ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the strategies the state has adopted, as part of its multi-racial project, in its construction of war memoryscapes. The complex relationship between the processes of racialisation and the politics of place and landscape has attracted considerable scholarly attention. The context of the work on memoryscapes, scholars have highlighted how race has been spatially capitalised upon and mobilised towards multiple ends, including the forging of collective identities and political legitimation, the promotion of tourism, or as blatant expressions of pigeonholing or erasing the pasts of those who do not belong. While the idea of reflections, intended by the National Archives of Singapore (NAS) to allow visitors to empathise with the 'heroic virtues' of the MR's men, is appreciated by many, strong criticism, and the fact that visitorship has tended to be mainly Malay, indicates that the centre has remained one that is perceived as a specifically 'Malay' memorial.
