Singapore hosted the 17th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders’ Meeting on 14 and 15 November 2009. The highlight was the presence at the meeting of US President Barack Obama in his first official visit to Asia. The meeting saw the United States ...
On 6 February 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles, Temenggong Abdu’r Rahman and Sultan Husain Shah (also spelt as Hussein Shah) of Johor signed a treaty that gave the British East India Company (EIC) the right to set up a trading post in Singapore. In exchange, Sultan Husain ...
In the midst of World War I, on 15 February 1915, the Right Wing (Rajput) of the 5th Light Infantry (Indian Army) which was stationed in Singapore, revolted, killing more than 40 British officers, British residents and local civilians. The mutiny was originally ...
The 2 April 1955 Legislative Assembly General Election (GE) was held to elect 25 out of 32 seats in the Legislative Assembly. It was the first time that a majority of legislators would be elected by popular ballot rather than appointed by colonial authorities. ...
Japanese forces invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941 and drove the British troops from the Malayan peninsula after just 70 days of fighting. By early February the following year, the Japanese were poised to strike their final blow on Singapore, the bastion of the ...
From 1959 up till the early 1960s, Singapore's then Ministry of Culture (now known as the Ministry of Communications and Information) organised a series of free, open-air cultural concerts with a strong multi-racial theme. Known as Aneka Ragam Ra'ayat, or “People's ...
At 4 am on 31 December 1999, four members of the Antarctica 2000 expedition team arrived at the South Pole after an arduous 1,125-kilometre trek, becoming the first Singapore team to do so. Upon reaching the South Pole, they unfurled the Singapore national flag. ...
The Asian financial crisis started in Thailand with the collapse of the Thai baht in July 1997. What began as a currency crisis soon affected the wider economy and spread quickly to the rest of the region, leading to economic downturns in several countries. Singapore ...
Bahau was an agricultural settlement established during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–45) at Bahau in the Malayan state of Negeri Sembilan. It was also known as Fuji-Go, which means “Fuji village” or “beautiful village”. The settlement, which was specially ...
The Born to Read, Read to Bond programme aims to promote lifelong learning and deepen family ties by increasing parent-child bonding. The on-going programme, introduced by the National Library Board on 27 November 2001, is designed for newly born children to children ...
The British Military Hospital (BMH) was established in 1938 by the British Armed Forces, serving as the principal hospital for the British in the Far East during World War II. At the time of its opening, it was considered “the most up-to-date and one of the largest ...
On 18 July 1967, Britain announced its plans to withdraw its troops from Singapore by the mid-1970s. Six months later, the deadline was brought forward to 1971. The sudden pull-out of British forces presented serious problems to Singapore’s defence and economic ...
The opening of Singapore as a British free port in 1819 attracted trade from the Bugis, a group of seafarers from the southern Celebes (today’s Indonesian island of Sulawesi). Travelling on their distinctive boats known as prahus, they brought with them specialised ...
The Bukit Batok Memorial, which consisted of the Syonan Chureito and British Memorial Cross, was built during the Japanese Occupation to honour dead soldiers of the Japanese and British forces. Located at Bukit Batok Hilltop (present Bukit Batok Nature Park) in ...
One of Singapore's biggest fires occurred in Bukit Ho Swee on 25 May 1961. The fire razed a 100-acre area (0.4 sq km) consisting of a school, shops, factories and wooden and attap houses, leaving some 16,000 kampong dwellers homeless and four fatalities. The property ...
On 29 January 1983, seven people died when the Sentosa cable cars they were aboard plunged into the sea after the derrick of an oil-drilling vessel, Eniwetok, struck the cableway when it was unberthing from the wharf nearby. It was the first fatal accident since ...
Cathay Building, located at the foot of Mount Sophia in the Dhoby Ghaut area, was once the tallest building in Singapore. It used to house the Cathay cinema, Cathay Hotel and Cathay Restaurant. The cinema was opened in 1939 in the front building, while the main ...
Centenary Day was celebrated on 6 February 1919 to commemorate 100 years since Singapore’s founding by Stamford Raffles. On 6 February 1819, Raffles signed the treaty that allowed the British East India Company to set up a trading post in Singapore. The Centenary ...
A cholera epidemic occurred in Singapore in July 1873 and lasted till September the same year, resulting in 857 reported cases and 448 deaths. The 1873 outbreak was particularly deadly with a mortality rate of 41.5 percent. Port health controls on immigrants and ...
