More visitors expected during Kusu Island’s annual pilgrimage season as temple marks centenary
The yearly pilgrimage to Kusu Island which falls on the ninth lunar month attracts thousands of devotees
Visitors making the annual pilgrimage to Kusu Island in 2023 can likely expect larger crowds heading to the Da Bo Gong (Tua Pek Kong) Temple, which marks its centenary this year.
The yearly pilgrimage – which will take place from Oct 15 to Nov 12 – attracts thousands of devotees who visit the Chinese temple, which was constructed in 1923. The island is also home to three Malay shrines. The Singapore Land Authority (SLA) said on Wednesday that visitors who wish to visit the island during the annual Kusu pilgrimage season can purchase ferry tickets via the Singapore Island Cruise & Ferry Services (SIC) website, or by scanning a QR code on the SLA website.
Tickets for adults cost $16 from Monday to Friday, and $20 on weekends and public holidays, while tickets for children aged one to 12 years cost $12.
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Pilgrimage to Kusu Island
Kusu Island is the site of an annual pilgrimage drawing both Chinese and Malay devotees. Meaning “Turtle Island” (龟屿岛) in Chinese and “Peak Island” (Pulau Tembakul) in Malay, Kusu Island has a Chinese temple and three Malay keramat (shrine) for the worship of local deities. Devotees make their pilgrimage primarily during the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, which is considered sacred, as well as being the birthday month of Tua Pek Kong (大伯公, “Grand Uncle” in Hokkien). Tua Pek Kong is also seen as the God of Prosperity, the Merchant God, and the protector of seafarers. It is a prominent deity in the region, although its exact origins cannot be confirmed.
Kusu Island is located in the south west of Singapore, and is one of the 60 over offshore islands of Singapore. Originally, Kusu Island was made up of two separate islands linked by a strip of sand at low tide before land reclamation works. The Tua Pek Kong Temple is located on what used to be the smaller island (head of the turtle), while the Malay shrines are located at the peak of what used to be the bigger island (back of the turtle).
The annual pilgrimage to Kusu Island attracts tourists and devotees from Singapore and overseas, including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. There are also caretakers who look after the Tua Pek Kong temple and Malay shrines in Kusu Island, a role that have been passed down through generations within the families. As the temple and keramat do not keep records, knowledge of past worship practices and the origin of the pilgrimage have been passed down orally.
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A YEARLY PILGRIMAGE
The caretaker of Da Bo Gong (Tua Pek Kong) Temple on Kusu Island – just a 20-minute boat ride from Singapore – stands astride the short flight of stairs leading to the temple’s inner prayer sanctum, his eyes fixed on the jetty in the near distance.
It is the start of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, and thousands of devotees will travel to the island temple seeking blessings from Tua Pek Kong (God of Prosperity) and Guan Yin (Goddess of Mercy).
At the temple, caretaker Seet Seng Huat pauses and nods his head in the direction of a small group of men huddled at the furnace in the temple courtyard. The trio, in long sleeves and biker masks – with only their eyes visible – to protect themselves from the heat and smoke, offer to burn joss paper for devotees in return for a small donation.
Keeping traditions alive on Kusu Island
Also known as Turtle Island, Kusu Island is open all year. But the otherwise sleepy place comes alive during the pilgrimage season, which falls on the ninth lunar month between September and October.
There have been no permanent inhabitants on the island since the late 1970s, when the island was reclaimed by the Government. Most of the residents, the Orang Laut, moved to the mainland and became boatmen who ferry devotees to the three Malay shrines and one Chinese temple.
At the crack of dawn, the first boat arrives at Kusu Island's jetty with supplies for the hawker stalls that cater food for the devotees. A food centre operates there only during the annual pilgrimage season.
Mr Hoo Tiang Lai, 61, hails from a family that runs canteens. He is the sole proprietor of the stalls this year.
Kusu Island
Kusu Island is located 5.6 km south-west of Singapore. A Chinese temple and three Malay keramat (shrine) on the island attract thousands of pilgrims annually, especially in the 9th lunar month that falls between September and October. Kusu means “tortoise” or “turtle” in the Hokkien dialect. The island is also known as Pulau Tambakul (or Tembakul), Goa Island or Peak Island.
