According to ST article “Unwanted child of S’pore conservation?“, there is recent reports of fresh plans for the Capitol Theatre. The author, however is sceptical about these fresh plans, as Capitol Theatre, had been acquired by the state in 1987, that is 20 years ago, and nothing, absolutely nothing had been done to the site. Unless you count the declaration of the building as a conservation area.
Various department tai chi the plans to better use the acquired Capitol Theatre, with this hot building bouncing from Singapore Land Authority, to Singapore Tourism Board, and back to Singapore Land Authority.
Somehow, this inaction for 20 years does really make the public wonders about the efficiency of the government. It does not matter to the public which department is in-charge. As they are all under the unbrella of government, the inefficiency will be pointed at the government.
An idea brought up was to engage the public in the conservation of buildings in Singapore. This seems to be the recent cool phrase to use by different government departments. It is always nice to portray a caring image that the government departments are concerned about the public views and the government departments listen to the public.
However, the public cannot be held, but be very sceptical about it, as past records, such as the tearing down of the old Stamford National Library to built an ERP-gantried tunnel pierced hard into the heart of the citizens.
People, being human, learns from experience. We have the proverb “Once bitten, twice shy”. The tearing down of the old original Stamford National Library, which being a collective effort of the early days commoners, will always strike hard in the heart of the citizens. If fevert public protest was unable to make any difference, why bother?
Show the public example that their voices and efforts make a difference, rather than telling them “Nor should they be left to bemoan conservation efforts gone awry after the fact.” It is as good as saying, stop complaining.
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