ST : Building heritage for the young

May 10, 2010

SOAPBOX

Building heritage for the young

Our national monuments are tools to teach the next generation our history

By Eisen Teo

OUR national monuments are symbols of our shared heritage as a nation.

But to ensure their preservation, we must demonstrate their relevance to the next generation.

And that relevance seems to be fading away, fast.

A recent Straits Times report said national monuments that no longer ring a bell with the average Singaporean have fallen into disarray, or are closed to the public.

There is the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, which gets only 450 visitors a month, and Memories at Old Ford Factory, which has 800 a month.

Other sites like the Nagore Dargah Shrine in Telok Ayer Street remain closed to the public, years after their architectural makeovers.

Even an icon like Lau Pa Sat has lost its historical significance, lamented a recent Straits Times Forum letter, and is now known only as a popular hawker centre.

Does it matter anymore that the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall is a standing reminder of how politics in mainland China once played out in Singapore, for example, or that the Nagore Dargah Shrine symbolises the efforts of Chulia Indians to spread Islam around South- east Asia?

Yes. For that is the stuff of social studies and history textbooks.

Yet many students dread plodding through thick textbooks chock-full of facts and dates.

How about taking them out of the classroom and into each and every one of our 61 national monuments?

In the whitewashed environment of the classroom, history rarely comes alive - it is too much of a stretch of the imagination to re-enact historical events and figures.

But walk through a space imbued with historical meaning, and the importance of the past leaps out from the walls. Who once called this place his abode, office or place of worship? What decisions or rituals, victories or disap- pointments unfolded within these corridors? What broader significance does this building have with regard to our history?

I am not suggesting we organise more one-off school tours, where students book in, peer and poke at dusty artefacts, and scoot off.

Stage lessons, presentations and re- enactments within these hallowed spaces. Task students with 'selling' the value of these buildings to the public as 'ambassadors'.

Only then can the significance of our national monuments - and our shared history - dawn on many a bored history student, and revitalise the cobwebbed monoliths that are supposed to be our heritage.

To rephrase a popular philosophical question: If an unknown building of historical value is demolished, did it ever exist? My answer: No.

Using these buildings as teaching tools ensures their unique stories are passed on to the next generation.

And who knows: With the vibrancy and creativity of youth, their stories might even be told better.

eisenteo@sph.com.sg