[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/#NewsArticle","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/","headline":"Padang named the 75th national monument on Singapore\u2019s 57th National Day","name":"Padang named the 75th national monument on Singapore\u2019s 57th National Day","description":"The Padang, a 4.3-hectare patch of green in front of the former City Hall building, has been named Singapore\u2019s 75th national monument on the country\u2019s 57th birthday. It is the first green, open space to join the country\u2019s list of National Monuments, which include Fort Siloso, St Andrew\u2019s Cathedral, Sultan Mosque and The Raffles Hotel. […]","datePublished":"2022-08-09","dateModified":"2022-08-12","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/#Person","name":"Judith Tan","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/author\/editor1\/","identifier":57,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Judith-Tan-100x100.jpg","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TheHomeGround Asia","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo_2021-07-22-222533.jpeg","width":640,"height":640}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feature-Image-Template-2022-08-09T110723.676-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/Feature-Image-Template-2022-08-09T110723.676-1.jpg","height":900,"width":1600},"url":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/","commentCount":"2","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/#Comment1","dateCreated":"2026-05-17 18:40:01","description":"Thank you for your sharing. I am worried that I lack creative ideas. It is your article that makes me full of hope. Thank you. But, I have a question, can you help me?","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Binance","url":"https:\/\/www.binance.info\/register?ref=QCGZMHR6"}},{"@type":"Comment","@id":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/#Comment2","dateCreated":"2026-04-14 03:23:20","description":"I don't think the title of your article matches the content lol. Just kidding, mainly because I had some doubts after reading the article.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"binance h\"anvisning","url":"https:\/\/www.binance.com\/register?ref=IHJUI7TF"}}],"about":["Community","Local","Short Read","Singapore"],"wordCount":1207,"keywords":["British East India Company","City Hall","Edwin Tong","emenggong Abdul Rahman","Fort Siloso","Heng Swee Keat","Lee Kuan Yew","Lord Louis Mountbatten","Majulah Singapura","Maria Hertogh","MCCY","National Monuments","NHB","Padang","Queen Victoria","Raffles Hotel","Sang Nila Utama","St Andrew\u2019s Cathedral","Stamford Raffles","Sultan Mosque","William Farquhar","Yusof Ishak","Zubir Said"],"articleBody":"The Padang, a 4.3-hectare patch of green in front of the former City Hall building, has been named Singapore\u2019s 75th national monument on the country\u2019s 57th birthday. It is the first green, open space to join the country\u2019s list of National Monuments, which include Fort Siloso, St Andrew\u2019s Cathedral, Sultan Mosque and The Raffles Hotel.The iconic site \u2014 the size of six football fields \u2014 has been in existence since 1822 and it has been the plot of many of Singapore’s shared memories as a nation and its people, said Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth Edwin Tong, who officiated the gazette on Monday, 8 Aug.Minister for Culture, Community, and Youth Edwin Tong officiated the gazette on 8 Aug. He is accompanied by members of the SAF Veterans League, some of whom were part of the first parade in 1966. (Photo source: TheHomeGround Asia)If only the Padang could talk, oh what stories it would tell.\u00a0History witnessed by the PadangThe earliest written reference to the Padang was when Sang Nila Utama, a Srivijayan prince from Palembang, is said to have spotted the legendary singa (Malay for lion) on the Padang in the 13th century. Inspired by what he saw, he decided to establish a kingdom on the island and named it Singapura (Sanskrit for Lion City).Five hundred years later, in 1819, Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar of the British East India Company landed at the mouth of the Singapore River, went ashore and met Temenggong Abdul Rahman, the local chief of Singapore, who gave the men a free hand on where to pitch the tents and Farquhar picked the plain. He erected a 30-foot flagpole and hoisted the Union Jack.\u00a0The Padang, known as the Esplanade in 1847. This is an oil painting by John Turnbull Thomson, first Government Surveyor of Singapore. (Photo source: Collection of the National Museum of Singapore\/NHB\/ Gift of Dr John Hall-Jones)The Padang emerging as Singapore\u2019s most important colonial civic space was organic, rather than by design. In 1831, it became known as the Esplanade until the turn of the 20th century when the field was commonly referred to as The Padang.\u00a0It was not until the late 1930s \u2014 with the completion of the Municipal Building in 1929 and the Supreme Court in 1939 \u2014 that the Padang held its most significant event, the celebration of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria\u2019s reign in 1887.After the British surrendered to the Japanese on 15 February 1942, the Padang became the site for the display of Japanese imperial power and during the Japanese Occupation, it continued to serve as a parade and ceremonial ground.Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia, addressing the crowd on the steps of the Municipal Building ahead of the Japanese Surrender Ceremony on 12 September 1945. (Photo source: National Archives of Singapore)The British celebrated the end of the war with a grand surrender ceremony at the Municipal Building and a military parade at the Padang in September 1945. Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Supreme Allied Commander (Southeast Asia), accepted the Japanese surrender by General Itagaki Seishir\u014d at the event and an Allied Victory Parade was held following the surrender to celebrate the occasion.\u00a0Place of confrontationsIt was in 1950, the Padang was where the Maria Hertogh riots first erupted. On 11 Dec that year,\u00a0 \u201cmob violence broke out\u2026 in front of the Supreme Court\u201d over an appeal related to the custody lawsuit of Maria Hertogh and two Malays were shot, and several others injured.\u201d Riots then broke out throughout the city.Then in 1963, there was a protest rally organised by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to demand reparations from Japan for its wartime atrocities. A crowd of some 120,000 people gathered at the Padang and the entire police force \u2013 5,000 men and troops \u2013 was placed on emergency alert. Then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew challenged them to \u201ccome up to the City Hall and present their case\u201d and ordered floodlights to be turned on the several thousand pro-communist elements who \u201cformed a belt from one end of the Padang to the other\u201d. The booing died and the agitators faded into the crowd. A potential disruption was averted.The People\u2019s PadangIt was only in 1959 after Singapore became a self-governing state under the People\u2019s Action Party (PAP) that the open green became a people\u2019s Padang. On 3 Dec, 10,000 people gathered at the Padang while inside City Hall, Yusof Ishak was sworn in as Singapore\u2019s first President. Following a 17-gun salute, the state flag was unfurled for the first time and the \u201chuge crowd which jammed the Padang \u2026 stood and joined in the singing of the new national anthem\u201d, Majulah Singapura, composed by Zubir Said.\u00a0President Yusof Ishak taking a salute during the march-past after he was sworn in as the first Malayan-born head of state. The state flag was used officially for the first time. (Photo source: National Archives of Singapore)The Padang also bore witness to a pivotal moment in Singapore\u2019s history: The merger with Malaysia. After many rounds of negotiations over the terms, Prime Minister Lee unilaterally declared Singapore\u2019s de facto independence at the Padang on 31 Aug 1963 as \u201ctrustees for the Federal Government (in) these 15 days\u201d.Two years later, Prime Minister Lee once again spoke at the Padang in front of thousands of people, this time his voice shaking with emotion as he declared Singapore\u2019s separation from Malaysia and became an independent and sovereign nation.It was at the Padang that Singapore celebrated its first National Day with a parade on 9 August 1966. Over 23,000 Singaporeans took part in the parade which began at 9 am. It was a simple but momentous event. The Padang continued to be a major parade ground for the next 10 years. It was only in 1975 that decentralised parades were held, but the main parade returned to the Padang every few years.The parade will return to the Padang next year (2023).Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat had, in 2019, announced that the Padang, along with the Singapore River bridges, would be gazetted to commemorate the city-state\u2019s bicentennial that year. The Preservation of Monuments Act was amended last year to pave the way for sites such as the Padang to be gazetted.Following the gazette, the National Heritage Board (NHB) will promote greater awareness and appreciation of the Padang\u2019s significance in Singapore\u2019s history through various commemorative initiatives to be launched from August, including tours and interactive games for students and members of the public.\u00a0National Day Parade, 1966. No one flinched in a spontaneous display of grit and resilience in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. (Photo source: Yusof Ishak Collection\/National Archives of Singapore)Director of the Preservation of Sites and Monuments division at NHB Jean Wee, said, \u201cThe successful gazette of the Padang reflects our ongoing efforts to enhance the preservation and promotion of places and spaces of national significance to Singapore. \u2026 Together with our 74 other National Monuments, the Padang will contribute to the architectural and cultural diversity of our nation\u2019s built heritage, and be celebrated as one of the many places that define Singapore and our people.\u201d\u00a0RELATED: A Digital NDP 2020: Is This Home?Join the conversations on TheHomeGround Asia\u2019s Facebook and Instagram, and get the latest updates via Telegram. "},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Destinations","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Singapore","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/\/singapore\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Padang named the 75th national monument on Singapore\u2019s 57th National Day","item":"https:\/\/thehomeground.asia\/destinations\/singapore\/padang-named-the-75th-national-monument-on-singapores-57th-national-day\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]