Merdeka Stadium in Kuala Lumpur wins UNESCO preservation award (too bad for our National Stadium)

By Les Tan

The Malaysians were recently given a United Nations award for preserving their Merdeka Stadium.

The United Nations Organisation for Education, Science, Culture and Communications (UNESCO) gave the “Award of Excellence” in the 2008 Unesco Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards after the stadium was restored to its former glory.

It was in that stadium that Malaysia’s independence was declared by Tengku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister. Older Singapore football fans would remember it as a place where the legendary national football team of the 70s played during the Malaysia Cup.

If you look at images of the stadium, you’ll be struck by how simple the design is and how similar it is to our National Stadium.

Pity our own National Stadium at Kallang can’t be restored and preserved since it has so many collective memories since 1973.

The grand old lady still is alive though. Since the official closing ceremony in June 2007, she has managed to escape the wrecking ball. In fact, if Singapore makes it to the final of the AFF Suzuki Cup, the one leg of the two-legged final will be played at National Stadium.

She lives on for awhile more.