I agree with gohby. I am from Raffles Institution, and I find it
very abhorrant that people think RI guys are nerdy, muggers, etc.
etc. If you are not from this school, you have no right to
criticise it.
Mr. Tan Kah Kee was a great philantrophist and donated great
sums of money to found schools. Naming a station after him is no
big deal and I don't understand the fuss. After all, Eunos is named
after Enche Muhammad Eunos Abdullah, a great Malay philantrophist,
who founded Kampong Melayu, later named after him. Aljunied is
named after Syed Omar bin Ali Al Junied, a Yemeni philanthropist. His charitable acts
included donating a large plot of land in Victoria Street for the purposes of a
Muslim burial
ground and the construction of a mosque in Bencoolen Street. The land where
St Andrews Church stands was also donated by him. He contributed
largely to the setting up of the Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Therefore, Kah Kee Station will not be the first to be named
after a philantrophist. Even though Enche Eunos and Syed Omar bin
Ali Al Junied have roads named after them, it does not mean that an
MRT station can't be named after Mr. Tan Kah Kee. Is it that
difficult to accept that?
In other countries, metro stations are also named after great
revolutionaries. In Paris, metro stations are named after square or
a street, which, in turn, is probably named for something (or
someone) else. There are metro stations named Franklin D.
Roosevelt, George V, Charles de Gaulle, Pasteur, Bolivar,
Michelangelo, Garibaldi and Stalingrad, just to name a
few. Even though there is an av. Franklin D. Roosevelt, there
are no exits from Franklin D.
Roosevelt station to av. Franklin D. Roosevelt.
George V station too. So, what's the fuss?
NickL_C151's suggestion is sound. Probably the whole station
could be dedicated to Mr. Tan Kah Kee, with miniature statues,
paintings, and the station can be done up like a small museum in
his honour, depicting his life and contributions to Singapore's
educational system. It could even become a tourist attraction! To
reduce confusion among the public or in the case that HCI
moves out, we can have double names for the station (Kah
Kee-Duchess or Kah Kee-Watten). Again, this example is taken from
Paris, which has double-named stations like Richelieu-Drouot,
Reuilly-Chaligny and Saint Sebastien-Froissart. Doesn't this
satisfy everybody?
Could someone suggest this to LTA.
I agree that it is a great idea. There is no need for any of us
to suggest this to LTA. Just ask those HCI students to do what they
good at..