Back to nature with a man-made wonder

Gardens by the Bay may change how we look at life here and grow the number of nature lovers
Zuraidah Ibrahim Straits Times 8 Jul 12;

Many years ago, a young minister accompanying Mr Lee Kuan Yew on a visit to South Africa confided, half in jest, that he hoped he would not be asked to accompany Mrs Lee on a scheduled tour of a garden. She would probably quiz him about the flora, and he dreaded betraying his ignorance.

It would be some years later that I would learn the depth of the Lees' interest in plants. In his memoirs, Mr Lee wrote of how his government sent botanical research teams on scouting missions around the world. Of some 8,000 varieties of plants they returned with, more than 2,000 were successfully transplanted here, adding to the diversity of Singapore's parks.

Later, in an interview for the book Hard Truths, Mr Lee revealed a social engineering agenda behind the garden city vision. He told us that parks would cultivate a 'sense of equalness' in society since everyone - rich or poor - benefits from the outdoors. The sons of those in smaller HDB flats would have no qualms defending the country if there were enough common spaces that were not enclaves of the wealthy, he felt.

Indeed, Singapore's parks are great equalisers. In housing, transport, education and recreation, the rich can carve out a private, privileged existence. Most public amenities - community centres, public swimming pools, public libraries, government polyclinics and so on - are avoided by the well-off.

However, if you want to enjoy a run through a majestic forest or walk along a scenic waterway, you have to leave your BMW and country club behind and foray into a public park, along with your office clerk practising qigong, or your favourite hawker walking with his grandson.

Over the decades, isolated pockets of parks and wayside trees have been transformed into a landscape interlaced with necklaces of green walkways and boardwalks, such that nobody is far away from a path to nature. I dare say that, for many Singaporeans, the park connector network has made a greater difference to their quality of life than the much-trumpeted 'iconic' new skyline downtown. The Gardens by the Bay, which opened last week, is the crowning glory of Singapore's 'city in a garden' vision.

It comes at a time when Singapore society is more fractured and combative, when any national project can count on loud boos as well as bouquets.

And it is easy to knock the Gardens. Critics say there are more urgent needs. The Gardens' centrepieces, the two domes, charge an admission fee that puts them out of the reach of the poor. And the 'supertrees' - towers of green-clad concrete and steel that light up at night - are an ironic symbol of how Singapore always seems to manufacture artificial clones after tearing down its authentic, organic heritage.

I should declare here that I am a board member of Gardens by the Bay. But I don't speak for the Gardens and don't need to defend it. However, as a citizen who has watched its progress over the past year, I have had a chance to reflect on why it is special.

Aside from the collection it contains, it is remarkable as a project that could have happened only because of what could be called a whole-of-nation approach. Clearly, it required the cooperation of multiple agencies in the public sector, or what officials call the 'whole-of- government' mode of problem solving.

It also needed multiple talents and skills, including most obviously the botanists and horticulturalists whose loving care is evident throughout. Their passion for plants - and I can think of no better champion than Gardens CEO Tan Wee Kiat, whose dreams I am convinced take place only in Eden - is contagious. There are also the engineers, who created the ingenious air-conditioning system powered by the park's own biowaste.

But what should not be forgotten is the role of the wider public. Since the Gardens is not a money-making exercise for the Government - consider how much the state coffers would have been enriched if just a portion of the area had been sold to a property developer - it would not have pushed this high-profile project if it felt that the public would not value such amenities.

One recalls how the 1980s proposal for a major arts centre was shelved for several years because it seemed profligate, before it finally blossomed into the Esplanade at the right time. Politically, the Government has always been aware, almost to a fault, that building for a more gracious society cannot move too far ahead of heartland aspirations.

Therefore, the Gardens project would probably not have got the go-ahead if not for the way Singaporeans have embraced the rollout of more and more expanses of green and blue. It seems that every new park immediately develops a dedicated fan base.

Nature groups such as the Nature Society of Singapore are another important part of our evolving whole-of-nation way. These champions of conservation have played a key role in securing the more than 15 per cent increase in nature reserve land over the last decade.

Of course, many such nature lovers would thumb their noses at the man-made Gardens by the Bay, insisting that the real battle lies in protecting patches of Bidadari or Bukit Brown. But perhaps it is not a case of either-or. In the arts, imported blockbuster musicals have probably helped to open many Singaporeans' eyes and ears to the performing arts in general, and thus helped to grow the audience for local theatre as well. Similarly, a hard-to- ignore, crowd-pleasing project like Gardens by the Bay will probably grow the constituency of Singaporeans who appreciate biodiversity and the place of plants on our planet.

In the past week, the Gardens has made it to the list of top 10 hits on online search engines; and every day on Facebook, someone is posting a photo of yet another unique view of this new playground. One attraction is, of course, the billion-dollar view of the city skyline that the Gardens provides. But it is not far-fetched to hope that many of the visitors will also discover there a more gracious way of looking at life in Singapore, and that gradually, they will also see the beauty of Sungei Buloh's mangroves, Chek Jawa's mud flats and the thickets of mature trees crying to be saved amid unceasing development.