Director's Column

I hope you had the opportunity to visit our previous exhibition, KaalaChakra (Wheel of Time) held at the National Library recently. We are staging our next large scale exhibition on the legacy of Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian and their contributions to Singapore. Jointly organised with the Tan Kah Kee Foundation, the exhibition will be held at Level 10 of the National Library from 18 July to 31 December 2008. Related programmes include an international conference held on 28 and 29 November 2008 and visits to historical places associated with Tan Kah Kee and Lee Kong Chian. Understand all about the late Dr Lee Kong Chian as an entrepreneur and a philanthropist in a feature article by Bonny Tan, Senior Librarian with the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library.

In this issue, we are pleased to introduce the Rare Materials Collection at the Lee Kong Chian Reference Library. This forms part of the National Library’s invaluable research materials on Singapore and Southeast Asia. Featured is a selection of early and significant titles such as the Malay version of the Sermon of the Mount and the earliest surviving Malay book in the collection published in 1829; the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia, which is the first scientific scholarly journal published in Singapore; the Straits Government Gazette, the earliest official gazette published in 1858, and the first published account of Singapore’s early history by C.B. Buckley. This provides an interesting account of the life, people and events in Singapore in the 1800s.

We also present you with our last installment of interesting stories from the Hikayat Abdullah, the autobiography of Munshi Abdullah Abdul Kadir. One of the stories describes the rat and centipede infestations in Singapore and Colonel Farquhar’s offer of a reward for each rat and centipede killed. Another story describes Farquhar’s dog being attacked and eaten by a crocodile along the Rochor River.

One of our Lee Kong Chian Research Fellows, Soh Choi Yin, examines a number of local media and entertainment websites to help understand the worldviews of Chinese youths in Singapore. In her study, three design components of websites were selected – colour, visual metaphor and information architecture – key criteria for creating strong visual and sensory identity in web communications.

Dance is a powerful form of communication. In this issue, Jacqueline Elizabeth Fisher, a dancer herself, highlights three dance forms, which you can enjoy – Odissi Temple Dance, Ballet and Awareness Movement. Read the article in this issue and borrow the books available at the National Library.

Many students who learn Tamil in Singapore come from non-Tamil speaking background. Dr Seetha Lakshmi, Assistant Professor with the National Institute of Education, Singapore, looks at how the Multiple Intelligences Approach is used to motivate primary school students to speak Tamil.

Specially for you in this issue, we profile another of Singapore’s literary pioneers, Masuri bin Salikun, who also used the pen name Martina. In his lifetime, he composed more than 1,000 poems and is regarded as a pioneer in modern Malay poetry. Masuri strongly believed that hard work, interest, passion and sacrifices are the determining factors of a person’s success as a writer. Find out more about his life and achievements at an exhibition held at the Promenade, Level 9 of the National Library from 21 July to 18 August 2008.

We look forward to your continued support of the National Library and do send us your comments and feedback.

Ms Ngian Lek Choh
Director
National Library