rom my experience of the trail and lessons in this class, it has helped me to shed lights on Singapore’s History. For the years that I have spent in primary and secondary school, the only knowledge about Singapore's history mainly rings around 1) Raffles was the founder of Singapore, 2) Singapore went through a lot of hardship during the World War II, 3) there were riots happening in Singapore between races and 4) Singapore was part of Malaya until she got independence. These are facts that were continuously being highlighted during major national events in school, like the Total Defence Day, Racial Harmony Day and National Day.
This trail has given me insights beyond what was taught to me during my schooling days. For years, I never took notice of the colonial buildings found in this district area. The architectural design and the location of these buildings provide some evidences of British's existence in the area and the kind of institution it was during the colonial days. However, sadly as a Singaporean, I never quite feel fascinated by these historial buildings. This trail has made me realise on how ignorant I was about Singapore's history, especially during the British Colony. I credit it to the fact that stories behind these buildings and during this period in Singapore are hardly highlighted in school's textbook.
Although I was quite contented with what I have learned during this trail, it does not have much impact on me emotionally. The reason for feeling this way is partly because I have no close connection with anyone who has lived through that era. I also strongly feel that the main reason is that the grand narrative taught in schools and shown publicly through national events is selected to suit the state's main objective of "learning from history", which is progress and nation building. The national events that we as a nation celebrate are mostly to commemorate the yesteryears of nation building. Singapore's progress and nation building has dominated so much of Singapore's narrative that the past before it was not given much importance. Despite having the government restoring and preserving some of the historical landmarks, I feel that it is not enough to keep Singaporean's heritage intact especially on Singapore's past prior to Japanese Occupation. More emphasis was given on landmarks that signify us as a nation, like the Civilian War Memorial and the Padang, and lesser on those erected during British Colony for the British government in the past. Over the years, these colonial buildings are transformed to serve a different purpose, undermining the actual reason for building them. This could also be one of the reasons why colonial buildings are less meaningful and significant to Singaporeans. Take for instance, the conversion of a former parliament house to a multidisciplinary arts centre. I feel that it should not go through this transformation as it takes away the essence and importance of the building it once was in Singapore’s history. Furthermore, it is quite apparent that some of the monuments were placed there for the sake of commemoration physically but not instilling values to Singaporean on the importance of commemorating such milestone in Singapore’s history.
Though there are efforts seen in this trail to teach about Singapore's past, from Singapore being a British Colony to an independent state with major milestone in between, some people could not relate to it, especially the younger generation. I feel that more could be done to give a better impact, aside from just preserving the monuments. Not only do we need to be educated about how Singapore's economic thrive because of Raffles' vision and how Singapore was like during the colonial period, we need to be constantly reminded on that part of Singapore's history just like how the national events persistently remind Singaporeans of her progress and nation building every year.
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