1. Welcome and thank you for attending today’s preview.
2. As the year comes to a close, many of us will be taking the time to reflect on the time that’s passed.
3. In the year of SG60, this will also mean looking back at our nation’s journey to independence and how we have transformed. It is therefore timely that The Albatross File: Singapore’s Independence Declassified exhibition is opening in this special year, and rounds up the year as the SG60 capstone event.
4. This exhibition, jointly presented by NLB and MDDI, will offer visitors an almost first-hand experience of the months and moments leading to Singapore’s separation from Malaysia, as seen through the eyes of our founding fathers.
5. Visitors will get to hear the actual voices of leaders like former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, as they deliberated on the separation. They can get up close with never-before-seen documents compiled by former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee, the architect of the separation.
6. The exhibition brings to life the book, The Albatross File: Inside Separation, through the resources housed within the National Archives of Singapore and the National Library. This includes all the photos and handwritten documents you will see, and the oral history interviews you will hear. I am particularly struck and moved by the voices of our founding fathers as they share their accounts and reflections on separation. These interviews with the founding leaders in particular, have been done and collected over the years by NAS. They will now be heard and experienced in a profound way by visitors, that will let them truly Feel History.
7. On that note, I will hand the time over to Gene, the exhibition’s Executive Creative Director, to share more. Thank you.