Related top topics

Philippines

Malaysia

Canada

Papua New Guinea

Nigeria

Guyana

Madagascar

East Timor

South Africa

United Kingdom

Religion in Singapore

History of Singapore

Geography of Singapore

Economy of Singapore

Politics of Singapore

Did you know ...

• the National Library of Singapore (pictured), the Seattle Central Library, and Minneapolis Central Library are examples of green libraries, using environmentally conscious designs?
• the Singapore case Chng Suan Tze v. Minister for Home Affairs, which held that courts could assess the lawfulness of orders made under the Internal Security Act, was overridden by statute in 1989?
• the spray-painting of graffiti on a Mass Rapid Transit train in a depot by Oliver Fricker and an accomplice in May 2010 caused an outcry over the security of protected installations in Singapore?
• the Malay word Merdeka has been used in both Singapore and Malaysia to describe the campaigns for self-government and independence in both countries?
• the International Olympic Committee has shortlisted five cities — Athens, Bangkok, Moscow, Singapore and Turin — out of nine bids to host the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010?
• senior Singaporean legal officer Sivakant Tiwari was lead counsel in inquiries into the Spyros disaster (1978), the Singapore Cable Car disaster (1984), and the Hotel New World disaster (1988)?
• the execution of Flor Contemplacion strained relations between Singapore and the Philippines?
• the facade of Hitachi Tower (pictured) in Singapore has three sections which break the verticality of the tower?
• the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a national monument in Singapore, was given by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor in Malaysia?
• the U.S. Department of Defense pays the owners of the MV Baffin Strait (T-AK W9519) US$12,550 per day to carry cargo from Singapore to Diego Garcia?
• the Chesed-El Synagogue, built in 1905, is the second synagogue for the Jewish community in Singapore, and was one of the first places to use gaslights in Singapore?
• the Chevron House (pictured) in Singapore houses the international headquarters of Caltex, a petroleum brand name?
• the Civilian War Memorial in Singapore was built in 1967 in memory of the civilians massacred during the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945?
• the CPF Building, which houses the Central Provident Fund Board, was the site of a silent protest by four people demanding greater transparency and accountability in Singapore?
• the Bukit Timah Monkey Man is a cryptid said to roam around the city-state of Singapore?
• the U.S. Trade Representative tried to stop Singapore from hosting the first World Trade Organization ministeral meeting because of the caning of Michael P. Fay?
• the wall mural on Marine Parade Community Building (pictured) is Singapore's largest piece of installation art?
• the Bukit Batok Memorial was built by Australian POWs to honor the war dead of the Japanese and Allies from Singapore's Battle of Bukit Timah?
• prior to Singapore's first Formula One race in 2008, the last running of the Singapore Grand Prix was as a non-championship race run to Australian Formula Two rules in 1973?
• in her début at the 2008 Summer Olympics, Tao Li broke the Asian record for the 100 m butterfly twice and became the first Singaporean swimmer to enter an Olympic final?
• a new free trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore will come into effect on 1 January 2006?
• a series of miscommunications and withdrawals by Allied forces during the Battle of Kranji allowed the Japanese forces to gain strategic footholds which led to the fall of Singapore in 1942?
• although the Constitution of Singapore had been revised in 1958 to implement self-government for the then British colony of Singapore, self-government was only officially achieved with the Singapore general election of 1959?
• a detailed Development Guide Plan exists for each of Singapore's 55 urban planning areas?
• a fountain (pictured) was built by the British colonial government to commemorate Tan Kim Seng's $13,000 contribution towards Singapore's first public waterworks?
• Tiger's Whip, a piece of installation art by Singaporean artist Tang Da Wu, highlights how the tiger is being hunted for its penis?
• Professor Lalit Goel of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore became an internet celebrity after footage of his lectures were uploaded to YouTube?
