Timeline Singapore

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  Singapore is linked to the Asian mainland by a causeway.
 (SFEC, 12/20/98, p.T2)
  In 1999 the city-sate of Singapore had a population of 3.7 million.
 (WSJ, 6/2/99, p.A1)
1781        Jul 5, Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore, was born.
    (MC, 7/5/02)

1819        Singapore was declared a free port after it was taken over by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, an officer of the British East India Co. Sultan Hussein was enthroned by the British but he never ruled. Raffles laid out the city into ethnic zones.
     (WSJ, 11/12/96, p.A18)(WSJ, 7/22/99, p.A23)(SFCM, 3/11/01, p.70)(SSFC, 2/07/04, p.C9)

1834        Sultan Hussein left Singapore for the Malaysian port of Melaka.
    (WSJ, 7/22/99, p.A23)

1835        Sultan Hussein died at Melaka.
    (WSJ, 7/22/99, p.A23)

1854        Alfred Russel Wallace began his historic study of Malay flora and fauna in and around Bukit Timah hill in Singapore.
    (NH, 4/1/04, p.56)

1867                   Apr 1,  Singapore, Penang & Malakka became British crown colonies.
    (OTD)

1887        The Raffles Hotel was built in Singapore. It was restored in 1991.
    (SSFC, 3/10/02, p.C11)

1900        British rulers set up the Kampung Baru (new village) enclave in Kuala Lumpur as an exclusive preserve for Malays.
    (WSJ, 8/18/04, p.A7)

1937        Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister.
    (SFC, 6/8/96, p.A11)

1941        Feb 8, Japanese armored barges crossed the Strait of Johore to attack Singapore.
    (MC, 2/8/02)

1941        Dec 8, Japanese General Yamashita began his attack against the British army at Singapore. General Tomoyuki Yamashita earned the name "Tiger of Malaya" for his masterful capture of Singapore and the whole Malay Peninsula from the British, who had a superior number of troops.  Yamashita’s forces landed on the northern Malay Peninsula and southern Thailand on December 8, 1941, and moved rapidly southward toward Singapore, which surrendered on February 15, 1942. The peninsula and Singapore remained under Japanese control throughout the war. Later in the war, while defending the Philippines from Gen. MacArthur‘s return, Yamashita's troops wantonly slaughtered more than 100,000 Filipinos in Manila. He was later tried and executed for war crimes.
    (HN, 12/8/98)(HNQ, 4/5/00)

1942        Feb 8, The Japanese landed on Singapore. By 1941, Gen. Yamashita was the commanding general of Japan’s Twenty-Fifth Army. His plans for taking Singapore were already underway.
    (HN, 2/7/97)

1942        Feb 15, British forces in Singapore surrendered to Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita. Yamashita prevailed, when British Lt. Gen. Sir Arthur Percival and 130,000 Empire troops surrendered. It was the largest surrender in British history.
    (HN, 2/15/98)(AP, 2/15/98)

1945-1949    A series of wars for independence during this period spread from India to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2007 Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper authored “Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia.”
    (WSJ, 8/9/07, p.D7)

1960        Lee Kuan Yew began ruling Singapore and served until 1990.
    (SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)

1963        Jul 9, Federation of Malaysia formed under bitter opposition from Indonesia. Indonesia refused to recognize the country and waged a guerrilla war against it. Race riots erupted between ethnic Malays and the Chinese majority. [see Sep 16]
    (MC, 7/9/02)(HNQ, 5/14/98)(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.C10)

1963        Sep 16, The Federation of Malaysia was formally established. It joined Malaya, Singapore, Sarawak, and North Borneo with Tunku Abdul Rahman (60) as prime minister.
    (PC, 1992, p.988)

1964        Aug 25,  Singapore limited imports from Netherlands due to Indonesian aggression.
    (chblue.com, 8/25/01)

1965        Aug 9, Singapore proclaimed its independence from the Malaysian Federation. Singapore became independent from Britain and was booted from the Malayan federation. Lee Kuan Yew became the new prime minister.
    (AP, 8/9/97)(WSJ,6/11/96,p.A9A)(SFC,6/8/96,p.A11)(WSJ,12/31/96, p.1)

1967        Aug 8, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.  Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
    (www.aseansec.org/64.htm)

1972        The Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned because their male followers refused compulsory military duty.
    (SFC, 7/2/96, p.A10)

