The bombing of MacDonald House took place on 10 March 1965, when Indonesian saboteurs Harun Said and Osman Hj Mohd Ali planted a bomb near the building’s lift (The Straits Times, 11 Mar 1965, p. 1).
Singapore’s first crime prevention week was held from 15 March 1954 to 21 March 1954. The campaign, organised by the Singapore Police Force, initiated a working partnership between the police force and the common people in the task of crime fighting
In the midst of the First World War, on 15 February 1915, the Right Wing (Rajput) of the 5th Light Infantry (Indian Army) revolted, killing more than 40 British officers, British residents and local civilians. The mutiny came to be known as the "Singapore Mutiny", ...
Monsoon rains brought on Singapore's worst floods on 2 December 1978 causing seven deaths and hundreds to be evacuated. The torrential monsoon rains on 2 December 1978 brought disastrous floods and utter chaos throughout Singapore.
On 9 August 1966, Singapore celebrated its first National Day with a week of festivities featuring a mammoth parade at the Padang with the theme "National Pride and Confidence in the Future". Highlights included a Pesta Sukan (beginning 7 August), a
From 1959 up till the early 1960s, Singapore’s then Ministry of Culture – now known as the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts – organised a series of free, open-air cultural concerts with a strong multi-racial theme. Known as Aneka Ragam Ra’ayat, ...
The Singapore Antarctica Expedition was organized with two main objectives, to climb the highest mountain on that continent and to reach the South Pole. Both objectives were met on 1 Jan 2000 at the dawn of the new millennium. Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, the ...
The Asian financial crisis started in Thailand with the collapse of the Thai baht in July 1997 and quickly spread to the rest of the region. What began as a currency crisis soon affected the wider economy and led to economic downturns in several countries. Singapore ...
Badang, a Malay legendary folk hero, was renowned for his mighty physical strength. There are variations to this legend but most of them have their setting in ancient Singapore. The stone featured in the legend is fabled to be the ancient stone slab found at the ...
Bahau Settlement was an agricultural settlement set up at Bahau in the Malayan state of Negri Sembilan during the Japanese Occupation. The settlement was set up under a self-sufficiency scheme initiated by the Japanese authorities to ease the food supply problem ...
The Born to Read, Read to Bond programme aims to promote lifelong learning and deepen family ties by increasing parent-child bonding. The programme, introduced by the National Library Board in 2002, is designed for children from new borns up to three years of ...
The British Military Hospital a.k.a. Alexandra Military Hospital the predecessor of the Alexandra Hospital, was built in 1938 and opened in 1940 by the British to serve military personnel and their families stationed in Singapore. Occupying a 12-ha plot along ...
On 18 July 1967, the British announced its plans to withdraw its troops from Singapore by the mid-1970s. Six months later, the deadline was brought forward to 1971 due to economic problems arising from the devaluation of pound sterling. The news came as a shock ...
The Bukit Batok Memorial, which consisted of the Syonan Chureito and the British Memorial Cross, was built during the Japanese Occupation to honour the dead soldiers of the Japanese and British forces. Located at the Bukit Batok Hilltop (present Bukit Batok Nature ...
On 25 May 1961, the Bukit Ho Swee fire devastated an area of 60 a. and rendered about 16,000 persons homeless. One man died and several people were badly injured in this Hari Raya Haji fire as it swept across Kampong Tiong Bahru through Bukit Ho Swee to Delta ...
On 29 January 1983, seven passengers died when two Sentosa cable cars plunged into the sea after the cableway was struck by the derrick of an oil drilling vessel, the Eniwetok.
Cathay Building, located at the foot of Mount Sophia, was once the tallest building in Singapore. It used to house the popular Cathay Cinema as well as the famous Cathay Hotel and Cathay Restaurant. The cinema was opened in 1939 while the main tower was completed ...
Centenary Day was celebrated on 6 February 1919 to commemorate 100 years since Singapore's founding by Stamford Raffles. The Centenary Day saw celebrations held by each ethnic community, including the Arab community, the Chinese community, the Indian community ...