The Civilian War Memorial is a monument dedicated to civilians who perished during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-1945). It is located on a parkland, along Beach Road, opposite Raffles City, in the Downtown Core of Singapore's Central Region. The structure ...
Launched in November 1990, the Clean and Green Week (CGW) took place for a week in November each year until 2007 when it became a yearlong campaign and was consequently renamed Clean and Green Singapore. The Clean and Green campaign aims to protect and care for ...
Coleman Street,part of Singapore city's original town, is located in the Downtown Core section within the Central area, and stretches from Armenian Street to St. Andrews Road. It was named after G. D. Coleman, the first architect in Singapore, Overseer of Convicts, ...
On 3 January 2003 at about 11.35 pm, a patrol vessel commissioned by the Republic of Singapore Navy, the RSS Courageous, collided with a cargo ship, the ANL Indonesia, along the eastern Singapore Straits near Horsburgh Lighthouse (on the island of Pedra Branca). ...
SilkAir Flight MI 185, while on its way to Singapore from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, nosedived into Musi River near the city of Palembang in South Sumatra, Indonesia, on 19 December 1997 at about 4.13 pm local time. The plane was almost completely destroyed ...
Singapore Airlines (SIA) Flight SQ006, which was on its way to Los Angeles from Singapore via Taiwan, crashed on a closed runway at Chiang Kai-shek Airport (now called Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) during take-off on 31 October 2000 at 11.18 pm local time. ...
On 8 August 2011, local daily freesheet Today published a news feature that mentioned a dispute between a migrant family from China and a Singaporean Indian family over the smell of curry emanating from the latter’s home. Following the publication of the news article, ...
The "curry murder" was a high-profile murder case in 1984 that supposedly involved the perpetrators covering up the killing by chopping the victim Ayakanno Marimuthu's (given as Marithamuthu in some sources) body into pieces and cooking them in curry. In March ...
Dalforce was a volunteer army formed by the local Chinese community to resist the Japanese invasion during the battle of Singapore. It was named after its commander, Lieutenant Colonel John Dalley of the Federated Malay States Police Force. However, the Chinese ...
On 27 September 1943, during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–44), seven Japanese shipping vessels were destroyed in Singapore waters. Although the saboteurs escaped unnoticed, the Japanese suspected that prisoners interned at Changi had been responsible ...
The Double Tenth trial was conducted from 18 March to 15 April 1946 involving 21 members of the Kempeitai in Singapore for atrocities committed against 57 civilians who had been interned at Changi Gaol.
On 23 November 2007, a dragon boat carrying a 22-member team representing Singapore overturned in Cambodia’s Tonle Sap river after strong currents caused it to collide with a tugboat moored at a pontoon. Five members of the team were sucked under the pontoon by ...
There are no records of earthquakes occurring in Singapore, as the island is located outside earthquake zones. However, Singapore does periodically experience low-level earth tremors caused by earthquakes in Sumatra, Indonesia. Occasionally, these tremors may cause ...
The “elephant statue” is a bronze monument located at the High Street entrance of the Old Parliament House (formerly known as the Old Court House) in the Downtown Core of Singapore’s Central Region. It was a gift from Thailand’s King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to commemorate ...
Endau Settlement was a 300,000-acre agricultural settlement set up at Endau, in the Malayan state of Johor during the Japanese Occupation for Chinese settlers. It was considered the most successful self-sufficiency scheme initiated by the Japanese authorities to ...
A Chengal Pasir tree near Halton Road in Changi was felled by DTZ Debenham Tie Leung Property Management Services (DTZ) on 20 November 2002. The tree was believed to be the last of its species in Singapore. DTZ was found guilty of illegally felling the tree and ...
Surviving the Sky, Singapore’s and Asia’s first reality challenge on a cable car, took place from 16−23 March 2004. The event was held in conjunction with Singapore Cable Car’s (SCC) 30th anniversary. Participants had to endure living in a cable car for a total ...
The first air raid on Singapore was carried out by 17 Japanese planes from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, launched from Japanese-occupied Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam. It took place shortly after 4 am on 8 December 1941, and left 61 ...
The first airplane to land in Singapore (apart from earlier exhibition flights) was piloted by Captain Ross Macpherson Smith with three crew members. The plane, which was on a pioneering flight from England to Darwin, Australia, made a stopover in Singapore on ...
