Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Blks 45; 48; 49 Stirling Road/ Masjid Mujahidin

10) Blks 45; 48; 49 Stirling Road/ Masjid Mujahidin

We were almost reaching the end of the day when we headed to our next stop, blocks 45, 48, 49 along Stirling road. We stopped at a seven-eleven store, for some drinks before moving on. Looking at its condition now, it’s quite impossible for us to believe that these blocks played an important role in the transition from the SIT to the HDB era. It didn’t look too shabby, however it looked distinctively old. But we agreed that it must have been considered a luxury for those living here back then, to have running water, electricity, a stable roof over their heads, as opposed to the kampong areas they must have been living in. As we climbed up the stairs for our photo opp, we were able to look into some of the houses. They appeared to be comfortably furnished 3-room flats. I suppose they were just smaller than we were used to, but comfortable nonetheless.

Significance of the flats

Now currently located near Queenstown swimming complex, many terrace units can be found clustered around the area as well. These surrounding terrace houses along Stirling road were built by the SIT in the late 1950s. These blocks, 45, 48 and 49, were then the very first blocks built by the HDB in the year 1960.

The British planners had built these terrace units with the intention of keeping the population density low. Also as building higher blocks would require lifts, they decided it was unfeasible to build them because it did not fit into their budget. However the HDB, decided to go ahead with it, as building high-rise blocks served a practical and more pertinent use of maximising land space. They installed slower, but cheaper lifts, which stopped at every fourth floor to fit into their budget.

About Lim Kan San

Mr. Lim Kim San who was handpicked by then PM Lee Kuan Yew and Dr. Goh Keng Swee was the driving force behind Singapore’s public housing programme. In his course of years as the Chairman of HDB, he rooted out corruption and slashed building costs by breaking contractors’ cartels which inflated construction costs. He was awarded the Order of Temasek in 1962 and the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1965.He was also served as Minister for National Development, Finance, Interior and Defence, Education, Environment, and Communications, before retiring from politics in 1980.

Masjid Mujahidin

We continued down the road to the Masjid Mujahidin mosque, which was opposite MDIS at the end of the road. In the past, the Mosque stood opposite the Baharuddin Vocational Institute, where the current MDIS stands.

Significance of the mosque

It was the first mosque that was built by the HDB. With 11 years of planning and hard work the Muslim community in Queenstown, together with the MUIS and the HDB. It was completed at a cost of $800,000 with some funds raised by the community; and was officially opened by Dr. Ahmad Mattar, then Acting Minister for Social Affairs, on 9 October 1977.

A unique feature of this mosque that the rectangular prayer hall, which has to align itself towards the direction of Mecca, is housed in a circular building in line with Islamic principles. It was difficult to achieve this, since it was a corner site, and it was not able to achieve the alignment of the building and the adjoining roads at the same time. However they were able to overcome this architectural constraint eventually.

After the mosque we then trekked down to the Church of The Blessed Sacrament.

2:59 AM By PUNITHA