Singapore History
We went, and we returned. We were impressed at the professionalism of the Turkish guides and their grasp of their homeland’s history. And that got us thinking. How much do we know about Singapore?
- Sang Nila Utama sailed here, saw a lion (or was it a lion-like creature?) and changed the name of this place from Temasek to Singapura.
- Sir Stamford Raffles came in 1819 and turned this place into a British colony.
- The Japanese came, and the British fled in 1942. Three years and eight months- our darkest times ever. The only bananas our parents/grandparents saw were those printed on the Syonan legal tender.
- Mr Lee Kuan Yew (and his team) gave us autonomy and later independence. He declared on 9 August 1965 that “…Singapore shall be forever a sovereign democratic and independent nation…”
So hor,
Who named this place Temasek in the first place?
What happened before Raffles set foot on this tropical island paradise?
And weren’t there any documentation of events that occurred between 1819 and 1942?
I’m guessing that it could be a rather prosperous period, with the British making full use of this excellent geographical location as a stronghold for the East India Company. But weren’t there any happening events? A century is a long time man!
With no stories and no museum worthy artifacts, I can imagine how tough it is for Singaporean tour guides to do their work.
“Uh there. A statue of Raffles. He very sut. He founded modern Singapore. So every tom dick harry institution name themselves after him” … And fast forward to “Uh there. City Hall. Independence proclaimed there. Let’s go to Sentosa/Mandai Zoo next.” *
At the rate we demolish and rebuild, will they go, “This is the Sports Hub. Last time it was the National Stadium. But seating capacity the same. Dunno why they tear down wor.” ?*
And when asked to talk about local history, could it be, “Oh history ah? I tell you, this chilli crab got a very long history. Last time it was at Old Airport Road. Then it moved to Katong. Then now to Geylang. Very long history, I tell you.” ?*
*Ok, it’s just my imagination.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
cruzie. you are so funny.
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December 27th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
haha! totally amusing.. is tt why the stb don’t sell sg as a museum-ish place? like they make it more like some conference/party/relac-one-corer/everything but a museum-ish place destination?
anw, even our chinatown don’t look tt chinese, little india is not ver exotic too what.
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December 27th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
LOLX!!
nice entry.
I shall ask the tour guide next time.
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December 27th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
ya! v funny!
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December 28th, 2007 at 1:17 am
Yes! I agreed with u. Our knowledge of how those century ago people lived we have total no idea of. Sadly to say…
Anyway I came across an interesting book which tells more of the history of … 大å¡å°å¡ … which kept me imagining how those places used to be whenever I was there … and of which there are some interesting history untold of too.
从大å¡åˆ°å°å¡ is the title of the book : )
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December 28th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Frankly, the history that I know of Singapore is exactly like you and other than that…I dunno liao!!! Hmm….come to think of it…quite sad that we only know this little…if next time foreigners come ask me, think I will be in a daze to how to intro Singapore!
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December 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am
oh…Singapore’s history much much much more complicated than tat!!!
initially, it was william farquar (dun kn how to spell lah… opps!) who did most of e work cos Raffles went back to elsewhere… But we all remember Raffles more cos he was e ‘head’ when e grp founded Singapore… many policies changes and unstable times… william did quite a fair bit of good work but no one really remembers him… haiz…
but i do agree tat not many ppl pays much attention to Singpaore’s history… but they are quite interesting actually…
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December 28th, 2007 at 10:34 am
we do have an extensive history… i remember from my history lessons…
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December 28th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Ahahahaha, that’s true.
I can’t remember what happened between the time when William Farquhar took charge of Singapore and before WWII in Singapore.
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December 31st, 2007 at 3:04 pm
wooooo regarding this, i went to the National Museum of Singapore yst and they had the ans there =D from temasek to SIngapura to british colony etc.. can go for the show in the history gallery.. pretty cool there =D
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April 24th, 2008 at 11:57 am
The problem is the ignorance of the local Singaporeans today, what they know is what they learn in school. I do not work or have an stb licence. I am currently studying in a polytechnic. But i can tell you so many facts of singapore that you might not even know… facts like how a famous Dr. envision Jurong and turned into a major industrial area. how labrador got its name, the tallest 3 buildings in singapore, how pulau belakang mati got its name, how many rivers there are in singapore… i am not trying to say that you are shallow. there is so much of knowledge one person can know thats why every little details of singapore is spread among people who wants to know the tiny little island we call home and they share it.
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