Singapore travel guide

Following the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese surrendered on 12 September 1945. The Japanese fifth and 18th Divisions, which had spearheaded the invasion of Singapore and had carried out civilian massacres, were from the towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. Lord Louis Mountbatten, who took the surrender, described it as the greatest day of his life.

Following a few months under a British military administration, Singapore became a crown colony and was separated from the other Straits Settlements of Penang, Melaka and Labuan. The Malay sultanates on the peninsula were brought into the Malayan Union. The British decision to keep Singapore separate from the Malayan Union sparked protests on the island and resulted in the founding of its first political party, the Malayan Democratic Union (MDU), which wanted Singapore to be integrated into a socialist union. The Malayan Union was very unpopular on the mainland too and the British replaced it with the Federation of Malaya in 1948. Singapore was excluded again because Malaya’s emergent Malay leaders did not want to upset the peninsula’s already delicate ethnic balance by incorporating predominantly Chinese Singapore.

In the same year, elections were held for Singapore’s legislative council. The MDU, which had been heavily infiltrated by communists, boycotted the election, allowing the Singapore Progressive Party (SPP) – dominated by an English-educated élite – to win a majority. The council was irrelevant to the majority of the population, however, and did nothing to combat poverty and unemployment and little to promote social services. When the Communist Emergency broke out on the peninsula later the same year, the Malayan Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) was banned in Singapore and the MDU disbanded.

Although Singapore has probably been inhabited for the past two millennia, there are few early records. In the third century, Chinese sailors mention Pu-luo-chung, ‘the island at the end of the peninsula’, and historians speculate that this may have been Singapore. Even its name, Singapura, from the Sanskrit for ‘Lion City’, is unexplained – other than by the legendary account in the Sejara Melayu (Malay Annals). It was originally called Temasek – or ‘Sea Town’ – and may have been a small seaport in the days of the Sumatran Srivijayan Empire. Following Srivijaya’s decline in the late 13th century, however, Singapore emerged from the shadows to become, for a short while, a locally important trading centre in its own right.

Within four years of its founding, Singapore had overshadowed Penang in importance and had grown from a fishing village to an international trading port. Thanks to its strategic location, it expanded quickly as an entrepôt, assuming the role Melaka had held in earlier centuries. But by 1833 the British East India Company had lost its China trade monopoly, and consequently its interest in the other Straits Settlements started to wane. Whilst Penang and Melaka declined, however, Singapore boomed. When the Dutch lifted trade restrictions in the 1840s, this boosted Singapore’s economy again. New trade channels opened up with the Brooke government in Sarawak and with Thailand. The volume of trade increased fourfold between 1824 and 1868. However, due to the lack of restrictions and regulation, Singapore descended into a state of commercial anarchy, and in 1857 the merchants, who were dissatisfied with the administration, petitioned for Singapore to come under direct British rule.

Singapore still believes in extended families, filial piety, discipline and respect, but above all, it believes in the Asian work ethic. The man who has instilled and preserved these values is former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. But to some – and it should be added that most of these are non-Singaporeans – his far-sighted vision has transformed this clockwork island into a regimented city state. In this view of things, modern, automated Singapore has spawned a generation of angst-ridden, over-programmed people, who have given their country the reputation of being the most crushingly dull in Asia.

In the early 1800s, the British East India Company occupied Dutch colonies in the east, to prevent them falling into French hands: Napoleon had occupied Holland and the Dutch East India Company had gone bankrupt. In January 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles arrived in Singapore with the hope that he could set up a trading post at the mouth of the Singapore River. He was relieved to hear that the Dutch had never been there and promptly struck a deal with the resident temenggong (Malay chief) of the Riau-Johor Empire. To seal this agreement, he had to obtain official approval from the Sultan of Riau-Johor.

Although Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles spent little time in Singapore, his vision for the city can still be seen today: “Our object is not territory but trade; a great commercial emporium and a fulcrum whence we may extend our influence politically as circumstances may hereafter require”. Each time Raffles departed, he left strict instructions on the layout of the growing city; stipulating, for example, that the streets should be arranged on a grid structure wherever possible. Houses were to have a uniform front and “a verandah open at all times as a continued and covered passage on each side of the street” (the so-called ‘five-foot ways’) – stipulations that resulted in the unique character of Singapore. During his second visit in 1819, he divided the town into distinct districts, or kampongs. Raffles firmly believed that the different ethnic groups should be segregated. The Europeans were to live in the Beach Road area between Stamford canal and Arab Street, the Chinese were to live south of the river (in fact, Chinatown was divided into three separate areas for the different dialect groups), and the Temenggong and the 600-odd Malays were to live along the upper reaches of the river. To the northeast of the European enclave, Kampong Glam housed Sultan Hussein and his Arab followers. The land on the north side of the river was set aside for government buildings. A mere six months after Raffles had landed, more than 5000 people had settled around the mouth of the river. Much of the area to the south was mangrove swamps, but that was reclaimed and settled too.

