Desmond Lee: Singapore built on colonial legacies to become what it is today

The acceptance and display of the donated statues of Sir Stamford Raffles and Dr Nathaniel Wallich in Fort Canning Park recognise the colonial legacies that the country has been able to "build (upon), adapt and transform to bring Singapore to what it is today", said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee on July 2.

- Clement Yong

Calling this a "clear-eyed view of our colonial past", Mr Lee also cited examples of Singapore's administrative, judicial and systems including Parliament, which is based on the Westminster model as current institutions which can be traced back to the British.

"We do not glorify or celebrate it. However, we acknowledge that it is a phase of our history, which stretches way back 700 years to even before colonialism as we saw in the Bicentennial," he said in a written parliamentary reply.

His statement was in response to a question by arts Nominated MP Usha Chandradas about the basis for the installation of the two new statues of colonial figures in Canning Rise in May.

The artwork, titled Scholars In Conversation: Sir Stamford Raffles & Dr Nathaniel Wallich, was donated by the Singapore chapter of the alumni of the University of East Anglia, and accepted by the National Parks Board, administers Fort Canning.

Their erection had sparked fury from some quarters who said this went against movements elsewhere in the world to dismantle, or even topple, monuments of colonial figures - a statue being one of the most public, visible and unnuanced modes of commemorating a person and his achievements.