TheriseandfallofBugisStreet:therelationshipbetweeneconomicforcesandliminalspaces

From the 1950s to early 1980s, Bugis Street was known internationally for its nightlife. Aplace
wheretransgenderprostitutespliedtheirtrade,visiting touristscouldpurchasesex,getdrunkoff
overpriced alcohol, or enjoy the infamous drag performances that took place atop the streets
public toilet. However,theinstitution ofBugisStreet cametoanabruptendin1985,whenitwas
bulldozed to make way for a more upmarket retail development consisting of shopping malls
and restaurants. In theprecedingyears,theconstructionofanundergroundMassRapidTransit
(MRT)stationhadalreadydriventhewomenofBugisStreetaway.

Using Turners theory of liminality, Bugis Street could be considered as having undergone a
liminal period, or a moment in time where hierarchical relations between its inhabitants were
erased in favour of a generalized social bond.1 This paperwillfocusontheideaofBugisStreet
as a liminal space with a sense of
communitas2
, a space which falls outside and in between
social boundaries, operating under its own rules within the ambiguous areas of what is usually
socially permitted. It will also examine the relationship between economic forces and liminal
spaces. While economic progress can be seen as a natural enemy of theliminal,asitseeksto
neaten, classify, and homogeneize theambiguous inordertodirectittowardsasinglegoal,this
paper will argue that economic activity can also sustain these spaces, and examine how this
maybeappliedtotheprocessofpreservation.

BugisStreetasliminalspace

The perception of Bugis Street as a place existing outside organized society is evident in
descriptions written at the time. While the postwar period of the 1950s and 1960s was more
culturally permissive and disordered (and can be considered a liminal period for society as a
whole), the 1970s saw an increased focus on both order and progress. This was particularly
evident in two areas which concern the topic at hand: a focus on economic progress through
developing the tourism industry, with the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board being given a
large budget toembark onsuchprojectsaspreservingtheRafflesHotel3 ,andanatmosphereof
moral alarmism with the AIDS crisis that led to increased restrictions placed on the previously
uncensuredgaycommunity,becomingsubjecttovicesquadraidsandpoliceharassment4 .

The growing focus of the 1970s on order and progress provides a context for Bugis Streets
liminality. To the Singaporeans and tourists who visited it, its appeal lay in the subversive fact
that its "very existence contravene[d] almost every regulation in the book. It ha[d] street
hawkers, considered unhygienic transvestites, seen as a social aberration and peddlers and

Turner,V.(1969).LiminalityandCommunitas.In
Theritualprocess:Structureandantistructure.
Chicago:AldinePub.
1

Ibid.
Lim,S.(1989,April5).Givingoldattractionsnewlife.
TheBusinessTimes
,p.10.
4
AntivicetocleanupBugisStreet.(1980,August22).
NewNation
,p.5.
3

gamblers who ply their illegal trade."5 Yet there is more to liminality than simply going against
regulations. Bugis Street can be identified as liminal because afreedomfromtheseregulations
came with a freedom from social norms, providing a space for otherwise ordinary people to
minglefreefromwhatwasnormallyexpectedofthem.

Night, according to Turner, is an inherently liminal time6 . Activities which take place solely at
night are typically associated with the subversive and deviant this is because they take place
outside the hours of the modern workday, under cover of darkness, and thus are not directed
and economically beneficial in the same way that organized work supposedly is to a capitalist
society. Due to its activities taking place outside the hours of the modern workday, this also
meant that people of all professions, both high and low, could visit BugisStreet,whetherstreet
hawkers or executives in multinational corporations7 . The low costandrelativeundifferentiation
of the goods and services provided there, with food and beverages being sold at extremely
cheap prices in outdoor, dubiously hygienic venues, meant that visitors to the street
experienced a common lowliness. Finally, the place had a remarkable acceptance of all
visitors, regardless of their appearance or social subculture, from businessmen in suits to the
disco crowd [...] with their hair gelled and spiked8 . All these factors combined meant that the
street provided a unique venue in which people from all classes and sectors of society
interacted with one another on an equal level, free from hierarchies, and where a level of
permissivenessmeantthatbehaviourwasnotgovernedbytypicalsocialnorms.

