War & Peace: The Kranji Experience™

Director of Singapore History Consultants, Mr Jeya
Teachers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Boys and Girls,

1. Good afternoon. Despite the rain or shine, we continue with this very important ceremony. I'm happy to be here with you at Kranji War Memorial to officially launch the new Resilience Trail – War & Peace: The Kranji Experience.

2. It is not every day that we get a chance to explore what is likely to be a remote part of Singapore. I remember the last time I visited this place was about 20 years ago. It is a very memorable experience to come back here to enjoy this sense of déjà vu again. Amid the excitement of the new experience, I hope you managed to take in key moments from our history and picked up useful lesson or two from our past.

3. The War & Peace Trail is the fourth of a series of five walking trails the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) developed with the National Heritage Board (NHB) and the Singapore History Consultants (SHC). Preservation of our heritage remains one of the core objectives of MCCY. As we build our future, our younger generations must not forget our past as these are what shaped us. Through such heritage trails, we hope to get students like yourselves interested in Singapore's challenges and achievements in a meaningful and fun way. By the end of today, you will be amongst some 2,500 students who would have participated in these four trails, and hopefully leaving more inspired and proud of our shared past.

4. Their tenacity and resilience are virtues I hope will be a source of motivation when you face your own obstacles in life - as young students today, and later on in your life as active Singaporeans.

5. Beyond the war, Kranji is also a place which shows up Singapore's adaptability as a people during peace time. I'm sure your guide would have told you the story of Mr Jack Ng, the founder of Sky Greens vertical farm. It is interesting to note that Jack's farm which was opened last year is the first in Singapore to use vertical farming technology to produce vegetables commercially. Who would have guessed that the need to overcome our land shortage and constraint has created a technology that now produces at least five times as much vegetables as farms using conventional technology! The vertical farming technology had won Jack the Minister for National Development's Research & Development Award Merit Award for Vertical Farming in 2011. Today, Sky Greens produces 500kg per day of our local supply of vegetables, and maybe some of these vegetables have landed on your tables. Their technology has even attracted interest in other countries. So you see, constraints and limitations can sometimes spur us to think deeper, creatively and innovatively to bring about better changes. This is the Singapore story, where we create something great despite our limitations.

6. Similarly, along the way you may also have noticed how we have adapted to our water constraints by damming the Kranji River and turning it into a reservoir, just as we did with our desalination efforts and NeWater. It is easy to take these things for granted. But if we take a moment to reflect, we will notice that there are many examples of our resilient and adaptable spirit – both in war and in peace time.

7. I hope that walking this trail has given you both an appreciation of our shared past and a greater confidence of our heritage. May the stories today inspire you to carry on the torch of our resilient spirit in living out your aspirations - for the good of Singapore and those around you.

8. I wish you all an enriching and a meaningful journey ahead. I know the rain is coming back, and this is what Singapore is constantly facing – one moment dry, one moment wet. But no matter what the weather is, the wetness can damp the ground, but will never damp our spirit. Together, you can help us to write a better chapter for the Singapore history.

9. Thank you.