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 ...

Haze is an air-borne mixture of pollutants that includes soot particles, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. Haze pollution affects several Southeast Asian countries on a regular basis, notably Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, and to a lesser extent ...

The clean-up of Singapore River and Kallang Basin took place largely between 1977 and 1987. Besides the physical cleaning of the heavily polluted rivers, the massive exercise also involved the removal of various sources of pollution, the provision of proper sewage ...

The Clean Air Act was passed by parliament on 2 December 1971. It was Singapore’s earliest attempt to control industrial pollution just as the country was industrialising rapidly. As early as 1967, the pace of industrialisation in Singapore had prompted the World ...

The white-bellied sea eagle (Haliaeetus leucogaster) is reputed to be Singapore’s largest common raptor or bird of prey, with a body length of 60 to 70 cm and a wing span of about 2 m. It is usually seen soaring above reservoirs and forested areas, or near sea ...

The South Seas Society, Singapore (南洋学会; Nanyang Xuehui) is a non-profit scholarly society dedicated to Southeast Asian studies. Founded in 1940, it is the first academic society set up by overseas Chinese based in Southeast Asia focusing on this field. The society ...

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 ...

Located 5.5 km southwest of mainland Singapore, the offshore island of Pulau Bukom (also spelt “Bukum”) houses an integrated oil and petrochemicals site with manufacturing facilities for fuels, lubricant base oils and specialty chemicals. It was known as Pulau ...

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 ...

Mount Faber is located in the Bukit Merah area in the central region of Singapore. Standing at 106 m above sea level, it was originally known as Telok Blangah Hill. It was renamed Mount Faber in July 1845 after Charles Edward Faber of the Madras Engineers, who ...

The Singapore Straits is among the most geographically strategic sites in the maritime world. Ships sailing between the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean had to, and still have to, sail around the southern coast of Singapore. Over the centuries, control over ...

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve encompasses the slopes and summit of Singapore’s highest hill, Bukit Timah, which is 162.5 m above sea level. The 163-hectare nature reserve, which is protected under the Parks and Trees Act 2005, contains the largest primary forest in ...

Suratman Markasan (b. 29 December 1930, Singapore– ) is a prolific poet, novelist and respected literary pioneer in Singapore. His literary career spans from the early 1950s to the present. The numerous awards he has received include: the Southeast Asian Writers ...

Joscelin Yeo Wei Ling (b. 2 May 1979, Seoul, South Korea–) is a national swimmer of Singapore, and the only athlete on record to have won 40 gold medals at the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games. Yeo retired from competitive swimming in 2007, and is regarded as a legend ...

The Straits Steamship Company (SSC) was formed as The Straits Navigation Company in Singapore on 20 January 1890. It was the brainchild of Dutchman Theodore Cornelius Bogaardt, who was one of the company’s seven directors. Before the establishment of SSC, European ...

Pulau Satumu, or “one tree island”, was formerly known as Coney Island. The origin of its name could have been derived from the Malay language with “sa” referring to satu (meaning one) and “tumu” referring to the large mangrove tree, Bruguiera confugata. It is ...

Bumboats, also known as lighters, are large boats or sea-going barges. They were used in the Malay Archipelago for the loading and unloading of goods, or for the transportation of cargoes, supplies and goods from ship to shore and vice versa. In Singapore, bumboats ...

Lee Wee Nam (b. 1881, Theng Hai, Guangdong, China–d. 24 January 1964, Singapore) was an eminent entrepreneur and community leader. Better known as Wee Nam Yia, a title given by the Teochews to a distinguished man of high position, Lee was the chairman and managing ...

Pasar malam is the Malay term for night market or night bazaar, and a pasar malam typically opens for business when night falls. Pasar malam has its origins as weekly night markets organised by hawkers in 1950s Singapore. The night markets were phased out in 1978, ...

Kampong Glam (originally spelt “Campong Gelam” when it was named around 1830) is one of 10 subzones of the Rochor area located in the central region. The estate covers 56 ac of land located to the east of the 19th-century European town in Singapore, between Rochor ...