Southern Islands

Old History 1800s : The influx of immigrants to Singapore in the 19th century brought various communicable diseases, such as smallpox, leprosy and cholera to the island.1 Health inspections and regulations became increasingly important in order to control the spread of such diseases and mitigate the threat of an epidemic.2 The St John’s Island quarantine facility was established in 1874

Persons who died from the diseases were buried at the nearby Lazarus Island

If you have visited St John Island, you would have seen a giant chessboard sprouting out of nowhere. The chessboard is rumoured to be where captors played games of chess using the prisoners of wars, and when these human “pieces” were defeated, they would be beheaded on the spot – which probably also accounts for all the hauntings seen on the island. There have been reports of screaming and crying at night, and the sound of marching boots.

Its indigenous Malay name is Pulau Sekijang, Since its not easy to pronounce, it became Saint John in the British maps.

The island was used to house political detainees and ringleaders of secret societies. Mainly political enemies of the PAP and also anyone with links to communism.

The Opium Treatment Centre opened in February 1955 on St. John’s Island for the treatment and rehabilitation of opium addicts. The centre was the colonial government’s first attempt at treating addicts; prior to this, opium addicts were charged in court and sent to prison.

The length of the stay at the centre lasted about six months to a year.

The island has a significant history tied to Singapore. Stamford Raffles, sailing on the Indiana actually anchored off St John's Island on 28 January 1819 before heading to mainland Singapore the next day.

The 3.9-hectare Bendera Bay is nestled within St John’s Island, and comprises a lagoon with a variety of mangrove, coral, seagrass, sandy shore and rocky shore habitats. This variety of habitats thus provides unique opportunities for outreach and research. “Bendera Bay” was named as such by the Friends of the Marine Park (FMP), as the indigenous Malay name for St John’s Island is Pulau Sekijang Bendera.s.

It was used as a burial ground, like Kusu Island, to those who had succumbed to infectious diseases on the nearby St John’s island.

the best beach in Singapore is at Lazarus Island! Clear, turquoise-coloured lagoon and relatively clean sandy beach will greet you. If you’re lucky, you might even have the beach to yourself.

Lazarus Island together with Seringat Island was primed for development in 2000. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) announced in 2006 that it would “invite investors to submit ideas early next year to develop the cluster of six islands — which also include Lazarus, Tekukor, Sisters’, Kias and Renget — into a resort for wealthy tourists” However, the grand plans for developing the islands into a themed destination with high-end housing never took off.

From various reports, the reclamation and infrastructure cost $60 million (merging pulua seringat and lazarus island), and another $120 million was spent to bring water, electricity, gas and telecommunication infrastructure from Sentosa to the islands. Thousands of cubic metres of sand were imported from Indonesia to make the huge C-shaped beach. The sand was checked for sandfly eggs so that visitors will be spared the insect's bites,

Why spend so much money? In 2000, the plan was to offer visitors a Mediterranean resort-like setting, patterned after Italy's renowned vacation spot, Capri.

Details later revealed included plans for a five-star 290-room hilltop hotel, a three-star 170-room beachfront hotel, 70 waterfront homes and 1,700 units of housing.

In 2006, massive landscaping was reported of the 1km reclaimed beach on Lazarus .5,000 lorry-loads of soil were brought in by barges, an entire coconut plantation in Malaysia was bought, about 1, 000 trees was trucked and shipped to the island

Covid: They were fined S$3,000 each for breaching safe distancing measures while on Lazarus Island in August 2020.

The MOM spokesperson said that the ministry has also revoked their work passes.

In addition, the four individuals have been permanently banned from working in Singapore for breaching regulations under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act.

Legend: During the 9th lunar month, a huge turtle saved a group of sailors from the rough seas by turning itself into an island. The grateful sailors returned there the following year to make offerings of thanksgiving. Since then, the island has been treated as sacrosanct, and has become a place of worship.

Records show that as early as the 1870s, Kusu Island was already famous in the region for its “holiness”. And pilgrims had been visiting the island at the start of the 19th century, even before the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles.

In 1923, a wealthy businessman called Chia Cheng Ho built a Taoist temple to dedicate to Tua Pek Kong (or Da Bogong 大伯公), also known as the God of Prosperity to the Chinese, and Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. By the 1930s, in every ninth month of the Chinese calender, thousands of people would flock to the sacred island for their annual pilgrimage trips, taking sampans and motor boats from the congested Johnston’s Pier.

