While we get caught up with this SG50 project, we run the risk of forgetting the pre-1965 history of Singapore. The more cynical among us would even suggest that SG50 is another attempt by the powers-that-be to whitewash "non-approved" history, much like my own six-year experience with the media in Shanghai, China, where depictions of pre-civil war, pre-1945, and pre-communist history were non-existent.
It cannot be that this Singapore island was a sleepy village, even before 1819 when the British East India Company conveniently "found" it and we were, henceforth, no longer lost. Given that everyone's harping on the strategic location of this island, we should expect that, as long as naval technology exists, Singapore would be a prized location for anyone wishing to dominate the region.
A cursory glance through online archives indicates that there had been many dominant players in the history of Singapore for at least the past six centuries. How did various powers like colonial Britain, Imperial Japan, the Johore Sultanate, the Dutch East India Company, colonial Portugal, the Malacca Sultanate, and Yuan and Ming China view Singapore? Even our very own ancient name of Temasek points to an interesting time when the Srivijaya was dictating the affairs of 10th to 12th century Southeast Asia.
SG50? I think SG500 would be barely adequate for framing the history of Singapore. It is a shame for current and future generations of Singaporeans to remember this island as nothing more than a post-1965 economic miracle.
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