Sentosa's Fort Siloso put up for gazetting as national monument
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Fort Siloso on Sentosa has been put up for gazetting as a national monument.
Announcing this yesterday, the National Heritage Board (NHB) said Fort Siloso is the best-preserved 19th-century fort in Singapore, and serves as an important site to mark the nation's war years.
Now a historical attraction, the fort was constructed in 1878, and was part of a set of strategic coastal fortifications set up as Singapore grew in importance as a trading port in the late 19th century.
Designed to protect Singapore from a seaward attack, its guns fired at Japanese troops in the west of Singapore during World War II, said NHB on its Roots.gov.sg portal.
A national monument gazette is the highest form of recognition for a structure's or site's significance. It accords the structure or site legal protection from alterations and changes that would affect its character and significance.
In addition to their national importance, monuments also have to be of historic, cultural, traditional, archaeological, architectural, artistic or symbolic significance.
Following changes to the Preservation of Monuments Act last year, the public can now give feedback on proposed monuments.
NHB deputy chief executive of policy and community Alvin Tan said this change reflects the board's efforts to be more consultative, and that it is seeking public feedback in the process of gazetting monuments in response to requests from heritage non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Ms Jean Wee, director of NHB's Preservation of Sites and Monuments division, said discussions with Sentosa Development Corporation, which manages Fort Siloso, are under way to finalise the exact boundary of the site to be gazetted.
Mr Tan said the board is hoping to gazette Fort Siloso as a monument next month, and added that heritage NGOs were informed of the board's plans on Monday.
Among those present was International Council on Monuments and Sites Singapore president Yeo Kang Shua.
Dr Yeo said Fort Siloso's upcoming gazetting will mark the first time multiple structures within a larger context or site have been recognised as monuments.
"The collective preservation of these structures and their landscapes is important to preserve the historic integrity of the site," he said.
Dr Yeo also said he hoped the authorities could look into protecting other military fortifications in Sentosa and around Singapore, as they collectively tell the story of Singapore's historical coastal defences.
Singapore Heritage Society president Jack Lee said there are not many physical reminders of Singapore's World War II history left, and thus the society feels it is worth giving a higher degree of protection to those that remain.
Singapore's last national monument was gazetted in October 2019, when Cavenagh, Anderson and Elgin bridges were protected as an ensemble, bringing Singapore's list of monuments to 73.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat had also announced in August 2019 that the Padang would be gazetted as a monument, though that has yet to take place.
Besides monuments, more than 7,200 buildings have been conserved across the island.
- Send feedback on Fort Siloso to NHB_Feedback@nhb.gov.sg, and any substantive objections should be sent by Jan 31.
