Bugis Street: transgender aspects

Bugis Street is a well known shopping thoroughfare in modern-day Singapore. From the 1950s to the mid-1980s, it was a gathering place for members of the male-to-female transgender community. Their presence attracted locals and tourists alike, making it one of Singapore's most well known and lucrative tourist attractions of that era.

=Historical=

Location


Bugis Street lies in an extensive area which was commonly referred to in the past, by the Chinese-educated community, as Xiao Po (小坡; little slope). The latter stretched all the way from Tanjong Pagar, through Singapore's Chinatown, to Jalan Sultan. The whole vicinity was thriving and crammed with merchants and traders, making it one of the most vibrant economic zones of old Singapore.

The original Bugis Street, before it was redeveloped in the mid-1980s into the 2 sections of New Bugis Street and the current Bugis Street (completely enclosed in Bugis Junction), was much longer and incorporated both the contemporary portions. It stretched all the way from Queen Street, through Victoria Street to North Bridge Road.

Origin of name
According to elderly, knowledgeable, long-term residents of the area, before the arrival of the British, there used to be a large canal which ran through the area where the Bugis, a people from Indonesia's South Sulawesi province renowned for their seafaring skills, could sail up, moor their boats and trade with Singaporean merchants.



It was these people after whom the thoroughfare was named. The Bugis, or Buginese, also put their sailing prowess to less benign uses and gained a reputation in the region as being a race of bloodthirsty pirates. Despite the recognition of 5 distinct genders within Bugis culture, including the non-heteronormative Bissu, Calabai and Calalai, the street was not named after the Buginese for this reason. However, it is possible that transgender Singaporeans with a knowledge of this aspect of Bugis society first decided to congregate there in the 1950s because of this association.


 * Watch a documentary on the history of Bugis Street::

Alternative names
During the early colonial era, there also used to be low mounds of whitish sand in the area, earning the street the familiar Hokkien moniker of Peh Soa Pu or Bai Sha Fu in Mandarin (白沙浮; white sand mounds). The Cantonese, however, referred to the street as Hak Gaai or Hei Jie in Mandarin (黑街; black street) as there were many clubs catering to the Japanese invaders in the 1940s. During the first half of the 20th century, commuters could conveniently travel from Bugis Street to anywhere else in Xiao Po via a tram service which ran along North Bridge Road, which was referred to by the Chinese-educated as Xiao Po Da Ma Lu (小坡大马路; little slope main road).

Activities
The earliest published description of Bugis Street found by Yawning Bread as a place of great gender diversity was in the book "Eastern Windows" by Ommaney, F.D. (1960. London:Longmans. pp. 39-45). Ommaney did not date specifically his description of the street but his book made clear that he was in Singapore from 1955 to 1960. Read a first-person account of Bugis Street in the 1950s by Bob, a visiting Australian sailor:

After World War II, hawkers gathered there to sell food and goods. There was initially also a small number of outdoor bars set up beside rat-infested drains.



When transvestites began to rendezvous in the area in the 1950s, they attracted increasing numbers of Western tourists who came for the booze, the food, the pasar malam shopping and the "girls". Business boomed and Bugis Street became an extremely lively and bustling area, forming the heart of Xiao Po. It was one of Singapore's most famous tourist meccas from the 1950s to the 1980s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly-dressed transwomen and attracted hordes of Caucasian gawkers who had never before witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.

However, this glittering activity only took place in the section of Bugis Street from Queen Street to North Bridge Road which today is completely engulfed by the Bugis Junction complex. The other half of Bugis Street (today officially named New Bugis Street despite the shimmering, touristy sign at both entrances reading only "Bugis Street") did not have as much commercial activity such as food vendors and roadside stalls, although transwomen could be found there, mainly indulging in prostitution.

Sexual soliciting also spilled out onto the adjoining Hylam Streeet, Malay Street and Malabar Street. Less glamorous prostitution by older transwomen past their prime took place in the much seedier Johore Road and was sporadically found all the way to Sungei Road. There were brothels interspersed throughout this entire area and gangsters ran protection rackets here as well as protected the "girls" from harassment. They would stab anyone who disturbed the transwomen excessively.