Rahman hoped the racial equilibrium of the federation would be balanced by the inclusion of Sarawak, Brunei and North Borneo. Lee liked the idea, but the radical left wing of the PAP were vehemently opposed to it, having no desire to see Singapore absorbed by a Malay-dominated, anti-communist regime, and in July 1961 they tried to topple Lee’s government. Their bid narrowly failed and resulted in the left-wing dissenters breaking away to form the Barisan Sosialis (BS), or Socialist Front. Despite opposition to the merger, a referendum showed that a majority of Singapore’s population supported it. In February 1963, in ‘Operation Coldstore’, more than 100 communist and pro- communist politicians, trades unionists and student leaders were arrested, including half the BS Central Executive Committee.

On 31 August 1963, Singapore joined the Federation of Malaysia. The following month, Singapore declared unilateral independence from Britain. The PAP also won another victory in an election and secured a comfortable majority. Almost immediately, however, the new Federation ran into trouble due to Indonesian objections, and Jakarta launched its Konfrontasi – or Confrontation. Indonesian saboteurs infiltrated Singapore and began a bombing spree which severely damaged Singapore’s trade. In mid-1964, Singapore was wracked by communal riots which caused great concern in Kuala Lumpur, and Lee and Tunku Abdul Rahman clashed over what they considered undue interference in each others’ internal affairs. Tensions rose still further when the PAP contested Malaysia’s general election in 1964, and Lee attempted to unite all Malaysian opposition parties under the PAP banner. While the PAP won only one of the 10 seats, it petrified many Malay politicians on the mainland. Finally, on 9 August 1965, Kuala Lumpur forced Singapore to agree to pull out of the Federation, and it became an independent state against the wishes of the government. At a press conference announcing Singapore’s expulsion from the Federation, Lee Kuan Yew wept.

The First World War gave Singapore a measure of strategic significance and by 1938 the colony was bristling with guns; it became known as Fortress Singapore. Unfortunately, the impregnable Fortress Singapore had anticipated that any attack would be from the sea and all its big guns were facing seawards. The Japanese entered through the back door. Japan attacked Malaya in December 1941 and, having landed on the northeast coast, they took the entire peninsula in a lightning campaign, arriving in Johor Bahru at the end of January 1942.

The Japanese invasion of Singapore was planned by General Tomoyuki Yamashita and was co-ordinated from the Sultan Ibrahim tower in Johor Bahru, which afforded a commanding view over the strait and north Singapore. Yamashita became known as the ‘Tiger of Malaya’ for the speed with which the Japanese Army overran the peninsula. The northeast coast of Singapore was heavily protected, but the northwest was vulnerable and this is where the Japanese found their opening. On 13 February 1942, the Japanese captured Kent Ridge and Alexandra Barracks on Alexandra Road. They entered the hospital, where they bayoneted the wounded and executed doctors, surgeons and nurses. The Allies and the local people were left in little doubt as to what was in store.

With their water supplies from the peninsula cut off by the Japanese, and facing an epidemic because of thousands of rotting corpses, British Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival was forced to surrender in the Ford Motor Company boardroom on Bukit Timah Road, at 1950 on 15 February 1942. The fall of Singapore, which was a crushing humiliation for the British, left 140,000 Australian, British and Indian troops killed, wounded or captured. Japan had taken the island in one week.

The Japanese ran a brutal regime and their occupation was characterized by terror, starvation and misery. They renamed Singapore Syonan – meaning ‘light of the south’. The intention was to retain Syonan as a permanent colony, and turn it into a military base and centre in its ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’. During the war, Singapore became the base of the collaborationist Indian National Army and the Indian Independence League.

In the fortnight that followed the surrender, the Japanese required all Chinese males aged 18-50 to register. ‘Undesirables’ were herded into trucks and taken for interrogation and torture by the Kempetai military police to the old YMCA building on Stamford Road, or were summarily bayoneted and shot. The purge was known as sook ching – or ‘the purification campaign’. Thousands were killed (Singapore says 50,000, Japan says 6000), and most of the executions took place on Changi Beach and Sentosa. The sand on Changi Beach is said to have turned red from the blood.

The influence of the PAP grew rapidly, in league with the communists and radical union leaders, and through the Chinese-language schools and trade unions. For the anti- communist Lee, it was a Machiavellian alliance of convenience. He mouthed various anti-colonial slogans, but the British, at least, seemed to realize he was playing a long, and cunning, game. The communists came to dominate the PAP central committee and managed to sideline Lee before their leaders were arrested by Marshall’s government. At the same time, Singapore’s administration was rapidly localized: the four main languages (Malay, Chinese, Tamil and English) were given parity within the education system and locals took over the civil service. In 1957, as Malaya secured independence from the British, Singapore negotiated terms for full self-government. In 1959 the PAP swept the polls, winning a clear majority, and Lee became prime minister, a post he was to hold for more than three decades.

