Part of the Berlin Wall on display in Singapore. The piece titled Kings Of Freedom, by well-known German graffiti artist Dennis Kaun, depicts a colourful, joyful king representing West Germany and a pale, blindfolded one, signifying East Germany. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN
QUIETLY, with only a handful of Bedok Reservoir Park regulars watching, a little bit of history was made yesterday, or rather, uncovered.
At 5.30pm, workers took the wraps off four panels - each 4m high - of the Berlin Wall that are going on display in Bedok Reservoir Park.
The low-key unveiling was a deliberate move by the organisers.
Said Ms Jennie Chua, who chaired the fund-raising committee for the project: 'The centrepiece is the wall and you don't need the razzmatazz to express the meaning of the wall. The panels speak for themselves.'
Added Ms Chua, who is Singapore's non-resident Ambassador to Slovakia: 'This is a piece of important history and to do anything else but have a low-key, dignified ceremony would not be correct.'
Indeed, even the launch ceremony later in the evening was simple.
The 300 guests - including Foreign Minister George Yeo and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua - gathered before a small stage in front of the historic panels to listen to a few speeches. After that, they tucked into a buffet that included fried noodles and satay.
During his speech, Mr Yeo stressed that the panels were not simply a reminder of the past. 'The wall should not only be a dry relic from the past from a faraway place, but a living heritage, an icon which draws people to it, provoking thought and discussion.'
That the panels found their way to the heartland, he explained, can be put down to 'happy coincidences'.
Their owners - American oil industry veteran Robert A. Hefner III and his Singapore-born wife MeiLi - are Mr Yeo's friends.
They had initially wanted to exhibit them with their collection of Chinese oil paintings at Singapore's National Museum in 2008. But the museum was not interested in the wall.
Instead of abandoning the idea, the Foreign Minister suggested hosting the wall in his constituency.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Mr Hefner said he hoped the wall could become an inspiration to Singaporeans.
'It represents the spirit of personal freedom and I hope people in this part of the world can come here and think about what it meant to the world,' he said.
The panels were obtained by the Hefners in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which was built in 1961 to stop East Berliners from fleeing their communist state to West Berlin.
ST09/01/10