Changi Murals Chapel, otherwise known as St Luke's Chapel, was a source of comfort and focal point of social activities for Allied prisoners-of-war in Changi during the Second World War. It was located in the "Dysentery Wing" of military barracks in Changi and ...
City Day, 22 September 1951, the Town of Singapore was officially made a City of the British Commonwealth, by an official proclamation of a Royal Charter by King George VI. Singapore City Day festivities began with an official parade, in the presence of 50,000 ...
The Civilian War Memorial is a monument dedicated to civilians who perished during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-1945). It is located on a parkland, along Beach Road, opposite Raffles City, in the Downtown Core of Singapore's Central Region. The structure ...
Launched in November 1990, the Clean and Green Week (CGW) is a week-long campaign that runs in November each year. It is administered by the Education & Partnership Department, National Environment Agency (NEA). It aims to promote awareness and appreciation for ...
The Clean Rivers Education Programme was started by the government in 1987. The main aim of the programme was to raise awareness of the negative effects of dumping waste into our waterways, and to encourage that all our waterways be kept pollution free. In 1987, ...
Coleman Street,part of Singapore city's original town, is located in the Downtown Core section within the Central area, and stretches from Armenian Street to St. Andrews Road. It was named after G. D. Coleman, the first architect in Singapore, Overseer of Convicts, ...
On 3 January 2003 at about 11:35 pm, RSS Courageous, a patrol vessel commissioned by the Republic of Singapore Navy, collided with the cargo ship ANL Indonesia in the eastern Singapore Straits near Horsburgh Lighthouse (on the island of Pedra Branca). The collision ...
The Chinese tradition of setting off firecrackers and fireworks arose as a problem for public safety in 1968 when they caused a third of the 150 fires that broke out during that Chinese New Year period. On 8
Addressing the health of the aged, the Community Health Screening Programme was launched in 2000 by the Ministry of Health. The Programme provides affordable health screening for Singaporeans aged 50 and above, at locations close to their homes. It enables them ...
The National Courtesy Campaign was launched on 1 June 1979 by Lee, Kuan Yew, the then Prime Minister of Singapore. The aim of the Campaign was to create a pleasant social environment with Singaporeans considerate to each other and thoughtful of each other's ne ...
SilkAir Flight MI 185, while on its way to Singapore from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, nosedived into Musi River near the city of Palembang in South Sumatra, Indonesia on 19 December 1997 at about 4:13 pm local time. The plane was almost completely destroyed ...
Singapore Airlines (SIA) Flight SQ006, which was on its way to Los Angeles from Singapore via Taiwan, crashed in flames on a closed runway at Chiang Kai-shek Airport (now called Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport) during takeoff on 31 October 2000 at 11:18 pm ...
A 3,000-strong Singapore Chinese Anti-Japanese Volunteer Battalion, formed on Christmas Day 1941 and named after its chief instructor and commander, Lieutenant Colonel John Dalley of the Federated Malay States police force.
On 27 September 1943, 6 Japanese oil tankers were destroyed at Keppel Harbour, and although the saboteurs escaped unnoticed, the Japanese suspected that prisoners interned at Changi were responsible for the incident. On 10 October 1943, the anniversary of the founding ...
The Elephant Statue, bronze monument, stands outside the High Street entrance of Parliament House, located in the downtown core of the central region. It was given by Thailand's King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) to commemorate his 1871 visit, the first by a Thai monarch. ...
Endau Settlement was an agricultural settlement set up at Endau in the Malayan state of Johore during the Japanese Occupation. The settlement was set up under a self-sufficiency scheme initiated by the Japanese authorities to ease the food supply problem in Singapore. ...
The biggest fire in Singapore occurred in Bukit Ho Swee on 25 May 1961. Home to the “poorest of the population such as hawkers, secret society gangsters and the unemployed”, this neighbourhood was packed with homes mostly made with flammable
Surviving the Sky, Singapore's and Asia's first multi-national reality event, took place from 16 to 22 March 2004. The event was held in conjunction with Singapore Cable Car's (SCC) 30th anniversary. Participants had to endure living in cable car suspended 90 m ...
