The Intan - Singapore's Peranakan Culture. Simply fascinating.

One of Singapore’s hidden gems is this small house museum located in the back alleys of one of the suburbs. After exiting the nearest metro station, you have to walk about 1.50 kms to reach the museum. You pass through small houses neatly laid out, past a large police station and in the afternoon heat, there is hardly anybody around to ask if you are on the right road!! 

The owner Alvin Mark Yapp had told me that he took visitors by appointment only so eventually at 1.00pm, he called me into his house. He lives here and also nearby – this house is functional as a living accommodation but frankly, there are so many exhibits, one feels scared of breaking something.

This museum is a loving tribute to his Peranakan people. About 200 years ago, Hokkien Haka tribes people came over and married Malay women. Their children adopted the local habits and were called Peranakan. There are other tribals too – the Chitty Malacca were South Indian men marrying local women. The Jawi Peranakan who were Muslim Indians. These were potato eaters , ie western culture, and not rice eaters !

Alvin began the museum in 2010. Smallest private house museum in Singapore. He was awarded the Best Museum Expereince Award in 2011. Timings are limited – Fri – Sun 4.00pm onwards, Saturday at 10.00 am. But I visited him in January 2023, so please check latest timings. Call him on +65 93382234 or write to him at alvin@the-intan.com.

Alvin’s family business is large format painting of advertising on buses and aircraft stickers. It  is a high quality demanding business with precision involved. Hence very few approved parties.

He began with limited resources: collecting porcelain, embroidery, wood work, furniture etc. He has exhibited in Paris, Moscow, Barcelona,  and Chengdu in China.

The whole purpose is to showcase the Malay culture of the Peranakan people. – sound, taste, etc. in the old days, as the Dutch taxed houses based on window size, these houses had long and narrow windows. Alvin says that no other culture reflects as much as the Peranakan. Singapore Airlines safety video features the Intan house. 

Only Peranakan women used the spittoons. From Poland and Czechoslovakia. They ate pan and betel nuts. Enamelware was sourced from India as marriage dowry.

Some items:

·       Shoes – beads from France and in western designs

·       Peranakan women were judged by their embroidery and cooking skills.

·       Kabaya – Chinese silk threads but European design. Women wore a camisole underneath. Kabaya had no buttons. – they had three brooches as pins.

·       Batik sarongs – colour dye. Signed by the artists. These were heirlooms using Dutch floral designs.

·       The women always showed a diamond belt beneath the blouse : never above.

·       Spectacles and cigarette cases were of embroidered velvet.

·       Pillow ends – Malay silver work with Chinese motifs.

·       He has an unbelievable selection of beautiful figures in papier mache

·       There are Chanabs or prayer objects on the mezzanine floor. No photos allowed upstairs.

It was a fascinating one hour plus that I spent with Alvin. He is a man full of energy and enthusiasm for his culture. I wish his museum all the best. It was well worth the long journey back to the metro area where I then had a traditional Malay lunch.

 

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