Preliminary findings for Pulau Jerejak Leper Settlement: reconstructing the built and living environment of Camp 5

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share the historical development of Camp 5, a leper camp on Pulau Jerejak. Pulau Jerejak Leper Settlement was operated from 1871 until 1969. The settlement has been an important collection center for leprosy patients in British Malaya before Sungai Buloh Leper Settlement was built in 1930s. During this period, six camps were built scattered around the island. One of the most important camps was Camp 5, completed in 1936. The camp was planned against the conservative idea of strict segregation where leprosy patients were segregated rigidly in prison-like environment. Camp 5 was planned in such ways where leprosy patients could freely conduct social-cultural events, practice their faiths, establish their own families, appointed as inmate workers, and etc. The houses were planned in clustered manner with well-planned agriculture plots and socio-cultural facilities. The planning layout of Camp 5 is an important historical clue to suggest how leprosy patients could have been segregated more humanely. Today, most of the structures in Camp 5 are in semi-ruined conditions. The available information is insufficient to support the current research. Therefore, this research had to rely on three methods; archival researches, interview and field works. Archival materials such as governmental annual reports and old illustrations will help to reconstruct its chronological developments, and the indexed remnants from the field works will be used to analysis and overlay with its chronological developments. Interviews are crucial to obtain deliberate information to reconstruct the previous living and built environment of Camp 5. By understanding the segregation idea implemented in Camp 5, researchers may be able to interpret and argue the theoretical discourse of modern segregations in dealing with diseases and suggest some historical lessons.