The term “white elephant” refers to something (usually) massive and extravagant that you can’t get rid of, serves little function other than to take up space and suck up resources (*cough* SUVs *cough*). The terms comes from Siam, or old Thailand, where white elephants are considered sacred and are accorded special treatment, often by the king. The king could also give gifts of white elephants to display a show of favour – but the blessing could also be a curse as the recipient would then need to spend lavish amounts of money to maintain the elephant. Failure to do so would be considered an insult, a curse or even a crime! Over a hundred years ago, a Thai monarch gave Singapore a gift of an elephant – it was not white, neither was it an insult or a curse. And you can certainly still see the elephant today, perhaps as a testimony to long-lasting friendship between the two countires. Do you know where it is?

When King Chulalongkorn – a name who might be familiar to you if you took secondary school history – first ascended to the throne in 1868, the first foreign territory he stepped foot in was in Singapore three years later. To commemorate that visit, the king presented us a gift of a bronze elephant, which to this day stands guard at the Old Parliament Building. The Wondering Wanderer remembers:

Chulalongkorn, appointed to the throne at the age of fifteen following his father’s death in 1868, was also widely travelled, starting his travels a few years after ascending to the throne. His travels took him over much of Asia and Europe. What is interesting is that, from a Singaporean perspective, Singapore, then a British colony, was where he first set foot on foreign soil. A testament to this, a gift made by Chulalongkorn on a visit in 1871, a proud bronze statue of an elephant, stands guard in front of an old colonial mansion which served as independent Singapore’s first Parliament House. The statue of the elephant was what I would look out for, each time my father drove past the building, looking out of the window whilst seated in the back seat of my father’s Austin 1100.

The Wondering Wanderer writes about King Chulalongkorn’s gift, the Old Parliament House, and the other buildings designed by the same architect in The King and I, and a bronze Elephant.