Merdeka Lions

About

The Merdeka Lions (Chinese: 默迪卡雄狮; pinyin: Mò dí kǎ xióng shī) are a pair of stone sculptures. Displayed near an observation tower at the SAFTI Military Institute in Jurong West, Singapore, each sculpture depicts a lion – the head and mane are sculptured to be abstract while the body and limbs are realistic.

The Public Works Department (PWD) commissioned the sculptures in 1955 for the Merdeka Bridge. When the bridge opened, each of the sculptures was placed at one end of the Merdeka Bridge next to a stone column. When the Merdeka Bridge was widened in 1966 to accommodate more traffic, the Merdeka Lions was moved to Kallang Park. Following demands by readers of Lianhe Zaobao to treat the sculptures with "due respect", the PWD transferred the Merdeka Lions to the Ministry of Defence in 1987 or 1988. As there was no adequate space to display the Merdeka Lions, the sculptures were stored in boxes at Pasir Laba Camp until they were installed at the SAFTI Military Institute in July 1995. A replica of the Merdeka Lions was made for a heritage trail of the Kallang area and unveiled in 2019.