13 maret 2009 02:15

Singapore To Manage Communal Heritage Centres

Singapore - The Singapore Government has taken over the management of three local communal heritage centres here, in a move to make them more prominent in the international historical map.

The Malay Heritage Foundation, the Sun Yat Sen Nanyang Memorial Hall and the Indian Heritage Centre today inked a memorandum of understanding with Singapore`s National Heritage Board (NHD), an agency under the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), that would manage them.

Under the memoranda, the ministry is providing S$29 million, or 95 per cent of the development fund, to the three heritage centres for its expansion projects and operation costs.

The communities also have to raise the remaining five per cent or about S$1 million to help fund the centres.

Speaking at the signing ceremony here, MICA Senior Minister Lui Tuck Yew said although the centres would be managed by NHB, they would continue to be owned and led by the respective communities - the Chinese, Malays and Indians, the main Singapore populace.

Lui said the centres had the potential to achieve greater international impact and they should leverage on the expertise of the HDB in areas such as operational management, curatorial and programming direction.

NHB chairman Prof Tommy Koh said in their collaboration, the board would harness the synergies between the centres and NHB`s museums and the National Archives.

It would also add intellectual firepower to the centres by partnering with local and foreign institutions such as the Malay Studies Department of National University of Singapore, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies and the Hasanuddin University in Makassar, Indonesia, for issues relating to Malay history, he said.

He said the board would also assist to conduct research such as exploring the historical links between Singapore and the Acehnese, Javanese, Boyanese, Minangkabaus and other communities.

On cooperation with Malaysian institutions, Malay Heritage Foundation chairman Zainul Abidin Rashid said the Melaka Museum had shown its interest in putting up an exhibition at its heritage centre in Kampung Glam, and that the foundation would continue to work closely with Warisan Johor, Johor`s state heritage group. Zakaria Abdul Wahab.

Source: www.bernama.com (March 11th, 2009)
Photo: www.flickr.com

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