The Public History of Singapore

Imagine you’re on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, just about to win one million dollars, and the final question you’re posed asks; What was the focus of Singapore’s first public statue?  There are many guesses that one could make. Stamford Raffles would be the obvious choice. Temenggong Abdul Rahman would demonstrate a deep knowledge of how the British came to establish their position on Singapore to begin with. The woman with the single most amount of places, things and statues raised in her honour across the British Empire, Queen Victoria, would surely be a strong contender.  But if you chose any of these options, then unfortunately you would have gone home empty handed. The focus of Singapore’s first public statue is actually a rather obscure figure in the history of Singapore, mostly because they had nothing to do with Singapore initially. The Dalhousie Obelisk was named after Lord James Andrew, the Marquess of Dalhousie, a Governor-General of India who voyaged to Singapore during h

In the centre of a bustling street in Singapore, surrounded by a complex shopping centre and modern housing units, an under construction footpath and busy freeway, stands a piece of catholic architecture that looks as if it had been picked up from Spain or Italy and placed in it’s environment. This is the Church of Saint Alphonsus, or the Novena church for short, a catholic chapel built in 1950 and attended by hundreds or worshippers each Sunday for English and Mandarin services.  The church is North of Singapore’s city centre, about a twenty five minute bus ride from the Merlion, Marina Bay and other famous Singapore icons. So why is this building on the blog? There are many churches and places of worship across Singapore that have a far more striking and immediate presence within the history of the nation of Singapore, some of which I will cover eventually. Why is the Novena church going first?  Well, in addition to being an admirable piece of architecture and bustling location for l

As a student of International Relations and History, I take an interest in the reasons and manners by which nations become allies. We take it as a given that the iconic friendships between states across the world, like Australia & New Zealand for example, has and will always stand. But every friendship begins with two strangers finding a mutual connection and exploring their similarities further, this of course being no different between countries.  A number of markers across Singapore are symbols of the continued friendship the country shares with contemporary states, taking the forms of busts of leaders, statues of shared experience or, as in the case of today’s post, gifts. Extended from one country to another, a gift is a tremendous beacon of appreciation and mutual respect, and tells the story of how countries solidify their connections and provide a constant reminder that they will endeavour to maintain cordial, respectful and cooperative relations.  Today’s piece of public h

The best piece of advice I would give to any tourist hoping to explore the rich wonders and sites of Singapore is to get used to two names. Stamford Raffles.  The man is plastered across Singapore. Whether it be his first name (Stamford Street, the Stamford Hotel, Stamford International School), his last name (the Raffles Hotel, Raffles Place, Raffles mall, Raffles Street) or anything that relates to the man’s career (Bencoolen Street is named as much because Raffles was lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen from 1818-1824), you will be inundated with a constant stream of places named for the ‘Father of Singapore’. So for this reason, there is no better place to start our journey through the public history of this city state than with the iconic polymarble statue of Raffles that stands on the site believed to be the location where he first landed and set foot upon the island that he would lead into it’s infant years as a crucial colony of the British Empire.  Now as you can see, the picture

When one desires to search out ‘history’, where should they go?  A museum  A library Wikipedia There is a grand plethora of outlets for us to engage with and ingest history in it’s many manifestations. All of the above options generally market themselves as places available for anyone to gain a deeper knowledge about how the past has shaped the present. But all of them maintain a level of separation from the actual ‘history’ you may be searching out.  Sure you can look at an artefact in a museum but you can’t pick it up, feel it’s power in your hands and practically experience it’s history. Books can transport your imagination to another country or time period, but you remain in your bed or chair, or wherever you happen to be whilst you’re reading. Wikipedia has a robust analysis of every single event to have had even a minor impact on the course of humanities story, but it’s all just text on a screen.  My answer to the question posed at this post’s beginning is to go into your nearest