Merlion - our national icon

Sang Nila Utama once saw the a sea monster that was half fish and half lion in Temasek (former name of Singapore), hence he named it merlion. Till date, the merlion has been our national icon. I think merlion can be used as the national icon. The merlion has a history that can be backtracked to the olden times. Many historical things has been removed from the modern world, thus there are not many left to be appreciated. Since merlion has a longer history than most of Singapore's places of interest, i think that it can represent Singapore as the national icon. However, i feel that the Merlion should made known more widely. I feel that not many tourists even know that merlion existed. Usually, what they hear are the universal studios, resort world sentosa and the marina bay sands. Few actually heard of Merlion. Once my cousin from Malaysia came to Singapore for a visit and she told me that she wanted to go to universal studios and garden by the bay. When i ask her if she knew about the merlion, she replied that she had never heard of it before. I was shocked and it had lead me to realise that the merlion is actually not a common or famous place of interest for everyone.