Central to the definition of a liminal space is theideathatitsinhabitantsthemselvesare liminal,

in that they relate to one another outside hierarchical relations. The hierarchical relations that
they evade are made visible through their pervasiveness in wider society. As such, Turner
characterizes liminal personae, or threshold people, as elud[ing] or slip[ping] through the
networkofclassificationsthatnormallylocatestatesandpositionsinculturalspace.9

The most visible people of Bugis Street, and the ones who gave the street its attraction to the
outside world, were the transgender prostitutes. The prostitutes of Bugis Street were most
visibly liminal in terms of their gender presentation. Despitethefactthatmanyoftheprostitutes
identified as female, oral histories of the street recounted by johns typically view them as male
crossdressers, focusing on the convincingness of the illusion they created 10. This was typical
of the time, where in popular thought transgender women were equated with gay men. As a
gathering place specifically for transgender prostitutes, visitors to the street fetishized themnot
as women, but because they were transgender this resulted in a focus on the characteristics
which made them visibly fall in between gender norms. As such, depictions of the prostitutes
Khalik,S.(1985,November21).AnxiouswaitforrebirthofBugisStreet.
TheStraitsTimes,
p.16
Turner,p.95
7
Heng,R.(2005,August16).
Wherequeensruled!ahistoryofgayvenuesinSingapore
.Lecture
presentedatIndigNation,Singapore.
8
Seah,J.(1985,October13).ThelasttimeIsawBugisStreet.
TheStraitsTimes,
p.2
9
Turner,p.95
10
UKsailorsvisitedSingapore'sBugisStreetforsex.(2002,November1).
Fridae
.RetrievedNovember30,
2015.
5
6

who worked there typically focus on two characteristics: firstly, their hyperfemininity, and
secondly, the idea of performance, thereby linking their female identity with the gender they
were assigned at birth. Descriptions in popular media such as in the newspapers typically
described themasbeguilingandmysterious,focusingonperformativemarkersofgendersuch
as their makeup and attire while referring to them uneasily as beautiful creatures ofthenight.
11

The shared characteristics of the people of BugisStreetservedasapowerfulbonding force,as

Turner expounded uponinhistheoryofritual.Firstandforemost,itresultedinastrongsenseof
communitas and belonging amongst those who worked on the street. To the transgender
prostitutes who worked there, their commonstatusandhardships(orlowliness)createdstrong
bonds between them. Their outsider status, with beatings, abuse, and police raids common in
other parts of Singapore,meantthatBugisStreetarareplacewhichexistedoutsidetheabuse
of normal society acted like a home to them.12 The process of transitioning, as well as the
process of entering sex work, can be seen in itself as a rite of passage, in which they moved
from one state to another with attendantanxietyand insecurity. Asaresultofthis,strongbonds
were formed amongst prostitutes whichwerefamilialinnaturetransgenderprostitutesreferred
to each other as sisters and mentored one another when entering the business, with older
prostitutesreferredtoasmamasan.13

Most notably, as following Turners model, outsiders who entered this space underwent
ceremonial rituals presided over by those who permanently inhabited it, partaking in the
liminality ofthespacetoundergoacomingof age.Thiswasparticularlynotablewhenitcameto
young sailors andsoldiers,bothgayandstraight.Formanysailors,coming ashoretovisitBugis
Street was viewed as a riteofpassage,wheretheybecamearealsailor.14 Visitingaprostitute
was in fact a common rite of passage in many Western societies in the 19th to early 20th
centuries in this case, the state of liminality which took place during the preparation for the
ritual was more of an inner state, consisting of anxiety and insecurity because he [...] was
neitherinonecategorynortheother,asperVan Gennepsoriginal theoryofliminality.15 Sailors
who visited Bugis Street may also have engaged in other bonding rituals, such as dressing in
drag, or stripping and placing newspaper torches between their buttcheeks in order to perform
the infamous Dance of the Flaming Arseholes16 on top of the public toilet.These rituals
similarly meant attaining a state of lowliness that was informed by the context of the street,
wheretheyexperiencedhumiliationtogetherinordertobond.
Wedontwantsympathy,wejustwantunderstanding.(1985,October11).
TheStraitsTimes,
p.16
Ibid.
13

TheStraitsTimes
(1985,October11),p.16
14
Thesailor'sbirthdaypresent.(2002,August1).RetrievedNovember30,2015,from
http://www.yawningbread.org/guest_2002/guw078.htm
15
Ditmore,M.(2006).
Encyclopediaofprostitutionandsexwork
(Vol.2,p.404).Westport,Conn.:
GreenwoodPress.
16
Lee,B.(2015,May13).TheDanceofTheFlamingArseholes:ARoyalAustralianNavyTradition.
RetrievedNovember30,2015.