Drinking section
Veterans recall that the notorious drinking section began from North Bridge Road west to Victoria Street. Almost halfway between Victoria Street and North Bridge Road, there was an intersecting lane called Malabar Street which ran parallel to the main roads, also lined with al fresco bars.



In this well lit and bustling section of Bugis Street, cross-dressers would tease, cajole and sit on visitors' laps or pose for photographs for a fee.



Others would sashay up and down the street looking to hook half-drunk sailors, American GIs and other foreigners on R&R, for an hour of profitable intimacy. Not only would these clients get the thrill of sex with an exotic oriental, there would be the added spice of transgressing gender boundaries in a seamy hovel.

Foreign photographers would sometimes pay the transwomen to take topless or nude photos of them. Some local photographers like See Mun Wah, who is in his eighties in the 2010s, also have an extensive collection of photos of the transwomen of that era, as well as of the sailors who were preparing for the "Dance of the Flaming Arseholes" (see below).

Public toilet
There was a well patronised public toilet with a flat roof located at the intersection of a T-junction. A member of the Intelligence Corps in Singapore described the condition of the loo in the 1960s and early 1970s:

"The place stank to high heaven. When you urinated it went onto the floor. You had no choice but to walk in the urine. The stench of ammonia was unbelievable. If you wanted a crap, well that was even worse. You would have to put up one hand against the door to stop any Kai Tai's fom coming in while the other hand was over your nose to stop the smell of the crap already filling the bowl. If you were smart you had your own paper, if not, well . . . !"

There exist archival photos, complete with jubilant rooftop transwomen who were wont to give impromptu theatrical performances in drag on the flat toilet roof to the delight of the crowds and the occasional fury of the police. This toilet was immortalised in the movie, 'Bugis Street', which contained a scene in which visiting sailors stood in a row and mooned the passers-by below.

Cruising by non-cross-dressing gay men also took place in the male half of the loo. From the mid-20th century onwards, homosexual men who were ignorant of cruising areas patronised solely by men-who-have-sex-with-men would venture into Bugis Street in an attempt to look for other MSMs because of the confusion in that era between transwomen and gay men. This mistake was even made by Singapore's first newspaper articles on the LGBT community in 1972 which lumped transgender women and gay men in the same category.

Location
The location of the infamous public toilet has been speculated on and comprehensively researched by Icemoon in the blog "Second Shot" on Blogspot.

He concludes that it lay at the junction of Bugis Street and Malabar Street (the portion leading towards Rochor Road).

Today the site of the toilet is occupied by the open space in front of the ticketing counter at Bugis Junction.

Dance of the Flaming Arseholes
One of the "hallowed traditions" bestowed upon the area by sojourning sailors, eg. from Australia and New Zealand, was the ritualistic "Dance Of The Flamers" or "Dance Of The Flaming Arseholes" on the roof of the infamous toilet. Compatriots on the ground would chant the signature "Haul 'em down you Zulu Warrior" song whilst the matelots performed their act. The latter consisted of stuffing one end of a length of toilet or any rolled up piece of paper into the dancer's anus while the other end was set aflame (see videos of modern iterations:,,,,). 

Over the years this became almost a mandatory excercise and although it may seem to many to be a gross act of indecency, it was generally well received by the sometimes up to 100s of tourists and locals. The Kai Tais or Beanie Boys, as the transwomen were referred to by Anglophone white visitors, certainly did not mind either. By the mid-70s Singapore started a crackdown on this type of lewd behaviour and sailors were arrested at gunpoint by the local authorities for upholding the tradition. By this time those sailors brave enough to try it were dealt with severely and even shipped home in disgrace. 



UK naval documents
In November 2002, newly declassified UK naval documents revealed that possibly 50% of its servicemen had indulged in homosexual sex at some time in their naval service life and many had visited brothels in Singapore's then legendary Bugis Street in the 1960s as soon as their ship docked. A document written by the navy's medical director general in 1969, described Singapore's transwoman prostitutes as "very beautiful" and who "dress well and smell delicious" He added, "They perfect the female walk, stance and mannerisms and some even undergo surgery to complete the illusion".



There was an adage amongst Westerners that one could easily tell who was a real female and who was not - the transvestites were drop-dead gorgeous, while the rest were real women. The amount of revenue that the transwomen of Bugis Street raked in was considerable, providing a booster shot in the arm for the tourism industry. Some Americans referred to it as "Boogie Street" in the wake of the 1970s disco craze.



