SINGAPORE: With the end of a sporting era drawing to a close, it now appears that a piece of its history has been lost along the way.
Three years before the National Stadium was officially opened by then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, a time capsule was buried under the foundations at Kallang by Minister for Finance Goh Keng Swee.
The capsule, which went into the ground on Feb 23, 1970, contained newspaper articles, books, specimen coins, bank notes and sports memorabilia collected over the years. Now, months before the National Stadium is to be torn down to make way for the Sports Hub, no one knows where it is. Three months ago, the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) hired contractors to try to locate it, but they have drawn a blank so far.
The contractors are still scouring areas such as the National StadiumÂ’s VIP car park at the West entrance, where some believe the capsule could be.
The original intention was to put the contents on display for members of the public, ahead of Saturday’s “Field of Dreams” event at the National Stadium.
In a reply to queries, Mr Patrick Lee, the SSC’s chief knowledge officer and chairman of the National Stadium Closure Organising Committee, told TODAY the time capsule was placed beneath the Foundation Stone. “The SSC is now in the process of locating the capsule,” he said.
A special relay had been held to mark the laying of the capsule, with the likes of sprint legend C Kunalan and high-jump star Noor Azhar Hamid taking part. The metal capsule — the size of a suitcase — was thought to have been buried just in front of the staircase leading up to the grandstand tribune, where there used to be a fountain. The fountain was removed in the late 1970s and Mr Kunalan, 65, suspects the capsule might have been moved then, too.
“At the time it was buried in 1970, the land was still barren and only piling work had begun. It will be very sad if the capsule is not found,” said Mr Kunalan, who is now a lecturer at the Nanyang Technological University. The former sprinter also occasionally takes visitors on tours of the National Stadium museum.
Mr Noor Azhar, 58, also cannot remember where the capsule was buried. Describing the 1970 run as akin to a “torch relay”, he said: “I was the last athlete and I personally handed the capsule to Dr Goh to bury it. But no matter how hard I try, I can’t remember where it went.”
Really wonder how can such an important item got lost...
This is funny. Ha
