'Flowers? Give me shade first'

MM Lee also wanted greenery to soften cityscape, say gardeners
Ng Tze Yong, The New Paper 19 May 09;

THE humble gardener, with his patience for blooms and eye for all things beautiful, is the last person you might think about roping into the Machiavellian business of political survival.

But Singapore's gardeners were roped in after independence, where they planted, quite literally, the seeds of Singapore's success.

At a recent dialogue to mark the 150th anniversary of the Botanic Gardens, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew cast the spotlight on some of his lesser-known lieutenants - Singapore's pioneer gardeners at the National Parks Board (NParks) and its predecessor, the Parks and Recreation Department.

He explained how the greening of Singapore was a key economic strategy: Lush greenery and well-maintained lawns would show visitors this was a country that worked.

But just how was this political vision realised by horticultural minds? For just how do you plant pretty flowers in the dingy underbellies of flyovers , narrow road dividers and tiny traffic islands?

To realise the Garden City vision, the gardeners would have to, quite literally, tread where no gardener had gone before.

Teams were sent out in the '70s and '80s - to Kenya, Venezuela and Zimbabwe, among others - to source for plants to bring back.

Even MM Lee got into the act, keeping an eye out for roots and shoots as he shuttled around the world meeting world leaders.

The gardeners, true to form, wanted to grow pretty flowers. But MM Lee, the politician, was more pragmatic.

'He told us: 'Flowers are OK. But give me shade first. I want you to cool down Singapore',' said Mr Wong Yew Kwan, 76, who was the commissioner of the Parks and Recreation Department in the 1970s.

MM Lee hated anything concrete, Mr Wong said, and wanted greenery to soften their harshness.

'He would tell people things like: 'Do you know that if you stand under a raintree, it is actually 4 deg cooler?',' said Mr Wong.

Unannounced visits

'Another time, when making an argument for aerated ground slabs, which allows more air and water to reach the roots of trees, MM Lee told someone: 'Put a polythene bag over your head... you will suffocate!'

Every one or two weeks, MM Lee arrived at the Botanical Gardens unannounced, accompanied by a couple of bodyguards, for his evening strolls.

'But after every walk, he would send us little notes, like 'I saw small branches left here and I saw rubbish left there',' said Mr Wong, who added half in jest that after a while, he told his security guard at the gate to alert him whenever MM Lee arrived.

MM Lee's interest, Mr Wong believed, stemmed from his time in England, home to the world-famous Kew Gardens, and the pragmatism of knowing how first impressions last.

'Years before Changi Airport was built, he told us: 'When the first plane comes in to land, I want them to see planted vegetation, not wild vegetation',' said Mr Wong.

At the time, the Tanah Merah area, which planes pass on their landing approach, was covered in lallang and swamps.

'We scrambled around looking for a fast-growing species to plant there,' said Mr Wong. The Acacia and African Tulip trees were selected and thousands of seeds were promptly ordered from abroad.

The construction of the East Coast Parkway also proceeded with staccato precision.

'It was build, plant, build, plant!' said Mr Wong.

Mr Simon Longman, 52, the director of streetscape at NParks today, said: 'We knew we were doing something very different from other countries.'

But it wasn't easy. Much of the planting was done on ground where the topsoil was absent or where the water table had been disrupted due to rapid development.

Along the way, the gardeners learnt valuable - sometimes unexpected - lessons.

'Trees like the pong pong tree have heavy fruits. It drops on your car... people don't like that,' said Dr Tan Wee Kiat, 66, the former NParks chief executive.

Dented cars aside, Singaporeans had high standards for their flora. 'They always asked us, where were the flowers?' said Mr Wong.

'I told them, Singapore has no seasons. We will never have cherry blossoms like Japan, because all our plants are tropical and green the whole year round!'

But the team got around it by planting plants with leaves of different shapes or leaves that flushed with colour when they were young. Sometimes, they even watered plants less often than usual deliberately to stimulate flowering.

'At the end of the day, we had two advantages many countries didn't have - sunlight and rain,' said Mr Wong.

And with these - the only natural resources Singapore had in abundance - the humble gardeners coloured the country green.