Where I come from, we learned a lot about World War II in Europe. We learned very little about what happened anywhere else.

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World War II happened everywhere. That’s why it’s a world war. Where I come from, we forget that sometimes.

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I first learned about what happened here in Singapore when, several years ago, I visited the National Museum and was riveted by what I read and heard and saw.

I was struck by how much I didn’t know.

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Today I visited Kranji War Memorial to see what I hadn’t seen and to give my time to those who had given their hopes, their dreams, their lives.

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Sometimes we forget that war kills people.

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And we forget that war affects all of us, no matter who we are. No matter how we are similar or different.

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Who are we, as people? Who do we want to be?

This cannot continue to be the way things are.

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A peaceful world means an end to war, but it also means so much more than that.

Talking won’t build it, but I believe that action will.