11
12


Finally, the fact that the place became an iconic milieu, and that experiencing it became an
institution in itself, is testament to the fact that the place provided a form of bonding even to
tourists who experienced it superficially. Visiting Bugis Street and experiencing the colourful,
haphazard architecture17 and the people could beseenasariteofpassageforbothlocalsand
visitors to Singapore. In the words of an expatriate journalist, it presented a form of temporary
escape for ordinary people likeyouandme.Onceinawhiletheywanttowalkonthewildside,
buttheywouldn'tdreamofdoingwildthings.Theygetakickoutofwhatgoeson, butnever tryit
onforsize.18

Therelationshipbetweeneconomicforcesandliminalspace

While it is tempting to simplistically blame economic progress as delivering the death blow to
Bugis Street, onecannotignorethattheareas
raisondtrewasfirstandforemosteconomic.In
this section, I will argue that what matters to the survival of a liminal space is not so much the
presence or absence of economic forces, but rather the nature in which economic activity is
carried out. Furthermore, even when the nature of economic activity permits liminality, its
relationship withaspaceisatroubledonewhileitmaypermitaspacescontinuedexistence,it
constantly threatens to encroach upon liminality in an ongoing pushandpull. The nature of
economic activity can be looked at in two aspects: the process of economic exchange and the
productorservicebeingsold(whichoftenbutnotalwaysimpactstheformer).

As mentioned above, while the hawker trade was central to the area and existed before it
became known for prostitution, prostitution was the central activity which made it attractive to
visitors. In fact, the other trades slowly began to play secondary, supporting roles, as seen by
how drinks stallshugelyinflatedtheirpriceswhensellingtotouristswhocametowatchthedrag
performances, as a form of cover charge.19 Sex as a service for sale has several
characteristicswhichenableaspacetoremainliminal.

Firstly, the purchasing of sexisfundamentallyanacknowledgmentofdesire.Inbuyingsexfrom

these prostitutes, whom they fundamentally viewed as men, the men who visited the street
acknowledged their own illicit desire. For many men who had sex with men (MSM) who were
uninitiated into the local scene, Bugis Street was the most visible location of homosexual
activity.20 As such, by going there to cruise or to buy sex, it became an outlet for sexualdesire
that could not otherwise be expressed in mainstream society. The economic aspect of the
exchange, as well as the ritualistic performance that surrounded prostitution in Bugis Street,
enabled them to acknowledge such desirebyabidingby therulesofthestreet,whichinvolved
exchanging money forsex,theywereabletostepoutsidetheirusualrolestoassumearoleina
fixed performance that enabled them to express their sexual tendencies. A notable expression
Gill,T.J.W.(1985,February8).BugisStreetmultifacetedandworldfamous.
TheStraitsTimes,
p.23
Glauberman,S.(1985,October6).Theblemishthatperksupacity.
TheStraitsTimes,
p.16
19
Heng(2005)
20
Ibid.
17
18

of this was that butch gay men, who would not otherwise bewillingtocruisefor gaysex,would
go to Bugis Street to seek out transgender prostitutes and willingly pay them money for sex.21
For them, theperformanceof dragaswellastheknowledge thattheywerepayingforaservice,
ratherthanorganicallyactingontheirdesire,allowedthemtostepoutsidetheirordinaryroles.

This preserved the streets liminal nature in two ways. Firstly, it enabled thecontinuingsurvival
of the sex trade, which gave its street much of itscharacter.Secondly,thenatureofsellingsex
equalized the buyer and seller. This was because it was by nature a mutually beneficial
onetoone exchange, one where something was given up (in the case of the johns, not just
money, but the revelation of vulnerability through desire) and something gained by both sides.
Given that liminality is characterized by the lackofhierarchicalrelationsininteractionsbetween
members of a community, theonetoonenatureofthiseconomictransactionledtobothparties
beingequalinacertainsense.

However, the business of prostitution cannot be overly romanticized. Whileitistruethatsexas

an acknowledgmentof transgressivedesiredidplayaroleinequalizingbuyerandseller,itdoes
not erase the imbalance of power and the exploitation inherent in the transaction. Particularly
problematic was the objectification and exoticization of the prostitutes based on both race and
gender.