• a 120-year old Bodhi tree (pictured) in Jin Long Si Temple, standing over 30 m tall with a girth of 8.5 m, is the oldest and largest of its kind ever found in Singapore?
• completion of the West Coast Highway viaduct — the longest in Singapore — was delayed for more than two years because of the contractor's financial problems?
• during the construction of Centennial Tower (pictured) in Singapore, the tower rose 20 storeys in just three months?
• in 1947, 72 out of 126 trade unions in Singapore were affiliated to the communist-led Singapore Federation of Trade Unions?
• in April 2009, Lim Hwee Hua became the first woman to be appointed a full Minister in Singapore's Cabinet?
• in March 2007, about five thousand workers were evacuated from Hong Leong Building in Singapore after tremors originating from Sumatra were felt?
• free MMS were sent out to all 5.5 million mobile phone subscribers in Singapore to alert them of the prison break of ISA detainee Mas Selamat bin Kastari?
• four Japanese War Memorials found in the Japanese Cemetery Park (pictured) were built without knowledge of the British colonial government of Singapore?
• during the construction of Samsung Hub (pictured), a high-rise commercial building in Singapore, the building sank on one side from 3 mm to 39 mm in just four months?
• during the trial for the Toa Payoh ritual murders in Singapore, Howard Cashin received death threats for defending the accused, Adrian Lim?
• the Coleman Bridge in Singapore was the second bridge built across the Singapore River, and the first built in masonry?
• the Criminal Law (Temporary Provisions) Act of Singapore that allows for suspected criminals to be detained without trial has been renewed 12 times since its enactment in 1955?
• the apparent disparagement of Singapore as a "little red dot" by former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie has come to be used by Singaporeans with pride?
• the costumes of Lyo and Merly, the official mascots of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore, have inbuilt fans and optional vests lined with cool packs to keep wearers from overheating?
• the first Director of Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department, Glenn Knight, was also the first legal officer in the country to be charged for corruption?
• the Yue Hwa Building used to house a popular boutique hotel, and was the tallest building in Singapore's Chinatown when it was completed in 1936?
• the Western Islands Planning Area in Singapore houses the world's third largest refining centre, located in Jurong Island?
• the current series of banknotes in Singapore feature the portrait of Yusof bin Ishak, the first President of Singapore?
• the Southern Islands of Singapore (pictured) are being developed into a getaway for the ultra-wealthy, similar to Dubai's Palm Islands?
• the Supreme Court of Christmas Island once said the islanders live in a "legal twilight" because ancient Singaporean law applies to an Australian island?
• the first Western abbot of Singapore's Buddhist Poh Ern Shih Temple was an American?
• the old block of the Bank of China Building in Singapore was the tallest building in the central business district, Raffles Place, from 1954 till 1974?
• to prepare for future examinations, Singapore students use the ten year series to practice on past years' examination papers, some of which date back to before they were born?
• twelve floors in Springleaf Tower (pictured), a skyscraper in Singapore, were sold at S$225 million in October 2007, while nine months earlier, they were sold at S$134 million?
• under the Vandalism Act of Singapore, a person convicted for the first time of vandalism by defacing property using an indelible substance such as paint must be sentenced to caning?
• through the opening of the Thomson MRT Line and Eastern Region MRT Line by 2020, Singapore's rail network density will rise from 31 km per million residents today to 51 km per million, surpassing what Hong Kong and Tokyo currently have?
• the website HardwareZone initiated the first court case in Singapore over a domain name, which was settled after just four days?
• the original stained glass windows of the Saint George's Church (pictured) in Singapore were packed away for safekeeping before the Japanese Occupation of Singapore but have never been found since?
• the planned South Beach complex in Singapore will incorporate four conservation buildings, where the first National Service enlistment was held in 1967?
• the Sembawang, discovered in 1909, is the only natural hot spring on the main island of Singapore?
