Singapore - A place in Singapore history for China's revolution

Should Singapore be celebrating its supporting role in a revolution that took place in another country?

That question arose with the opening last Saturday of the revamped Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall, a villa-turned-museum named after the itinerant Chinese revolutionary leader who stayed there on three occasions.

In a letter published yesterday in this newspaper's Forum page, cultural historian Dr Liew Khai Khiun criticised the museum for giving prominence to China's 1911 revolution and the support invested in it by a group of ethnic Chinese pioneers of Singapore.

Online, critics have accused the museum of Sinocentrism and pandering to a rising China. The memorial hall and museum is managed by the National Heritage Board on behalf of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which was in charge of the place before the revamp.

Essentially, the debate goes back to two questions which have haunted Singapore since independence: whether to delve into the parts of our history originating from different lands; and if identifying with one's ethnic heritage makes one more or less Singaporean.

One historical fact which cannot be ignored is that Singapore was the South- east Asian base of Dr Sun's Revolutionary Alliance. This sprawling group of intellectuals and military leaders wanted to bring a democratic system of government to a feudal and corrupt China, planning a slew of uprisings that eventually brought down the Qing emperors by end-1911.

Some historians would even go so far as to say that as a relatively affluent port city where many overseas Chinese passed through, Singapore was the most important place for Dr Sun outside of China.

Well-known historian Professor Wang Gungwu makes this point in a video commentary at the memorial hall, located at Tai Gin Road off Balestier Road.

I find the charges of Sinocentrism unfair because, Dr Sun Yat Sen's name aside, the main story told by the museum is actually that of a dynamic and socially- engaged Chinese community here at the onset of the 20th century.

Left very much to their own devices by the British colonial government, the business leaders of this community built schools, hospitals and temples, and started Chinese-language newspapers.

Intellectually and emotionally, they embraced the cause of reform in China in much the same way that some Indians here supported India's revolutionary leader S. Chandra Bose during World War II.

Given that it was only decades later that anyone would conceive of Singapore as a nation and their permanent home, it is bordering on the ridiculous to distinguish between 'Singaporean' and 'foreign' in the early 20th century.

Also, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall must be seen in the context of two more heritage museums being developed by the Government with help from community partners.

One is the Malay Heritage Centre in Kampong Glam, which is undergoing redevelopment and will reopen next June. The other is the soon-to-be-built Indian Heritage Centre in Little India, ready by December 2013.

Together, they mark the first time that significant resources and curatorial attention have been devoted to telling the pre-independence stories of the major ethnic communities. The National Heritage Board has committed a total of between S$30 million (US$23 million) and S$35 million to all three institutions.

Seeing these rich and diverse histories beyond the lens of nation-building is, to me, long overdue, and reflects a growing maturity as a nation.

One can recall how Mr S. Rajaratnam, the first culture minister and People's Action Party ideologue, believed Singapore's history should start from the arrival of the British in 1819 and wanted ethnicity and ethnic heritage to be downplayed totally.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Government began to pay more attention to ethnic culture as a shorthand for inculcating 'Asian values' in the young. But such a values-based approach proved a turn-off to an increasingly educated and sophisticated population, and also ignored the complexities of history and culture.

For example, 'Indian culture' is really a misnomer given the diversity of experiences of the Tamils, Gujeratis, Sikhs and others from the Indian sub-continent. The Indian Heritage Centre, which will begin construction next year, is expected to document the full range of stories of the Indian community.

Going ahead, the Sun Yat Sen museum should develop more exhibitions on the pioneers of the Chinese community.

They include Teo Eng Hock - the Peranakan owner of the villa that hosted Dr Sun - his nephew and planter Lim Nee Soon and medical doctor Lim Boon Keng.

Interestingly, these three supporters of the Chinese revolutionary movement were not Chinese-educated as one might imagine, but English-educated Peranakans with varying ability in the Chinese language. According to Prof Wang, Dr Sun's ability to speak English won them over. The charismatic leader was born in Guangdong but grew up in Hawaii.

Politically and ideologically, Chinese community leaders at the time were far from united. There were those like the literary scholar and businessman Khoo Soek Wan who backed Dr Sun's rival, Kang Youwei. Kang championed reforms but not revolution and also visited Singapore several times to lobby for support.

Later, when the Chinese Communist Party emerged as a force in China, it would also find supporters here.

I would love to see exhibitions on the identity politics of the Chinese community, including the Peranakans. More needs to be known about the history of the Straits-born Chinese, beyond their beaded slippers and other decorative artefacts collected at the Peranakan Museum at Armenian Street.

The one point on which I agree with Dr Liew is that Singapore has forgotten many local incidents of historical significance, such as the Oct 10, 1943 massacre of ordinary Singaporeans by the Japanese.

The heritage museums should dream big and start a quiet revolution in historical and multicultural awareness.

Clarissa Oon

The Straits Times


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