LKY School of Public Policy at NUS (2019)

Boots on the Ground

History doesn’t always have to be relayed blandly through textbooks. In fact, more often than not they come to life outside the classroom. My Community’s tours for students take the young on routes across Singapore’s old towns and culturally rich enclaves, enthralling them with stories of their ancestors and predecessors. The aim? To cement their interest in local heritage.

My Community conducted a tour of Tanglin Halt for aspiring youths, policymakers and thought leaders as part of the inaugural 2019 Festival of Ideas seminar organised by the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Like the conference, which was designed to inspire leaders of the future, My Community’s tour sought to motivate participants to better connect with Singapore’s past to better navigate the future. The tour presented a chance for participants to step out of the conference room setting to walk the streets developed by founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew and his team. Among other things, Mr Lee and the People’s Action Party of the time had worked feverishly to relocate Bukit Ho Swee residents into new flats located at places such as Queenstown’s Stirling Road which was once swampland. Mr Lee and his team were also responsible for the other residential properties and social institutions which sprung up across the island’s first satellite estate.