The character of Kampong Glam may be about to change dramatically. A movement to gauge public support to ban alcohol consumption in one of the city’s most popular after-hours areas is fast gaining momentum, spearheaded by Dr. Ameen Talib, owner of Cafe Le Caire on Arab Street, who is petitioning for an alcohol-free zone situated along the neighborhood’s core area (see map below), which encompasses the peripheries of Haji Lane, North Bridge Road, Kandahar Street, Sultan Gate, Aliwal Street and Beach Road. Bali Lane, which currently houses bars and drinking joints like Twine, Blu Jaz and One for the Road, is currently not affected.

Talib is proposing a blanket ban on restaurants and convenience stores such as 7-Eleven selling alcohol. Along with certain stakeholders around the area (namely alcohol-free cafes and restaurants like Altazzag Egyptian Restaurant), Talib has been heavily petitioning to “maintain the core and heritage” of Kampong Glam by positioning it as an “alternative nightlife hub which is family-friendly, offers good clean, fun, and free of alcohol.” Others though are, unsurprisingly, not happy with the proposal. Yet the area’s history makes it a particularly thorny issue.

The Heritage Divide

The Arab Quarter was home to the city’s Malay aristocracy in 1819, before British settlement in 1822 afforded the area to different ethnic groups like the Chinese, Arabs and Europeans. Today, it remains a stronghold among the Malay-Muslim community. It is home to the Istana and the Malay Heritage Centre along Kandahar Street, numerous Malay-Muslim eating establishments around Arab Street, Bussorah Street, Aliwal Street, Kandahar Street and North Bridge Road, and The Sultan Mosque, a place of worship among the community, is located at the heart of Bussorah Street—and therein lies Talib’s point of contention. Convenience store 7-Eleven located on Bussorah Street sells alcohol, and Turkish Restaurant Istanbul Grill’s & Cafe serves beer to its diners in an alfresco space, diagonally across from the mosque.

“Over the last two years, the neighborhood’s character has declined,” says Talib. “People are seen carrying beer bottles right in front of the mosque and around the area and this is disrespectful and an eyesore. The area was where the Malay, Muslim and Indian community used to assemble. If no one says or does anything now, the situation will get out of hand.”

A Question of Lifestyle

Like Chinatown and Little India, Kampong Glam has been identified by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) as a conservation area—in 2006 rent-control was lifted for the old shop houses and the units were later refurbished and sold in an open market to private bidders. The area was soon awash with cafés, restaurants, fashion boutiques and a myriad of lifestyle retailers—it morphed from a relatively quiet and relaxed neighborhood specializing in shisha and Middle-Eastern and Malay food, to one of the city’s hippest lifestyle quarters (Download our Arab Street guide to find out more).

But unlike Chinatown or Little India, Kampong Glam’s redevelopment and repositioning is a little trickier because of its history and traditions—alcohol consumption is prohibited among the Muslim community. The URA has therefore been careful with their conservation plan here, putting in place “policies to guide the allowable uses to encourage traditional and activity-generating trades in the area,” says a spokesperson. “For example, incompatible trades such as new bars, pubs, nightclubs and health centers are not allowed in the core and exclusion areas in Kampong Glam.”

Businesses can nevertheless work around this policy and can serve alcohol if they register their businesses not under bars or clubs, but instead under cafes and restaurants, and apply for a separate liquor license through the Singapore Police Force. And, of course, most restaurants want to serve alcohol to boost business.

Ethan Leong, who runs a cocktail bar located on the third story of café cum fashion boutique Maison Ikkoku at Kandahar Street, which opened four months ago, says that serving alcohol is just part of an investment and lifestyle decision. “We are here to promote cocktail-drinking as a lifestyle and not consuming alcohol per se,” he says. “For example, we don’t even have signage outside that says we serve alcohol. It’s about respecting the neighborhood and not abusing our trade so that all businesses here can still pull in individual visitors and chart their own paths. We definitely do not encourage consumption of drinks outside our premises.”

The situation along Bali Lane is a little more dicey, however. Dr. Ameen Talib’s current proposal to ban all alcohol consumption outdoors might put businesses like Pedra Negra—which relies heavily on alcohol sales at its outdoor space—out of business.

“Our regulars comprise mostly expatriates who make up about 70 percent of our customers who expect to drink when they’re here,” says owner Aileen Tan. “It’s definitely a different experience to be able to eat and drink under the stars. Before I came into the scene in 2006 with Blu Jaz, the crowd here comprised mostly youngsters who smoke shisha. It has since become more sophisticated. After all, the area should be considered as a collective, how businesses should benefit from one another with different crowds moving from one joint to another.”

A Win-Win Situation?

Jean Francois Nordin, who runs the halal French bistro Le Bistro Parisien, and who does not serve alcohol at his venue, says that the stakeholders of Kampong Glam must work together to maintain the neighborhood’s esprit des corps to resolve the matter. “Because of my own principle and beliefs, I choose not to serve or sell alcohol. It’s a personal choice, but I cannot impose on my personal beliefs on others,” he says. “The city has evolved to be very cosmopolitan and we have to respect that.”

Another unnamed stakeholder agrees that the various tenants at Kampong Glam must come together to resolve the matter collectively. “We are a multi-racial, multi-religious society,” he says. “We cannot create boundaries and polarize anyone in the area.”

Members of the Kampong Glam Association, comprising stakeholders in the area, including Talib, Tan and Nordin, met last week to discuss Talib’s personal crusade internally, although they have yet to resolve the matter and Talib is going ahead with his petition. “Every stakeholder should have an inclusive voice in this matter and if we push the issue further, there will be no end,” says Tan.

Talib maintains that the push for an alcohol-free zone is similar to that in cities like London and Sydney and the move will at least keep the number of alcohol venues in check. “I do not want this to blow out of proportion, but it will be sad if the area is known as a drinking neighborhood similar to Clarke Quay or Boat Quay,” he says.

A check with a legal source attests that, from a property zoning perspective, the move to ban alcohol consumption cannot be enforced without proper guidelines from the URA, which, according to its spokesperson, is still “reviewing the matter with the Singapore Police Force and other agencies. However, “the police can impose terms and conditions for the operation of the alcohol license, which would mean theoretically that consumption can be restricted to indoors and with restricted hours if the police are convinced that it is in the public interest to do so,” says our legal source (who asked to remain anonymous). The public seem similarly polarized by the current bid to keep the area alcohol free. Singer Marina Xavier, who visits the area frequently, says a blanket rule will create “animosity among the residents. It’s the current free-spirited vibe and general camaraderie that’s so enjoyable.”

A blanket outdoor alcohol ban does seem like a rather drastic step. Could a possible solution be to limit (and enforce) the ban within the immediate perimeters of the Sultan Mosque along Arab Street and Bussorah Street which just help yet curb alcohol consumption within Kampong Glam’s sacred grounds? The debate is sure to continue. In the meantime, send your views to [email protected].