The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is a key component of Singapore’s social security structure. It is a compulsory save-as-you-earn scheme that enables working Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents to set aside a percentage of their monthly gross salary for ...
Medisave is a national savings scheme in which individuals contribute part of their monthly wages to their Medisave accounts to meet their personal or immediate family’s hospitalisation expenses. Implemented on 1 April 1984 by the Ministry of Health, the scheme ...
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, ...
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is the central bank of Singapore. In 1970, Parliament passed the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act and on 1 January 1971, MAS began operations. Its key focus was to supervise Singapore’s financial system and manage its ...
The Next Lap is a plan for Singapore’s long-term development. It includes ideas and proposals to make Singapore a nation of distinction. The term has also been used to refer to the period of time when Goh Chok Tong took over the premiership from Lee Kuan Yew in ...
Rag and Flag Day is an annual fundraising charity event organised by the National University of Singapore Students’ Union (NUSSU) and held at the National University of Singapore (NUS) campus. The event involves students from the various faculties, hostels and ...
Raffles Place is a commercial space that includes buildings such as the Arcade, Clifford Centre, Straits Trading, Hong Kong Bank and OCBC Building – all situated within five minutes’ walking distance of one another.
Singapore is served by a modern sanitation system in which all used water is collected through a network of sewers and channelled to water reclamation plants. But this was not always so. In the 1800s, the sewage collection and disposal system in Singapore relied ...
Singapore is considered to be one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. It is heavily dependent on rainfall due to the lack of natural water resources, and limited land is available for water storage facilities. Prolonged dry spells cause or threaten ...
Opened on 12 November 1960, the Central Community Library was located in the former National Library Building on Stamford Road. It used to be called the Central Lending Library until 1 September 1995 when the National Library became a statutory board and it was ...
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 ...
The Central Sikh Temple, or Central Sikh Gurdwara as it is known to the Sikhs, is a place of worship for the Sikh community in Singapore. Established in 1912, it was previously known as the Queen Street Gurdwara Sahib, due to its former location on Queen Street. ...
The Central Fire Station, also known as the Hill Street Fire Station, is Singapore’s oldest surviving fire station. Completed in 1909, the distinctive red-and-white brick building was gazetted as a national monument by the Preservation of Monuments Board on 18 ...
The Central Expressway (CTE) links the city to districts in the north of Singapore such as Toa Payoh, Bishan and Ang Mo Kio. To its north is the Seletar Expressway and to its south, the Ayer Rajah Expressway. Opened in 1991, parts of the CTE are underground, forming ...
The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) is a humanitarian organisation that provides assistance through relief operations in both local and international arenas in times of disaster. SRC also provides health and welfare services to the sick, afflicted and aged, regardless ...
The Singapore River is located within the island’s Central Region. The 3.2-kilometre-long waterway – from its mouth to Kim Seng Bridge – has been the lifeline of Singapore for almost 200 years. Proof of its ancient beginnings lies in the Singapore Stone, which ...
The Four National Taps, a term used by then Minister for the Environment Lim Swee Say in 2004, refer to the four sources that Singapore relies on for its water supply. They comprise water from local catchment, imported water, high-grade reclaimed water known as ...
The Singapore Indian Education Trust (SIET) is an Indian community trust fund that supports the education of local Indians, particularly those from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. It was set up in 1967 with trade unionist Govindasamy Kandasamy as one of ...
The New Singapore Shares is a scheme introduced in 2001 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong as a means of sharing Singapore’s wealth with the people and to help less well-off Singaporeans tide over the economic downturn during that period. The S$2.7-billion scheme ...
The Singapore Women’s Everest Team (SWET) was the first all-female expedition from Singapore to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain at 8,850 m above sea level. Lee Li Hui was the first member to scale the peak at 3.45 am Nepal time on ...