Singapore Founders' Memorial to take five-hectare site at Bay East Garden
More than a year after Singaporeans chose Bay East Garden as the location for the Founders’ Memorial, the authorities have designated a five-hectare spot as the site for the memorial.
In a statement on Friday (19 October), the Founders’ Memorial committee said that the site will include an indoor gallery within a garden. The next stage of the site’s development will focus on the design and content of the memorial.
The committee, formed in 2015, spent two years gathering views from more than 32,000 people before making its recommendations on the memorial last year. It said that the monument will focus on stories and events in Singapore’s growth as a nation and aims to be “moving and inspiring, educational and reflective”.
The monument is intended to capture the context for key milestones in Singapore’s history, as well as the context and events that shaped leaders’ values and principles, and their policy decisions.
The memorial will honour the period before independence to the first few decades of Singapore’s independence. An open competition will call for design proposals next January, the committee said.
The committee is already in discussions with agencies such as the National Heritage Board, Gardens by the Bay and Urban Redevelopment Authority.
Said the committee: “The site at Bay East Garden will reflect Singapore’s journey as a nation through elements such as the panoramic view of the evolving cityscape, which is a nod to Singapore’s urban planning.”
Meanwhile, the Founders’ Memorial committee is welcoming some new faces, with five members – Par Bee Gek, Ong Keau, Haslinda Zamani, Ms Lina Chong and Mr Zahidi Abdul Rahman – stepping down.
The five new members are: Jeff Cheong, president of Tribal Worldwide (Asia); Sharany Hassan, founder and director of Legal Matters; Professor Tan Tai Yong, president and professor of Humanities (History) at Yale-NUS College; Wong Siew Hoong, director-general of education at the Ministry of Education; and Yeoh Chee Yan, chairman of the National Heritage Board.
Lee Tzu Yang remains as chairman.
The current committee will serve from 1 May 2018 to 31 October 2020.
Related story:
Singaporeans want Founders’ Memorial to be at Bay East Garden: Committee
