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