The CaucasianAsian, dominatingdominated dynamic was common to relationships between

men at the time, so much so that terms were invented to describe foreignmenwhoexclusively
dated Asians andviceversa(rice queensandpotatoqueensrespectively).22 Inthepostcolonial
contextofnewlyindependentSingapore, thiswasdeeplyproblematicasitreinforcedanexisting
racist narrative. The performative aspect of Bugis Street prostitution meant that the prostitutes
became passive objects of a foreign gaze, where it was possible to project ones desires upon
them. This indubitably led to the othering of prostitutes based on race, as shown by how the
street was frequently lauded for its authentically Asian flavor and its distinctly exotic and
eastern feeling. T
an, K., & Jin, G. (n.d.)
link the Caucasian conceptualization of Singaporean
homosexuality inextricably to the colonial subjugation of natives, saying that the
ah qua
symbolized the grotesque embodiment of the languor and effeminacy associated with the
colonized Asian native23 the construction of this stereotype allowed purchasers of sex to
demean and thus distance themselves from the very object of their desire, in an act of sexual
violence. As such, the transferral of desire was in fact onesided the johns who bought sex
were allowed to project their illicit desires on passive objects, whom others deridedassexually
deviant, before going back to their ordinary lives as butch, straightpassing men in positions of
power, many as sailors or in other militaryroles.Incomparison,theprostituteshadno choicein
their roles, as being transgender womenlimited theoptionsavailabletothemthiscanbeseen
by how transgender women frequently were turned away from more mainstream jobs such as

21

Heng(2005)
Ibid.
23
Tan,K.,&Jin,G.(n.d.).ImaginingTheGayCommunityInSingapore.
CriticalAsianStudies,
179204.
22

waitressing or dishwashing, and those who were driven away from Bugis Street wentbackinto
prostitutionelsewhere.24

Yet, one redeeming factor was thatthenaturebywhicheconomic activitywasstructuredmeant

that the prostitutes had at least a certain degree of autonomy in conducting their business. In
the words of a former prostitute, they had freedom. "No one has to give recommendation, no
one be sponsor, you can do yourself, you can quit yourself. Nowadays gotsomanyregulation,
last time better."25 In Bugis Street, thevarioustrades foodand beveragehawking,prostitution,
and street hustling had in common the quality of being driven by individuals working for
themselves, free from external regulation. In the case of the prostitutes, this wasatleastbetter
than thepoliceharassmentthattheyfacedelsewhere.Thus,eventhoughsocietalhierarchiesof
race, gender, and class persisted in the transactions between prostitutes and visitors to the
street, a certain level of camaraderie and freedom still existed between the prostitutes
themselves, allowing them to set the terms by which they earned their living. The lack of
regulation, despite being less safe, allowed them to create theirownexpressionsofcommunity
such as the drag performances, as well as to band together to protect each other, attacking
thosewhothreatenedanyoftheirmembers.26

This can be viewed in contrast to the economic development of the area that began in the
1980s. In cleaning up Bugis Street, there was a focus on the idea of the wholesome27 . This
was in keeping with the image of Singapore which the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board
(STPB) hoped to present to the world. In particular, there was a focus on the idea of disease.
Bugis Street was frequently linked to the idea of pollution and uncleanliness, thankstothelack
of health regulations for the outdoor hawker stalls. More pertinently, there was the question of
sexually transmitted diseases. Despite manyprostitutes atthetimegoingforAIDStestingevery
few weeks, a barrage ofconcernedletterstothenewspaperforumscalledforthe shuttingdown
of Bugis Street as the first few cases of AIDS in Singapore began to appear.28 These physical
diseases were linked tothe ideaofmoraldisease,withtheconcernexpressedbeingthatBugis
Street goes against the very kind of moral society the Government has strived for and would
pose athreatofunhygienicconditions"29 .Asaresult,the STPBmadeitclear thatprostitutionno
longerhadaroleinthearea.Policeraidsandharassmentsoonchasedtheprostitutesaway.

Ironically, once Bugis Street was demolished, therewasareductionintheflowof touriststothe

area,andtheaveragelengthofstayinSingaporewentdownfrom3.7to3.4days30.Inresponse
to the reduction in tourism, an attempt was made to recreate the Bugis Street atmosphere ina
new environment with an $8 million budget, run by the private sectorandcomplete withstaged

TheStraitsTimes
(1985,October11),p.16
Soin,K.,&Thomas,M.(2015).TwoSexWorkersSpeak.In
Ourlivestolive:Puttingawoman'sfaceto
changeinSingapore
.Singapore,Singapore:WorldScientific.
26

NewNation
(1980)
27
Needtomaintainwholesomeatmosphere.(1992,November11).
TheNewPaper,
p.2
28
AntiAids(1985,April30).LetsstopthekindoffunatBugisStreet.
SingaporeMonitor,
p.16
29
Wong,J.(1985,April18).MixedresponsetoBugisStreetplan.
TheStraitsTimes,
p.16
30
Ibid.
24
25

ah qua drag shows held on top of the old public toilet.31 However, this attempt failed,
suggesting that there was something inherent to the character of the street that could not be
captured artificially. Today, the street has been turned into a complex of shopping malls,
carrying mainly international fashion brands. While a large street market still remains, selling
clothesandknickknacks,itisnowregulatedandorganized.

