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A time capsule was buried at the site of the old ACS
Barker Road in 1949. ACSian Terence Ng
was present at its unearthing in 2001 before the
re-building of the new campus commenced and recorded the
proceedings.
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 "So
this is the time capsule? Smaller than I imagined!"
ACS arhivist and former principal, Mr Earnest
Lau boomed as he ran his fingers over the grey
metal casing. "So let's get on with it. Where do I
start cutting? Don't want to damage the contents!"
And with that, Mr Lau proceeded to open the ACS time
capsule.
The time capsule had lain buried for 52 years, quite
forgotten, until the school was being demolished in
2001. Andrew Yuen, who, as a student,
was present at the 1949 burial, brought up the capsule's
existence to the ACS Board's attention. The exact
location was not known and again Andrew Yuen was able to
pinpoint where the salvage team should be concentrating
their digging.
 The
recovery team worked late into the night and when they
finally hit 'pay-dirt', the immediate reaction was for
the box to be ripped open, but cooler heads prevailed.
This was a hallowed piece of ACS history that had to be
respectfully and reverently handled.
The capsule was then brought to the National Archives of
Singapore for their expertise on retrieving and
preserving the contents. Charged with preserving
Singapore's history, they had just been handled the
first time capsule to be opened in Singapore!
The thick-cased box had been well sealed and it was only
after an hour of sawing that the top was carefully
prised off.
Latex gloves on, Earnest Lau carefully took out the
contents.
First,
a well-used Bible. Then came sheets of paper with
signatures of all the students at ACS, a list of donors
and the programme leaflet commemorating the opening.
The newspapers of the day were there - The Malaysia
Tribune, The Singapore Free Press, The Straits Times,
Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Jit Poh. And finally, a
copy of the ACS School magazine. Yellowed pages but all
still legible.
I slowly looked through the various items that had now
been put
on display. I thought back, back fifty years.
Why had these items been selected?
Remember that when ACS (Barker Road) was completed in
1949, it was with the understanding that this was going
to be a structure that would 'last forever'.
There was no idea that 50 years on, the building would
have to be rebuilt and the time capsule opened. So what
did the school heads want us to remember?
The Bible was quite obvious - it forms the roots of ACS
andis its raison d'etre for its existence. The list of
donors and those who were involved in its construction
was understandable. And so were the school magazine and
the newspapers, which would reflect the news and views
of the day.
 But the signatures of all the ACS students of the day
was very interesting. Each class had been given a
foolscap sheet of paper around for signatures. This must
have taken a couple of days to organise but it was plain
to see that it was done in a hurry.
Nothing typed on each sheet - even the class name was
hand-written.
The message was clear to me. Perhaps it was the
principal who wanted each and every pupil to be part of
the time capsule. Within the time period given, this was
the best they could do. No time for photographs - no
time for personal mementos.
And so with the end of the viewing, the articles were
passed on to the National Archives for preservation
where they now form part of Singapore's history and most
certainly ACS's past.
Which leaves me to ponder as to what should go into the
next time capsule? How would we like to be remembered 50
or perhaps 100 years from now when the time capsule will
be reopened by our children or grandchildren?
There are many points of view on this but I think that
it must represent an accurate microcosm of what the ACS
schools of today are.
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