Things left unsaid.

One spark that inspired us to start this project was all the little golden leftovers that got edited out. Sometimes it’s a hilarious anecdote that would have annoyed a then-important person (or paymaster!), or a snippet that didn’t fit the overall thesis and argument. Or a tale just too R-rated for a country with PG-ears.

 Stuff gets edited. We get that. Literally - we get those deleted bits, and find them a place where people can see them.

 So when we appeared in the Straits Times (Chua Hian Hou, 9 June 2007), we thought that we’d write up the stuff that didn’t make the editor’s cut. After all, it was an article on citizen journalism, not re-writing Singapore history.

Introducing the quick guide to Citizen Historian:

1. What we are: A platform for discussing history and heritage,initiated by NUS history post-graduates and alumni.

2. What we cover: Researching history. Forgotten histories. Impressions of history. Exhibition reviews. Book reviews. The people whose profession is history - teachers, curators, journalists, professors, taxi drivers, your gossipy aunt/uncle who knows exactly who cheated who in a mahjong game 10 years ago. And how that cheater went on to become a high-ranking civil servant. (You never know!)

3. Who writes for us: You do. This is about little personal observations, individual curiosities about the past (and present) - so it should be from you. We make our suggestions to make it bigger and connect to a larger audience,  but this is about giving people a chance to make their stories heard.

4. Who should contact us: If you’re the student from Mauritius, wondering why Singapore tears down national landmarks.

If you’re a concerned citizen who has a story to share about the preservation of history and heritage.

If you’re a history student who wants to make a statement on why particular histories are written and others rejected.  

If you’re a history teacher who finally figured out how to get the rugby team to sit through the Elizabeth Choy story. 

If so, come and talk to us.

Our website features a banyan tree for two reasons. One, the Singapore government has often been described as a banyan tree - strong, overpowering, and nothing can grow beneath it. Similarly, history and heritage in Singapore has often been a story told from the top.

In 1991, George Yeo called for a change, calling for civic groups to take root beneath the banyan tree, and make the connection between the grassroots and the treetop. That’s what we’re trying to do - getting other histories to take root and grow strong.

 Secondly, if you’ve been in Singapore for awhile, you know that banyan tree in our picture. You’ve driven past it, walked past it. It’s survived many things - the National Library, the Japanese Occupation and road-widening. It protects the museum that stands beside it. It’s the banyan tree besides the National History Museum of Singapore.

 You’ve always known that it was there. But do you really know about it?

And there it is, a little piece of history hidden in plain sight, that almost never makes the editor’s cut.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 10th, 2007 at 3:24 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.