Merlion as best singapore icon (Yinn Yi)

The choice of the Merlion as a symbol for Singapore has its roots in history. The Merlion commemorates the ancient name and the legend taken from the "Malay Annals" (literary and historical work from the 15th or 16th century) explaining how Singapore received its present name.

In ancient times, Singapore was known as Temasek, which is Javanese for the sea. It was then as it is today, a centre of trade.

At the end of the 4th century A.D., Temasek was destroyed by the Siamese, according to some historians, but by the Javanese, according to others. As recorded in the legend in the "Malay Annals," Prince Nila Utama of the Sri Vijaya empire rediscovered the island later in the 11th century A.D. On seeing a strange beast (which he later learnt was a lion) upon his landing he named the island Singapura which is a Sanskrit word for Lion (Singa) City (Pura).

The Merlion, with its fish-like body riding the waves of the sea, is symbolic of the ancient city of Temasek. At the same time, its majestic head recalls the legend of the discovery of the Singapore by Prince Nila Utama in the 11th century, when Singapore received its present name.

the merlion is important as it is singapore's national icon, also the tourism board's emblem.

I feel that the merlion can be replaced by samsui women. The term Samsui women broadly refers to a group of Chinese immigrants who came to Singapore between the 1920s and the 1940s in search of construction and industrial jobs. Their hard work contributed to Singapore's development, both as a colony and as a nation. About 200,000 Samsui women were believed to have come to Singapore from China between 1934 and 1938, and this continued until 1949 when emigration from China was declared illegal here. Coming to Singapore as cheap labourers, Samsui women worked mainly in the construction industry and other industries that required hard labour. They also worked asdomestic servants. They had a reputation of rejecting jobs involving drug (particularly opium) peddling, prostitution, or other vices, even if that meant they sometimes had to live in poverty. They made a lot of contribution to Singapore's early development mostly by building houses and some of them worked at hawker centres mending the stalls there too.



They have helped to build singapore’s foundation bit by bit, one at a time, with their bare hands. They have built singapore’s infrastructure and helped to build Singapore at the same time. their hardwork and deteermintaion in building buildings despite the hot sun and receiving low pay makes me look up to them. They work hard despite pay being low and the sun beating down on their backs. I think that this would be a good icon as it accurately shows how singapore’s bases are being built up and how we improved in technology.