Preserving and promoting world heritage

Excellencies, Ambassadors

Guests and partners,

Ladies and gentlemen,

1. I'm very happy to be here with you for this PIECE OF PEACE exhibition in Singapore. As you can see, I come here today in two capacities: first, as Minister for MCCY and secondly, as Chairman of the Singapore National Commission for UNESCO.

Preserving and promoting world heritage

2. At UNESCO, we are committed to educating, preserving and promoting our heritage and our culture. I'm so glad that as the Singapore National Commission, we are able to bring parts of the world to the audience in Singapore, promoting understanding and celebrating the diversity that we have in the world. It's really a great honour to be able to do that, and thank you for giving us this opportunity and platform.

3. It is indeed a unique travelling exhibition of UNESCO World Heritage sites reproduced with LEGO bricks. Through this showcase of intricate structures – and you can see for yourself, it's just so amazing – the organisers aim to raise awareness of the need to preserve our heritage sites. The exhibition started in Japan 14 years ago, and has attracted more than 2.9 million visitors. And just another fun fact, I was told before that it took about 6 years to put up the structures here! It's really an amazing feat by successive batches of craftsmen and enthusiasts, who have put in much effort to reproduce intricate heritage sites for us.

Celebrating Singapore's rich and diverse heritage

4. As Chair of the Singapore National Commission, I am very proud to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Singapore Botanic Gardens' inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site. A model of the Singapore Botanic Gardens has been included to celebrate the occasion – thank you very much! – and the model will make its debut today.

5. If you have not visited the Gardens though, I encourage you to do so. Because it is not just a showcase of the best and most spectacular of tropical flora, it is also a favourite for Singaporeans and foreign visitors since its founding in 1859. It is a very popular venue for cultural performances too. Our orchestras and school bands perform at the Gardens regularly, transforming it into a great space for the whole family to enjoy. Today, it continues to be Singapore's pride and joy, and an exceptional treasure that we want to share with the world.

6. Singapore is the first country in ASEAN to host this exhibition. To mark ASEAN's 50th anniversary, seven new heritage sites in ASEAN have been included in this exhibition. These beautiful replicas showcase the rich cultural diversity in ASEAN. And as a member of ASEAN, we will continue to promote the appreciation of our diversity and richness in the cultural heritage in ASEAN to our people. I also hope that this exhibition will help to draw more visitors to the rest of ASEAN as this region offers us an enormous richness of attractions.

Nurturing a caring and inclusive culture

7. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone who has made this exhibition possible. More importantly, as MCCY, we are also very glad to see that this exhibition has a charitable purpose, by including a fundraising aspect for the less fortunate among us. This raises awareness of how we can care for the people around us, especially the less fortunate and the needy.

8. I'm sure that many LEGO fans look forward to this exhibition. But I think it is also important for us to bring other segments of society to our galleries and museums. This is something MCCY is very keen to promote, and this exhibition is a great example of how we can reach out to all segments of society, to make our society one of inclusiveness and unity.

Conclusion

9. Thank you again to the exhibitors and organisers. I hope you have a wonderful morning, and enjoy viewing the intricate structures on display.

10. Thank you.