Singapore renames ‘Syonan’ second world war exhibition after public outcry
Singapore has renamed a second world war exhibition after the original title, which used the name given to the city-state by Japan under its brutal occupation, sparked a public outcry.
This was never our intention [to cause hurt], and I am sorry for the pain the name has caused
The exhibition opened earlier this week under the banner “Syonan Gallery: War and Its Legacies” to mark the 75th anniversary of the fall of Singapore, then a British colony, to Japanese troops.
But many locals protested use of the term “Syonan” – Japan’s name for the island during its three-year occupation – saying it “evoked deep hurt” among individuals, parents and grandparents.
Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim publicly apologised for the mishap.
“This was never our intention [to cause hurt], and I am sorry for the pain the name has caused,” he said in a Facebook post on Friday after receiving letters of complaint.
“I have reflected deeply on what I heard. We must honour and respect the feelings of those who suffered terribly and lost family members during the Japanese Occupation,” he added.
The words “Syonan Gallery” would be removed from the name of the exhibition and the new title would be “Surviving the Japanese Occupation: War and its Legacies”, he said.