Singapore’s nation building journey deserves to be ‘commemorated and remembered’: SM Lee

SINGAPORE: The time has come for Singapore to build a memorial to commemorate its nation building journey, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday (Jun 5).

Speaking after the groundbreaking ceremony for the Founders’ Memorial, Mr Lee said that Singapore’s journey as a nation deserves to be “commemorated and remembered”.

Singapore has several memorials marking significant events in its modern history, like the Kranji War Memorial and the Civilian War Memorial.

But it does not have one to tell the story of how it became what it is today, and bring to life the “ideals, impulses, and the spirit” that drove its founding leaders, Mr Lee explained.

“Now, almost 60 years after Separation, and 80 years after World War II, the time has come for us to build one,” he added.

The Founders' Memorial will be located in Bay East Garden and will occupy reclaimed land fronting Marina Bay, said Mr Lee.

It is expected to open in 2028, said the National Heritage Board (NHB) and Gardens by the Bay.

Mr Lee officiated the groundbreaking ceremony at the memorial’s site in Bay East Garden, with Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, as well as Minister for National Development Desmond Lee also in attendance.

In a speech delivered at Gardens by the Bay’s Flower Field Hall, Mr Lee touched on the contributions of Singapore’s founding leaders.

Apart from rallying the nation through various crises and growing the economy, they established “fundamental values and ideals” that set the long-term direction of Singapore, he added.

These were democracy, justice and equality, meritocracy and a drive for excellence, and an unwavering commitment to honest, clean government.

Mr Lee said that the founding leaders were determined that every race would have an equal place in Singapore and this was due to a few reasons.

"Having had such recent bitter experience of being a racial minority, the founding leaders resolved never to place independent Singapore’s majority race, language, and culture above others, and never to allow our minority communities to be disadvantaged and marginalised," he explained.

"Secondly, while Singapore was a Chinese majority and Malay minority society, all our neighbours were Malay majority and Chinese minority societies. Racial politics in Singapore would have made our position in Southeast Asia untenable."

In addition, the founding leaders had a "profound, unshakeable conviction" in multiracialism, said Mr Lee. They "passionately believed" this was how Singapore should be, and had to be, for the sake of all its citizens, he added.

A "UNIQUE ORIGIN STORY"

Mr Lee said that Singapore has a unique origin story, different from other newly independent countries during the post-war era.

Not many countries successfully shifted from the “independence struggle to nation building, from rousing revolutionary mobilisation to the patient slog of improving people’s lives. Singapore did,” he added.

Singapore’s founding leaders took the nation from the third world to first, Mr Lee pointed out.

“There were difficult choices to make, painful trade-offs to weigh, and different views to reconcile, especially in the first decade,” he added.

“The founding leaders did not get everything right. But on the most important issues, they made the right choices, Singaporeans responded, and Singapore succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.”

And out of a “shared experience” of crises and successes as well as sacrifices and celebrations, a Singaporean identity and a recognisable national ethos emerged, Mr Lee said.

“We became a society that is open to the world, resilient and united in the face of crises, and bold and courageous in our dreams,” he added.

WHAT THE MEMORIAL WLL LOOK LIKE

The design of the memorial was selected through an international architectural design competition launched in January 2019.

The winning submission by Kengo Kuma & Associates, in collaboration with K2LD Architects, is one which represents a “bold and imaginative” memorial which “rises out of the landscape”, said NHB and Gardens by the Bay.

The design depicts a path, which represents a journey that traces the legacy of Singapore’s founding leaders and generation.

The memorial will feature two two-storey buildings above ground as well as a common basement with an ascending amphitheatre linked to the first storey.

"Singaporeans wish to honour our founding leaders, tell the stories of those who lived through those turbulent times, and inspire future generations with the values that gave birth to independent Singapore and its development," said Founders' Memorial Committee co-chair Lee Tzu Yang.

"It remains important going forward to continue this engagement because the Founders’ Memorial is envisioned as a space owned by every generation, including future generations of Singaporeans."

It will house exhibition galleries, a viewing gallery that overlooks the city skyline, multi-purpose rooms for conducting workshops and programmes, and other outdoor spaces in the gardens.

Multiple paths will intertwine and extend from the memorial’s two buildings, connecting them to the larger Bay East Garden.

As a “living memorial” that will “honour the past and inspire the future”, the landscape will feature plant species that were planted in the early years of Singapore's journey to become a green city.

Ultimately, the memorial will honour Singapore’s founding leaders and its nation building journey, said Mr Lee.

It will focus on key leaders in Singapore’s first two decades of national building from the 1950s to 1970s, including Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his core team, as well as other important leaders in the public, private and people sectors, he added.

“It will tell the story of how they overcame the odds to build a strong, united, and independent Singapore; how they led the people of Singapore through successive battles first against colonialism, then communism, and finally communalism; and how they then built a nation based on the values and ideals embodied in the pledge, launching us on the journey that has led to the Singapore that we see today,” Mr Lee said.

“I hope this Founders’ Memorial will become a space where Singaporeans reflect on our ongoing nation-building journey; appreciate our precious inheritance from the founding generation; and resolve to continue building a harmonious and successful Singapore, based on our foundational values and ideals, for generations to come.”