Tuesday, August 27, 2013

SG 50: SINGAPORE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS IN 2015

Heng Swee Keat will chair the SG 50: SINGAPORE’S 50TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS IN 2015 committee as reported. Swee Keat has chaired the Our Singapore Conversation (OSC) committee which has just concluded all the OSC sessions. Yesterday, some of the SG 50 committee members were introduced in a TV interview and they include well-known film makers Roystan Tan of “881” movie fame. From what I garnered from the introduction, the SG 50 committee will crystalize and distil ideas around the “Singapore Stories” themes, in the belief that all Singaporeans, young and old, have their individual and unique stories to tell and share with others.
I read that our country will send an astronaut into space to mark our Singapore’s 50th anniversary and I believe this sending of the astronaut to space will be the culmination of all the celebrations of Singapore’s 50th anniversary. I heard the word “Jubilee” bantered about by one member of the SG 50 committee in the interview piece yesterday and quickly, my mind flew back to year 1990 when my family and I participated in the 25th Jubilee parade in Aug 1990. I still recall those days when Singapore seems less stress-free; there were not so many condominiums, skyscrapers and people on our island and there were really many sweet memories of Singapore. Those were the memories that will remain close to my hearts… of places, events and people … Authentic and Pure!

Life is simpler then but people, at least myself are happier. Singapore today, does not have any meaningful places outside for me to make a connection with. Going around the island, modern stylish hyper shopping malls, elegantly designed condominiums, skyscrapers do not impress me much. I often hear the need that Singapore must transform in order to evolve with the changing economy and world. But do we really need to pull down so many of our memorable places like the old National Library to way for monotonous buildings? Nowadays, a neighbourhood park with some trees is already quite valued by me as there are not much TRUE greenery around in Singapore.

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