Vivien Ho

On the 9^th of March 2010, a group of my friends and I visited the Singapore Asian Civilisation Museum (ACM) during a school field trip. The museum is located at Empress Place, just beside the Singapore River.

The environment around the museum is rather unique. Just outside the museum, on one side of the Singapore River, the ambience is very close to mother nature; there were many trees in a park-like environment, which was called ACM Green.

Asian Civilisation Museum, ACM Green

Across the river, tall commercial buildings are built along the Singapore River, a stark contrast to the park-like environment on the other side. However, as we looked down the river, we were able to see pre-war houses that were preserved from the past. Hence, this inspired our group to focus on the Singapore River as the main theme for our project.

There were many exhibitions on Asia and South East Asia, for example, China Gallery. The museum made use of today’s advanced technology to provide more in depth information through videos on touch screen panels.

One of the many touch screen panels in ACM

As Singapore River is the main focus of our group, we paid special attention to the Singapore River Gallery, which shows the history, exhibits and artefacts on the activities happening along the Singapore River in the past. An open window provides a view of the mouth of the Singapore River and the skyscrapers along it. We were able to compare the Singapore River in the past, which was shown in photographs in the exhibit, with what we are able to see now. The Singapore River Gallery is the first gallery that one would see upon arriving at the top of the entrance stairs. This gallery, which is specially dedicated to the river, provides significant historical information to visitors.

Singapore River Gallery

I wanted to choose something related to businesses along the Singapore River in the past. A photograph of an Indian coolie caught my eye as: firstly, it was quite huge in dimensions, and secondly, it reminded me of the time when my friend acted as an Indian coolie during one of the History lessons, hence, I decided to use it for my stamp. This photograph can be found in the Singapore River Gallery. It is a representation of the merchants that were working along the Singapore in the past. Due to Singapore’s location, it managed to flourish as a busy and popular trading port. As a result, there was a need for workers and coolies, and Indian coolies were then a common sight along the Singapore River. With their hardship, Singapore managed to grow into a more developed country, with many imports and exports to and from other countries as a result of trade. Up to today, there are still cloth and electronics shops along the Singapore River. Therefore, I have chosen the photograph of the Indian coolie as I felt that they were vital to Singapore’s development and very much related to our group’s theme, “Singapore’s Past, Today’s Glory”.

Photograph of Indian coolie found in the Singapore River Gallery

Overall, the trip to the Asian Civilisation Museum was an enriching one. The exhibits were very informative, and the photographs and artefacts shown, gave viewers a close to real life experience. The physical environment was indeed spectacular and inspiring. The Asian Civilisation Museum is one of the attractions or museums that tourist, and locals alike, should not miss out.