Recognising the importance of family planning to national development, the government organised Singapore’s first national family planning campaign in 1960. The campaign aimed to raise public awareness on the need for family planning and the disadvantages of having ...

The State Development Plan, also referred to as the First Development Plan, was the first official blueprint for the economic development of Singapore after it attained self-government in 1959. Produced by the Ministry of Finance, the plan aimed to solve the pressing ...

The Raffles Town Plan, also known as the Jackson Plan, refers to Stamford Raffles’s plan for the town of Singapore formulated in late 1822. Lieutenant Philip Jackson drew up a plan according to Raffles’s vision and the resultant plan was published in 1828. The ...

Urban planning in Singapore began in the 1820s when Stamford Raffles implemented a land-use plan later known as the Raffles Town Plan. However, for most of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Singapore’s physical growth was haphazard and largely ...

The Singapore Green Plan (SGP) is Singapore's first environmental blueprint. Released in 1992 by the then Ministry of the Environment (now known as the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources or MEWR), its objective is to ensure that Singapore could develop ...

Urban planning in Singapore aims to optimise the use of the country’s scarce land resources for the diverse needs of both current and future generations of residents. It involves allocating land for competing uses such as housing, commerce, industry, parks, transport, ...

The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) is a government agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs. Headquartered at 407 Upper Changi Road North, it administers 14 institutions in Singapore. In addition to ensuring the secure custody of inmates, the prison service works ...

An emergency blood collection service was started in Singapore in 1939 as war loomed in the Pacific. By 1941, there were thousands of blood donors registered. The Singapore Blood Transfusion Service (SBTS), however, was formed only in June 1946 after the end of ...

Talma, Edwy Lyonet, commonly known as E. L. Talma, (b. 1 March 1874, Barbados – d. 6 July 1930, Singapore) first came to Malaya in November 1896 and held various appointments in the Malayan Civil Service.

Development guide plans (DGPs) are detailed short- to medium-term land-use plans completed between 1993 and 1998 as part of a comprehensive review of the Master Plan 1985. The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA), the national land-use planning agency, divided Singapore ...

George Lien Ying Chow (b. 2 August 1906, Guangdong, China–d. 6 August 2004, Singapore) was an entrepreneur, banker and philanthropist. He is best known as the founder of Overseas Union Bank (OUB), one of Southeast Asia’s largest banks before it was acquired by ...

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 ...

Tampines Regional Library is the first regional public library in Singapore. Originally sited along Tampines Avenue 7, it was officially opened on 3 December 1994. Tampines Regional Library functioned as a “prototype library” where new services and features were ...

In support of Singapore’s educational and cultural development, part-time branch libraries were started by the Raffles Library in the 1950s, with the first of these set up at Upper Serangoon in 1953. Stocked with books for juniors and adults, such as dictionaries, ...

Ho Rih Hwa (b. 1917, Singapore–d. 28 August 1999, Singapore) was a prominent businessman and ambassador. He headed the Wah Chang group of companies, a business conglomerate engaged in agribusiness, hotel and resort management, as well as property development in ...

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 ...

Seet Ai Mee (Dr) (b. 31 March 1943, Singapore–) was Singapore’s first female Cabinet minister. She assumed the position in July 1991 when she was appointed Acting Minister for Community Development in a cabinet reshuffle. Seet is also known for her contributions ...

Lim Peng Siang (b. 1872, Fujian, China–d. 1944, Singapore) was a Chinese merchant who made significant contributions to Singapore’s economic and social developments in the early 1900s. He was a prominent leader of the Chinese community and held key positions in ...

Fast food is an American term referring to “foods [that] are kept hot and ready to serve, or [are] partially prepared so that they can be served quickly.” 19th century pushcart vendors developed into urban diners, which then developed into the modern fast-food ...

Tee Tua Ba (b. 17 June 1942, Singapore–) is a diplomat and a former commissioner of police. Over the course of his 30-year career in the civil service, Tee filled leadership roles in the Marine Police (now known as the Police Coast Guard), Central Narcotics Bureau ...