The first air raid on Singapore happened during WWII on Monday, 8 December 1941, at about 4:00 am, killing 61 people and injuring more than 700.
The first air disaster at Kallang Airport happened on 13 May 1954.
The first reported earthquake in Singapore occurred on 24 November 1833. The earthquake was believed to be caused by volcanic activity in Sumatra.
A front-to-back collision between two trains at the Clementi Station on 5 August 1993 was the first major accident on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system since it started operation in 1987. This first MRT accident resulted in 156 injured commuters.
Singapore celebrated its first National Day on 9 August 1966. The main event of the day was a National Day parade involving 23,000 men, women and children which was held at the Padang. Other notable activities include an official cocktail party at the Istana Negara, ...
The first airplane to land in Singapore (apart from earlier exhibition flights) was flown by Captain Ross Smith with three crew members, landing on 4 December 1919 on the pioneer flight linking England to Australia. The first Royal Air Force (RAF) plane landed ...
The first annual Speak Good English campaign was launched in April 2000 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. It was part of the Government's efforts to expand the use of standard English and discourage the use of Singlish. The campaign was targeted at Singaporeans ...
On 2 April 1992, Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) launched the nation's first subscription television channel, NewsVision, through its new subsidiary Singapore CableVision (SCV). NewsVision, a 24-hour news service, showed mainly news from the U.S. based ...
The first vertical marathon in Singapore was held on 3 May 1987. 130 men and 50 women took part in the race up 1,336 steps to reach the top of the 73 storey Westin Stamford, the world's tallest hotel at the time. Winners of the inaugural event, Kenneth Kang and ...
A group of 10 female police trainees became the first women police officers in Singapore when they signed on as regulars on 1 January 1950.
The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret organisation established by the British War Cabinet in 1940. Its main task was to train agents to recruit small groups in enemy-occupied territory to carry out sabotage of a limited tactical nature, and was largely ...
The Battle Box or Fort Canning Bunker was built in 1936 to serve the Headquarters of the British Strategic Command as the nerve-centre for British Military operations in the Far East during World War II. It was here that Lieutenant General Percival and the allied ...
George Dromgold Coleman, (b.1796, Drogheda County, Louth, Ireland - d. 27 March 1844) (a.k.a. G. D. Coleman) became the first Government Superintendent of Public Works when he was appointed in 1833. He was Singapore's pioneer colonial architect who planned, surveyed, ...
In December 1972, a group of 10 men killed businessman Ngo Cheng Poh and his employees, Leong Chin Woo and Ang Boon Chai, and robbed them of 120 gold bars. Known as the "Gold Bar Murders", it is one of Singapore's more prominent criminal cases. The men responsible ...
Governors of the Straits Settlements, chief administrators of territorial acquisitions of the English East India Company, were initially controlled by the British India headquarters of the fourth Bengal Presidency in Calcutta. In a Royal Charter of 1826, Singapore, ...
The Great Singapore Workout, a fitness routine under the National Healthy Lifestyle Programme, was launched on 3 October 1993 by Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong at the National Stadium. The Workout is a specially designed aerobic programme of 15 steps with five basic ...
The Grow More Food Campaign was started during the Japanese Occupation to check inflation and to prepare for an eventual blockade from enemy forces. People were encouraged to strive for self-sufficiency by growing of their own food. Vegetables, tapioca and sweet ...
Halford Lovell Boudewyn (b.1921 - d. 26 April 1998, Singapore) was a long-serving police officer who risked his life during the Japanese occupation by storing classified documents stolen from the Indian National Army, and secretly using an illegal radio for gathering ...
On 31 January 1974, two Japanese claiming to be members of the Japanese Red Army and two Arabs from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacked oil storage tanks at Pulau Bukom. They had united as an act of
Hoo Ah Kay (Whampoa) (b. approx 1816, Whampoa, Guangdong - d. 27 March 1880, Singapore) was a noted Chinese businessman who ran Whampoa & Co., and, with an uncommon mastery over English, became the first and only Chinese to hold a position as extraordinary member ...
