facing the crunch of a different kind. The would be residents going to move into Sengkang West’s BTO flats are getting nervous and furious. They are not going to live side by side to a resting place for the dead, though someone proudly proclaimed a state of the art columbarium. It must be an offshoot of our smart cities. You would not need high tech computers with pre programmed timer for the lights to come on and off. The lights would be on and off anytime the residents in the columbarium desired.
Bukit Brown is going in a matter of time. Bidadari is history. How long would Chua Chu Kang remain in service? We are eating up the space used by the wild, the flora and the fauna, and the dead. And you know what, when we invade and take over their place, they are left with no choice but to live among us. And Sengkang is only the beginning. More columbaria would be built in housing estates, more hospices and nursing homes too. They need space just like the living.
Can you imagine what would it be like with 10m living people and the unceasing process of people needing places to RIP? Having columbaria at the edge of housing estate or inside housing estate is anything but peace. They would not find peace like in Bukit Brown or Chua Chu Kang. The living will be creating too much din to make it unbearable to them to rest in peace.
When planning for 10m living, think of the more than 10m gonna to be dead, the dying and the undead. Going home late at night may not be so lonely after all. Does anyone understand why they are protesting and demanding money back?
Chua Chin Leng AKA RedBean
*The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.sg/