• the SIA Building, a skyscraper in Singapore, is the flagship building of Singapore Airlines?
• the Istana Kampong Glam (pictured) is a former Malay palace in Singapore, and was refurbished into the Malay Heritage Centre in 2004?
• the Jinricksha Station is Singapore's last reminder of the once ubiquitous rickshaw, which was phased out after World War II?
• the Little Guilin in Singapore is given its name because of its resemblance to the scenery in Guilin, China?
• the International Plaza (pictured) is the tallest commercial building with residential apartments in Singapore?
• the High Court of Singapore (Supreme Court Building pictured) is the sole court in Singapore exercising original criminal jurisdiction that may impose the death penalty?
• the EMAS has been so effective in monitoring traffic conditions on Singapore's expressways that the LTA removed most SOS telephones from the expressways as a result?
• the Fuji Xerox Towers (pictured), a skyscraper in Singapore, was given the 2005 Energy Smart Label Award by the Energy Sustainability Unit and the National Environment Agency?
• the Gurkha Contingent of the Singapore Police Force is the world's only police department outside of Nepal to be comprised of Gurkhas, and it is currently the only military or police unit in Singapore to be headed by a Briton?
• the appearance of an outline of monkeys on a tree in Singapore drew large crowds as devotees believed that the images are a manifestation of the Monkey God and Hanuman?
• the Nanyang Style was a regional art movement practised by migrant Chinese painters in Singapore in the 1950s?
• the Pickering Operations Complex, a high-rise telecommunication hotel in Singapore, has eight refrigerating plants each with a capacity of 300 tons, and 16 control centres?
• the Queen Elizabeth Walk in Singapore was built on reclaimed land in 1922 and that it was renamed in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom?
• the SGH War Memorial (pictured) was gazetted as one of the nine historical landmarks that are closely linked with the history of medical education in Singapore?
• the Old National Library Building, a much-beloved national icon of Singapore, was demolished despite a rare display of public opposition?
• the Old Ministry of Labour Building (pictured) in Singapore housed the Chinese Protectorate before World War II, and has since been gazetted as a national monument?
• the National Courtesy Campaign was the first government campaign in Singapore to adopt a mascot?
• the Old Admiralty House, a national monument in Singapore, was used by the British Armed Forces for strategic planning during World War II?
• The Best Bet, a film by former Singaporean gambling addict Jack Neo, was intended to warn people of the perils of gambling?
• Singapore Dreaming bagged Singapore its first IFFPA-recognised award at an international feature film festival?
• Singaporean Venerable Ho Yuen Hoe worked nineteen-hour days hairdressing for nearly thirty years, and used the money to open a nursing home at age 61?
• Singaporean author Rex Shelley wrote his first novel The Shrimp People, about the Eurasian community in Singapore, in 1991 at age 61?
• Wee Siew Kim, a Singaporean MP, had to apologise after scandal broke out involving an elitist blog entry made by his daughter?
• Singaporean Web Map Service Streetdirectory.com successfully sued several businesses for copyright infringment, but is now being sued on the same charge by the Singapore Land Authority?
• Singaporean sculptor Han Sai Por created her 2006 work Seeds (pictured), situated at the National Museum of Singapore, from sandstone excavated during the Museum's redevelopment?
• Singaporean backstroke swimmer Yip Pin Xiu, who has muscular dystrophy, won a gold and a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, setting two world records in the process?
• Singaporean equestrienne Laurentia Tan won Singapore's first-ever Paralympic medals, two bronzes in dressage, at the 2008 Summer Paralympics?
• Singaporean Paralympian Theresa Goh, who is paraplegic, won six gold medals in swimming at the 2003 ISMWSF World Wheelchair Games in 2003?
• 6 Battery Road, a high-rise in Singapore, was on completion the largest building for the Standard Chartered Bank Group worldwide, and represented the largest single investment by a British company?
• Ah Meng, a Sumatran Orangutan and tourism icon of Singapore, had breakfast with celebrities including the Duke of Edinburgh and pop star Michael Jackson?
