The JOURNEY

The JOURNEY began by listening

We were listening to the young; listening to the old

Listening to politicians, retirees, shopkeepers, lawyers,

 fishermen, craftsmen, businessmen, farmers, planters,

 managers, teachers and many others

Listening to those who struggle to remember

and to countless more who dare not SPEAK

We began by listening to the VOICES of ordinary people

We listened to the city’s streets

as we were driving alone at night, reminiscing the good old days

searching out hidden and abandoned alleyways

LISTENED  to houses, shophouses, mansion, ruins and cemeteries

Even to the murmurs and whispers of empty spaces

We listened at every turn, at every step

To the living and to the dead. The past and the present

In the hope the story of EXTRAORDINARY places and its people

would be told

And we HEARD them speak

Our aim is to restore our SOUL , to reignite our local sentiments

And we shall let the process decide the outcome

Let it shaped by DISCOVERIES and the stories our place may share

Let our place speak first, for she has much to tell

When we embarked on this journey, we could not have foreseen

the immensity of the task ahead

It became a chase of elusive shadows,

or the wait for a statue to speak

It was a task made infinitely rewarding by our place’s generosity

and her OPENNESS to our inquisitive journey of rediscovering

We are dispiritingly painful by our place’s recklessness

with her past

Our parallel imagination thus defined the process

and justified the effort in attempting to REVIVE

our place for sustainable future

We are INSPIRED by the experience

of discovery – of personal stories,

aspirations of our dreamers, innocent faith of our young,

untold events and vanished places;

and the experience of observing our place

with glorious INHERITANCE  on the path to self-decline

As our place spoke, lives were revealed and history unfolded

We HEARD proud stories, and melancholy tales

Whispers of HOPE and murmurs of despair

Dreams and nightmares. Laughters and tears

We DISCOVERED both a fascination with and a fear of the past

A past TREASURED  by some

As we dug deeper for answers, more questions emerged

Our place challenged us to RETRACE our soul, recover her memory,

restore her confidence, and revive the voices of her people

In our quest for renewed GLORY , we need the enthusiatic,

the believer, and the go-getter,

those who are willing to put their shoulder to the plough,

to go through the grind,

to strive wholeheartedly for the good of our place

The predicament signs are clear, the trend is unmistakable

In little over a decade – the course of this journey,

our place continues to evolve away from her true self;

changing beyond RECOGNITION

Indeed, the peril faced by our place disheartens us,

but also urged us on

Let us as Place Champions  JOIN our hands and our hearts

to create a sustainable place for our FUTURE generations

Our place BECKONS us with true potential and we must not fail her

Let us, the sons and daughters of our place; our hearts stirred

and rekindle our passion for regenerating our place

The JOURNEY of our soul and legacy has yet to end

On behalf of all PLACE CHAMPIONS