A Qantas-BOAC Constellation G-ALAM airliner named Able Mike crashed during its landing at the now-defunct Kallang Airport on 13 March 1954 at 3.04 pm. The plane was making a scheduled flight from Sydney to London and had stopped over at Darwin, Australia, and Jakarta, ...
Singapore’s first Crime Prevention Week was held from 15 to 21 March 1954. Organised by the Singapore Police Force, this first crime prevention week initiated a working partnership between the police force and the public in the task of fighting and preventing crime. ...
The first major accident on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system since it started operation in 1987 was a front-to-back collision between two trains at the Clementi Station on 5 August 1993. The accident resulted in 156 injured commuters.
The Road Courtesy Campaign launched by then Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye on 10 September 1966 is the first national campaign to try and instil more awareness of road safety in all road users. It marked the start of a sustained effort in Singapore to bring ...
The first Singapore Grand Prix was held from 16 to 17 September 1961. It was one of a series of sporting events held in support of the government-sponsored “Visit Singapore – The Orient Year” tourism campaign. Organised by the Singapore Motor Club (SMC) with ...
On 2 April 1992, Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) launched the nation's first subscription television channel, NewsVision, through its new subsidiary Singapore CableVision (SCV). NewsVision, a 24-hour news service, showed mainly news from the U.S. based ...
The first vertical marathon in Singapore was held on 3 May 1987. A total of 130 men and 50 women took part in the race up 1,336 steps to reach the top of the world’s tallest hotel at the time: the 73-storey, 226-metre-tall Westin Stamford (now known as Swissôtel ...
Force 136 in Malaya was part of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret service organisation active during World War II. Tasked with recruiting and training local guerillas to assist the planned British invasion of Japanese-occupied Malaya, Force ...
The Battle Box or Fort Canning Bunker was built in 1936 to serve the Headquarters of the British Strategic Command as the nerve-centre for British Military operations in the Far East during World War II. It was here that Lieutenant General Percival and the allied ...
G. D. (George Dromgold) Coleman (b. 1795, Drogheda, County Louth, Ireland–d. 27 March 1844, Singapore) was Singapore’s pioneer colonial architect. He became the first Government Superintendent of Public Works when he was appointed in 1833. Coleman planned, surveyed ...
In December 1972, a group of 10 men killed businessman Ngo Cheng Poh and his employees, Leong Chin Woo and Ang Boon Chai, over 120 gold bars. Known as the "Gold Bar Murders", the case was one of Singapore's most prominent criminal cases. The men responsible were ...
The Grow More Food Campaign was started during the Japanese Occupation to place a check on inflation and to prepare for an eventual blockade from enemy forces. People were encouraged to strive for self-sufficiency by growing their own food. Vegetables, tapioca ...
Halford Lovell Boudewyn (b. 1921–d. 26 April 1998, Singapore) was a long-serving police officer. During the Japanese Occupation, he risked his life by storing classified documents stolen from the Indian National Army. He also secretly gathered and shared war news ...
The sovereignty of Christmas Island was transferred from Singapore (then a Crown colony of the United Kingdom) to the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 October 1958 under the Transfer to Australia Order in Council, 1958. At the close of the day on 30 September, the ...
Singapore Airlines flight SQ 117 was hijacked on 26 March 1991 shortly after it took off from Kuala Lumpur. The hijackers were four passengers who claimed to be members of the Pakistan People’s Party. The plane landed at Changi Airport at 10.24 pm. Commandos ...
Dismissed workers of the Hock Lee Amalgamated Bus Company went on strike from 25 April 1955. Joined by supporters and Chinese middle school students, these strikers picketed the bus depot and disrupted bus services. Police were called in to disperse the crowds ...
Hoo Ah Kay (also known as Whampoa) (b. approx 1816, Whampoa, Guangdong, China–d. 27 March 1880, Singapore) was a prominent Chinese businessman who ran Whampoa & Co., expanding it after the death of his father. With an uncommon mastery of English, Hoo became the ...
The Lian Yak Building, which housed Hotel New World, collapsed on 15 March 1986 due to structural defects and poor-quality construction. The collapse left 33 people dead, and was considered one of the worst disasters in post-war Singapore. A rescue operation involving ...
Huang Na, aged 8, went missing on 10 October 2004. Her disappearance resulted in a nationwide search. Her body was eventually discovered in a box dumped at Telok Blangah Hill Park. Took Leng How, a colleague of Huang Na's mother, was charged with her murder. He ...
The Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation, or Konfrontasi, lasted from 1963 to 1966. The conflict was an intermittent war waged by Indonesia to oppose the formation and existence of the Federation of Malaysia. It was marked by a breakdown in political, economic and ...
In November 1998, Perak pig farmer Lai Mai became the first victim of the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus outbreak in Malaysia. On 19 March 1999, an abattoir worker in Singapore fell victim to what was thought to be the JE virus but was later verified as a yet ...
The Japanese surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur on board an American battleship, Missouri, at Tokyo Bay at 9 am on 2 September 1945 – officially ending WWII. Two weeks later, on 12 September 1945 at 11.10 am, local time, another Japanese surrender ceremony ...
John Martin, born John Martin Scripps, was the first Westerner hanged in Singapore for murder on 19 April 1996. He was convicted for the murder of South African tourist, Gerard George Lowe, in March 1995. The police were alerted when various parts of Lowe’s dismembered ...
The Johor Battery, built in 1939, was the main artillery battery of the British coastal artillery defence network set up on the northeast coast of Singapore. Other batteries in the area were at Changi, Beting Kusah, Pulau Tekong Besar (and Pengerang in the state ...
The Keep Public Toilets Clean campaign series was launched by the Ministry of Environment (ENV) in July 1983. Held in the same month as the National Courtesy Campaign (NCC), the public education programme was started with the aim of promoting good public toilet ...
The Keep Singapore Clean campaign was one of Singapore’s first national campaigns as an independent nation. Launched on 1 October 1968 by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the month-long campaign aimed to make Singapore the cleanest and greenest city in the region ...
The Kempeitai was Japan’s military police force in its occupied territories during World War II (1942–45). Specially trained in interrogation methods, the Kempeitai’s task was to crush all resistance to Japanese military rule, with the powers to arrest and extract ...
On 12 March 1927, a clash in the Kreta Ayer neighbourhood between police and Kuomintang (KMT) supporters revealed the strength of leftist influence on the local Chinese population. A memorial service to mark Sun Yat Sen’s death was followed by a procession of Chinese, ...
On 31 January 1974, four men armed with submachine guns and explosives attacked the Shell Oil Refinery on Pulau Bukom Besar, an island south of mainland Singapore. After they failed to blow up the oil tanks, the group – dubbed the “Bukom bombers” by the newspapers ...
The Lehman Brothers Minibond saga refers to events related to the unravelling of various structured investment products as a result of the company’s bankruptcy filing in September 2008. Following the collapse of the American investment bank, about 10,000 retail ...
The Lehman Brothers Minibond saga arose from the company’s bankruptcy filing in September 2008 and centred on the impact this had on several structured investment products linked to the failed investment bank. When investors discovered that the company’s collapse ...
The National Library Board’s first centralised Library Book Sale was held at the Suntec City Entertainment Centre in 1998 in conjunction with the Great Singapore Sale. Since then, the book sale has been taking place almost every year either at the Singapore Expo ...
A riot that lasted about two hours erupted in Little India on Sunday, 8 December 2013, following a fatal traffic accident that had occurred along Race Course Road. Some 300 rioters took part in the unrest, which was the worst case of public violence in Singapore ...
A bomb exploded in the MacDonald House building situated along Orchard Road on 10 March 1965 at 3.07 pm. The explosion claimed the lives of three people and injured at least 33 others. The bombing had been carried out as part of Indonesian’s Confrontation (also ...
Floods are a common occurrence in Singapore usually caused by a combination of heavy rainfall, high tides and drainage problems, especially in low-lying areas. Most floods in Singapore are flash floods that subside within a few hours. Although most floods cause ...
The Straits of Singapore lies between Singapore and the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia, and links the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea. It is approximately 113 km long and 5 to 12 km wide, although its narrowest navigable width is 2.9 km. It is on the shipping ...
The Malayan People’s Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a group of resistance fighters in Malaya, organised by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) to fight against the Japanese in Japanese-occupied Malaya. Well aware of the communist influence in MPAJA, the British were ...
Mamoru Shinozaki (b. 19 February 1908, Fukuoka, Japan–d. 1991, location unknown) came to Singapore in 1938 as a Japanese government official. He was convicted and jailed for espionage in 1940, and released after Singapore surrendered to the Japanese during World ...
Maria Huberdina Hertogh (b. 24 March 1937, Tjimahi, Java, Indonesia–d. 8 July 2009, Huijbergen, Netherlands), also known as Nadra (sometimes spelt as Natra) binte Ma’arof or just Bertha, was the focus of racial riots that occurred in Singapore in December 1950. ...
The Maria Hertogh riots were a severe outbreak of violence that took place in Singapore between 11 and 13 December 1950 over the custody lawsuit of Maria Hertogh. The riots left 18 dead and 173 injured, as well as a reported 72 vehicles burnt, 119 vehicles damaged, ...
Michael Peter Fay (b. 30 May 1975, St. Louis, Missouri, United States–), then an American teenager living in Singapore, stirred up a media storm after he was sentenced to six strokes of the cane in March 1994 for vandalising 18 cars over a ten-day period in September ...
Singapore hosted the 36th Miss Universe pageant on 27 May 1987. The extravaganza was staged in Hall 4 of the former World Trade Centre (now known as HarbourFront Centre), and televised worldwide to at least 600 million viewers in 56 countries. Organised at a cost ...
On 27 June 1964, 52 students were arrested in a massive pre-dawn crackdown at Nanyang University, on grounds of their involvement in "communist subversive activities". It was the last of a series of anti-communist actions conducted by the Federal government in ...
The National AIDS Control Programme is an action plan for protecting against and preventing the spread of HIV infection and AIDS in the country. It was formulated by the Advisory Committee on AIDS formed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 1985, soon after the first ...
The National Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign is an annual event jointly organised by the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). Held annually in June to commemorate World Drug Day, it incorporates a series of youth-oriented activities ...
The National Courtesy Campaign was launched on 1 June 1979 by the then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The aim of the campaign was “to create a pleasant social environment, with Singaporeans considerate to each other and thoughtful of each other's needs”.
The annual National Day Awards (NDA) is a means of recognising various forms of merit and service to the nation. At the NDA investiture ceremony, Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans are honoured for their excellent contributions to the civil or military service, ...
The Ministry of Health launched the National Healthy Lifestyle Programme in 1992 to promote a healthy lifestyle among Singaporeans. It was officially inaugurated by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. The programme is focused on an annual, month-long campaign, the ...
National Loyalty Week was held between 3 and 10 December 1959 to encourage a sense of loyalty among the diverse citizens of the new state of Singapore. It saw the inauguration of key national symbols including the state flag, the national anthem, the state crest ...
Awareness of good diet and nutrition has been an ongoing theme in the government's drive to impart a healthy lifestyle among Singaporeans. Various national nutrition programmes have been launched since the 1970s in the wake of increased illnesses that arise from ...
The National School Savings Campaign (NSSC) was introduced to government and government-aided schools in 1969 to cultivate thrift in students and to encourage them to save with the Post Office Savings Bank (POSB). The campaign was also part of a domestic savings ...
Nicoll Highway stretches westward from Mountbatten Road across the mouth of Kallang River over Merdeka Bridge down to the city centre, where it joins Connaught Drive and Stamford Road. It was built in the 1950s to alleviate frequent traffic jams on the often congested ...
A stretch of Nicoll Highway collapse on 20 April 2004, rendering it unpassable for more than seven months. The disaster occurred due to the collapse of a temporary retaining wall of the tunnel at the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Circle Line at Nicoll Highway. The wall’s ...
Operation Sook Ching was a Japanese military operation aimed at purging or eliminating anti-Japanese elements from the Chinese community in Singapore. From 21 February to 4 March 1942, Chinese males between the ages of 18 and 50 were summoned to various mass screening ...
The Oriental Hotel murder was a crime that occurred on 6 June 1994 at Oriental Hotel Singapore, when Abdul Nasir Amer Hamsah and Abdul Rahman Arshad attacked and robbed two Japanese tourists, Fujii Isae and Takishita Miyoko. Both women sustained injuries during ...
The Overseas Chinese Association was formed in March 1942 during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The association was formed at the direction of the Japanese military authorities to mediate between the authorities and the local Chinese community. However, ...
Pearl’s Hill is an enclave in the Outram area bounded by the Central Expressway, Outram Road, Eu Tong Sen Street and Upper Cross Street. Initially the location of Chinese-owned gambier plantations, the hill was first called Mount Stamford, after Sir Stamford Raffles. ...
The first-ever visit to Singapore by a Catholic pope was by John Paul II on 20 November 1986. During his brief stop in Singapore, Pope John Paul II met the Singapore president and prime minister, and conducted mass which was attended by about 70,000 people at the ...
On 28 September 2011, a fire broke out at an oil refinery owned by Royal Dutch Shell on Pulau Bukom. The blaze began near a system of pipelines carrying various petroleum products and lasted for 32 hours before being extinguished. The Singapore Civil Defence Force ...
Pulau Merlimau was one of Singapore’s southern islands off the coast of Jurong before it became part of Jurong Island. It used to house the refinery of the Singapore Refining Company (SRC), a joint venture between British Petroleum, Caltex Petroleum Corporation ...
Pulau Ubin, (Pulo Obin) island, located in the north-eastern coast of Singapore, with Selat Johore to the north and Serangoon Harbour to the south. Its name is derived from its original Malay name, Pulau Batu Jubin meaning "Island of Granite Stones". Granite quarries ...
When Princess Elizabeth was crowned Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (UK) and Head of the Commonwealth on 2 June 1953, Singapore celebrated the coronation along with other British colonies and the UK. Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne in 1952 when ...
Queen Street is located in the Civic District and is a one-way street that connects Arab Street to the junction of Stamford Road and Armenian Street. Named after Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the street was part of the Eurasian ...
Racial Harmony Day is an annual event held on 21 July to commemorate the communal riots of 1964 and teach students the importance of maintaining racial and religious harmony in Singapore’s multicultural and multi-ethnic society. It was launched in 1997 as part ...
Sir Stamford Raffles’s landing in Singapore is dated 28 January 1819. Travelling on the Indiana with a squadron that included the schooner Enterprise, he anchored off at St John’s Island at 4:00 pm. The landing site of Raffles is today marked with the statue of ...
The referendum on merger with the Federation of Malaysia, also known as the Singapore National Referendum, was held on 1 September 1962. The idea for a referendum to be held was championed by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew of the People’s Action Party (PAP). ...
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, two prisoner-of-war camps were located in the area bounded by River Valley Road and Havelock Road. Due to their proximity, these camps were often referred to collectively as the River Valley Road Camp, ...
The Robinson’s Department Store building at Raffles Place was destroyed by a fire that broke out at around 9.55 am on 21 November 1972. The fire, which was one of the worst in Singapore’s history, also caused damage to the roof of the Overseas Union Bank next door ...
For about a week in early June 1990, Singaporeans were captivated by media reports of runaway elephants on Pulau Tekong. This was reportedly the first time in recent history that elephants had swum across the Johor Straits to Tekong, an island used by the Singapore ...
Selarang Barracks was built between 1936 and 1938 to house an infantry battalion. During the Japanese Occupation (1942–45), it was used by the Japanese Imperial Army to hold Australian prisoners of war (POWs). It is also the site of the infamous Selarang Barracks ...
Singa the Courtesy Lion (also known as Singa the Lion or Singa) was introduced to the public in 1982 as the official mascot for Singapore’s National Courtesy Campaign (NCC). In his role as courtesy mascot, Singa has appeared in numerous publicity materials, souvenirs ...
Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 14 to 26 August 2010. During the event, an estimated 3,600 athletes from 205 countries, aged between 14 and 18 years, competed in 26 various sports events. The Games involved some 20,000 local and international ...
The first Armed Forces Day was celebrated on 1 July 1969 with a grand parade and march-past at the Jalan Besar Stadium presided over by then Minister for the Interior and Defence Lim Kim San. Public outreach activities such as camp “open houses”, exhibitions, selling ...
On 13 February 1875, the Singapore Criminal Prison located between Stamford Road and Bras Basah Road was the site of a serious breakout led by about 60 prisoners trying to escape from the prison. In the violence that ensued, 16 warders and numerous prisoners were ...
A platform to showcase dance practitioners and choreographers, and endear Singaporeans to dance as an art form – then known as the Festival of Dance – had begun as early as 1982. In 1993, the dance festival was subsumed under a bigger performing arts congregation, ...
The first Singapore Fashion Festival was launched on 16 March 2001. The annual two-week-long festival is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) with the aim of making Singapore the fashion capital of Asia. Festival highlights include the showcase of international ...
The Singapore International Festival of Arts is an annual highlight of Singapore’s cultural calendar. It began as the Singapore Festival of Arts in 1977 and was a biennial event up till 1999. Started at a time when Singapore was often called a “cultural desert”, ...
The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM) was launched in 1997 in response to the then prime minister Goh Chok Tong’s call for Singapore to become a gracious society by the 21st century. The objectives of the movement are: “to encourage Singaporeans to be kind and ...
