There was an article written by Tan Dawn Wei in the latest Sunday Times which pondered on why Singapore does not have a single Unesco World Heritage site to boast of.
The article can be read (here).
Apparently, the only other countries in South East Asia who do NOT have a Unesco World Heritage site are Brunei, Myanmar and Timor Leste.
Wow.
The full list of World Heritage sites can be found (here).
And there was this local lecturer in the article who firmly believes that we have a few sites which should have a decent shot at making the list – the Botanic Gardens, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the civic district.
I think that’s kinda stretching things a bit.
Unesco World Heritage sites are a thing of beauty and wonder. I’ve been to a few before and they were remarkable.
No disrespect, but if we give the tag of “Unesco World Heritage site” to sites such as the Botanic Gardens, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Bukit Timah Nature Reserve and the civic district…then somehow that title won’t seem very special to me any more.
I think Associate Professor Johannes Widodo, a jury member of the Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation, said it best. To quote:
“Associate Professor Johannes Widodo, a jury member of the Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation, thinks the Gardens is Singapore’s only hope given that most of the country’s built heritage has been lost to urbanisation and development.
‘World Heritage sites must have a universal value. Buildings such as those in the civic district – Raffles Hotel, City Hall, St Andrew’s Cathedral – are probably valuable for Singapore, but not so much meaningful beyond this particular context,’ said the lecturer at the National University of Singapore’s Department of Architecture.”"
I think the key thing here which Prof Widodo clearly understands is that ours is a country which values urbanisation and development over the preservation of culture and heritage.
The fact that we’re struggling to find even one contender for the tag of “Unesco World Heritage site” shows how much of our heritage we’ve actually compromised to make way for urbanisation and development.
The Unesco list catalogues “sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.” Does anything that we have in Singapore make the grade?
We go to Europe and we marvel at how well some of their historical sites have been preserved. Some of the structures are so old that you can even “feel” the sense of history.
Sadly, over here in Singapore, the old always seems to have to make way for the new…in more ways than one. People who don’t visit Singapore in just a few years always remark on how much Singapore changes in just a short span of time.
If other countries can work on preserving sites out of reverence for heritage, culture and history…why not us?
Why does every beautiful piece of land in Singapore always have to make way for a shopping mall or office building?
Agree with both arms & legs…………..all the old buildings we’ve demolished in the name of urbanisation and the ridiculous attempts made to ‘upgrade’ the new ones (think Chinatown), what a pity!!!!!
[...] “Really a pity”: http://jeremyyew.com/2009/02/17/world-heritage-site-in-singapore/ [...]
Thanks for your comments, Hui2.
Yeah, it’s a pity that we’ve had to demolish many beautiful old sites and buildings of good heritage value to modernise them into something which lacks “soul”.
I think that’s the problem with Singapore now. A lot of things lack “soul”. They look brand new and state-of-the-art, but they have no history or soul.
haha. maybe Merlion Park? HAHHAA. :P
Let me see.
I think to make it to the list, we would need something that is of cultural heritage AND unique. I can’t say we have that much unique stuff in Singapore’s landscape. The uniqueness is only when we take Singapore as a whole with its diversity of cultures in 1 country/city. And maybe for Singapore, what should be preserved are artifacts or something else, rather than sites in some cases. e.g. Singapore Nanyang paintings, our unique theatre content, etc.
As for upgrading. some needs to be upgraded in order to make them still usable/safe to use, or else they’ll be pulled down. Buildings need life in it too to continue its existence. Also partly because Singapore has limited space.