Urban redevelopment
From October 1985 onwards, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors. Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history.



Attempts at transgender revival
Tourist and local lamentation of the loss sparked attempts by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) to attempt to recreate some of the old sleazy splendour by staging contrived "Ah Kua shows" on wooden platforms, but these artificial performances fell flat on their faces and failed to pull in the crowds. They were abandoned after a short time.

The Movie
Main article: Bugis Street (the movie)

 The transwomen of Bugis Street were immortalised in an English-language film made, ironically, by a Hong Kong and not a Singaporean film company. However, it did employ some local talent in the production.


 * Watch the entire movie on YouTube:

=Contemporary=

The fame of the original Bugis Street has spawned a slew of namesakes eager to capitalise on the brand, even though many tourists, including some young Singaporeans, have no inkling as to the reasons for its erstwhile 'glamour'.

Amongst the new places, buildings and companies which carry the name of 'Bugis' are New Bugis Street, Bugis Square, Bugis Village, Bugis Junction, Parco Bugis Junction, Bugis Junction Towers, Bugis Cineplex, Bugis MRT station, Bugis Pasar Malam, New Bugis Food Village, Bugis Music World, Bugis Money Changer, Bugis City Holdings, Bugis Health Centre, Bugis Store Trading, Bugis Backpackers, and Bugis Street Development.

This cacophony of 'Bugis'es clamouring for a spot in the limelight, reminiscent of the transwomen who gave the original its glory, leads to great confusion when trying to locate Bugis Street itself.

The current Bugis Street
The section of the original, longer Bugis Street presently named simply "Bugis Street" is a cobblestoned, relatively wide avenue sandwiched between the buildings of Bugis Junction. Midway through its length is the new entity of Bugis Square, a granite-tiled plaza containing a dancing fountain and surrounded by the food, shopping and entertainment outlets of the Bugis Junction complex on all sides.

This was where the touristy portion of Bugis Street with all the glamorous transgender activity and food vending took place.



New Bugis Street
The lane presently touted as 'Bugis Street' by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board and advertised from August 2005 onwards with an enormous light bulb-studded sign at night, actually developed from New Bugis Street, which is a truncated version of the section of the original, longer Bugis Street from Queen Street to Victoria Street. New Bugis Street, which has the sign saying so only at the Victoria Street end, was created after the whole area was redeveloped in the mid-1980s. New Bugis Street is a maze of lanes lined with stalls selling pasar malam goods. It stretches from its entrance along Victoria Street facing the new Bugis Street and Bugis Junction to its other entrance along Queen Street facing the entrance to Albert Street.



Bugis Junction
Bugis Junction encloses the portion of the old Bugis Street where the flamboyant transwomen enthralled tourists, as well as the seedier Malabar Street, Hylam Street and Malay Street.



Bugis MRT station


=See also=


 * Transgender people in Singapore
 * Bugis Street (the movie)

=External links and References=


 * Roy Tan, "Photo Essay: A Brief History of Early Gay Venues in Singapore" in the book "Queer Singapore - Illiberal Citizenship and Mediated Cultures" edited by Audrey Yue and Jun Zubillaga-Pow, Hong Kong University Press, 2012. ISBN 978-988-8139-34-7,,,,,,.


 * Icemoon's article in his blog "Second Shot", "Where exactly was the infamous toilet in Bugis Street", 3 July 2010.

Dr. Heng also gave a talk based on his article during the inaugural IndigNation in 2005. View a video of the event recorded by Roy Tan: 
 * Dr. Russell Heng's article on Yawning Bread, "Where queens ruled! - a history of gay venues in Singapore", August 2005.
 * Dr. Russell Heng's article archived on Yawning Bread, "Tiptoe out of the closet: the before and after of the increasingly visible gay community in Singapore", June 2001.. This paper was originally published in the Journal of Homosexuality Vol 40 Numbers 3/4 2001 Special Issue - Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity and Community, edited by Gerard Sullivan and Peter Jackson, pp 81 – 97.


 * Yawning Bread's account of Singapore's transgender and sex-change history:


 * Tourist guide to the Bugis area on Wikitravel:.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan based on his personal experiences, verbal accounts by friends and information on Yawning Bread, Fridae, SiGNeL and other Internet sources.