Your Excellencies and members of the diplomatic corp,
Mr Michael Koh, Chief Executive Officer of the National Heritage Board (NHB),
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,

Celebrating Heroes

 I am pleased to join you this afternoon at the opening of the Singapore HeritageFest 2008. The festival this year celebrates heroes – ordinary people with extraordinary spirit. Each of us has someone whom we look up to, someone we admire and someone who reminds us that we have what it takes to be a better person. At the individual level, it could be a person who had nurtured us over an extended period of time or inspired us during a brief, critical encounter in our lives; our parents, a favourite teacher, a national sportsman or even a Singapore Idol. Regardless of whom our heroes may be, we feel their lingering impact on our lives and their influence over us transcends the passing of time.

2 Then there are those who are heroes to many. Many a child in our schools would be familiar with Lim Bo Seng, Lieutenant Adnan Saidi and Elizabeth Choy and others who were our early pioneers and philanthropists. Their lives are well documented and taught in schools. We recognise the many sacrifices they made, how they overcame numerous challenges and obstacles and we remember them for the selflessness they displayed as they persevered in the face of adversity for the greater good. These heroes embody the Singapore spirit, and their stories also serve to bond our nation and reinforce our sense of pride and identity.

3Whether it is a hero personal to us or someone whom we collectively identify with, heroes are important. When faced with dilemmas, crises or catastrophes, we can draw strength from their spirit of giving, sacrifice, compassion and never-say-die attitude to help see us through trials and testing times.

Bringing heritage to the heartlands and people

4 This year, the HeritageFest is launched in the heartlands for the first time, with a vast array of activities organised in the heartlands. In this way, we are making a special effort to connect with our Singaporeans and PRs living in the heartlands. We are also privileged to have three celebrated Cultural Medallion recipients – Mrs Santha Baskar, Mdm Som Said and Ms Joanna Wong – specially curate an exhibition called “Conversations with 3 Cultural Personalities” on street theatre in Singapore. It chronicles their cultural journeys and milestones. Multi-sensory festivities, spanning vernacular concerts, dress-up competitions for children to a food exhibition, all free of charge, have also been lined up at other popular heartland malls such as Compass Point and HDB Hub to bring heritage events to Singaporeans’ doorsteps.

5 Over 200 public, private and people sector groups are involved this year. The level of engagement among the schools is also strong this year, with schools not only participating in the festival’s events, but also working with NHB as partners. The primary schools have been strongly supportive of the Heroes Patch programme. I understand that NHB had an overwhelming number of entries on the three war heroes.

6 NHB has additionally taken the first step to publish its first children’s book on 10 Singapore’s pioneers entitled “Someone Like You: Titans of our Time”, profiling the somewhat lesser-known personalities like the samsui women, Zubir Said (who wrote our national anthem), Govindasamy Sarangapany (founder of Tamil Murasu) and Professor Ernest Monteiro (renowned doctor who stopped the polio outbreak in Singapore through vaccination in the 1950s). It has also developed the Heritage Portal or H-portal for short, which serves as the e-portal to all heritage websites and facilitate discussions on heritage related topics. Do use these platforms for your discussions.

Preservation of Singapore’s built heritage

7 Beyond heroes, how else do we celebrate our heritage and shared past as a nation? One way is through the gazette of national monuments. Each of these buildings is a powerful reminder of our shared history, our beginnings, achievements and progress. As visible signposts of key periods in our history, our monuments enhance the sense of community and nationhood among Singaporeans. Many of the religious monuments are also popular tourist attractions. I am sure you are familiar with the Thian Hock Keng, Sri Mariamman Temple, and the Sultan mosque, among many others.

8 These rich architectural heritage is preserved for the benefit of all Singaporeans. Thus, the preservation of monuments is also a societal responsibility. While the main responsibility rightly lies with the monument owners, the State is willing to co-share some of this responsibility where there is a clear need for additional avenues of assistance.

9 I am therefore pleased to announce that the government will set aside $5 million over the next five years to assist owners of religious and non-profit national monuments to undertake urgent, necessary repairs. This new assistance scheme – the National Monuments Fund (NMF) – will be launched by the Preservation of Monuments Board (PMB) this year. Together with the NMF, we hope to grow more people and private sector support for our preservation efforts. PMB will be releasing details of this Fund later this month.

Conclusion

 10 Whether it is built heritage, traditions or heroes, all of them are integral components of Singapore’s multi-cultural history. They bond our nation and reinforce our sense of identity and pride. The activities of this year’s HeritageFest will help keep our personal and collective history strong through a variety of meaningful and colourful events.

11 It is now my pleasure to officially declare the Singapore HeritageFest 2008 open. Thank you.