Explore, imagine nation's future at SG50 finale expo

A view of the Marina Bay skyline from Gardens by the Bay (East). ST PHOTO: SEAH KWANG PENG

The Future Of Us exhibition, which caps the year-long SG50 celebrations, will let Singaporeans "creatively explore and imagine" their nation's future, SG50 steering committee chairman Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.

Mr Heng, who is the Finance Minister, said on Facebook that the expo will be a "fitting finale" to the Golden Jubilee celebrations, by having Singaporeans "come together to think about, talk about, and act upon what we believe in to realise our vision for Singapore".

He added: "I hope the exhibition will fire up your imagination and get you excited about the ways in which you can contribute."

The exhibition will be held at Gardens by the Bay from December to March next year.

Mr Heng's remarks came a day after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hinted at what visitors could expect at the exhibition.

Speaking after the new Cabinet was sworn in on Thursday, Mr Lee said the themes of the interactive expo will include lifelong learning, greening Singapore, caring, and smart living and working.

It will also have a segment for Singaporeans to share their hopes for the future, creative director Gene Tan told The Straits Times. The exhibition will occupy 6,000 sq m: An area as big as the gallery space of the ArtScience Museum.

Mr Tan said the exhibition team, in curating the content, has engaged more than 100 public, private and people sector organisations over many months.

On Thursday, PM Lee said the exhibition will track Singapore's progress from Third World to First but, more importantly, will be forward-looking.

He expressed the hope that the expo will "launch us into the next chapter of our Singapore Story", which will be penned by the Government and people together.

"We will debate and argue over what this chapter should contain, how the story should develop. We will do that online and offline, in civil society and in Parliament. That is normal and healthy," he said.

"But at the end we are all co-authors of the chapter. We all have to work together, and we all want the story to have a happy outcome."

• Visit the exhibition's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thefutureofus.sg to join in conversations about Singapore's future

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on October 03, 2015, with the headline Explore, imagine nation's future at SG50 finale expo. Subscribe