Merly to Get Makeover – is this some kind of April Fool’s joke!?

Posted by vivianeee under Blogging, Folklore, News, Public Sculptures
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Photo courtesy of jaeWALK, flickr

One month after our pet Merly got struck by lightning; The New Paper announced today that Singapore’s national icon will undergo a makeover.

Apparently our newly “botak’ed” Merlion didn’t sit too well with the feng shui masters and the authorities, which led to a search for an architectural firm to redesign our national icon. Today’s news revealed the three proposed designs submitted by Italian architectural firm Scherzo Studio and…oh my, what a change – Merly is no longer the Merly I grew up with!

The scar on Merly’s head left by the unscrupulous lightning bolt generated a flurry of talkbacks and discussions on forums, ranging from “bad omen” cries to “Our Merlion has got character now” comments. For me, it reflected the significance of our national icon in all of us, the familiar mythical creature that we all grew up with, and the mascot that international visitors fondly remember us by. I’ve got a stuffed baby merlion-keychain hanging next to my laptop, in memory of my last bumboat ride along the Singapore River.

A midnight stroll along the breezy walkway of One Fullerton brought me to the Merlion once more, and I stood there, watching visitors and Singaporeans alike take photos to portray them spewing out water like the Merlion (see photo below).

Photo courtesy of Apricot Cafe, flickr

The memories we have of our dear Merly dates back to our school days of History textbooks, art lessons and school outings, where the Singapore Merlion has always been the topic of discussion, an object to exercise our creativity juices on (ie. Paint the Merlion! Competition, if you ever had one of those), and an especially comforting icon to remind how truly Singaporean we are all deep down inside our hearts.
Back to the makeover of Merly. I suppose there will be mixed comments on the submitted proposals, but like the 86 out of 100 Singaporeans surveyed, I wouldn’t want our familiar national icon to have a makeover – especially not if I’ll have to face any of the three below!

From top to bottom: Proposal #1 - Waves Merlion; Proposal #2: Heat-Sensitive Merlion; Proposal #3: Picasso Merlion

Afterthought (I can’t resist this):

I understand well-intended goodwills to have Singapore progress forward as a nation, and we as a country should embrace the better future. However, I feel that this significant “rebranding” of our cultural icon requires much listening from the citizens. I mean, just take a look at proposal #3. Did we decide to embark on Battlestar Galactica Singapura? While proposal #1 looks absolutely phallic (colleagues agree with me on this), proposal #2 will probably threaten to make all our children cry.

And if I have forgotten to mention, the above extract is a mere ten cents for my thoughts. Readers are welcome to dispute, add on, have their say, post more comments…