SINGAPORE – Self-taught garland maker R. Jayaselvam knows a thing or two about impermanence, having run Anushia Flower Shop in Little India since he opened it in 1994.
The 61-year-old Singaporean works with fresh jasmine buds. Once they bloom by nightfall, they lose their appeal to customers and must be discarded.
Mr Jayaselvam, who primarily caters to Indian weddings, has also taught community classes in a bid to keep his trade alive. But that seems likely to remain a pipe dream; his students are usually casual hobbyists, not keen to follow in his footsteps professionally.
That tension between admiration and actual durability now sits at the heart of Singapore’s debate over heritage businesses. While these have gained more formal recognition than before, the real struggle is over who gets to decide what counts, who gets support, and whether recognition without structural help can save anything.
The past couple of years have not been kind to heritage institutions.
Mr Jayaselvam, who primarily caters to Indian weddings, has also taught community classes in a bid to keep his trade alive.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Recall the successive closures in Holland Village in 2024, from Thambi Magazine Store to party paraphernalia shop Khiam Teck, which remade the expatriate enclave almost beyond recognition. More recently, nasi padang stalwart Warong Nasi Pariaman shuttered permanently at the end of January after a 78-year run – a seeming casualty in the fight to retain Kampong Gelam’s identity.
Even Komala Vilas, one of Little India’s best-known vegetarian restaurants and now a designated heritage business, has been closed for renovations since January, with no clear word on when or whether it will reopen.
The Government has taken notice, forming an inter-agency task force in February 2025 to support heritage businesses, traditional activities and cultural life. The National Heritage Board’s (NHB) inaugural SG Heritage Business Scheme followed, with 42 recipients including Anushia Flower Shop announced in October after a search that began in March.
But while state recognition is validating, according to the 13 businesses ST spoke with, it offers cold comfort when market forces may still have the final say.
To start, a shared definition of “heritage” is central to deciding which heritage businesses to support. But this can be complicated when heritage reflects a society’s collective values and identity, which are fluid and can change as communities evolve.
For instance, the Singapore Heritage Society, a non-profit dedicated to heritage conservation, understands heritage to be “living”.
Honorary secretary Han Ming Guang says: “Our society was built on immigrants, and for the next (few decades), it’ll continue to be built on new people and cultures coming in.”
This, in turn, influences Singaporeans’ everyday interests and habits.
Chinese bookstore Maha Yu Yi, a designated heritage business, has seen the impact of an increasing awareness of China’s significance.
Its manager, Ms Sung Yuen Ling, says its customers include Chinese Singaporean workers looking to brush up on their Mandarin to interact with counterparts from China, English-speaking parents hoping their children can be bilingual, and university students seeking to connect with classmates from China on the social media app Xiaohongshu.
Ms Sung Yuen Ling (left) at her family’s business, the Chinese bookstore Maha Yu Yi, in Bras Basah Complex.
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
The issue is not simply whether heritage changes. It is also who gets to interpret that change and whose version of heritage becomes official.
As each generation develops its own identity, it also defines what is worth protecting, adds Dr Yeo Kang Shua, an architectural historian and associate professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
He believes academics and the Government are responsible for building a shared identity and heritage across generations, and that there should be more transparency in how the state decides which businesses to support and whether those decision-makers represent the public.
Cultural economist Swati Sharma makes a similar point. Deciding what to preserve, she says, is not an “organic” process, but an “ongoing negotiation” between states, communities and individuals, so there will be groups that are “overlooked”.
“We make a conscious decision about what we want to carry forward from the past generation to the next generation. We’re deciding what’s worth remembering and what we want to forget,” adds Dr Sharma, who lectures at Nanyang Technological University’s School of Social Sciences.
Each generation defines what is worth protecting based on their own identity.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
NHB’s scheme looks for heritage businesses that have been operating for at least 30 years, offer traditional trades, goods or services, demonstrate strong community impact and are committed to maintaining their heritage.
Its purpose is “not to regulate or define who or what can be considered a heritage business”, says Ms Melissa Tan, director of heritage policy and research.
It was designed to be relevant to the communities and businesses themselves. It hopes to represent not just diverse trades but the varying life stages of a business: Some remain single-family owned, while others have become international chains.