The Lian Yak Building, popularly known as Hotel New World, collapsed on 15 March 1986 due to structural faults and poor-quality construction. The collapse left 33 people dead and was considered one of the worst disasters in post-war Singapore. A rescue operation ...
Huang Na, aged 8, went missing on 10 October, 2004. Her disappearance resulted in a nation-wide search in Singapore. Her body was eventually discovered in a box dumped at the Telok Blangah Hill Park. Took Leng How, a colleague of Huang Na's mother, was charged ...
In November 1998, Perak pig farmer Lai Mai became the first victim of the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) virus outbreak in Malaysia. On 19 March 1999, an abattoir worker in Singapore fell victim to what was thought to be the JE virus but was later verified as a yet ...
The Japanese invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941. In a period of two months, they expelled the British from the Malay Peninsula and were now threatening to force them out of Singapore. The British resorted to blowing up the Causeway on 31 January 1942
The Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur on board an American battleship, Missouri, in Tokyo Bay at 9 am on 2 September 1945, officially ending the WWII. Two weeks later, on 12 September 1945 at 11:10 am, another Japanese surrender ceremony was held at the ...
John Martin Scripps, a.k.a. John Martin, 35, was the first Westerner to be hung in Singapore for murder on 19 April 1996. He was convicted in the sensational "Body-parts" or "Black bin-bags" murder of South African tourist, Gerard George Lowe, 32, in March 1995. ...
The Johor Battery, built in 1939, was the main artillery battery of the British coastal artillery defence network set up on the northeast coast of Singapore. Other batteries in the area were at Changi, Beting Kusah, Pulau Tekong Besar (and Pengerang in the state ...
The Keep Singapore Clean campaign was one of Singapore’s first national campaigns as an independent nation. Launched on 1 October 1968 by Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the month-long campaign aimed to make Singapore the cleanest and greenest city in the region by ...
On 12 March 1927, a clash in the Kreta Ayer neighbourhood between police and largely Hainanese Kuomingtang supporters revealed the strength of leftist influence on the local Chinese population. A memorial service at Happy Valley to mark Sun Yat-sen's death was ...
The Lehman Brothers Minibond saga refers to events related to the unravelling of various structured investment products as a result of the company’s bankruptcy filing in September 2008. Following the collapse of the American investment bank, about 10,000 retail ...
The Lehman Brothers Minibond saga arose from the company’s bankruptcy filing in September 2008 and centred on the impact this had on several structured investment products linked to the failed investment bank. When investors discovered that the company’s collapse ...
A bomb exploded on 10 March 1965 at 3:07 pm in the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank Building known as MacDonald House. The explosion killed 3 people and injured 33 others.
The Straits of Singapore, 48 km long and 3.1 km wide, lies between Singapore and the Riau Archipelago, Indonesia, and links the Straits of Malacca to the South China Sea. It is on the shipping route of the Asia-Pacific region linking West Asia to Europe. This makes ...
The Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army (MPAJA) was a group of resistance fighters in Malaya, groomed to fight against Japanese-occupied Malaya. However, the communist-led fighters turned against the British after World War 2. This led to the Malayan Emergency, ...
Mamoru Shinozaki (b. 19 February 1908, Japan – d. 1991) was a Japanese government official stationed in Singapore before and during the Japanese Occupation. Sometimes referred to as the “Japanese Schindler”, Shinozaki is known for issuing government passes that ...
Maria Bertha Hertogh a.k.a. Nadra bte Maarof (sometimes spelt Natra) (b. 24 March 1937, Tjimahi, Java, Indonesia - d. 8 July 2009, Huijbergen, Netherlands) was the central focus of racial riots in December 1950, sparked off by controversy over her custody between ...
The Maria Hertogh Riots between ethnic Malays and the European and Eurasian communities in Singapore occurred on 11 December 1950. The riots took place over a period of three days and saw at least 18 people killed and 173 people injured. It was sparked by the controversial ...
