Eregon’s (not to be mistaken for the dragon-rider) account of the seminar at the National Library on “Lim Boon Keng and the Straits Chinese: A Historical Re-appraisal”.
the introductory address by Mr Philip Holden was most thought provoking, and gave a superb introduction to Dr Lim Boon Keng’s life. it set the ground for the entire day’s discussion and provided many questions to ponder upon for the day, of which the most prominent would of course be:
“What does remembering Lim Boon Keng now mean to us?”
i found the idea of Lim being both a Victorian Gentleman and a Confucian Scholar (or a 君子, for that matter)most interesting. to mesh these 2 ideals within a single person must have had profound consequences…
the themes which the 1st speaker raised about Lim’s life are still very relevant today. ideas such as…
- globalisation,
- the notion of power,
- the issue of education,
- looking at Lim through his literary texts,
- and gender equality…worth noting here would be the fact that Lim helped found the Singapore Chinese Girls’ School. which interestingly, as my friend pointed out, means an old boy of RI founded SCGS…
For more accounts about the seminar and what other speakers talked about, read the post here.
Tags: Dr Lim Boon Keng, National Library
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