1974        Temasek (Malay for sea town) was founded to hold Singapore’s investments in various businesses. In 2004 it employed 170,000 people under Ho Ching and controlled a fifth of the local stock market. In 2009 Charles Goodyear was named to success Ho Ching, becoming the first foreigner to lead the sovereign wealth fund.
    (Econ, 8/14/04, p.65)(Econ, 2/14/09, p.86)

1977        May, In Singapore Lee Kuan Yew (b.1923) won a barely contested bi-election as his People’s Action Party won every seat in the legislature. Lee then moved against journalists and human rights activists who had irritated him during the campaign.
    (SFC, 9/21/02, p.A18)(http://rulers.org/indexl2.html)

1977        Jun 27, H.E. Lee Kuan Yew, the PM of Singapore, formally opened the Fourth Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Ministers which was held in Singapore on 27-29 June 1977.
    (www.aseansec.org/1287.htm)

1981        Aug 23, Devan Nair (1923-2005) was elected by Parliament to serve as Singapore’s 3rd president. He stepped down in 1985 following a sex scandal.
    (Econ, 12/24/05, p.122)(www.answers.com/topic/devan-nair)

1981        Joshua B. Jeyaretnam (1926-2008), a Workers Party lawmaker, became Singapore's first opposition politician to be elected to Parliament. He was driven to bankruptcy in 2001 by defamation lawsuits brought by PM Lee Kuan Yew, his son his son Lee Hsien Loong, and Goh Chok Tong, who served as prime minister after the elder Lee stepped down in 1990 until the son took over in 2004.
    (AP, 10/1/08)(Econ, 10/11/08, p.118)

1981        Singapore implemented a managed float for its currency. It pegged its dollar to a basket of currencies that mirrored its trading patterns. The Monetary Authority of Singapore does not announce the contents of the basket. It just tweaks the mix as needed.
    (WSJ, 5/23/05, p.C16)

1981        The Government of Singapore Investment corp. was founded to run the nation’s foreign-exchange reserves. By 2008 it had well over $100 billion in assets.
    (WSJ, 1/16/08, p.A10)

1985        Mar, Devan Nair resigned as president of Singapore in the wake of a sex scandal.
    (Econ, 12/24/05, p.122)(Econ, 1/21/06, p.14)

1986        Motorola opened shop in Singapore.
    (WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A1)

1990        Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee Kuan Yew as the Prime Minister.
    (SFEC, 5/30/99, p.B1)

1990        The US and Singapore signed a memorandum that gave American military forces access to facilities at Paya Lebar Airport and Sembawang naval port.
    (SFC, 1/16/98, p.B4)

1991        Singapore banned chewing gum. [see 1992]
    (NW, 8/4/03, p.10)

1992        Jan 4, President Bush, visiting Singapore as part of a Pacific trade tour, announced plans to shift to Singapore the Navy logistics command that was being evicted from the Philippines.
    (AP, 1/4/02)

1992        Singapore invoked a ban on chewing gum because it messed up the streets and subway doors.
    (SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A16)

1993        China Aviation Oil, CAO Singapore, was incorporated as a shipping agency.
    (WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A12)

1993-1999    Ong Teng Cheong (d.2002 at 66) of the people’s Action Party served as president.
    (SFC, 2/9/02, p.A22)

1994        May 5, Singapore caned American teen-ager Michael Fay for vandalism, a day after the sentence was reduced from six lashes to four in response to an appeal by President Clinton, who considered the punishment too harsh.
    (AP, 5/5/99)

1994        Jun 21, American teenager Michael Fay was released from a Singapore prison, where he'd been flogged for vandalism.
    (AP, 6/21/04)

1994        Sep 23, John van Damme (59), Dutch businessman, was hanged in Singapore for drug trafficking.
    (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_in_Singapore)

1995        Feb 27, Barings PLC, a major British banking firm was forced into bankruptcy after an employee in Singapore (Nicholas William Leeson) speculated in derivatives that resulted in losses exceeding $800 million.
    (WSJ, 2/27/95, p.A-1)

1995        Mar 17, Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino maid, was hanged in Singapore for murder, despite international pleas to spare her.
    (AP, 3/17/00)

1995        Dec, In Singapore Nick Leeson, responsible for the fall of Barings PLC, pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 6 ½ years in prison. He was released in 1999.
    (WSJ, 7/2/99, p.A10)

c1995        Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong called on Singapore to become a "gracious society." This later led to the founding of the Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM).
    (WSJ, 11/19/98, p.B1)

1996        Jun 1, The government passed a Maintenance of Parents Law.
    (WSJ, 9/17/96, p.A1)

1996        Sep 23, The government announced that there will be enough bomb shelters for everyone. All new dwellings will be required to have bomb shelters with concrete wall and a steel door.
    (SFC, 9/25/96, p.A9)

