Tuberculosis, commonly known as TB, is an infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium. It spreads from person to person via airborne respiratory droplets from an infected person, and primarily affects the lungs. In the 19th century, Singapore’s ...

Joseph Aaron Elias (b. 1881, Calcutta, India–d. 16 July 1949, Singapore), also known as Joe Elias, was a successful entrepreneur and well-known personality in Singapore’s Jewish community. He held offices as a justice of peace and municipal commissioner of Singapore. ...

Khoo Teck Puat (b. 13 January 1917, Singapore–d. 21 February 2004, Singapore) was a prominent businessman and investor with interests in banking, hotels, property development and other sectors. He controlled the Goodwood group of hotels and held significant stakes ...

The Eurasian community is a small but influential ethnic group that has been present in Singapore since the early 19th century. Eurasians are persons with mixed European and Asian lineage. Most Eurasians in Singapore can trace the European part of their ancestry ...

Koh Mun Hong (许梦丰) (b. 1952, Singapore–) is a self-taught artist and poet, adept in Chinese ink painting, Chinese calligraphy and Chinese classical poetry. He has been exhibiting his works both in Singapore and overseas since the 1970s and is active in several ...

Folk singer-songwriter Art Fazil is often regarded as Singapore’s Bob Dylan. Like Dylan, he is known for singing socially conscious songs accompanied by the acoustic guitar and harmonica. Art writes and sings both Malay and English songs, and has written many songs ...

Foo Tee Jun (b. 15 December 1935, Singapore–) is a highly regarded and artistically distinguished salon photographer. His involvement with professional photography began in 1963. Over the years, Foo perfected his skills and experimented with various darkroom techniques ...

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 ...

Lim Bo Seng (Major-General) (b. 27 April 1909, Nan’an, Fujian, China–d. 29 June 1944, Perak, Malaya) was a prominent Hokkien businessman who undertook active leadership in anti-Japanese activities during World War II. He is recognised as a local war hero in Singapore. ...

Bonny Hicks (b. 5 January 1968, Malaysia–19 December 1997, Indonesia) was a model and writer. She published two books, Excuse Me, Are You a Model? (1990) and Discuss Disgust (1992). Hicks died along with 103 other passengers on board SilkAir Flight MI 185 when ...

Arthur Ernest Percival (Lieutenant-General) (b. 26 December 1887, Aspenden, Hertfordshire, England–d. 31 January 1966, London, England) was the British commander who surrendered Singapore to the Japanese on 15 February 1942 during World War II.

Elizabeth Choy Su Moi nee Elizabeth Yong, also known as Yong Su Moi (b. 29 November 1910, Kudat, Sabah–d. 14 September 2006, Singapore), is noted for being a war-time heroine during the Japanese Occupation and the only woman member in the Legislative Council in ...

Zubir Said (b. 22 July 1907, Bukittinggi, Minangkabau, Sumatra, Indonesia–d. 16 November 1987, Singapore), also affectionately known as Pak Zubir (pak means “father” in Malay) or Mr Mari Kita (the first two words of the Singapore national anthem), was the composer ...

Sim Wong Hoo (b. 1955, Singapore – d. 4 January 2023, Singapore) was a Singaporean billionaire technopreneur who founded Creative Technology, a company that designs and manufactures digital entertainment products. Sim served as chairman and chief executive officer ...

Since gaining independence in 1965, Singapore has conducted many national campaigns. These have covered a wide range of topics such as public cleanliness, family planning, courtesy and workplace productivity. Other campaigns include ones that encourage people to ...

William Lim Siew Wai (b. 19 July 1932, Hong Kong– d. 6 January 2023) was an architect, urban theorist and activist. The Singapore citizen was involved in the design of many iconic buildings in the country, including the former Singapore Conference Hall and Trade ...

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 ...

Bidadari Cemetery was located at the base of Mount Vernon and bounded by Bartley Road and Upper Serangoon Road. It served the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sinhalese communities. Bidadari was the main Christian cemetery of Singapore from its official opening in ...

The Southeast Asia (SEA) Collection is a significant collection of the National Library. It includes the Ya Yin Kwan Collection, the Rost Collection, the Gibson-Hill Collection and a wide range of early-19th-century literature. Its most valuable titles come from ...

An Advance Medical Directive (AMD) is a legal document signed by a person, in advance, to indicate that he/she does not wish to have any extraordinary life-sustaining treatment to prolong his/her life in the event he/she becomes terminally ill and unconscious, ...