Arriving at the Tua Pek Kong Temple, the devotees quickly laid out their offerings of candles, joss sticks and money, fruits and “nasi kunyet“, a type of home-made yellow rice, for the gods. In return, they prayed for good health, wealth and safety. A yellow string, to be worn around the wrist, would be given by the shrine to the devotees as a preventive against accidents and evil spirits. Sometimes, flowers were purchased to be used for bathing, so that sins and misfortune can be washed away.

Chinese will pray fro the usual 3 things :wealth, fertility, good health.

The Malay Kramats (holy shrines) were built at the top of a small hill in the early 20th century to commemorate a pious family –. According to the tradition, a pilgrim had to climb 152 steps to reach the Kramats. It was said that if he could not complete the journey, he would be considered impure in his heart.

In the 1960s, tens of thousands visited Kusu each year. Owners of the tongkangs, charging $2 per head for a two-way trip to the island, were reported to have earned a total of $25,000 in the month of pilgrimage. Hawkers selling food, joss sticks and candles also made their way to Kusu to enjoy a brisk business. With increasing crowds every year, the then-Marine Department in 1965 ruled that, for public safety, permits would be required for boats ferrying the people on pilgrimage trips to Kusu.

A small, thin island located just south of Sentosa, Pulau Tekukor's name is believed to be derived from "tekukur", the Malay word for spotted dove. The island used to be an ammunition dump, which was closed in the 1980s.

Singapore First and only Marine park. The 40-hectare park encompasses the land and waters surrounding the islands, and also covers the western coasts of both St John’s Island and Pulau Tekukor, the site of a former ammunition dump.

Because is was an ammunition dump, there probably some spent ammunition shells there which is why the island is still highly off limits.

Banning fishing in an area has been proven to improve the fishery in the surrounding region as the fishes are given a safe sanctuary to grow and reproduce.

It was known as Pulau Bukom Besar until 1995 when “Besar” was officially dropped from its name. Due to successive development and land reclamation works, the petrochemicals complex presently spans the cluster of islands that include Bukom Besar, Bukom Kechil, Pulau Ular and Pulau Busing.

Pulau Bukom was thought to be named after rangkek bukom, the Malay term for a shell of the Conus family, which the original shape of the island was said to resemble. According to one account, the word “bukum” could also have derived from hukum – Malay for ”judgement” – as it was believed that the local ruler used to try cases on the islan

The story of Pulau Bukom and the petroleum trade started in 1891 when M. Samuel & Co. (Shell) decided to use Singapore as a base for the import and distribution of kerosene from Russia

The government rejected their application to store bulk petroleum in town and this led Syme & Co. to establish the facilities on Pulau Bukom (Bukom=Shell, happy coincidence)

Bukom is presently the largest wholly owned Shell refinery globally in terms of crude distillation capacity, producing 500,000 barrels a day.

During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942–45), Bukom was used as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp where some 300 Australian and New Zealand POWs were tasked with salvaging the wrecked facilities and equipment.

Story: According to Reuters, citing officials, the illegal marine fuel trade in Southeast Asia is worth more than S$2 billion a year.

It is fuelled by a highly competitive bunkering industry, which sources oil at a fixed price, as well as lowly-paid crew members looking to earn side income through deep-seated illegal methods, the insiders told CNA.

bunker suppliers would overstate the amount of fuel they pumped into ships, manipulating the conversions between mass (the unit at which fuel is bought) and volume (the unit that measures fuel received).

Max said suppliers would also bribe surveyors, who measure remaining fuel on board ships, to understate this figure, allowing the suppliers to declare that they were supplying more fuel than was actually the case.

The fuel being pumped in could also be adulterated with mud or air to reduce actual quantities, Max said. The industry terms for these are "milo" and "cappuccino", respectively.

But in 2017, these methods took a hit as MPA mandated the use of mass flow meters on bunker vessels to automatically and accurately measure the quantity of fuel delivered.

Even then, Max said some bunker suppliers still tried to manipulate the yellow-cased meters by sticking magnets on them. This allowed them to achieve a fuel shortfall of up to 27 per cent, he said.

"Imagine if you paid for 1L of Coke and I only gave you 770ml. The average cheating rate was anything between 10 to 20 per cent."

