SINGAPORE - Singaporean historian and heritage entrepreneur Jeya Ayadurai has been made an Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).
In a statement on Wednesday (June 29), the British High Commission in Singapore said Mr Ayadurai, 61, was honoured "for his contributions to preserving Singaporean, British and Commonwealth military history and war remembrance in Singapore".
The High Commission said Mr Ayadurai's companies - heritage consultancy Singapore History Consultants and tour operator Journeys - have made significant contributions to Singapore's heritage through their work on heritage sites such as the Labrador Battery, Changi Museum, the Battlebox at Fort Canning Hill, Chinatown Heritage Centre and Haw Par Villa.
Mr Ayadurai is a director at Singapore History Consultants, which operates the Battlebox, a former underground command centre turned museum.
As an undergraduate, he read international history and politics at Britain's University of Leeds until 1988, before becoming a lecturer in military history and international relations for six years at the former Department of Strategic Studies at the Singapore Command and Staff College.
The college is today known as the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College.
He left the college in 1994 and set up his consultancy in 1995. In 2003, his heritage travel company Journeys started The Original Singapore Walks, a series of narrated walks underpinned by historical research.
Today, Journeys manages Haw Par Villa, and in 2021, opened Hell's Museum there, where visitors learn about how various cultures view death and the afterlife.
Mr Ayadurai has been organising commemoration ceremonies to mark important war anniversaries for more than 25 years, said a press release by Singapore History Consultants issued on Wednesday.
Since 2015, these ceremonies have brought together former World War II combatants from Singapore, other Commonwealth countries and Japan.
Noting that awards are generally given to achievements in economic development, science and technology, Mr Ayadurai said the MBE gives hope that fields such as heritage and history are also valued.
“I hope that it will spur other heritage entrepreneurs and specialists to continue focusing on local history,” he said, adding that he is proud of his team’s impact on schoolchildren through national education tours.
The firm said Mr Ayadurai plans to build museums and memorials at Kranji War Cemetery and other historical war sites, as well as pursue a campaign for Haw Par Villa to be inscribed a Unesco World Heritage site.
Mr Ayadurai said his team has “communicated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and spoken to various Commonwealth governments regarding the possibility of building a museum at Kranji War Cemetery”.
He hopes the Battlebox will be gazetted a national monument as the location where the British decided to surrender to the Japanese during World War II, adding that more can be done to share the significance of Changi Prison’s entrance gate, wall and turrets, which were gazetted in 2016.
As for Haw Par Villa, Mr Ayadurai said his team believes Haw Par Villa qualifies for Unesco inscription, and intends to “put in a serious proposal to the Singapore Tourism Board to move this project forward”. The board owns the site.
British High Commissioner to Singapore Kara Owen said: "Mr Ayadurai has worked for years to conserve sites that are critical to us in remembering and learning from the past.
"He has educated generations of Singaporeans and visitors to Singapore, and has continually partnered with us through his work."
Before Mr Ayadurai, Mrs Shereen Aziz-Williams was the last Singaporean to be awarded an Honorary MBE, in 2017. She is a community leader in Wales on issues such as faith, community cohesion and violence against women.
