Ubin

To start project on community asset mapping with Ubin residents?

The challenge in ensuring its survival as a living kampung/ ways to sustain its tittle as a living kampung?

Challenges in Ubin:

To get anything on the island is difficult.

1) Transportation for example is one of the main challenges.

People and goods get to the island by boat. Boatmen have to run these services from as early as 5.30 a.m. to 7p.m. daily.

They have to wait for the boat to be full (12 people) before making the trip

Booking a boat at night is double the price and is extremely hard to get.

Bringing over supplies and provisions are also challenging.

Most residents have died or moved back to main island and only a handful remain.

Many families with roots in Ubin feel a strong relationship with the island and the younger generation wants to see a future in it.

Structural challenges:

Many of the houses and buildings are in a poor condition

The land was acquired by the state in 1993 and does not belong to the people in Ubin.

Exisiting resources/ Policy gaps:

The governmnt has been helping to restore some amenities and kampung houses, but those embarked for restoration are empty and belong to the state.

To remain on Ubin, households and businesses have to obtain temporary occuptation license from Nparks

They have to pay a license fee based on what the site is used for, its location away from the main land and its size

It is also difficult to transfer the temporary occupation license

There are many government regulations and licenses to apply for

Individual challenges influenced by gaps in policies:

If residents have no security about the length of their tenure, they woud be hesistant to put in the resources to repair their houses

The facilitation of a smooth handover to the next generation

There is very little people left on the island even for a common communication

Some useful resources: