James Richardson Logan (b. 10 April 1819, Berwickshire, Scotland–d. 20 October 1869, Penang, Malaya) was the founder and editor of the Journal of the Indian Archipelago and Eastern Asia (JIAEA). He was one of the key advocates for freedom from Indian rule; his ...

Lien Shih Sheng (连士升) (b. 24 May 1907, Fujian, China–d. 9 July 1973, Singapore) was an influential pioneer writer and news editor. His works span multiple genres such as travelogues, commentaries and biographies. Lien is best remembered for his Letters from the ...

Jonas Daniel Vaughan (b. 27 June 1825–d. 17 October 1891, at sea) was a sailor, public official and prominent lawyer in colonial Singapore. He contributed to many community organisations and activities, promoted scientific observation, wrote on local history and ...

Bashir Ahmad Mallal (b. 26 February 1898, Domel, Pakistan–d. 5 September 1972, Singapore) founded, edited and published the Malayan Law Journal (MLJ). In addition, he was an eminent law scholar and benefactor of the University of Singapore’s (now National University ...

Robert Carr Woods, Senior (b. 31 July 1816, England–d. 16 March 1875, Singapore), popularly known as Robin, was the first editor of The Straits Times. Besides guiding the publication through its difficult early years, he also improved the Bukit Timah cemetery, ...

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 ...

The Causeway is a road and rail link between Singapore and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. Completed in 1923, the 1.05-kilometre Causeway cost an estimated 17 million Straits dollars and spans the Johor Straits (also known as the Tebrau Straits). At the Singapore end ...

The first Cooling-off Day was implemented for Singapore’s general election in 2011. No campaigning activities are allowed on Cooling-off Day, which is designated as the day before polling day to give voters time to think rationally and reflect on the issues that ...

The first productivity promotion campaign was inaugurated on 12 April 1975 by then Minister for Foreign Affairs S. Rajaratnam at Victoria Memorial Hall. As reflected in the slogan “Productivity Is Our Business”, the campaign aimed to instil greater awareness of ...

Punggol Zoo was Singapore’s first full-size public zoo and bird park, and the first to be known as the Singapore Zoo. It was established in 1928 by William Lawrence Soma Basapa (b. 1893–d. 1943) on Punggol Road to accommodate his growing private collection of animals ...

Chinese street storytelling was a popular form of entertainment in Singapore during the colonial period and up till the 1960s. The storytellers set up makeshift premises in various locations in the evening, and read aloud in dialect to paying customers seated around ...

Warta Malaya (also known as Warta Melayu) was the first of the independent Malay dailies of the 1930s. Its first issue was published on 1 January 1930. Published in the Jawi script, this Malay newspaper appeared at a time that saw the proliferation of 81 new Malay ...

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 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 ...

Woodlands is a planning area in the north of Singapore. During the early colonial period, Woodlands was an agricultural area with plantation estates. It then became a major transport link between Singapore and Johor, and in the 1970s, the area was developed as ...

Tan Che Sang (b.1763, Fujian, China–d. 2 April 1835, Singapore) was one of the earliest merchants from Malacca to come to Singapore when Stamford Raffles set up a British settlement in Singapore in 1819. A tycoon known for his addiction to gambling, Tan’s prominence ...

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 ...

The Beach Road Police Station was built by the colonial government in the early 1930s. Part of the expansion plans of the local police force during that period, the station was one of many built in the city area and it had remained operational until 2001. The colonial-style ...

Sophia Blackmore (b. 18 October 1857, Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia–d. 3 July 1945, Australia) was the first woman missionary sent by the Methodist Women's Foreign Missionary Society to work in Singapore. During her stay in Singapore from 1887 to 1928, she ...

A Certificate of Entitlement (COE) in Singapore represents the right to vehicle ownership in Singapore for a period of 10 years. COEs are integral to the Vehicle Quota System (VQS), a landmark scheme implemented to regulate the growth of the vehicle population ...