Speech by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the launch of Singapore Heritage Festival 2013

“Creating Memories for Tomorrow”

Mr Lawrence Wong
Acting Minister

Mr Sam Tan

Mr Ong Yew Huat
Chairman, National Heritage Board

Ladies and gentlemen

CELEBRATING OUR HERITAGE

1.    The Singapore story has always been one of opportunity, hope and diversity, ever since forever, when our forefathers left their homelands in search of a better future. They settled in Singapore from the Malay archipelago, from the Indian subcontinent, from the Chinese mainland, even from the European colonial powers. The many diasporas added colour and vibrancy to our society. And out of these diverse, rich backgrounds, we have built and are still building, a shared Singapore identity. Today we take pride in our uniquely Singaporean norms and habits – the way we speak, our food, our social habits, perhaps also our proverbs.

2.    Heritage is essential to people and to nations. It anchors our sense of place and identity. It enables a nation to adapt and to progress as the world changes. And it is the yin which is an essential complement to the yang of material progress.

National Heritage Board 20th Anniversary

3.    We may be a young nation, but we have tried our best to uphold our heritage and to keep it a living tradition. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the National Heritage Board (NHB). NHB has over the years made many significant contributions to our cultural landscape. For example, it redeveloped the old Singapore History Museum to the National Museum of Singapore, which is where we are today, in the new part of the building. We established new museums to share the story of Singapore with foreigners and with ourselves – the Asian Civilisations Museum, the Peranakan Museum, the Singapore Art Museum. We managed our heritage institutions – Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, the Malay Heritage Centre, and soon the Indian Heritage Centre. We have developed heritage trails all over the island, and conducted outreach programmes to engage the community, and engage especially our children in schools. So happy birthday and congratulations to NHB on your 20th anniversary!

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

4.    Heritage will become even more important to us as we look towards the future, because it is clear from the OSC conversations that Singaporeans not only value economic success but also cultural development. We want Singapore to be our Home with Heart and with Hope. Home is not just where we live, but where we feel a sense of identity and belonging. Having a Heart is not just about caring for the less fortunate, but feeling at one with our fellow Singaporeans. And Hope is not just individual success, but what the future holds for Singapore and for the values we hold dear.

5.    Since MCCY was formed last year, it has launched many initiatives to promote our heritage. For example, it set up a $200 million fund to match private sector donations to the arts and heritage sector. It has introduced free entry to our museums, everyday, but today especially, even to the special exhibitions. It signifies the importance we place on the arts, the culture and heritage, and that we want to make our museums accessible to all Singaporeans, whatever their background and circumstances. We would like to encourage more Singaporeans to visit our museums and get to know the story of Singapore.
 
6.    But the Government does not own the Singapore heritage. It does not define the Singapore heritage. Our heritage is a collection of individual memories, woven together into a national story.  It is something that belongs to every Singaporean, and which each one of us can contribute to and help to preserve, individually and collectively. Parents and grandparents play an important role in doing this, providing the links to our past, passing down the convictions, the sentiments and values to your children and to your grandchildren.
   
Singapore Heritage Festival 2013

7.    This Singapore HeritageFest is an excellent example of how we are engaging the community to celebrate our shared culture. When it began in 2004, the idea was to bring our museums to the communities. But over time, the HeritageFest has evolved into a partnership, encouraging Singaporeans to celebrate what they value about our own heritage in our own ways. This is the 10th HeritageFest. To commemorate this milestone, this year’s HeritageFest features 10 festival hubs and 20 community-led events across Singapore, including “Heritage Hawker” by Sinma Dashow, Jernnine Pang and Jim Orca. Sinma and Jernnine are themselves children of hawkers, and they thought it would be a good idea to document the craft and trade of Singaporean hawkers. With NHB’s support, they spent 900 days capturing the stories of hawkers and hawker centres. The result is their publication: “Heritage Hawker” – a tribute to our hawkers and their contributions to our shared food heritage. We also have events that showcase our rich ethnic cultures. For example, we have Som Said and her performing arts group Sri Warisan performing traditional Malay dances. We have a public tour of nine Chinese clan associations’ premises and activities, including the Cantonese clan association which opens their exhibition today. We have the Indian Food Festival organised by the Indian Restaurants Association. And we have the Eurasian Association Open house to share the Eurasian culture with other communities.

Heritage Grant Scheme

8.    I hope many Singaporeans will participate in all these activities, and I hope many more will step forward to contribute your own ideas to celebrate our cultural heritage, not just during HeritageFest but every day of our lives; to move beyond being just passive audiences of heritage content, to being active creators and participants. And to encourage them, NHB is launching a new Heritage Grant Scheme.  It will set aside some money – $5 million – to support community-initiated projects like exhibitions, publications, documentaries and mobile applications. If you have a good idea on how to capture and celebrate our shared heritage, tell us. And if it is a good idea, we will support it. So I hope Singaporeans take full advantage of this, and lend your voices to help us tell our story – the story of Singapore.

CONCLUSION

9.    We have come a long way in 48 years since Independence, but we have not reached our full potential, far from it. We must celebrate our heritage, look back and appreciate how far we have come; at the same time, look forward and write new chapters of the Singapore story together. That way, Singapore will continue to thrive, and we will offer a brighter future for our children and for many generations to come.

10.    I wish you all a happy and enjoyable Singapore Heritage Festival 2013! Thank you very much.