• Chen Wen Hsi was the first Singaporean artist to be conferred an honorary doctorate by the National University of Singapore?
• Chingay Parade in Singapore, a display of floats, music and dances, is a major festival in Asia attended by more than 200,000 people and watched by millions on TV across Asia?
• Choa Chu Kang Community Library was the first library in Singapore to install self-check machines for borrowing and returning of books?
• Central Sikh Temple was Singapore's first gurdwara when it was initially set up in a police barracks in the 1880s?
• Central Fire Station, the oldest existing fire station in Singapore, had only four portable water pumps when it was completed in 1908?
• CHIJMES, a historic building complex in Singapore, began life as a Catholic convent in the 1850s and has been gazetted as a national monument?
• Cavenagh Bridge, the only suspension bridge in Singapore, was originally designed as a drawbridge but on its completion in 1869 was found to be suitable only as a fixed structure, and is now a pedestrian bridge?
• Singaporean artist Chua Ek Kay’s ink paintings blended traditional Chinese painting forms and Western art theories and techniques?
• Singapore’s Sungei Road, formerly a place designated for affluent Europeans and Asians, is now the largest and oldest flea market better known as the Thieves' Market?
• golf was introduced to Singapore by Sir John Tankerville Goldney in 1891 while he was Chief Justice for the Straits Settlements?
• New Zealand currently has free trade agreements with Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Chile and China?
• Singapore's 5.4-ton Pegasus is the first helicopter-portable 155mm howitzer with a self-propelled capability?
• computer simulation techniques were used to review the design of One Marina Boulevard in Singapore?
• Lord Canning wanted to build a port at Canning, now in West Bengal, that could rival Singapore but gave up when the Matla River surged its fury on the new port town in 1867?
• "ultra" was a phrase frequently used in 1960s Malaysia and Singapore to describe racial chauvinists?
• "Majulah Singapura", the national anthem of Singapore, was originally a theme song for events held by Singapore's City Council during colonial times?
• masters of Singapore-registered ships are subject to a fine of S$1,000 if they do not hoist the Red Ensign (pictured) before entering or leaving port?
• Singapore's Burmese Buddhist Temple has the largest white marble statue of the Buddha (pictured) outside of Myanmar?
• Singapore's DHL Balloon is the world's largest tethered helium balloon?
• Singapore's Police Coast Guard is a coast guard and water police service that is also responsible for maintenance of order on most of Singapore's off-shore islands?
• Singapore's first elected President was Ong Teng Cheong?
• Singapore’s Fort Tanjong Katong, one of the oldest military forts built by the British colonial government, never saw combat action and was nicknamed the "Wash-out Fort"?
• Singapore's Museum Planning Area contains ten national monuments?
• Singapore's Middle Road is home to over 21 Hainanese clan and sub-clan associations?
• Singapore's Early Founders Memorial Stone (pictured), a foundation stone for a proposed memorial, became the memorial itself?
• Singapore's Gallery Hotel (pictured), with its twisted cuboid form and seemingly random and multi-coloured windows, stands like a massive pop art signpost?
• Choor Singh, former judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore, was the first Singaporean judge to impose the death penalty on a woman?
• DBS Building Tower One, the tallest building in Singapore when completed in 1975, is an example of brutalist architecture?
• Tan Howe Liang is Singapore's only Olympic Games medallist?
• Tan Teck Guan Building (pictured) was the site of Singapore's first medical school, and has been conserved as a national monument?
• Tang Choon Keng, who established Tangs and built the former Dynasty Hotel (pictured), was also known as the "Tin Trunk Man" in Singapore for his rags to riches legacy?
• Swan and Maclaren is the oldest architectural firm in Singapore?
• Stamford House in Singapore, at first an office building, was for a time in the early 20th century an annex of Raffles Hotel due to a shortage of hotel rooms?
• SGX Centre, a twin building development in Singapore, was built at a location to be the gateway to the new downtown?
• Saint Jack, a 1979 fiction film about a prostitute in Singapore and the only Hollywood film about Singapore to be shot on location, was banned in the country until 2006?
