The commission and installation of a third public statue of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore has reignited debate about how the country should critically engage with its colonial history. Scholars In Conversation: Sir Stamford Raffles & Dr Nathaniel Wallich was...
The commission and installation of a third public statue of Sir Stamford Raffles in Singapore has reignited debate about how the country should critically engage with its colonial history.
They found that this was close to Singapore’s first botanic garden’s bicentenary in 2022. Set up in 1822 by Raffles and Wallich, the first botanical and experimental garden in Singapore focused largely on cash crops such as nutmeg and cloves, with its historical boundaries along Hill Street, Victoria Street, Bras Basah Road, Handy Road and Canning Rise.
He also took issue with the memorialising of botanical experiments that were for the purpose of growing cash crops that benefited the British empire. “Colonialism was the start of the destruction and loss of Singapore’s biodiversity. Neutral history is lazy history. Colonialism is not neutral.” They later told The Straits Times that they do not believe that the history of British colonialism should be erased, but that conversations about it in schools, museums, media and even parks and gardens need to be more conscientious about showing all sides of British rule, its boons as well as its ills.
Few sculptors in Singapore work with bronze because of the lack of a foundry here, Mr Tan added. “There’s always another opportunity. It’s up to groups to find their donors to materialise their ideas.” “Singapore is contrarian compared with other newly independent countries. They tend to take down colonial era statues or monuments. They change the names of streets and places. We don’t do that. I like to be a contrarian,” he said.
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