According to some historical accounts, the earliest mention of Kusu reef was during the 17th century when Dom Jose de Silva, Spanish Governor of the Philippines, was believed to have run aground at Kusu reef in March 1616. The island then became known as “Governor's Island”. In 1806, the island was renamed "Goa Island" by James Horsburgh, a hydrographer at the British East India Company. Soon after Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore in 1819, his hydrographer Daniel Ross selected the island as a reference point for ships entering the new port. In 1822, a signal station with a signal mast manned by the Harbour Master's Department was built on the island. Kusu Island was originally 1.2 ha, but landfill and reclamation in 1975 joined it with another coral outcrop, making it a 8.5 ha island resort. During the colonial era, the island served as the burial site for newly arrived immigrants who had died while in quarantine on St John's and Lazarus islands.
Every year, on the 9th day of the 9th moon in the lunar calendar, a month-long festival stretching between September and November see more than 100,000 Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian pilgrims visit Kusu Island. The island houses a Chinese temple and three Malay keramat. According to the signboard located at the entrance of the Chinese temple, the temple was built in 1923 with donations from a wealthy businessman Chia Cheng Ho in honour of the Chinese deity Tua Pek Kong (or Da Bo Gong, which literally means “Grand Uncle”), the Merchant God or God of Prosperity. Guan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, is also prayed to at the temple. About 80 percent of the devotees are women, who mainly pray for prosperity, good husbands, healthy babies and obedient children. At least, five types of blessings are sought: longevity, wealth, tranquillity, love of virtue and a fulfilled destiny. Devotees also climb the 152 steps to reach the Malay shrines. One of the shrines is dedicated to Syed Abdul Rahman while the other two are believed to belong to his mother, Nenek Ghalib, and his sister, Puteri Fatimah Shariffah. Inscriptions at the shrines revealed that Nenek Ghalib had visited a Straits Chinese man, Hoe Beng Whatt, in his dreams in 1917, and requested for the shrines to be built. In return, she would grant the donors, success in their business.
Kusu Island
By far the smallest of the three Southern Islands, Kusu is also the most pleasant. Step off the boat and into an area of picnic-friendly landscaped gardens, home to a small turtle sanctuary and the colourful Tua Pek Kong Temple.
Further on is the beach, its shallow water ideal for young kids. All of this, though, is on reclaimed flat land, which surrounds the original piece of Kusu – a forest-covered rock topped by the Kusu Kramats, three 19th-century Malay shrines. You can visit the shrines, all painted a bright canary yellow, by climbing the 152 steps up through the trees to the top.
The island is generally quiet, except during the Kusu pilgrimage during the ninth lunar month (sometime between September and November), when thousands of devotees arrive to pay homage at the temples. Tea, coffee and cold drinks are sometimes available at Tua Pek Kong Temple, but don't count on it.
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Kusu Island: The Ultimate Island-Hopping Guide
Located just 45min away from the mainland, and part of the Southern Islands chain which includes Lazarus Island and St. John’s Island, visiting Kusu Island, Singapore offers a tranquil, fuss-free escape from the concrete jungle. The name of the island, “Kusu”, means “tortoise” in Hokkien. The legend goes that a giant tortoise transformed into the island to save two sailors who were shipwrecked, one Chinese and one Malay. To show their gratitude, the two men built a Chinese temple and Malay shrine, or keramat, on the island.
The Chinese temple, known as the Da Bo Gong (or Tua Pek Kong) Temple, attracts thousands of pilgrims each year during the ninth lunar month, usually between September and November. The temple houses two deities – Da Bo Gong and Guan Yin, the god of prosperity and the goddess of mercy respectively. As tortoises are a symbol of longevity in Chinese culture, you will find a number of them kept in the temple’s pond. On the way to the temple from the jetty, you will pass by the wishing well, which has a giant lotus structure in the centre of it. Make a wish before throwing a coin into the giant lotus. Try to hit the bells inside the lotus, legend has it that it’ll make your wish come true!
There is a keramat (Malay shrine) on the island dedicated to a pious man named Dato Syed Abdul Rahman, his mother, Nenek Ghalib, and sister, Puteri Fatimah Shariffah. To get to the shrines, you’ll have to climb 152 steps up a steep slope. Devotees who visit the Chinese Temple also come here to pray for health, prosperity, and offspring. They write their petitions on the bright yellow walls of the keramat, or hang them on the shrine’s fertility tree. Since you’ve worked hard to get here, why not leave a petition of your own?