• Singaporean citizenship was first granted in 1957, when Singapore was a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom?
• Tanjong Katong Primary School has the most diverse student population among all government-operated schools in Singapore, as its students come from 39 countries?
• The Cenotaph was Singapore's first major war memorial built in memory of the people who gave their lives in World War I, and was unveiled by the young Prince Edward of Wales, later King Edward VIII?
• Ying Fo Fui Kun was the first Hakka clan association in Singapore, and its clan house at Telok Ayer (pictured) was gazetted as a national monument in 1998?
• Yueh Hai Ching Temple is the oldest Taoist temple in Singapore, and Chinese Emperor Guang Xu presented a plaque to the temple in 1907?
• Escape from Paradise, a book which documents a Singaporean woman's divorce, was removed from bookstores and libraries in the country in 2002, even after it had been reviewed in the Singapore press?
• Walter Woon, former Attorney-General of Singapore, was the first Member of Parliament since Singapore's independence to have a private member's bill become a public law?
• Vuestar Technologies in Singapore claims to own patents for hyperlinking a visual image to webpages, and plans to bill virtually all websites for its use?
• The New 7th Storey Hotel, a budget hotel catering to backpackers in Singapore, is actually nine storeys high and was the tallest building in the Beach Road area in the 1950s?
• The Observatory, a Singaporean space rock band released their first album packaged as a diary, complete with torn pages and paperclipped photos?
• Pulau Senang was a penal settlement in Singapore but shut down after only three years when a riot broke out in 1963?
• Pulau Sejahat was a British military encampment in Singapore during World War II whose gun batteries were never used against Japanese invaders?
• Hwa Chong Institution (pictured), a pre-university educational institution in Singapore, has produced 50 President's Scholars, the most by any junior college in the country?
• John Little, established in 1845, is the oldest department store in Singapore?
• John Martin Scripps was the first Briton in Singapore to be sentenced to death by hanging?
• Hong Lim Green was Singapore's first public garden?
• Farrer Park is where Singapore's first racecourse was built and the island's aviation history began?
• Duxton Hill in Singapore used to be a notorious slum area with brothels, opium and gambling dens, but now belongs to a conservation area known as Tanjong Pagar?
• Edwin Thumboo's 1979 poem Ulysses by the Merlion has influenced so many other Singaporean poets, it is joked that a true Singapore poet has to have written a "Merlion poem"?
• Esplanade Park (pictured), built in 1943, is one of the oldest parks in Singapore, and has a number of historical landmarks which include the former Indian National Army Monument site and The Cenotaph?
• Jurong Falls, located at Singapore's Jurong BirdPark and featuring the world's most numerous bird collection, is the tallest man-made waterfall in the world at 30 metres (98 feet) high?
• Khoo Kheng-Hor, a Malaysian author, was appointed as honorary Assistant Superintendent of Police in Singapore, in recognition for his contemporary application of Sun Tzu's Art of War?
• Nayachar Island in the Hooghly River was chosen as the location for a major chemical hub based on experience in developing Jurong Island in Singapore?
• New World, the first and largest family-oriented amusement park in Singapore, was known for its striptease, cabaret girls, and wrestling matches during its heyday?
• Pinnacle@Duxton (model pictured), at 50 floors, is set to be the tallest public housing in Singapore upon completion?
• Masjid Omar Kampong Melaka is the oldest mosque in Singapore and was established in 1820, just a year after the British set up a trading post in Singapore?
• Dragon's Teeth Gate (pictured), an ancient navigational landmark, was documented in one of the earliest historic records of Singapore?
• Lee Choon Seng, a Singaporean philanthropist built a Buddhist temple with the intention of liberating the spirits of those killed during the 1942 Battle of Pasir Panjang?
• library@esplanade is Singapore's first public library for the performing arts?
• "Disneyland with the Death Penalty" became a famous description for Singapore (pictured) following the 1993 publication of William Gibson's article of the same name?