Racial Harmony/ National Day Programmes

Origins of the Name Jalan Besar only appeared in the 1880s, when the colonial government constructed it through nipah land and called it Jalan Besar , meaning "big or wide road" in Malay. The "Wide road" in recent years[1]  A peculiarity of the street names in Jalan Besar is that many bear the names of World War I British generals and admirals and two French generals such as Allenby, Kitchener, and Beatty. The names of famous battle places such as Flanders, Somme and Verdun are also reflected. Today, Jalan Besar is a gazetted conservation area. Most of the roads above were cut from the 1920s onwards when the then-swampland was filled in with incinerator ash from Singapore's first incinerator built in the vicinity of today's Syed Alwi Road. From 1926, the Colonial government decided to name the newly opened roads after personalities and battle-sites of the European conflict so as to remind the then-colony of Singapore of the conflicts...

Former National Stadium After Singapore gained independence in 1965, Othman Wok, then minister for social affairs and culture, campaigned for the substantial funds needed to get the plans off the ground. He believed that good sports facilities were needed to spur the people's interest in sports and improve the fitness of youths, especially because most of the National Servicemen recruited at the time were considered to be lacking in strength. A photo of the Kallang National Stadium before it was demolished. [1] Singapore Pools, a private lottery company owned by the Ministry of Finance, was set up in 1968 to raise funds for the stadium. Proceeds from lottery games Singapore Sweep and TOTO were used to pay for a substantial part of the construction. Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games The 7th Southeast Asian Peninsular (SEAP) Games of September 1973 was the first major event held at the National Stadium. In the years that followed, the stadium witnessed the...

The Padang The Esplanade is a long, open stretch of field, originally by the sea, located in the Downtown Core of the Central Region. Sitting on the left bank of the Singapore River, it was originally called the Plain, or the Padang , which is Malay for field or open ground. It has been the venue of many momentous colonial and national events in the modern history of Singapore. It is still referred to as the Padang today.[1] This green expanse was where the people of Singapore gathered to mark the end of the Japanese Occupation on 12 September 1945, and to witness the installation of Yusof bin Ishak as Singapore’s first  "Head of State" (President) and the unveiling of the State Flag, State Crest and National Anthem on 3 December 1959.  The Padang was also the site of the first National Day Parade of newly independent Singapore on 9 August 1966, and the heart of Singapore’s Golden Jubilee National Day Celebrations on 9 August 2015.  A view of the Padang i...

Origins of street name Dhoby Ghaut is derived from the Indian Words dhoby , meaning “laundry” and ghaut, meaning “the steps along the bank of a river”. The name stems from the laundry activities that used to take place here from the 1830s onwards. Indian dhobies used to wash their clothes using the water from Stamford Canal. The clothes were dried on empty land subsequently occupied by the Ladies Lawn Tennis Club, now occupied by the triangular-shaped park opposite Cathay cinema. In the past, the whole area was associated with laundry activities and Queen Street in Tamil was vannan teruvu or “Street of the dhobies” and the Malays called it “Kampong dhobi”. [ 1] Launderers working in Stamford Canal, Singapore in the 1920s   Former Cathay Building The Former Cathay Building was designed by Frank W. Brewer in the Art Deco style, an architectural style that was very popular in Singapore in the early twentieth century. The Art Deco façade wall fronting the modern glass ...