The first Singapore River Buskers’ Festival was held along the Singapore River from 15 to 23 November 1997. Organised by The A Team Promotions in collaboration with the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB), the festival was part of the three-month Celebration ...
The Singapore Season is a cultural diplomacy effort to showcase Singapore’s unique multi-cultural heritage, vibrant arts scene and attractiveness as a hub for global business in key cities in the world. The aim is to give audiences in leading cities in the world ...
In 1966, Singapore celebrated its 9 August National Day for the first time. It was a week-long string of festivities that included a big parade, fireworks displays, cultural shows, and dinner parties. It was actually Singapore’s second National Day. The very first ...
It was the practice in British Commonwealth countries to conduct a census of population at the beginning of each decade. However, the onset of World War II in 1939 had meant the cancellation of the 1941 census in Malaya and Singapore. As part of the post-war reconstruction, ...
Singapore saw the successful delivery of its first surviving in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) quadruplets on 14 May 1989. A Mother's Day gift to Mr. and Mrs. H. T. Tan, the quadruplets – girls Chun Ping, Chun Li, Chun Di and their brother Min Bin had healthy birth ...
The first television station in Singapore, Television Singapura, was launched on 15 February 1963. It merged with Radio Singapura to form Radio and Television Singapore (RTS) following Singapore’s independence on 9 August 1965. On 1 February 1980, RTS was corporatised ...
After six years of negotiations between Singapore and Malaysian officials over a new agreement on water and gas supplies, Singapore’s then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, finally signed a memorandum of understanding ...
Michael and Sonya Fong were Singapore's first couple to set out on a world motorcycle trip, which they called "Baby Quek's Big Adventure", on 17 September 1995. They travelled for nearly two years, returning on 14 May 1997. Riding their 1,000 cc BMW motorcycle, ...
Yip Pin Xiu was hailed as “Pin Xiu the golden girl” in newspaper headlines when the 16-year-old became the first Singapore athlete to win gold in the 50m backstroke during the 13th Paralympic Games in Beijing in September 2008. She finished in 58.75 seconds, a ...
Singapore’s women’s table tennis team comprising Li Jiawei, Feng Tianwei and Wang Yuegu fought a series of tough battles against the world’s best table tennis players to win Singapore its second Olympic medal in 48 years in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The trio won ...
On 26 November 2012, 171 bus drivers from public-transport service provider SMRT Corporation Limited (SMRT) refused to go to work, and 88 were absent from work the next day. It was the first strike in Singapore since the Hydril strike in 1986. The protestors, ...
Song Ong Siang (b. 14 June 1871, Singapore–d. 29 September 1941, Singapore) was a prominent member of the Straits Chinese community in Singapore and the first Chinese in Malaya to be knighted by the British. He distinguished himself as a community leader, lawyer, ...
The Speak Good English Movement (SGEM) was launched on 29 April 2000 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to “encourage Singaporeans to speak grammatically correct English that is universally understood”. The movement was introduced as a response to the growing ...
The explosion and fire on board Greek oil tanker S. T. Spyros on 12 October 1978 was described as Singapore’s “worst post-war disaster in terms of lives lost”. Seventy-six people died and 69 others were injured in the accident.
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (b. 6 July 1781, off Port Morant, Jamaica–d. 5 July 1826, Middlesex, England) is famously known as the founder of modern Singapore. Besides signing the treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah of Johor on 6 February 1819 that gave the British ...
Stanley Warren (b. 1917, London, England–d. 20 February 1992, Bridport, England), a bombardier with the 135th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery, was known as the painter of the murals in St Luke’s Chapel of the Roberts Barracks in Changi while interned as a prisoner-of-war ...
Subhas Chandra Bose (b. 23 January 1897, Cuttack, Orissa, India–d. 18 August 1945, off Taipei), was a noted Indian politician in the fight for India’s independence from British rule. He was jailed 11 times in his fight for freedom and was believed to have been ...
Sultan Hussein Mohamed Shah (b. 1776/1777 - d. 1835, Malacca) a.k.a Tengku Long or Tengku Hussein, was the eldest son of Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last ruler of the Johore empire. As the eldest son, he was the rightful heir to the throne. He was bypassed for kingship ...
Swing Singapore began as a street party in 1988 and continued as a part of the National Day celebrations until 1992 when variations of the event were starting to be held. For example, the Millennium Swing Singapore in 1999 made the annual street party a New Year’s ...
