A Gentlemanly Reply

(With thans to The Straits Times)

Jul 6, 2011

National Museum remains focused on Singapore history, replies Heritage Board


I REFER to senior writer Clarissa Oon's commentary ('Time for museum to dig deeper') and Singapore Heritage Society president Kevin Tan's essay ('Museums should show real artefacts') which were published yesterday.

I have always believed that institutions languish when their lovers are uncritical and their critics unloving.

I regard Ms Oon and Mr Tan as loving critics and welcome their constructive criticisms.

· First, what is the core mission of the National Museum? It is to be the custodian, interpreter and curator of Singapore's history.

The Singapore History Gallery covers 700 years of our history. The story is told through 1,630 artefacts, including some of our national treasures.

We will review Mr Tan's request to help the hearing-impaired and technologically challenged visitors by having written texts in addition to the audio guide.

· Second, the National Museum and the National Heritage Board are dedicated to the creation of intellectual capital and knowledge. Recent books on Singapore's history include Mark Ravinder Frost and Yu-Mei Balasingamchow's Singapore: A Biography; Jason Toh's Singapore Through 19th Century Photographs; Cheah Jin Seng's Singapore: 500 Early Postcards; Wong Hong Suen's Singapore through 19th Century Prints and Paintings; and Kwa Chong Guan, Derek Heng and Tan Tai Yong's Singapore: A 700-Year History.

The recently established NHB Academy will look into the feasibility of publishing a scholarly journal for writers in Singapore and Asean.

· Third, in addition to its core mission, the National Museum hosts visiting exhibitions from the great museums of the world, such as the Louvre.

The museum also hosts smaller exhibitions about different aspects of time, such as food, film, fashion, time and so on.

The current exhibition of Vacheron watches is not a trade show or an exhibition of antique watches. It is an exhibition of man's quest to measure time and tells the remarkable story of the oldest watch-making company in the world. The founder of the company, Jean-Marc Vacheron, was a contemporary and friend of two of the great thinkers of the European enlightenment, Rousseau and Voltaire, both of whom were watch makers. At its best, a watch is the product of a brilliant mind, precision engineering, miniaturisation, art, design and master craftsmanship.

· Finally, we accept Ms Oon's exhortation to curate more exhibitions based on our history, personalities and stories, which are based on deep research and displayed in a creative and inspiring manner.

We will do our best to make Ms Oon and Mr Tan proud of our National Museum.

Tommy Koh
Chairman
National Heritage Board