1996        Dec 24, Singapore PM Goh Chok Tong said that districts that elect opposition candidates on Jan 2, would see public-housing improvement funds cut.
    (WSJ, 12/24/96, p.A1)(WSJ, 12/31/96, p.1)

1997        Jan 2, The ruling party captured all but 2 seats in parliamentary elections. More than 85% of the country’s 3 million live in government-built apartments.
    (SFC, 1/4/97, p.A9)

1997        Jul 1, Chen Jiulin was sent from China to Singapore to revive the operations of China Aviation Oil, CAO Singapore. The company soon began to deal in jet fuel.
    (WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)

1997        In Indonesia fires originally set by developers to clear forest for palm plantations in Borneo and Sumatra ran out of control and darkened skies across much of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The World Bank estimated that 8% of total global emission of greenhouse gases for the year were due to the fires.
    (Econ, 3/25/06, p.74)

1998        Jan 15, The US and Singapore announced an agreement for US ships to use a planned $35 million naval base beginning in 2000.
    (SFC, 1/16/98, p.B4)

1998        Sep, Lee Kuan Yew, former prime minister, authored the 1st volume of his "The Singapore Story."
    (SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)

1998        The film "Twelve Stories" was written and directed by Eric Khoo. It was about one day in a Singapore government housing project.
    (SFC, 5/20/98, p.E3)

1999        May 29, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong visited Northern California and expressed his country's interest in becoming a knowledge-based regional hub.
    (SFEC, 5/30/99, p.B1)

1999        Aug 18, In Singapore S.R. Nathan was declared president without elections.
    (WSJ, 8/20/99, p.A1)

1999        Dec 20, Singapore Airlines agreed to buy a 49% stake in Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic.
    (www.iht.com/articles/1999/12/21/virgin.2.t.php)

1999        The Singapore film "That's the Way I Like It" starred Anna Belle Francis and Adrian Pang. It was directed by Glen Goei. It was a comedy spin off on the impact of John Travolta and "Saturday Night Fever" on young people in Singapore in 1977.
    (SFC, 10/19/99, p.B1,4)

1999        Singapore launched Channel NewsAsia. The state-owned firm was intended to challenge Western dominance of the air waves.
    (Econ, 12/2/06, p.63)

2000        Sep, Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister, authored "From Third World to First." This was volume 2 of his 1998 memoir and covers the development of Singapore from 1965.
    (WSJ, 11/2/00, p.A24)(SFC, 8/6/01, p.A8)

2000        Oct 31, A Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 jet crashed on takeoff from Taiwan as Typhoon Xangsane approached. Flight SQ006 was bound for Los Angeles. The plane apparently hit construction equipment on a closed runway. The airlines announced a $400,000 payment to victim’s families after admitting to pilot error. 83 people were killed when the pilots took off on the wrong runway. The pilots were not prosecuted.
    (WSJ, 11/1/00, p.A1)(SFC, 11/3/00, p.A16)(SFEC, 11/5/00, p.A1)(AP, 6/14/02)

2001        Apr 10, In Singapore doctors completed a 4-day operation to separate 11-month-old Siamese twins, Jamuna and Ganga Shrestha of Nepal.  The girls had joined heads.
    (SFC, 4/11/01, p.C3)

2001        Jun 3, It was reported that Singapore may consider reviewing the 1992 ban on chewing gum to allow nicotine gum for smokers.
    (SSFC, 6/3/01, p.A16)

2001        Nov 3, In Singapore the ruling party won a large majority in general elections. The People’s Action Party of PM Goh Chok Tong got 75% of the vote.
    (SSFC, 11/4/01, p.A17)

2001        In Singapore Joshua "J.B." Jeyaretnam (74), head of the Workers’ Party, was declared bankrupt following a late payment for a $13,535 monthly installment owed in a libel suit.
    (SFC, 1/20/01, p.A11)

2001        In  Singapore Jack Sim founded the World Toilet Organization. In 2007 the World Toilet Association held its inaugural conference in South Korea.
    (SFC, 11/23/07, p.A2)

2002        Jan 5, Singapore reported that authorities had arrested 15 suspected militants between Dec 9-24, some of whom were al Qaeda trained in Afghanistan. The arrested men were planning to bomb the US Embassy and US businesses in Singapore.
    (SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A8)(SFC, 1/7/02, p.A8)(SFC, 1/8/02, p.A11)