The Syonan Jinja (Light of the South Shrine) was a Shinto shrine built to commemorate the Japanese soldiers who died in the conquest of Malaya and Sumatra. Constructed deep in the forests of the MacRitchie Reservoir in Singapore between 1942 and 1943, the shrine ...
The Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors’ Award was first established in May 1986 to encourage and promote creativity and innovation in science and technology. The competition is open to Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 36 and below (Open Section) as well as students ...
The Tanglin Barracks was built by George Chancellor Collyer in 1861 for European troops. The barracks served the British garrison infantry battalion until the fall of Singapore in 1942. After the war, it was home to the General Headquarters of the Far East Land ...
Tea dances were a popular social event in Singapore from the 1920s to the 1960s where patrons socialised over music and drinks. In the 1960s, tea dances organised by clubs became the centre of the rock ’n’ roll culture in Singapore. Such tea dances eventually died ...
The Battle of Opium Hill on 14 February 1942 at Pasir Panjang was one of the fiercest battles that took place in Singapore in World War II. It pitted the invading Japanese Imperial Army against the brave but heavily out-numbered troops of the Malay Regiment. The ...
The Cleanest Estate Competition and the Cleanest Block Competition were launched by the government in order to increase the level of cleanliness among the public housing in heartlands.
The Great Singapore Workout, a fitness routine under the National Healthy Lifestyle Programme, was launched on 3 October 1993 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong at the National Stadium. The workout is a specially designed aerobic programme of 15 steps with five ...
The National Campaign to Minimise Cash Transactions was launched on 14 March 1985 to urge Singaporeans to carry out their transactions electronically. The drive to bring Singapore closer to a cashless society was part of the government’s aim to increase productivity. ...
The Orchard Towers double murder refers to the murders of Kho Nai Guan, aged 46, and his girlfriend Lan Ya Ming, aged 30, by Michael McCrea in 2002. The British financial adviser, with the help of three others, dumped the bodies in a car which was subsequently ...
The Sunny Ang murder case was one of the most high-profile crimes in 1960s Singapore. Sunny Ang Soo Suan (also known as Anthony Ang), a one-time Grand Prix driver, was accused of causing the death of his girlfriend, Jenny Cheok Cheng Kid, a former barmaid, so that ...
The Weekend Car Scheme (currently known as "off-peak cars" or OPC) was introduced on 1 May 1991. The scheme allowed the owner of a car to drive it only during specified hours, mainly on weekends.
Theemithi (also spelt Thimithi), or "firewalking", is a Hindu religious practice where devotees walk across a fire pit in exchange for a wish or blessing granted by the goddess Draupadi. Theemithi is part of a larger ceremony stretching over a two-and-a-half month ...
Tomoyuki Yamashita (b. 8 November 1885, Osugi Mura, Shikoku, Japan–d. 23 February 1946, Manila, Philippines), was the Army Commander of the 25th Army that captured Malaya and Singapore during World War II. The capture was the most decisive victory of the East over ...
The Tree Planting campaign was launched by the government in 1963 with the objective of making Singapore a green city. Every year a minimum of 10,000 saplings are planted as part of this campaign. The campaign includes an annual Tree Planting Day.
Tree Planting Day is an annual event in Singapore which typically involves the planting of trees and shrubs in public places like housing estates, parks and schools. The event, which is usually held on the first Sunday of November, was officially started in 1971. ...
The inaugural World Toilet Summit 2001 was held from 19–21 November 2001 at the Singapore Expo. Hosted by the Restrooms Association of Singapore, along with 16 other toilet associations, the purpose of the summit was to promote an in-depth discussion on global ...
Iranian twin sisters, Laleh and Ladan Bijani, were the world’s first adult Siamese twins to undergo surgical separation. The 52-hour marathon operation began on 6 July 2003 at Raffles Hospital in Singapore. However, 29-year-old twins, who were born conjoined at ...
The Yellow Ribbon Project is a national initiative aimed at encouraging the community, through various programmes and activities, to accept ex-offenders released from prisons and drug rehabilitation centres as well as support their reintegration into society. It ...
Yusheng (鱼生; yusang in Cantonese), meaning “raw fish” in Chinese, is a salad dish comprising thin slices of raw fish and various seasonings that are mixed together as diners toss the ingredients. It is a dish usually eaten during Chinese New Year. Traditionally ...