Traversing Time

This is a poignant scene from the Malay annals being played out at the ongoing Bicentennial Experience at the historic site of Fort Canning. Titled “Time Traveller”, the immersive cinematic production takes the audience 700 years back in Singapore’s history, sequentially unfolding through five acts to reveal the establishment of the modern-day city.

The presentaion is a nod to the island’s evolution, from regional port-city to globally recognised financial and technology hub. It narrates not only the story of a nation determined to make its mark, but also the relationships it has formed around the world. The rich diversity of its people – multiracial and multicultural – reflects the city-state’s cosmopolitan origins.

Singapore’s success is preceded by unique challenges. As a people- and knowledge-rich but resource-poor country, it set out to address them by establishing links with the international community in areas such as business, healthcare, education, humanitarian assistance and culture. Since coming into its own as a sovereign nation in 1965, Singapore has benefitted – and flourished – from various development aid programmes. The Lion City now makes a concerted effort to lead by example, championing an axiom of “paying it forward”.