Fabulous story about Seletar’s original residents… kon seletar or orang seletar is now classified as an orang asli tribe in malaysia. they were named after the seletar area in singapore (or it could be the other way around), where about 800 of them once lived. these people could be considered sea gypsies or orang laut. however, they did not belong to the same group that … Continue reading Orang Seletar
The bulldozers seemed louder these past couple of days, and we’ve been sneezing like it’s springtime. A quick stroll down the lane revealed the reason – the logistics centre is being demolished. Continue reading Heritage to rubble in just a few days
Yesterday, I had a call from a reporter at The New Paper, who wanted to know if any progress had been made about setting up a museum about Seletar Airbase. Certainly it was an idea we had considered about 18 months ago, but raising funds for a suitable location just defeated the part-time efforts we could muster. There was no interest from The Heritage Board, … Continue reading Heritage and community
We are utterly delighted that The Museum Shops are now carrying the Postcards from Seletar portfolio. If coming north is a hassle, just pop in to any of the outlets in town; Asian Civilisation Museums at Empress Place or Armenian Street, Singapore Art Museum at Bras basah or National Museum of Singapore. If you have not yet marked your diary, Dec 8th 3 – 6 … Continue reading See Seletar at Singapore’s Museum Shops
It is hard to look up architectural archives without stumbling upon stories about life in and around the buildings. The video below came with an interesting snippet of how children spent their free time before the Intenet was pervasive. At 11 years of age I lived at RAF Seletar, from ’56 – ’58. I used to play in the old Sunderlands that had been scrapped. … Continue reading Glimpses of the past
Faced with the prospect of a long, slow submersion into the very waters that serve as the lifeblood of this maritime trading hub, Singapore has reached out to the world’s greatest experts on the subject of battling back the sea – the Dutch. “We are already in consultations with Delft in Holland to learn how we can build dikes,” said Lee Kuan Yew, the former … Continue reading Dikes and the Heritage Society
The Flora & Fauna edition of Postcards from Seletar is off at the printers, and it is time to start research for the Heritage edition. Browsing through the BBC website, I came across a section packed with personal memories. Lieutenant Commander R. G. Curry VRD recalls Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita had driven our armies out of Malaya, and on 31st January 1942, all who survived … Continue reading WW2 memories
This list is work-in-progress. If you know of a significant Seletar Airbase related event that should be added to this timeline, please leave a comment below. Thanks 🙂 1400 – Parameswara flees the Majapahits from Seletar River, moves north to Muar and proceeds to found the Sultanate of Melaka 1921 – Cabinet approves establishment of a naval base and an airfield in Malaya 28th February 1928 – … Continue reading Timeline
Earlier this week, when a 6th person in as many days asked for the exact location of Seletar Airbase, I knew it was time to persuade Isabelle to sketch out a map. Here is her rendition, complete with voluptuous coastal lines. Co-ordinates are 01 degree 25 N 103 degrees 52E. So now you know. Ever wondered how old the causeway is? According to streetdirectory.com Work … Continue reading Where exactly is Seletar Airbase?
It was a pleasure to see Ho Ai Li’s July 8th Sunday Times review of a new book, Trees of Bukit Timah Campus. The book was published jointly by NUS and Nature Society. According to the ST article, it is a 123 page volume that includes description of 41 of the 60 species found on the campus. A special feature is the collection of essays … Continue reading A Tribute to Old Friends
Thanks to Michael from Lancaster Gate for highlighting this topic. UNESCO’s world heritage center lists 851 properties as ‘forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value” – 184 countries have successfully listed properties, unfortunately Singapore is not one of them. Celebrating heritage can be demanding. My quick Google search identified 2 bodies in Singapore … Continue reading Recognising Heritage
A delightful discovery today, while browsing through the RAF Seletar Association web site. One of our current residents shares his father’s memories of life in Seletar in the early 1950s. John’s letter to RAF Seletar web site Peter’s journal Some notes about Seletar Airbase from Wikipedia RAF Seletar was a Royal Air Force station in Singapore between 1928 and 1971. Plans for establishing an airfield, … Continue reading Spitfires in Singapore
Over the weekend, we caught a little bit of what promises to be a fascinating experience on BBC World – a six-part series profiling research from around the world on what makes humans happy. The Happiness Formula trails scientists who say they know how to measure happiness and are piecing together what they believe really makes us happy. Should be interesting. The subject of happiness … Continue reading The Happiness Formula
While gathering material for inclusion in the Heritage volume of our Postcards from Seletar book series, we came across a journal of kampung life by Lam Chun See. Good Morning Yesterday was created “for Singaporeans and friends of Singapore of my generation to share stories of Singapore back in the kampong days when we were kids. I started this blog because I realised how much … Continue reading Good Morning Yesterday
The sheer spectrum of flora and fauna in Seletar is simply breathtaking. Butterflies and birds are just the more obvious groups. It got us thinking about the status of biodiversity in this island. EarthTrends publishes an Environmental Information Portal and has comparative data for many countries. According to its profile of Singapore, protected areas as a percent of total land in Singapore is 5.5% versus … Continue reading Biodiversity in Singapore
The BBC’s special report forecasting impact of climate change is sobering. As much as we in Singapore think we can insulate ourselves, inevitably we too will be impacted. On a happier note, the Camp continues to ignite imagination – The Governance Board was awarded a project last week, and as part of our deliverables, we will be commissioning sketches of nature at the camp – … Continue reading Postcards from Seletar
We have been busy these past 5 weeks, and so it seems, has JTC. In the letterbox yesterday was notice from Premas that the Aerospace Hub master plan will be published in the next month. Just how much of the heritage will be preserved remains to be seen. The Straits Times carried a piece on renovation work that had begun over at Birdcage Walk. Simon … Continue reading Long overdue
Built in 1933, Clifford Pier was a landing point for immigrants and other sea passengers. A red oil lamp used to hang from the pier as a guide to seafarers, earning the pier the name Red Lamp Pier. The pier was later used as a terminal for tourists and day trippers who boarded small boats and ferries heading for the Southern Islands. Clifford Pier was … Continue reading Any lessons from the Clifford Pier experience?
For a slightly different version of London Tube stations, including those that gave us street names right here at the camp, see this masterpiece of anagrams. Can’t crack it? Just hold your cursor over the station name for 2 seconds and the real name will appear. Enjoy! Continue reading Familiar Names
Postcards from Seletar 