Exhibition marking The Straits Times’ 180th anniversary opens on July 12 at Jewel Changi

SINGAPORE – An avid reader of the news, Mrs Wendy Yap took a bus on Saturday to Jewel Changi Airport, to be among the first at The Straits Times’ 180th anniversary exhibition.

The 57-year-old primary school mathematics teacher has the ST app but said she still prefers the physical copy.

“It is my routine to read ST every morning. Once, the newspaper wasn’t delivered to my home and I felt like something was off that day,” said Mrs Yap.

She especially likes the human-interest reports and enjoys trying food recommendations published in ST’s Life section.

Mrs Yap highlighted two stories in particular:

Mr Ricqo Rafiezuwan

, who used to be a stateless unemployed youth and is now a permanent resident, and Mr Hsu Hu-chin, who found his mother – a former Singapore Airlines stewardess –

after his story appeared in ST

.

“I wanted to be at the exhibition to see more of the stories ST has covered over the years – different events in history and how the stories unfolded.

“I’m glad ST’s articles have had an impact on people’s lives,” she said, adding that she looks forward to reading profile features every weekend.

Like Mrs Yap, several other visitors at the roving exhibition at South Gateway Garden in Jewel Changi Airport said they were intrigued by the range of stories the publication has covered over the years.

Ms Cheong Yin Ping, a retired bank worker in her 60s, liked the interactive features, which she believed would effectively engage the younger visitors.

Her favourite part was when she created her own front page.

“In this age, people usually want instantaneous response, as their attention spans are shorter,” said Ms Cheong.

Others like Mr Albert Lai liked the interactive display comparing photographs of places in Singapore then and now, including landmarks like Clarke Quay, Bukit Batok Hill and the Padang.

“We forget the past sometimes, and now (this display) helps us to remember and see the changes,” said the 52-year-old sales executive.

For Jarred Loo, 17, his favourite part of the exhibition was the comic book-style panels that showed how the newsroom transformed from producing print-only papers to multimedia news formats.

The secondary school student said he often reads ST, to expand his knowledge of current affairs.

Adult visitors received a complimentary tote bag and notebook upon completing activities at three checkpoints, while children were presented with a specially designed sticker set.

Titled Heartbeats And Headlines: 180 Years Of Telling The Singapore Story, the

roving exhibition organised by ST

is equipped with interactive features that allow visitors to flip through thousands of front pages and participate in a Reporter-In-Training quest.

The exhibition takes visitors through the various eras the nation has experienced: war and occupation in 1942; the beginning of Housing Board flats in 1960; the nation’s dramatic exit from Malaysia in 1965; the very first MRT trains starting service in 1987; as well as national football team Singapore Lions’ victory in the Malaysia Cup in 1994, which sparked the rise of the Kallang Roar.

It also showcases the gripping stories that ST delivered when the world ushered in the millennium, ranging from the SQ006 crash in Taiwan in 2000 to the nation’s largest manhunt for Mas Selamat Kastari who broke out of detention in 2008, as well as Singapore’s first Olympic gold medal won by national swimmer Joseph Schooling in 2016 and the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the world to a standstill from 2020 to 2022.

The exhibition also chronicles the evolution of ST from a newspaper of record to a multi-platform media outlet in today’s digital age.

One section displays readers’ fondest memories of ST, and the lives of those transformed after being featured in its pages.

The exhibition is being held at Jewel Changi Airport from July 12 to 20. It will then move to Westgate from July 25 to Aug 3, before concluding its run at Raffles City Shopping Centre following an Aug 8 to 17 display.