Unforgotten Moments – Bugis Street History There are two Bugis Streets in Singapore. One is a semi-air conditioned shopping mecca with three levels of bazaar stalls selling apparel, beauty services, and food. The third is hidden beneath the concrete blocks of Bugis Junction, which were removed from our street directory in the late 1980s and … Read more
There was once a renowned Chinese opera theatre in the centre of Chinatown, where opera celebrities travelled from China and Hong Kong to perform. The theatre was so well-known that the surrounding streets were dubbed after it. Hei Yuen Koo (Theatre Street) was named after the Hei Yuen Company, which had its offices on Victoria … Read more
Following the establishment of modern Singapore in 1819, Stamford Raffles released his Town Plan in 1822 to help plan where buildings would be constructed. The proposal was intended to assist urban development in order to guarantee that physical expansion followed a systematic pattern. The city was laid out on a grid basis, with zones clearly … Read more
Singapore Botanic Gardens Unesco – First World Heritage Site In what is the timeliest Golden Jubilee present to Singapore – as we celebrate 50 years of independence this year -,the World Heritage Committee has just given us a one-of-a-kind gift for our country. The Singapore Botanic Gardens was granted UNESCO status last month at the … Read more
Speak Mandarin Campaign – Bilingualism Initiative It’s worth noting that, when Singapore became independent in 1965, very few ethnic Chinese spoke Mandarin as their primary home language. During self-rule from Britain in 1959, Singapore chose to become a multilingual nation. English, Mandarin, Malay, and Tamil were chosen as the four official languages. The Speak Mandarin … Read more
Saddened by ‘slow death’ Singapore Void Decks Many Singaporeans moved from squatter settlements and villages to the Housing Development Board’s first high-rise flats in the 1960s. The devastating Bukit Ho Swee fire of 1961, which killed 16,000 people and destroyed an entire neighbourhood in Singapore’s Chinatown, persuaded many that the HDB flat was a more … Read more
Sumpah Pontianak II had the chance to see Sumpah Pontianak (Curse of the Vampire), a 1958 Cathay-Keris film, as the last of the Pontianak trilogy featuring Maria Menado at the National Museum of Singapore. The museum has resurrected a collection of classic Malay films, which are being shown at the Cinematheque. I had four motivations … Read more