SINGAPORE NOT ALONE IN REMEMBERING ITS HISTORY
The way memories of our history are preserved by future generations can potentially say more about the country and society – how and what we want to remember – than about the leaders themselves.
Mr Neo highlighted a few examples in his speech of other countries which have sought to preserve important spaces as a way to better understand their history. These included the Gandhi Ashram in India and the Independence National Historical Park in the US, two examples from countries with centuries of history.
The Gandhi Ashram, located on the banks of the Sabarmati River in Ahmedabad, was a home for Mahatma Gandhi from 1917 to 1930. But more importantly, it is where he launched the 24-day Dandi March to protest the British salt monopoly, an act that started a campaign of mass civil disobedience that was key to India’s eventual independence.
Meanwhile, the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania contains several sites significant in the American Revolution and the birth of the US, including important meeting sites where the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution were signed.
Some countries have also chosen to commemorate leaders’ residences for the insight offered into the way they lived and worked, by preserving such spaces with furniture or personal artefacts. These include former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s country house, Chartwell, and the home of Malaysia’s first prime minister at the Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Memorial.
If Singapore aspires to continue building a national culture that can bond its citizens, we could study which options work for us and which do not.
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