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To ensure that I could recover information more easily I drew approximate plans of each temple with the major deities on the altars listed and located. This in itself revealed fascinating aspects of Chinese ethnic groups, with certain deities or altar layouts identifying the ethnicity of the founders of the temple though not necessarily the current ethnicity.
Later, in the early 1970s, I returned to Singapore for another comparatively long stay and during the many revisits to temples to note change and development I found that a great number had already disappeared or were about to disappear as the national programme of suburban redevelopment raced ahead. For example, a fascinating Cantonese temple in the middle of a large cemetery had disappeared, as had the cemetery itself, the whole area now being one of the many new large housing estates. Another temple had been surrounded by high-rise blocks and was hidden from sight in a "hole" as the surrounding area had been covered with in-fill to level the area for housing construction.
By this time a few of the popular religion temples were beginning to clean up their act. Presumably temple committees had more funds at their disposal now that the Republic of Singapore was well on its way to prosperity. New temples replaced old ones, usually a major overhaul of both the structure and the content, often with modern colourful, perhaps to some gaudy, roof tiles. The deities remained the same, apart from many being repainted, though there was a spate of thefts from altars during the late sixties and early seventies which led to new images having to be carved. There were also a number of temples relocated, some like the Temple of the Nine Carp were moved from their former and long-standing site in Muar Road, approximately where the Rochore Centre is today, to the outer suburbs of the Upper Thomson Road. The temple today gives the appearance of having been there for many decades, and the not so old residents, both permanent and transitory, who visit temples may be tempted to interpret the age of an establishment from its condition. Some, a few, still are old temples on their original sites. These are mainly out in the country areas of the north-west of the island.
Each time I return to Singapore I am fascinated to find yet another temple or two, some I must have missed years ago but most are new