Volunteer Spotlight: Growing a Garden City
Published on
06 Sep 2016
Published by
Ministry of National Development
Growing a Garden City The first Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Mr Wong Yew Kwan, 83, shares his experiences in helping to shape Singapore’s greening legacy.",,"
I play an advisory role on the Heritage Tree Panel, commenting on botanical issues... I am happy to continue lending my experience and knowledge.
Mr Wong Yew Kwan
Member, Heritage Tree Panel
Commissioner of Parks and Recreation (1974 - 1983)
Born in Ipoh in 1932, Mr Wong Yew Kwan moved to Singapore with his family in 1970 when he joined the Primary Production Department (now the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority). He was transferred to the Public Works Department to head the Parks and Recreation Division (PRD) in 1974. When it was established as a full- edged department under the Ministry of National Development, Mr Wong was appointed Singapore’s first Commissioner of Parks and Recreation. We spoke to Mr Wong to find out what it was like to be in charge of greening Singapore at that time and how he continues to contribute to this vision.
Tell us about your background and early interests in plant ecology.
I majored in Botany at the University of Malaya, as I had always been interested in the trees and nature areas which were abundant in Ipoh where I grew up. Upon graduation in 1957, I worked as a researcher at the Forest Research Institute in Selangor, Malaysia and was sent to Oxford to study Forestry. Later, I joined Guthrie Corporation in Johor where I did oil palm research.
What was it like to be in charge of greening the city?
When I joined the PRD in 1974, I was fortunate because the groundwork had already been laid for greening up Singapore. We had the Garden City Action Commitee (GCAC) which met regularly and involved several government departments and agencies; the GCAC worked closely to ensure that greenery would be an integral part of Singapore’s infrastructure.
But the key driver of the greening effort was then Prime Minister, the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, who emphasised the importance of greening to create a high quality living environment. He wanted trees planted to provide relief against the harshness of a concrete landscape that was a result of industrialisation and urbanisation. He preferred big trees with huge crowns, such as the Rain Tree and Angsana, to provide shade from the sun. Over time, as the Garden City concept was developed, we started to plant colourful owering plants too. Mr Lee’s interest was so great to the extent that he directed many of the decisions relating to greening and tree planting at that time, such as how close to the road the roadside trees should be planted. The late Mr Wong Chooi Sen (then Cabinet Secretary) often rang me up with speci c instructions from Mr Lee about an area where he wanted trees planted, or if he noticed that a tree was not doing well, and so on. It was quite a lot of pressure!
Did you encounter tensions between greening and other imperatives like economic growth?
I do recall one meeting Mr Lee called in 1978 which was attended by Ministers and top government of cials. The discussion turned to the progress of the new airport development in Changi.
Mr Lee turned to me and said, “The reason I called you here is: When the rst plane lands, I want visitors to see nicely planted vegetation, not rank vegetation.” Knowing that the area was slated for future development, the late Mr Howe Yoon Chong (then Head of the civil service and Permanent Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office) questioned the merits of spending precious resources on growing trees there, only to remove them later. But Mr Lee was adamant. He articulated his vision for the “first impression areas”, Changi and Woodlands, to be covered with well-maintained greenery. This would provide a good rst impression of Singapore to visitors when they arrived.
That meeting was a turning point for the PRD – after Mr Lee’s instructions to allocate adequate funds and resources for greenery, the PRD was well-funded, well-staffed and better able to galvanise the cooperation and coordination of other departments and agencies.
What are your proudest achievements as Commissioner?
That would be the creation of East Coast Park and greening up of East Coast Parkway, all the way from Sheares Bridge leading to the airport. Greening up the Changi Airport area was a challenge we had a very short amount of time to plant trees in the entire area from scratch! We all worked very hard on this; East Coast Park was well done up with greenery, and for the areas covered in rank vegetation we managed to treat the soil and sow the seeds of the fast-growing tree of Acacia auriculiformis. So when the new airport opened just a few years later, these areas were all greened up beautifully.
Tell us about your research on tree communities in Singapore’s forests.
The first survey I did in Singapore was in Bukit Timah Nature Reserve as a student in the 1950s. When I returned to work in Singapore years later, I was surprised to find that nobody had comprehensively surveyed the trees in the Nature Reserve yet! So I worked with a team of researchers to enumerate the trees there. Then in 1992, I was commissioned by NParks to conduct a quantitative survey of tree communities in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve. Together with two NParks researchers, we took about 10 months to enumerate all the trees measuring 12 inches in girth and above. Our findings were published in the scientifc journal, The Gardens Bulletin.
What do you do now as a member of NParks’ Heritage Tree Panel?
I play an advisory role on the Heritage Tree Panel, commenting on botanical issues that arise, such as whether nominated trees are suitable to be endorsed as Heritage Trees. I am happy to continue lending my experience and knowledge.
This article was published in Happy Hands - Building an Endearing Home (Issue 12)
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