Singapore is a duty-free port. The allowance is 1 litre of liquor, 1 litre of wine and 1 litre of beer or stout provided you are not arriving from Malaysia, from where there is no duty-free allowance. Note that there is no duty-free allowance for tobacco.

Visitors can claim back their 7% Goods and Services Tax (GST) from shops displaying the ‘Tax Free for Tourists’ sign when they spend S$100 or more. Ask for a Global Refund Cheque when you pay and this is then presented at customs on leaving the country, when visitors are reimbursed minus a handling fee. It is also possible to claim by post; the refund is paid either by bank cheque or to a credit card account. The Singapore Tourism Board publishes a brochure, Tax refund for Visitors to Singapore.

The press is privately owned and legally free, but is carefully monitored and controlled. The Straits Times, http://www.straitstimes.com, has been likened to Beijing’s People’s Daily for the degree to which it is a mouthpiece of the government. Other English-language dailies are the Business Times (www.business times.com.sg); and the New Paper (http://www.newpaper.asia1.com.sg), Singapore’s very own tabloid. The Today (www.today online.com) is a freebie, available Mon-Sat. Listings magazines include 8 Days and Time Out (http://www.timeoutsingapore.com).

Directory enquiries: T103. In public payphones the minimum charge is 10¢ for 3 mins. Card phones are widespread – cards can be bought in all post offices as well as in supermarkets and newsagents, and come in units of S$5, S$10, S$20 and S$50. International calls can be made from most public phones. International Phone Home Cards are available at all post offices and come in units of S$10 and S$20. The most widely available card is Singtel’s Worldcard. Credit card phones are also available. IDD calls made from hotels are free of any surcharge.

Visitors must have a passport valid for at least 6 months, a confirmed onward ticket, sufficient funds to support themselves and, where applicable, a visa. For the latest visa information check http://www.app.ica.gov.sg.

No visa is required for citizens of the Commonwealth, USA or Western Europe. On arrival in Singapore by air, citizens of these countries are granted a 1-month visitor permit. Tourists entering Singapore via the causeway from Johor Bahru in Malaysia or by sea are allowed to stay for 14 days. Nationals of most other countries (except India, China and the Commonwealth of Independent States) may stop over in Singapore for up to 14 days without a visa. Keep the stub of your immigration card until you leave.

Changi Airport (on the eastern tip of the island, 20 km from downtown, www.changi. airport.com.sg) is Southeast Asia’s busiest airport and most long-haul airlines fly here. It is also a hub for budget Asian airlines. Changi is regularly voted the world’s leading airport: it takes only 20 minutes from touchdown to baggage claim. Facilities include free Wi-Fi, boutique shops and a rooftop swimming pool. There is an arrivals lounge in Terminal 3 for those who arrive too early to check into a hotel. The lounge offers showers and peace. Car hire desks, open 0700-2300, are in the arrivals halls of the three terminals.

Singapore is the world’s busiest port. Passenger liners arrive from Australia, Europe, USA, India and Hong Kong. Ships either dock at the Singapore Cruise Centre at HarbourFront (formerly the World Trade Centre) or in the main harbour. The main companies are Star Cruises, http://www.starcruises.com, Orient Lines, http://www.orientlines.com, and Silversea Cruises, www.silver sea.com. A timetable is published daily in the Shipping Times (a section of the Business Times).

It is possible to enter Singapore from Malaysia by bumboat from Johor Bahru, Tanjung Pengileh or Tanjung Surat in southern Johor to Changi Point, on the northeast tip of Singapore, which is a good way of beating the bottleneck at the causeway. Boats run 0700-1600 and leave when full. There is also a passenger ferry from Tanjung Belungkor, east of Johor Bahru, to Changi Ferry Terminal. The ferry runs three times daily (0815, 1530 and 1845) and takes 30 minutes. From the ferry terminal take a taxi to the centre, or bus No 2 from Changi Village.

There are two bridges connecting Singapore with mainland Malaysia. Most traffic uses the 11-km causeway in the north of Singapore Island, which links Woodlands with Johor Bahru. The Tuas ‘Second Link’ in western Singapore can only be used if you have your own transport.

There are services to Singapore from a number of towns in Malaysia, and from Bangkok or Hat Yai in Thailand. Long-distance buses arrive at the Lavender Street Terminal at the junction of Lavender Street and Kallang Bahru, while tour group buses (including those from Thailand) arrive outside the Golden Mile Tower on Beach Road.

Local buses run every 10 minutes between Johor Bahru’s Larkin Bus Terminal and Singapore. The service pauses at the Woodlands immigration point for customs formalities before arriving at Singapore’s Ban San Terminal at the northern end of Queen Street (at the junction with Arab Street) or Kranji MRT station. The journey takes one hour, RM2.4. Those travelling from Singapore to JB will pay S$2.4.