The Sisters’ Islands Marine Park will protect Singapore’s coral reefs, which support an ecosystem inhabited by rare and endangered species of seahorses, clams, sponges and other marine life. More than 250 species of hard corals can be found in Singapore’s waters out of over 500 species within the region. Being located in close proximity to one of the world’s busiest ports, the Marine Park will provide a safe refuge for the teeming biodiversity around the Southern Islands and its surrounding waters, as well as safeguard our natural heritage.

The Marine Park is also home to Singapore’s first turtle hatchery, which provides a conducive environment for turtle hatchlings to incubate, hatch safely and make it out to sea. Singapore's coastal areas continue to support turtle species despite urbanisation and busy waterways.

NParks will assess the nests that are found along Singapore’s mainland beaches or around the Southern Islands. Nests that are laid at locations with high human traffic, in danger of predation, too close to the shoreline, or at areas that are too shallow, will be relocated to the hatchery. Nests that are not relocated will be left to incubate and hatch where they are laid. They will be protected from human disturbance and predators, and will be monitored regularly to ensure that the turtles are given the best possible chance of survival.

Rescued turtle eggs will be incubated and monitored within the cages until the hatchlings emerge. The lower quarter of the 1m3 cages are buried in the sand and will protect the incubating eggs against predators, such as monitor lizards.

A temperature logger is used to ensure the eggs are kept in a 29°C environment, which is ideal to ensure a mix of male and female hatchlings. Too cold, and all the hatchlings will turn out male. Too hot, and all of them will be female, research found.

Dive Trail: To encourage a deeper appreciation for Singapore's marine biodiversity, NParks has developed Singapore's first Dive Trail located at Pulau Subar Laut or the Big Sister's Island, Sisters' Island Marine Park.

Two separate trails with varying depths have been established to showcase the variety of marine biodiversity and reed features present in Singapore's waters. Approximately 100m in length, the shallow trail will take divers around a loop to a maximum depth of 6m. The deep trail will reach a maximum depth of 15m.

Divers will be guided through 20 stations marked by signs which will bring their attention to the variety of marine biodiversity and reef features present in Singapore's waters, as well as messages on conservation and responsible diving. Some stations will also engage divers in simple biodiversity or water quality surveys as part of NParks' efforts to encourage participation in our Citizen Science programmes.

Artificial reef: Each of the 10m-high structure will form a three-storey "terrace house" upon which corals may take root and grow, while also doubling up as a new home for other forms of marine life to live in and flourish

They are made of materials including concrete, fibreglass pipes, steel and rocks recycled from other JTC projects. Each structure includes nooks and crannies within which various fish species and other forms of sea life may find shelter and thrive.

The reef structures are intended to transform bare seabed into a flourishing marine ecosystem, allowing corals to take root, and in turn attract fish and other marine life.

Pulau Semakau was once home to a Malay village on the western side of the island and a small Chinese village at the south-western end.2 The island was merged with Pulau Seking (also known as Pulau Sakeng) in the 1990s to form Singapore’s first offshore landfill.3 The landfill began operations in April 1999.4

Just imagine a scene where there are perfect green grass patches and palm trees swaying in the wind. That’s exactly what you’ll see at Semakau Landfill.

Although the word “landfill” probably conjures images of a wasteland rather than scenic views, we were surprised to find a diverse ecosystem of plants and animals thriving on the adjoining island of Pulau Semakau.

An impermeable membrane that lines the landfill and the wastewater treatment plant on Semakau Landfill prevents harmful substances from leaking into the surrounding waters

Contrary to popular belief that landfills are dirty and cause pollution, you can actually find fish-rearing just off the coast of Semakau Landfill. There’s a floating fish farm where restaurants and amateur household cooks order their seabass from – fresh out of the sea.

the National Environment Agency planted 400,000 mangrove saplings on 13.6 ha of specially created mud-beds. The mangroves are thriving, and act as a biological indicator giving early warning if toxins leak into the se

The last we see of our trash is right before we toss it into the refuse chute. But trash doesn’t magically disappear into a black hole in the chute. The waste is collected and sent to waste-to-energy plants for incineration. This incineration ash is then sent to Tuas Marine Transfer Station, where it is loaded onto barges and transported to Semakau Landfill.

Incineration ash is tipped into the giant landfill cell

In 2016, Singapore sent about 800,000 tonnes of non-incinerable waste and incineration ash to Semakau Landfill. At the rate we are sending waste there, Semakau Landfill will run out of space by 2035.