Looking back at my school days, I always had a beef to pick with my history lessons years later. I question its relevance to my education and how it could have been much more enriching if it concentrated on topics closer to home.
Why would I want to learn about ancient history? Mesopotamian and Egyptian stories of King Hammurabi that happened thousands of years ago? For a 13-year-old, this was so alien that I could not relate to it. Why do we have to learn about something that seemed useless to me? It was just memory work and hardly engaging at all.
Only years later when I was older, I begin to appreciate history and the lessons from the past we can learn to hopefully prevent from doing the same mistakes again. To know why it happened and about the twists and turns which eventually resulted in specific outcomes became fascinating to me. Spartacus, Vikings, European and even China history had many stories to be retold. Yet, I know very little about our own Singapore history.
But as a young kid, history was boring and it was the last thing I wanted to learn. The syllabus should have been about our young nation’s history which talks about our roots and culture. That is more relevant and relatable to us. We were still a young country in the 1970s, having only gained independence in 1965. Maybe that was why we did not have much to share. Hence I guess learning about other people’s ancient history was a necessity.
Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) was the man that turned this tiny red dot around, from a 3rd world country into a 1st world one within a generation through sheer foresight and determination to forge our destiny no matter what the cards we were dealt with. And we have much to thank him for.
I had an opportunity this week to better understand our founding father’s many trials and struggles in the LKY musical I saw on Tues evening. This original musical was first staged in 2015 and it was relaunched again this year. It was a celebration of us returning back to normal after 2 years of Covid.
As I had not seen it in 2015, I did not want to miss it again this time. So I bought a ticket to watch it alone since my family members couldn’t make it and it was going to end soon on 02 Oct. It was made up of an all-Singaporean cast fronted by Adrian Pang and Kit Chan. The musical writeup below from SISTIC:
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“One of the most successful Singaporean shows of all time, The LKY Musical, returns this September. Presented by Aiwei and Singapore Repertory Theatre, this will be the first large-scale musical to take place here in over two years!
Watched by over 50,000 people during its first run in 2015, this home-grown musical tells Lee Kuan Yew’s story – from his student days in 1941 to Singapore’s independence in 1965. Starring Adrian Pang and Kit Chan, with music by Dick Lee.
This is more than just one man’s story. This is a tale of idealism, war, intrigue, betrayal, loyalty, determination, passion and love. This is the story of Singapore.
The LKY Musical is an inspiring tale of facing hardship head-on, overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges and rising from the ashes. With new musical arrangements and new songs, this is an ideal show to bring Singaporeans together after the challenging past couple of years.”
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The show was an eye-opener for me as it focused on the period before S’pore gained its independence. It detailed the incidences that happened that shaped LKY’s determination as Singapore was kicked out of the Malaysia union after 2 years of group independence. It also resulted in tough decisions that LKY had to take and explains why he took them.
He was trying his utmost best to ensure that the Tunku continue to allow Singapore to remain in the union. He was the original person that planted the idea to Malaysia to propose that the Asian countries form a pack in order to seek independence from the British colonial masters.
But the subsequent 2 years of internal conflicts resulted in many disagreements and infighting. It made the union painful for all and impossible for the team leader to continue with the status quo. There were multiple ideological differences that included the view on how to manage the communist threat within each country plus the right to recognize all citizens as equals which became sore points. These eventually became breaking points.
Singapore was like the kid brother that refused to toe the line and was becoming more than an irritant to the big brother. LKY wanted equality for all races but Malaysia preferred to see that differently. Communism and Socialism were also grey areas that the leaders disagree with.
The musical is a tale of resilience, political intrigue, betrayal, loyalty, uncertainty, self-determination and hope. There is an overwhelming sense of triumph against the odds, and unimaginable pride at realising all it took to finally call Singapore our own.
The LKY Musical ends up being more than the story of a single man – it is the story of a nation, rising from the ruins of war and the struggle of decolonisation, to emerge as one united people, one Singapore.
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