Popular Cognition of National Monuments in Singapore

Abstract

Monumental features or landmarks in the urban built environment are distinguished by clear form, prominent location, a high degree of visibility and in Lefebvre‘s (1991:143) words, "impose a clearly intelligible message". In Singapore, the gazetting and preservation of national monuments come under the ambit of the Preservation of Monuments Board. From the state‘s perspective, national monuments embody historical value: as enduring landmarks of the city which link the present to the past, they give "lithic memory to the life of a nation" and are integral to the process of building national solidarity, identity and pride. This paper examines popular cognition of Singapore‘s national monuments, that is, the extent to which the general public are able to identify gazetted monuments in visual and nomenclatural terms. A questionnaire survey of 284 respondents selected from a public housing estate as well as in-depth interviews with a smaller sample yielded information on Singaporeans‘ visual recognition, nomenclatural accuracy and historical knowledge with respect to national monuments. The results showed that while visual identification of monuments was strong and the public could clearly identify the main attributes and general forms which national monuments take, the specific names of these monuments were often overlooked and historical knowledge of them rather shallow. In the conclusion, it is argued that if monuments are to serve their purpose as the country‘s "psyche" annd "memory", deeper knowledge of the history and meaning behind these monuments must be inculcated in the Singaporean consciousness.