The Mental Health Programme (MHP) was introduced by the Ministry of Health in 1993 as a part of its efforts to improve the lifestyle of Singaporeans. The programme aims to increase awareness of common mental illnesses such as depression, that one might commonly ...
Michael Peter Fay (b. 30 May 1975, St. Louis, Missouri, United States - ) was an American teenager who 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 1993. His ...
Singapore hosted its first Miss Universe pageant on 27 May 1987. The extravaganza was staged in Hall 4 of the former World Trade Centre (now known as HarbourFront Centre), and televised to 600 million viewers from 55 countries. Organised at a cost of S$7 million ...
The National AIDS Control Programme, an action plan on protecting and preventing the spread of HIV and AIDS infection in the country, was formulated by the Advisory Committee on AIDS formed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in 1985, soon after the first reported ...
The National Anti-Drug Abuse Campaign is an annual, month-long campaign organised by the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NCADA) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB). It incorporates a series of youth-oriented activities and seeks to spread its anti-drug abuse ...
The National Day Awards (NDA) is a means of recognising various types of merit and service to the nation. At the annual ceremony, the National Day Awards investiture, Singaporeans and non-Singaporeans are honoured for their excellent contribution in the civil or ...
The National Healthy Lifestyle Programme was launched in 1992 by the Ministry of Health to promote healthy lifestyles among Singaporeans. It was officially inaugurated by Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister. The programme is focused on an annual, month-long campaign, ...
The National Library balustrade is a landmark associated with the National Library building at 91 Stamford Road. It refers to a sheltered porch with a flight of stairs that is boxed in by red brick walls and a waist high ledge that leads up to the main entrance ...
The National Library Book Sale is an annual event which started in 1998. Since then, the book sale has been taking place each year. It is a two day book sale held in the middle of the year. Used books are sold at low prices. These book sales have been a great success ...
National Loyalty Week was held between 3 - 10 December 1959 to encourage a sense of loyalty to the new state of Singapore amongst its diverse citizens. It saw the inauguration of key national symbols including the state flag, the national anthem, the state crest ...
Awareness of good diet and nutrition has been an ongoing theme in the government's drive to impart a healthy lifestyle among Singaporeans. Various national nutrition programmes have been launched since the 1970s in the wake of increased illnesses that arise from ...
The National Smoking Control Programme was launched by the Ministry of Health on 1 December 1986 with the aim of making Singapore a nation of non-smokers. The programme includes the National Smoking Control Campaign, an on-going project, which was launched on the ...
Nicoll Highway, two stretches of highway road linked by Merdeka Bridge, is located in the central region of Singapore. In the mid-1950s, this highway with a bridge-link was a very necessary new artery from the city to the east-side of Singapore Island, built to ...
A disaster that struck on Tuesday 20 April 2004 at about 3:30 pm, it destroyed a stretch of the Nicoll Highway, rendering it unpassable for many months. It occurred after a temporary retaining wall of the tunnel at the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Circle Line at Nicoll ...
Operation Sook Ching meaning "to purge" or "eliminate" was a massive Japanese exercise to ferret the local Chinese community for anti-Japanese elements, conducted by the 25th Army beginning on 18 February 1942 and resulting in the massacre of thousands of local ...
The Orchard Towers double murder refers to the murder of Kho Nai Guan, aged 46, and his girlfriend Lan Ya Ming, aged 30, by Michael McCrea in 2002. The British financial adviser, with the help of three others, had dumped the bodies in a car which was abandoned ...
The Oriental Hotel murder was a crime that occurred on 6 June 1994 at Oriental Hotel Singapore, when Abdul Nasir Amer Hamsah and Abdul Rahman Arshad attacked and robbed two Japanese tourists, Isae Fujii and Miyoko Takishita. Both women sustained injuries during ...
The Overseas Chinese Association was formed in March 1942 during the Japanese occupation of Singapore. The association was formed at the direction of the Japanese military authorities to mediate between the authorities and the local Chinese community. However, ...
