NEVER FORGET OUR PAST, SO LET’S GLORIFY SYONAN

Dear A.S.S. Editor

PM Lee has already came out and expressed his support of naming an exhibition about the Japanese Occupation “Syonan Gallery”. He had also said that we will never forget the darkest time of Singapore’s history.

Which is all true. We cannot change the fact that Singapore fell to the Japanese, Singapore endured many years of hardship and fear under the Japanese rule, and of course, Singapore even lost its name. PM Lee said that Singapore will always be small and vulnerable, and no one owes us our sovereignty or security. These are truths we must never forget. Again, all true, But to glorify the name Syonan as your name of the brand new museum? We shall not forget the past, but do we need to glorify the painful past? Maybe now we should also name a part of Changi or one of Changi’s roads after Yamashita?

We should really re-evaluate how we remember the past. If by glorifying the name of Singapore’s fall is how we remember our painful past, then we are seriously deluded.

Cheong M Y

A.S.S. Contributor