Personally, I really enjoyed this trip along the Singapore River and I appreciate it as an invaluable opportunity to take a break from our hectic lives of studying and gluing ourselves to the screens of our phones and computers. As a person that usually seeks comfort and leisure indoors, having the chance to take a stroll with my friends along the Singapore River is not something that I frequently do in my life. The last time I been on such a trip, walking along the same trial, was when I was 14, a secondary school student who know practically nothing about the history of Singapore. While nothing has changed much as the landmarks pretty much remained the same as before, it is with a more profound understanding of Singapore history and a stronger passion for history itself that make this recent experience a much more meaningful, fruitful and reflective one.
While being excited for the trip, I do confess that I had a tinge of cynicism before meeting the rest to embark on the morning journey. This was a result of predicting even before the trip how my trial along the trip will be one that contributes nothing further to what I already heard of upteen times, the mainstream narrative of Singapore’s history the education system has drilled into our minds since young, hence concluding that my journey in awhile’s time would be at best a pointless repetition of what I already know. True enough, during the journey, this mindset naturally resurfaces as I jostled from landmark to landmark with the rest, however, what was distinctly different this time was a sudden instance where subconsciously, I “put myself in the past”, a brief moment where I attempted to visualise and empathise how different people of the past, from Raffles and the colonial elites, to the coolies from China to the Malay natives to the Indian labourers felt like standing at a particular landmark. Maybe it was with a deeper understanding of Singapore’s history that I have that has resulted in a thought that I would never have had at the age of 14, to appreciate Singapore’s past to appreciate its present.
Perhaps one of the most excitable part of the journey was when we found the marble statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, erected to mark his landing site. Immediately, all our focus was thrown at the inscriptions made on the metal plate affixed at the base of the statue, in particular the phrase “and with genius and perception changed the destiny of Singapore from an obscure fishing village to a great seaport and modern metropolis” . At that instant, I remembered we began jumping around and ranting like annoyed brats about how this statement, while being the mainstream narrative, is a far cry from the truth. All the lectures we had on how Singapore was not fishing village even before Raffles and that the deeds of Farquhar and Crawfurd are sidelined suddenly came to life. It was this momentous reaction that after the trip I come to further appreciate my decision to pursue the study of history even till university as it is only after studying history till now, I was taught and trained to question whatever information that was fed to me even and especially if it comes from an official authority to view history as a constant contestation of competing narratives rather than carrying a simplistic mindset around, blindly believing what I’m told to believe.
Ultimately, I genuinely believe that this journey along the Singapore River is a meaningful and worthwhile experience. For a young history student, ordinary citizen or tourist, this trip will offer one an insightful overview of Singapore history as a Straits Settlement and a bustling seaport. Even for those who assume and think that they have already had the national narrative ingrained into their minds, I sincerely recommend the effort to make a trip down to not only enjoy the picturesque scenery, but also to empathise with the past and thereafter develop a stronger rigour in processing what they learn as history.
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