The first Chingay organised by the People’s Association (PA) in Singapore was held on 4 February 1973. This event was a joint effort between the People’s Association and the Singapore National Pugilistic Federation to celebrate Chinese New Year. The
Pearl's Hill a.k.a. Mount Stamford hill, located in the Central Region of Singapore and at 56.4 ha, is the largest sub-zone of the Outram area. Initially the location of Chinese-owned spice plantations, the hill was first called Mount Stamford, after Sir Stamford ...
On 28 September 2011, a fire broke out at an oil refinery within the Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site owned by Royal Dutch Shell. The blaze began near a system of pipelines carrying various petroleum products, and was contained by firefighters to a 176m by 65m area. ...
Pulau Merlimau was one of the southern islands off the coast of Jurong. It was subsumed with other nearby islands as part of Jurong Island. It used to house the Singapore Refining Company (SRC) refinery. The SRC was a joint venture of British Petroleum, Caltex ...
Pulau Ubin, (Pulo Obin) island, located in the north-eastern coast of Singapore, with Selat Johore to the north and Serangoon Harbour to the south. Its name is derived from its original Malay name, Pulau Batu Jubin meaning "Island of Granite Stones". Granite quarries ...
Queen Street is located in the Civic District and is a one-way street that connects Arab Street to the junction of Stamford Road and Armenian Street. Named after Queen Victoria, the street was part of the European enclave in Singapore's past and had several distinguished ...
Racial Harmony Day was first launched on 21 July 1997. It is part of the National Education Programme, headed by the Ministry of Education and is celebrated on the anniversary of the communal riots that occurred on 21 July 1964.
Raffles' landing in Singapore is dated 28 January 1819. Travelling on the Indiana with a squadron which included the schooner Enterprise, he anchored off at St John's Island at 4:00 pm. The landing site of Raffles is today marked with the statue of Raffles, located ...
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, two prisoner-of-war camps were located in the area bound by River Valley Road and Havelock Road. Due to their proximity, these camps were often referred to collectively as the River Valley Road Camp. ...
Robinson's Department Store at Raffles Place was destroyed by fire on 21 November 1972, with a loss estimated at over S$14 million. Nine people (eight of them employees of the company) died in the blaze which started at 9:55 am from a short circuit on the first ...
On the morning of 21 November 1972, at about 9:55 am, a fire started at Robinson’s Departmental Store at Raffles Place. Within minutes, it had spread through the 114-year-old four-storey building, destroying millions of dollars worth of goods. Thick
For about a week in early June 1990, Singaporeans were captivated by media reports of runaway elephants on Pulau Tekong. This was the first time that elephants had been known to swim across the Johor Straits onto Tekong in recent history. The island is used by ...
The Selarang Barracks was built between 1936-1938 to house an infantry battalion. During the Japanese Occupation, the Japanese Imperial Army used it to house Australian POWs. It is also the site of the infamous "Selarang Barracks Square Incident". On September ...
Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 14 to 26 August 2010. During the event, an estimated 3,600 athletes, between 14 to 18 years old, competed in 26 sports. The event involved National Olympic Committees from 205 countries and 20,000 local ...
A platform to showcase dance extraordinaires and endear Singaporeans to dance as an art form, Singapore dance festivals began as early as 1982, then known as the Festival of Dance. The festivals became subsumed under a bigger performing arts congregation, the Festival ...
Singapore Fashion Festival was first launched on 16 March 2001. The annual two-week long festival is supported by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) with the aim of making Singapore a fashion capital within the Southeast Asian region. Its programme highlights include ...
The first Singapore Grand Prix took place from 16 to 17 September 1961. It was held in support of the government-sponsored “Visit Singapore –The Orient year” tourism campaign (The Straits Times, 9 May 1960, p. 2; The Singapore Free Press, 23 Nov 1960,
The Singapore Kindness Movement was launched in January 1997 in response to Goh Chok Tong's, Prime Minister of Singapore, call to develop a gracious and caring society. It was first known as "Small Kindness Movement" and later renamed as "Singapore Kindness Movement" ...
The first Singapore River Buskers' Festival was held along the Singapore River from 15 to 23 November 1997. The event was organised by The A Team Promotions, with the support of the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB). It featured 17 overseas busking acts ...
