72% of S’poreans want Founders’ Memorial to be at Gardens by the Bay

SINGAPORE — Bay East Garden has emerged as the preferred site for the planned Founders’ Memorial, with 72 per cent of the over-700 members of the public involved in a public consultation backing it.

Twenty-one per cent chose Fort Canning for the proposed landmark aimed at honouring the Republic’s founding fathers and their values, while the others supported either or both sites, said the Founders’ Memorial Committee tasked to conceptualise the memorial.

Supporters of the Bay East Garden site, which is part of Gardens by the Bay and sits next to the Marina Bay Golf Course, preferred its accessibility to different groups of visitors, including children and the elderly. The space also has potential for future development and symbolises the Republic’s development, said the committee, which yesterday shared findings from public engagement workshops held between September last year and this month.

Bay East Garden will be accessible by MRT via the Gardens by the Bay station on the Thomson-East Coast Line, which is set to be completed by 2021. While Fort Canning Park was preferred by some for its historical value, its accessibility and potential for development would be limited due to its steep terrain, said committee head Lee Tzu Yang, who is also the Esplanade’s chairman.

In March last year, the Government asked the 15-member committee to get feedback from the public on which of the two sites — identified in consultation with the Urban Redevelopment Authority — was a better option for the memorial.

The committee expressed “clear preference” for Bay East Garden, as it felt the location reflected the “forward-looking nature” of the memorial.

Others, like the PAP Seniors’ Group, backed Fort Canning Park for its rich history, pre-dating the colonial period.

The committee has not made its formal recommendations on the memorial yet. A showcase of the public’s ideas and views on the memorial will be held from March 14, first at the Gardens by the Bay, and later in the heartlands, where suggestions on programmes, physical features and desired experience can be submitted.

The committee will submit its recommendations to the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth by the middle of the year.

Other suggestions that have emerged from the public consultation so far include ideas for a “interactive memorial” that comprises indoor and outdoor spaces, multi-sensory exhibits such as memorable speeches, film and artefacts, and guided tours.

The committee will also explore how the memorial can be integrated with places of interest in its vicinity, such as museums, galleries and the Jubilee Trail. This is so that it will not be “just one point where people come to”, but one that stimulates interest in the history and other forward-looking aspects, Mr Lee said.

Even if Fort Canning Park is not chosen as the site, Mr Lee said it can be included in such forms of “integrated programming”.

Details on the design and timeline for construction will be worked out at a later stage, and Mr Lee stressed that the project should not be carried out in haste.

“Success for this memorial in the long term is the paramount thing,” he said, citing how the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington DC was built some 50 years after the 32nd President of the United States died. If Bay East Garden is chosen as the location, the memorial would likely be set up after the nearby MRT station opens, he added.