The change in the nature of Bugis Street from being a liminal space tobeingtightlygoverned
by regulation and social norms can be seen as inextricably tied to the nature of economic
activity presently carried out there. From being largely unregulated and carried out by
individuals with autonomy, Bugis Street is now sanitized and tightly regulated, as well as
organized to fit a larger purpose (tourism). It has furthermore been taken over mainly bylarger
chains from the private sector as opposed to individual entrepreneurs, distancing the customer
from those who produce goods for consumption. The regulationofBugisStreetcanbeseen as
a form of state control in the higher quest for economic progress, one which necessitates neat
classifications in order to keep all economic elements in line and channeled towards a single
goal. In such a model, individual profit becomes secondaryto,andsubsumedunder,theprofits
ofgroupsthatoflarge,anonymouscorporations,butmainlyofsocietyasawhole.

Due totheemphasison societysinterestsasawhole,elementswhichchallengethenormsand

order of society must necessarily be suppressed. Furthermore, in this model, there is no room
for illicit desire the role of desire, in fuelling economic activity, becomes channelled towards
acceptable images of desire in the form of mainstream materialism, propagated by the rise of
popular brand names in the shopping complexes at Bugis. In some ways, customers at Bugis
Street remained drawn in by what is essentially a performance yet the images of their desire
arenowmassproduced,sanitized,andlackanyformofsubversiveness.

Conclusion

The relationship betweeneconomicforcesandliminalspacesiscomplex.Economicactivitycan

take place either against or within the structures of society. When it goes against societal
norms, it can be a powerful outlet that allows the expression of otherwise taboo desires and
identities. The power of economictransactionasan instrumentofchallengingorder insociety is
due to several factors. Itisperhapsthemostuniversalformofhumaninteractionthisislargely
because it has to do intimately with both human needs and wants. People are driven to put
practically anything up for sale because of their basic needs similarly, people are willing to
purchasethemostillicitgoodsandservicesbecauseoftheirinnerdesperatehungers.Yetit can
also be seen that economic exchange may reinforce societal norms. This is firstly because of
the imbalance between needs on the part of the seller and wants on the part of the buyer
purchasing ability is necessarily linked to class and therefore power. As such, transactions
inevitably betray symptomsofsocietal hierarchies.Secondly,economicactivitycaneasilyfollow
as well as reinforce the structure of society when desires are reshaped and regulated to be in
31

Ibid.

line with what is normally acceptable. When this is carried out, it serves as a form of state
control.

What does this have to do with the conservation of liminal spaces such as Bugis Street? I feel
that no hard and fast rule can be madeastowhattodowithregardtosuchspaces.Intheend,
nospace,nomatterhowcharminglyliminal,canbefreefromthe encroachmentofsocialnorms.
In the case of Bugis Street, these norms that became apparent during economic transactions
led to exploitation and crime. Yet they also led to the creation of a very important institution in
Singapores history one whichservedasasiteofbondingforSingaporeansocietyas awhole,
in an era where Singaporewasalreadybeginningtobederidedasboring,sterile32 .Ultimately,
I feel that the most important lesson isthatonecannotattempttocreateorcontrolsuchspaces
artificially. Rather, they are products of their times andtheenvironmentthatbirthedthem.Such
institutions and places are inevitably shortlived because of their uselessness in serving a
nations goals for progress. Perhaps allthatcanbedoneandwhichhasalreadybeendone,in
the form of books, photoexhibitions33 ,and movies34 is toremembersuch placesaftertheyhave
disappeared.

Lim,S.N.(1989,April5).Givingoldattractionsnewlife.
TheBusinessTimes,
p.10
deSoldeville,Alain.(March2014)
BugisStreet[
Photographyexhibition].ObjectifsGallery.
34
Yang,F.(Director).(2004).
BugisStreet
[Motionpicture].FarSunFilmCo.[distributor.
32
33