The Singapore Season is a cultural diplomacy effort to showcase Singapore’s unique multi-cultural heritage, vibrant arts scene and attractiveness as a hub for global business in key cities in the world. The aim is to give audiences in leading cities in the world ...
Singapore’s first surviving In-Vitro Fertilisation quadruplet was delivered on 14 May 1989. A Mother’s Day gift to Mr. and Mrs. H.T. Tan, the quadruplet– Chun Ping, Chun Li, Chun Di and Min Bin– had good birth weights between 1.5 kilogrammes and 1.9 kilogrammes, ...
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, ...
Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (b. 6 July 1781, off Port Morant, Jamaica - d. 5 July 1826, Middlesex, England) is famously known as the founder of modern Singapore. Besides signing the treaty with Sultan Hussein on 6 February 1819 and thus placing Singapore as a British ...
Sir Song Ong Siang ( b.14 June 1871, Singapore - d.1941) K.B.E., V.D., M.A., Ll.M., was the third son of Song Hoot Kiam, the founder of the Straits Chinese Church (Prinsep Street Presbyterian Church). He was the eldest son from Song Hoot Kiam's second marriage, ...
The Speak Mandarin Campaign was launched by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on 7 September 1979. Its objective was to simplify the language environment and improve communication amongst Chinese Singaporeans by creating a Mandarin-speaking environment. Its initial ...
On 12 October 1978, at 2:15 pm, an explosion occurred on the Greek tanker, S. T. Spyros, whilst the vessel was undergoing repairs at Jurong Shipyard, causing a fire and leading to 76 dead and 69 injured.
Subhas Chandra Bose (b. 23 January 1897, Cuttack, Orissa, India - d. 18 August 1945, off Taipei), a noted Indian politician in the fight for India's independence from British rule. He was jailed 11 times in his fight for freedom and was killed under suspicious ...
Sultan Hussein Mohamed Shah (b. 1776/1777 - d. 1835, Malacca) a.k.a Tengku Long or Tengku Hussein, was the eldest son of Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last ruler of the Johore empire. As the eldest son, he was the rightful heir to the throne. He was bypassed for kingship ...
Swing Singapore, began as a street party in 1988 and continued as a part of the National Day celebrations until 1992 when variations of the Swing Singapore were held. For example, the Millenium Swing Singapore in 1999 made the annual street party a New Year's countdown ...
The Syonan Jinja (Light of the South Shrine) was a Shinto shrine built deep in the forests of the MacRitchie Reservoir to commemorate Japanese soldiers who died in the conquest of Malaya and Sumatra. Constructed between 1942 and 1943, the shrine was a venue for ...
The Tan Kah Kee Young Inventors' Award was first set up in May 1986 with the goal to encourage and promote creativity and innovation in science and technology. The competition is open to Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 35 and below (Open Section) as well ...
The Tanglin Barracks was built by Colonel George Chancellor Collyer for European troops in 1861. The barracks served the British garrison infantry battalion until the fall of Singapore in 1942. After the war, it was home to the General Headquarters of the Far East ...
Television Singapura was Singapore’s first television station and was launched on 15 February 1963. Two months later on 2 April 1963, Television Singapura started regular transmission. On 9 August 1965, the station captured the nation’s greatest event; the announcement ...
The Battle of Opium Hill (14 February 1942) at Pasir Panjang was one of the fiercest battles that took place in Singapore in World War II. It pitted the invading Japanese Army against a brave but heavily outnumbered troop of the 1st Malay Brigade of the Malay Regiment. ...
The British "surrender team" (or "surrender party') in 1942 was made up of four British military officers; led by Lieutenant-General Arthur E. Percival, the rest were Brigadier K. S. Torrance, Brigadier T. K. Newbiggings, and Captain Cyril H. D. Wild. On 15 February, ...
The Cleanest Estate Competition and the Cleanest Block Competition were launched by the government in order to increase the level of cleanliness in HDB heartlands.
