Call for design proposals and personal narratives in development of Founders’ Memorial

SINGAPORE — The 15-member committee in charge of conceptualising the Founders’ Memorial is calling for design proposals and personal stories on the nation’s growth to be used in the development of the tribute to Singapore’s pioneer leaders.

Announcing this on Friday (Oct 19), the committee said that the memorial at Bay East Garden will be built on a 5-hectare site which will likely house indoor and outdoor viewing galleries, a visitor centre and multi-purpose rooms to host school excursions and citizenship ceremonies.

To kickstart the development process over the next two years, a design competition will be held in January 2019.

More details on submission guidelines will be announced later.

The National Heritage Board (NHB) will help to collect and curate stories from the public for the memorial.

The idea of a Founders’ Memorial was first mooted in the wake of Singapore’s late founding father, Lee Kuan Yew’s death in 2015. Then, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a Parliamentary statement that there were calls “to do something to honour not just one man, but our founding generation of leaders”.

“A founders’ memorial need not be a grand structure, but it must stand for our ideals, our values, our hopes and aspirations,” said Mr Lee then.

Mr Lee Tzu Yang, chairman of the Founders’ Memorial Committee, said on Friday that based on public feedback, some of the values the committee hopes to bring across through the memorial include “diligence, a willingness to persevere through adversity… and incorruptibility”.

He acknowledged that while the memorial could invite criticism, with detractors seeing it as propaganda, it is intended to “unify” Singaporeans, including those who hold different or opposing views.

“This is a project we sincerely believe in… we believe it will be relevant for the future."

He also told reporters that five members from the original committee formed in 2015 have stepped down.

The current committee began work in May this year and includes five new members: Professor Tan Tai Yong, a historian and president and professor of humanities at Yale-NUS College, Ms Yeoh Chee Yan, chairman of the NHB, Mr Jeff Cheong, president of advertising agency Tribal Worldwide (Asia), Ms Shahrany Hassan, founder and director of lawyer referral service Legal Matters, and Mr Wong Siew Hoong, director-general of education at the Ministry of Education.

“We hope that the memorial will reflect the dilemmas that first generation leaders face. By exemplifying the values and ideals of Singapore… hopefully this will make the memorial different from other heritage landmarks,” said Prof Tan.

The memorial targets the period after World War II to the first few decades of independence — a “critical turning point for Singapore”, described Prof Tan.

Asked if the memorial will include anecdotes from the Singaporean diaspora, or dissenting and opposing narratives, Prof Tan said that the intention of the committee is not to “gloss over the complexities” of Singapore in the post-war era. “It is not our intention to black out or white-wash some parts of history,” he said.

The reclaimed land of Bay East Garden was chosen as a nod to Singapore’s urban planning, said Mr Lee Tzu Yang, who is also chairman of the Esplanade.

“(It) reminds us how we dealt with our water and land constraints, and the Garden’s association with our development as a ‘Garden City’.”

PM Lee announced the memorial's location in August last year. It was based on the recommendation of the Founders’ Memorial Committee and had emerged ahead of Fort Canning Park in a poll of more than 700 people.

The committee engaged over 32,000 people from 2015 to 2017 before submitting its recommendation report to the Government last year.

The committee had also said earlier in its report that a possible timeframe for completion is in seven years — by 2025 — so as to "capture public enthusiasm and hopes for the memorial" when Singapore's 60th anniversary comes around.

The cost of the memorial and how it will be funded remains unclear as the project is in its early stages, said Mr Lee Tzu Yang on Friday.  

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