When I saw this report in The Straits Times on Saturday 8/10/2005. I was so happy as this is something that will take Peranakan culture out of the museum if the initial plans are follow through.
$5.5 million (Singapore Dollars) was given to NUS(National University of Singapore) but with an unusual request that the money is use to acquire Peranakan homes in Singapore and Malacca.
This request came from the last surviving daughter of the late Tun Tan Cheng Lock founder of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA). Miss Agnes Tan who is 85 years old asked that NUS acquire a Peranakan house at Neil Road and two more houses at Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock in Malacca.
The house in Singapore will be used to teach young Singaporean about Peranakan history, culture and tradition and will be named the Tan Cheng Lock Baba House while the other two houses in Malacca costing S$1.5 million will be restored and use for to study subjects such as the conservation techniques of historical bulidings.
The house acquired at Neil Road belongs is one of the last remaining authentic homes which belong to a Peranakan Wee Lin an engineer whose ancestor is Wee Bin who was a shipping tycoon. Plans include having a Bibik impersonator as a live-in housekeeper and also into making the house a centre for exhibitions, talks and performances and to include the Wee family history.
Monday, October 10, 2005
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