The Double Tenth trial was conducted on 18 March 1946 against 21 Kempeitai of the Singapore Branch for the war crime of contriving to arrest in particular 57 civilians who had been interned at Changi Gaol around 10 October 1943; and thereafter ill-treating them ...
The Farquhar silver epergne, a valuable commemorative gift presented to Lieutenant-Colonel William Farquhar, the first British Resident and Commandant of Singapore (1819-1823), in the mid-1820s, by the first Chinese inhabitants of the island, for his invaluable ...
Schools in Singapore celebrated the first Children's Day on 23 October 1961.
The Indonesian-Malaysian Confrontation or Konfrontasi lasted from 1963 to 1966, and posed the only external threat to Singapore since the Japanese Occupation. The conflict was an intermittent war waged by Indonesia to oppose the formation and existence of the Federation ...
The Kempeitai was the military police force administered by the Japanese War Ministry during WWII over the Occupied Territories of Japan. Specially trained in interrogation methods, its task was to crush all resistance to military rule and it had powers to arrest ...
The National Campaign to Minimise Cash Transactions was launched on 14 March 1985 to urge Singaporeans to carry out their transactions electronically. The drive to bring Singapore closer to a cashless society was part of the government’s aim to increase productivity. ...
The National School Savings Campaign was introduced to government and government-aided schools in 1969 to cultivate thrift in students, and to encourage them to save with the Postal Savings Bank (later renamed Post Office Savings Bank or POSB). Students could save ...
The first-ever visit to Singapore by a Catholic Pope was by John Paul II and took place on 20 November 1986. During his brief stop in Singapore, the Pope met the Singapore President and Prime Minister, and conducted mass at the National Stadium. The five-hour visit ...
The Singapore Stone, a sandstone slab, ancient relic, currently on exhibit at the Singapore History Museum. The slab is one of three pieces of a large boulder discovered in June 1819 and blown up in 1843 to widen the mouth of the Singapore River. It had an indecipherable ...
The Sunny Ang murder case was one of the most high-profile crimes in 1960s Singapore. Sunny Ang Soo Suan (also known as Anthony Ang), a one-time Grand Prix driver, was accused of causing the death of his girlfriend Jenny Cheok Cheng Kid, a former barmaid, so that ...
The Weekend Car Scheme (currently known as "off-peak cars" or OPC) was introduced on 1 May 1991. The scheme allowed the owner of a car to drive it only during specified hours, mainly on weekends.
Tomoyuki Yamashita (b. 8 November 1885, Osugi Mura, Shikoku - d. 23 February 1946 Manila, Philippines) (a.k.a. Hobun which was his pen-name) was the Army Commander of the 25th Army which captured Malaya and Singapore during World War II. For this success, he was ...
The Tree Planting campaign was launched by the government in 1963 with the objective of making Singapore a green city. Every year a minimum of 10,000 saplings are planted as part of this campaign. The campaign consists of an annual Tree Planting Day.
The first Tree Planting Day in Singapore was held on Sunday 7 November 1971. Dr. Goh Keng Swee launched the event by planting a rain tree in the morning at 9:30am at Mount Faber. More than 30,000 saplings were planted on that day. Because schools did not have classes ...
The Workplace Health Promotion Programme (WHPP) is being implemented by the Ministry of Health in workplaces throughout Singapore based on guidelines that were issued by the Tripartite Committee on Workplace Health Promotion (TriCom) in September 2000. The programme ...
The Inaugural World Toilet Summit 2001 (http://www.worldtoilet.org/events/events_WTS_review.htm) was held from 19 - 21 November 2001 at the Singapore Expo. Hosted by the Restrooms Association of Singapore, the purpose of the summit was to promote an in-depth global ...
Iranian twin sisters, Laleh and Ladan Bijani, 29, were the world's first adult Siamese twins to undergo surgical separation in Singapore. Performed on 6 July 2003, the twins, who were born conjoined at their heads, however did not survive the 52-hour marathon operation, ...
The Yellow Ribbon Project is a national initiative aimed at encouraging the community, through various programmes and activities, to accept ex-offenders released from prisons and drug rehabilitation centres and to support their reintegration into society. It was ...