I have been going around Singapore the past few days with some of my classmates. On Thursday, we went down the Singapore River from Boat Quay to the Esplanade. Then on Sunday, we visited the re-opened National Museum of Singapore. It is absolutely amazing to see how the museum has transformed itself from the old musty rooms of my schooldays to this modern museum which uses technology effectively to take the viewer through Singapore's history. It was well worth going to - and to my surprise, I could have stayed there for at least an hour or two more. More pictures of the new museum are here.
There are two series of galleries in the museum - the Living Galleries and the History Galleries. The Living Galleries are entertaining - nostalgia, Singapore heritage etc. But the History Galleries are impressive. Starting with a film on how Sang Nila Utama named a certain island "Singapura", and a section on Sir Stamford Raffles, we walked through exhibits on 19th Century Singapore and then to the early 20th Century. I personally enjoyed this part of the museum most. Especially the room containing several paintings from William Farquhar's Natural History Collection - delicate watercolours of the flora and fauna in the region. Farquhar commissioned various Chinese painters to paint these water colours for him. He brought his collection back to Britain with him and gave the paintings to the Royal Asiatic Society. They were auctioned off in 1993 and sold to Mr G K Goh. GK Goh then loaned them to the National Museum (or is it donated?). May many follow this extremely rare example of philanthropy in the arts !
The History galleries then go on to World War II and the Japanese Occupation, the years up to and struggle for independence. The museum presents the story in two ways - the "personal path" and the "events path" and I chose to follow the "personal path" and follow the journey through the experiences of individual Singaporeans. For example, it was interesting to hear how the Khong Guan brothers worked on cultivating good employer-employee relations throughout the years of labour unrest - they never had a single strike throughout this period!
The galleries conclude with the early years of nation-building. Frankly, I skimmed through this portion but it was fascinating to hear how the two men who conducted the Macdonald house bombing were caught, by the man who apprehended them. With one giant step, the National Museum has really totally transformed the whole museum-going experience for me and surely for a cohort of national-education-doubting-school children.
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