Guiyu
Aerial perspective of Kusu Island
Turtle Ridge is an island located 5.6 km south of Singapore, covering an area of about 8.5 hectares. There is currently only one Chinese temple and one Malay shrine on the island, which attracts a large number of pilgrims every year in the ninth lunar month. There are no roads on the island, there are all over the sheep's intestine trail, and there are two piers between Marina South Pier and St. John's Island.
Guiyu is originally a coral reef, and the earliest historical records date back to the 17th century. The then Governor of the Philippines, Dom Jose de Silva, visited the island in March 1616 and named the island Governor's Island and the Singapore Straits Governor's Straits. The Malays call the island "Pulau Tembakul". In 1806, the British East India Company hydrologist Hrosburg named the island "Goa". After Singapore opened its port in 1819, Sir Raffles decided to use the island as a sign for ships sailing into Singapore's harbour. The original area of Guiyu was 1.2 hectares, but in 1975 the government increased it to 8.5 hectares by reclamation. The island was once the burial place of immigrants who died of illness in Qizhang Mountain in the early days of Singapore's opening of the port.
Legend has it that in the ninth lunar month of one year, a turtle turned itself into an island in order to save the crew who encountered a storm. After the crew was rescued, a temple was built on the island to thank the gods, which has been passed down to this day. 170 years ago, an Arab and a Chinese prepared to make a pilgrimage to Guisyu. The Chinese man became seriously ill on the island, and suddenly a boat with food and water appeared on the island and saved the two people. The two were eventually buried on the island, which became the Temple of the Great Uncle and the Malay Shrine.
The Origin Stories of Keramat Kusu
The entrance to the shrine of Dato Syed Abdul Rahman before the fire, 2022. Courtesy of William Gibson
In April 2022, a catastrophic fire engulfed the keramat (shrine) on the top of a hill on Kusu Island, off the southern coast of Singapore. Media coverage of the event showed the near-total destruction of the keramat. The keramat on Kusu Island is a popular pilgrimage spot with thousands of devotees making their way by boat to seek blessings from the shrine as well as the Chinese Tua Pek Kong Temple (龟屿大伯公宫) on the island. Despite its immense popularity, little is definitively known about the shrine. Delving into the records shows how the origin story of the keramat has changed over time.
Sunny Kusu Island – little more than a dome-shaped granite outcropping connected by a mud flat to a narrow rocky protrusion to the north and surrounded by shallow reefs – was both an important navigation mark as well as a shipping hazard in the days of sail. Around 1822, the British erected a signal on the island and as a result, the earliest maps of Singapore refer to it as “Signal Island”. The island was later renamed “Peak Island” and sometime in 1877, a brick obelisk harbour marker was erected on its south shore. The Malay name for the island is Pulau Tembakul, which means “mudskipper island”, either because mudskippers were once abundant on the mud flats or because in profile the island, with its bulbous head and narrow fin-like tail, resembles a mudskipper. “Kusu”, which means “turtle” in Hokkien, likely comes from the dome shape of the island resembling a turtle shell.
Remarkably, there is evidence that the Tua Pek Kong Temple and the keramat have been on the island since at least the mid-19th century. This is based on a letter written by Cheang Hong Lim, a prosperous opium trader and head of the Hokkien community in Singapore, to J.F.A. McNair, Colonial Engineer and Surveyor General of the Straits Settlements, on 9 March 1875. Cheang protested the policy of using the island as a burial ground for the quarantine facility located on nearby St John’s Island. In the letter, Cheang petitioned for a title to the island. He wrote that the island had “for upwards of thirty years [c.1845] been used by many of the Chinese and native inhabitants of this Settlement as a place for them to resort to at certain periods every year for the purpose of making sacrifices and paying their vows to certain deities there called ‘Twa Pek Kong Koosoo’ and ‘Datok Kramat’, and as that place has lately, to the great prejudice of their feelings, been desecrated by the interment therein of a number of dead bodies”. In the end, Cheng did not receive the land title but he did get a promise that quarantine burials would cease.
