Centenary Day was celebrated on 6 February 1919 to commemorate 100 years since Singapore’s founding by Stamford Raffles. On 6 February 1819, Raffles signed the treaty that allowed the British East India Company to set up a trading post in Singapore. The Centenary ...
The first Singapore River Buskers’ Festival was held along the Singapore River from 15 to 23 November 1997. Organised by The A Team Promotions in collaboration with the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB), the festival was part of the three-month Celebration ...
Surviving the Sky, Singapore’s and Asia’s first reality challenge in a cable car, took place from 16 to 23 March 2004. The event was held in conjunction with Singapore Cable Car’s (SCC) 30th anniversary. Participants had to endure living in a cable car for seven ...
National Loyalty Week was held between 3 and 10 December 1959 to encourage a sense of loyalty among the diverse citizens of the new state of Singapore. It saw the inauguration of key national symbols including the state flag, the national anthem, the state crest ...
The National Courtesy Campaign was launched on 1 June 1979 by the then prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. The aim of the campaign was “to create a pleasant social environment, with Singaporeans considerate to each other and thoughtful of each other's needs”.
From 1959 up till the early 1960s, Singapore's then Ministry of Culture (now known as the Ministry of Communications and Information) organised a series of free, open-air cultural concerts with a strong multi-racial theme. Known as Aneka Ragam Ra'ayat, or “People's ...
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, ...
On 25 May 1998 at 8.30 am Singapore time, Singaporeans Edwin Siew and Khoo Swee Chiow reached the summit of Mount Everest, marking Singapore’s first successful mountaineering expedition to the tallest peak in the world. It was Singapore’s second attempt at scaling ...
On 3 February 2004, Singapore Airlines (SIA) launched its first A345 LeaderShip nonstop flight service between Singapore and Los Angeles, United States. The 14,700-kilometre journey was made possible using the new, long-range Airbus aircraft, the A340-500. The ...
Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 14 to 26 August 2010. During the event, an estimated 3,600 athletes from 205 countries, aged between 14 and 18 years, competed in 26 various sports events. The Games involved some 20,000 local and international ...
Tree Planting Day is an annual event in Singapore which typically involves the planting of trees and shrubs in public places like housing estates, parks and schools. The event, which is usually held on the first Sunday of November, was officially started in 1971. ...
Force 136 in Malaya was part of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE), a secret service organisation active during World War II. Tasked with recruiting and training local guerillas to assist the planned British invasion of Japanese-occupied Malaya, Force ...
Education for children (of typical school-going ages) with disabilities is managed by voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs). The National Council for Social Services (NCSS) is the primary overseer with its Programme Evaluation System, while the Ministry of Education ...
Launched in November 1990, the Clean and Green Week (CGW) took place for a week in November each year until 2007 when it became a yearlong campaign and was consequently renamed Clean and Green Singapore. The Clean and Green campaign aims to protect and care for ...
Singapore’s national reserves, or net assets, are a vital strategic resource for the country, and are therefore strictly protected by the Constitution. Specifically, the Constitution safeguards the portion deemed to be “past reserves” – reserves that were not accumulated ...
Launched by then prime minister Goh Chok Tong at the National Stadium on 3 October 1993, the Great Singapore Workout is a fitness routine that formed part of the month-long National Healthy Lifestyle Programme. The workout is a specially designed low-impact aerobic ...
The first Singapore Grand Prix was held from 16 to 17 September 1961. It was one of a series of sporting events held in support of the government-sponsored “Visit Singapore – The Orient Year” tourism campaign. Organised by the Singapore Motor Club (SMC) with ...
The first air raid on Singapore was carried out by 17 Japanese planes from the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, launched from Japanese-occupied Saigon (now known as Ho Chi Minh City) in Vietnam. It took place shortly after 4 am on 8 December 1941, and left 61 ...
Stamford Raffles landed in Singapore on 28 January 1819. Travelling on the Indiana with a squadron that included the schooner Enterprise, he anchored at St John’s Island at 4.00 pm on 28 January 1819 and met with Temenggong Abdul Rahman. The site on the Singapore ...
The Volunteer Special Constabulary (VSC) was formed in October 1946 to complement the Singapore Police Force. The VSC officers have the same powers and duties as regular police officers in various land divisions or specialised units such as Airport Police, Police ...