The Modern Crone: Season 6: Random Cool People I know with Claire Leow

Random Cool People I Know with, Claire Leow

Join us as Claire shares her story of advocacy for vulnerable communities and historical sites; how her background in journalism at Bloombergs evolved into giving voice for the voiceless; the power of storytelling and accurate and personal historical narratives; the beautiful customs and rituals of Bukit Brown cemetery; the relationship between geomancy, the zodiac and eternal rest; the meaning of Qingming as a reconnection for the living and the dead; the role of Singapore’s Tomb Keepers; Claire’s current humanitarian work with Airlink…and so much more!

Claire Leow is a former journalist. She was the chief reporter for Bloomberg in Southeast Asia before becoming the bureau chief for Bloomberg Indonesia, where she lived for 8 years. She returned to Singapore to find heritage under threat, and campaigned first on the Railway Corridor, the historic former railway lands owned by Malaysia until July 2011. This is the most successful civil society campaign in recent history. 

By the end of the year, she was the lead campaigner to save Bukit Brown Cemetery, the largest and oldest cemetery in Singapore and one of the largest in Southeast Asia. She formed All Things Bukit Brown to raise awareness of the intrinsic value of the site, and successfully won an application for a World Monuments Fund listing in 2014. Here is her TED talk. 

With her interest in war history, she also published a book, World War II at Bukit Brown (Ethos Books), and is editing a second edition for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Singapore in 2025. She has rallied a group of volunteers who have collectively guided more than 27,000 people to the site, including academics, researchers, archaeologists and sociologists. 

Claire’s walking tours are under the banner “Between Monsoons” to reflect the contemporaneous history and connect those aspects to modern Singapore. 

Claire currently works for Washington, DC-based Airlink Inc., a 501(C) aviation-based  non-profit that specialises in the logistics of humanitarian response. Airlink is responding to natural disasters as well as conflicts.

You can contact Claire here:
Claire@betweenmonsoons.com