Eugenia's Reflection

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

                Although this may seem strange, I had actually looked forward to go on a heritage trail because I enjoyed exploring the many different (or perhaps, forgotten) places in Singapore. It is forgotten in a way because not many youths of today had been through the Japanese Occupation and other significant events in the past, thus, not knowing well enough about the history of different monuments, plaques or museums. Even if they have briefly learnt about the Japanese Occupation and other historical events, for instance, they may not know about the rationale for installing such historical markers at a specific location and the significance in doing so. I may be a history student but there are many things which I may not know in depth.

                This heritage trail is indeed an eye-opener for me and in retrospect, the different checkpoints gave me a deeper insight on Singapore’s history and more importantly, about its cultural heritage. Take, for instance, the Tan Kim Seng’s fountain. Frankly speaking, I have no idea who Tan Kim Seng was and what exactly his contributions were to Singapore prior to this heritage trail that our group embarked on. I only found out more about him and how significant his contributions were towards the building of the nation’s waterworks when I read about the brief inscription and doing research on him during my free time. In a way, his monetary contributions helped laid the foundation in setting up a proper network to supply freshwater to different parts of Singapore. It was his foresight in wanting to establish a proper public waterworks that ensured the nation’s survival and well-being. His legacy is still largely relevant today.

                Apart from that, there are also many interesting landmarks and monuments that piqued my curiosity and interest. It is certainly a good thing for Singapore to gazette buildings with a long history and construct monuments, museums or statues to commemorate certain events or important figures that contributed significantly to the nation. However, while it is important to establish such historical markers around in Singapore, there is a need for us to question and understand the rationale behind why certain places were being chosen to be gazetted as national monuments, why certain figures are deemed significant enough to be commemorated and perhaps, how they contributed to the nation building efforts in the past. In fact, the conservation efforts along the heritage trail in civic district can perhaps, be further improved on. There are many important historical sites that have been demolished or converted for “partial” commercialisation purposes. Commercialisation will perhaps defeat the efforts in preserving our historical heritage because the significance of it is somehow undermined. Nevertheless, it is still good to see that Singapore is doing something to preserve historical sites because they serve as a reminder of our past, our heritage and our traditions. In a way, we have not forgotten our past.

However, for us to commemorate our past, it should be and has to be a two-way effort by both Singaporeans and the government. The government can establish museums and other historical markers as a mean for commemoration but Singaporeans too, need to be proactive in understanding the rationale behind it and delve into it deeper. It is only through the collaborative efforts that will ensure the success in preserving and understanding our historical heritage.