Leverage on popular past to promote Singapore uniquely
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Jul 9, 2011 - ST Forum
MR MARCUS Yip's Forum Online letter on Monday ('Preserving a slice of history') took me back
to memories of an older Singapore.
In our haste to join the First World nations, we have unwittingly erased the old Singapore and what our forefathers had built in the past century.
I always associate Penang in Malaysia with the hawker stalls along its hawkers' row in Gurney Drive and Malacca with the nonya food along Jonker Street.
Which visitor to Thailand could forget the famous Victory Monument at the Ratchathewi district in downtown Bangkok? The Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens, England, still stands today since it was first opened in 1872. Every country has some famous landmark that is worth preserving for posterity.
In my courting days, I used to patronise old Bidadari cemetery and the old cemetery at the present KK Women's and Children's Hospital. The dead did not disturb the living and we could coexist peacefully even in the suburbs of old Singapore. The famous chendol at the old Rex cinema and the delicious Indian rojak of Waterloo Street are now history.
I have always wondered why the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay sleeps throughout the day and comes to life only after 7pm. Its concert hall, which can seat 1,800 music lovers, is seldom full.
We should cultivate what is home-grown, and such culture and traditions will be here to stay.
Tourists are not impressed by our Helix bridge and the Singapore Flyer but the Singapore Zoo and Jurong BirdPark seem to pull in the crowds every day of the week.
Heng Cho Choon
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It's all about $$$.
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Singapore has lost its soul in the pursuit of prosperity.
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That's because Singapore does not belong to Singaporeans.
A Singaporean does not own a single inch of Singapore, he merely leases it. All these shared memories are borrowed too, for others to wipe their ass and move on.
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" I have always wondered why the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay sleeps throughout the day and comes to life only after 7pm. "
Esplanade Theatres On the Bay is a joke!
Their exisitence are based on the generous funding from the Totalisation Board!All (not some) their programmes are never full house.
With the Mat sound and light technicians sleeping in the day and coming alive only during the nite. -
Originally posted by 4sg:
" I have always wondered why the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay sleeps throughout the day and comes to life only after 7pm. "
Esplanade Theatres On the Bay is a joke!
Their exisitence are based on the generous funding from the Totalisation Board!All (not some) their programmes are never full house.
With the Mat sound and light technicians sleeping in the day and coming alive only during the nite.Mosaic festival and bay beats are very successful but it's true that esplanade only comes alive at night
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there are many who do not value history, how is it possible they value what they achieve...for soon, these will be forgotten and treated as future trashes..
history is not merely about the past...thats superficial thinking...it is a powerful strategic back thrust in any political and critical situations if u know how to make great use of its lessons...
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Originally posted by mancha:
Singapore has lost its soul in the pursuit of prosperity.
Hanor.
40 over years of nation building all gone down the drain in the pursuit of GDP.
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Originally posted by 4sg:
" I have always wondered why the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay sleeps throughout the day and comes to life only after 7pm. "
Esplanade Theatres On the Bay is a joke!
Their exisitence are based on the generous funding from the Totalisation Board!All (not some) their programmes are never full house.
With the Mat sound and light technicians sleeping in the day and coming alive only during the nite.Esplanade is for the rich and elite.
Not for us commoners.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Esplanade is for the rich and elite.
Not for us commoners.
I like the old Esplanade.
simple and delicious.
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
I like the old Esplanade.
simple and delicious.
Huh?
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Originally posted by Clivebenss:
I like the old Esplanade.
simple and delicious.
The Esplanade was originally called Queen Elizabeth Walk. It was for ordinary folks day outing and to take photographs.
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Originally posted by mancha:
The Esplanade was originally called Queen Elizabeth Walk. It was for ordinary folks day outing and to take photographs.
Originally the park is called the Esplanade park before renaming Queen Elizabeth Walk in 1953.
and they stillcalled the Esplanade for the haker at the end of the park. Later Satay Club was added in 1969. Like the chendol in the cool evening sea breeze then.
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Kpop superstar Taeyeon of SNSD visted Singapore around a year ago with her family on a private visit.
I pity her, old charming landmarks demolished, only giant new buildings which Seoul have plenty.
There's very few locals left also, she must have left Sinkapore thinking that it is a refugee camp for other third world country people.
If she really look hard enough.
I pity all the tourists that is coming to Sinkapore, they should have came 10 or 20 years ago,.
If they really ask me, I would have told them not to bother coming to Sinkapore.
Sinkapore is a fake country.
We are all not time travellers.
We can't go back in time.
What's gone is gone.
Sinkapore is a mass orgy of abusement and squandered public trust in SinkaporeInc..
Tried to fool locals and now also to fool tourists.
Cheapskate place with no sense of pride and moral intergrity.
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Originally posted by Askingyouto:
Kpop superstar Taeyeon of SNSD visted Singapore around a year ago with her family on a private visit.
I pity her, old charming landmarks demolished, only giant new buildings which Seoul have plenty.
There's very few locals left also, she must have left Sinkapore thinking that it is a refugee camp for other third world country people.
If she really look hard enough.
I pity all the tourists that is coming to Sinkapore, they should have came 10 or 20 years ago,.
If they really ask me, I would have told them not to bother coming to Sinkapore.
Sinkapore is a fake country.
We are all not time travellers.
We can't go back in time.
What's gone is gone.
Sinkapore is a mass orgy of abusement and squandered public trust in SinkaporeInc..
Tried to fool locals and now also to fool tourists.
Cheapskate place with no sense of pride and moral intergrity.
GDP growth is more important.
Really.
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Originally posted by charlize:
GDP growth is more important.
Really.
What a GDP obsessive government. -
Originally posted by charlize:
Esplanade is for the rich and elite.
Not for us commoners.
Not really. Some of their entrance fee are priced resonably. They even have matinee programmes- quiet affordable.
The problem is not many Singaporean can appreciate1) their type of programme - western oriented lifestyle programmes.
2) local programme in opulent setting - like Cantonese opera in these type of setting. Singaporeans used to see open air chinese opera where they can pick nose and dig toe nail, not in tie and suit. -
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This country and its leaders has lost their souls
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First on the list to consider is $ $ $.
People are free to give suggestions, ultimately the govt of the country are the ones to say yes or no to suggestions. If the land can be sold away for more $ there is no better reason for them to listen to the writer of the letter. MONEY MONEY MONEY.
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$$ makes the world go round?