2002        Jul 2, Malaysia said it had not reached any new agreements with Singapore on the sale of water to the island state and other issues after two days of talks.
    (Reuters, 7/2/02)

2002        Sep 16, In Singapore authorities announced the arrests of 21 men they identified as members of an extremist Islamic organization. The men were initially detained in August and linked to Riduan Isamuddin, an Indonesian militant.
    (SFC, 9/17/02, p.A12)(SFC, 9/20/02, p.A14)

2002        Nov 9, Singapore opposition leader Chee Soon Juan was released from prison after serving 5 weeks for trying to hold a May Day rally without a permit at the entrance to the grounds of the President's official residence.
    (Reuters, 11/9/02)

2002        Nov 14, In Singapore the 7th Asian Congress of Sexology opened.
    (Reuters, 11/14/02)

2003        May 5, Hong Kong reported three more SARS deaths, for a total of 187, and 8 new infections. In Singapore SARS has killed 26 of the 203 people infected, a fatality rate of 12.8 percent, more than double the global average.
    (AP, 5/5/03)

2003        May 31, Singapore was taken off the list of SARS countries.
    (SSFC, 6/1/03, p.A3)

2003        Jun 12, A container ship ran aground off the coast of Singapore and leaked 165 tons of fuel oil into the sea.
    (AP, 6/12/03)

2003        Jun 20, Singapore launched an automated commuter train system, filling a gap in the city's subway network.
    (AP, 6/20/03)

2003        Jul 8, Ladan and Laleh Bijani (29), Iranian twin sisters, joined at the head, died within 90 minutes of each other as neurosurgeons in Singapore worked into a 3rd day to separate them.
    (AP, 7/7/03)(AP, 7/8/03)

2003        Sep 3, President Bush signed legislation to begin free trade with Singapore and Chile.
    (AP, 9/3/04)

2003        Sep 8, Singapore health officials confirmed that a local patient tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, the 1st new case of the disease in over 5 months.
    (AP, 9/8/03)(WSJ, 9/10/03, p.A1)

2003        Sep 26, In Singapore Vignes Mourthi (23), found guilty of drug trafficking last year after his arrest in September 2001 for smuggling 27 grams (0.98 ounces) of heroin and Moorthi Angappan, convicted of helping him, were hanged. Over the past four years, 88 people have been hanged, mostly for drug offenses. The government says the death penalty effectively deters drug addiction.
    (AP, 9/26/03)

2003        Singapore signed a free trade agreement with the US. The 1991 ban on chewing gum was lifted soon after along with the ban on bar-top dancing.
    (NW, 8/4/03, p.10)

2004        Jan 15, Amnesty Int'l. said more than 400 prisoners have been hanged since 1991 in Singapore, mostly for drug offenses. The London-based rights report on Singapore was entitled "A Hidden Toll of Executions."
    (AP, 1/15/04)(WSJ, 1/16/04, p.A1)

2004        Feb 3, Singapore Airlines began 18½ hour non-stop flights to Los Angeles.
    (USAT, 2/5/04, p.1B)

2004        Feb 21, Khoo Teck Puat, Singapore tycoon, died.
    (Econ, 2/28/04, p.70)

2004        May 22, The ship car carrier MV Hyundai, carrying 4,000 cars, sank after colliding with the oil tanker MT Kaminesan just south of Singapore.
    (AP, 5/23/04)

2004        May, Singapore introduced its first batch of 10-dollar plastic notes. In 2005 two-dollar polymer notes were scheduled to be issued January 12, 2006.
    (AP, 12/22/05)

2004        Jun 4-6, The Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security conference, was held in Singapore. It was organized by the London-based Int’l. Institute for Strategic Studies.
    (Econ, 6/12/04, p.37)

2004        Aug 7, Some 6,000 people turned out for the start of a three-day gay and lesbian festival in Singapore, where homosexual acts are still illegal. "Nation.04" -- a festival of international DJs, podium dancers, pumping music and muscular boys stripping off their tops on packed dance floors -- has increased in size every year since it was launched four years ago.
    (AP, 8/8/04)

2004        Aug 12, Lee Hsien Loong, the son of Singapore's founding father (Lee Kuan Yew), took over as prime minister of the city-state. Lee Kuan Yew continued service as cabinet mentor.
    (AP, 7/17/04)(WSJ, 7/19/04, p.A1)(Econ, 7/24/04, p.39)(Econ, 4/22/06, p.42)

2004        Sep 17, Officials in Singapore reported that a soil-borne bacterial infection called melioidosis has killed 24 people there this year, making it more deadly than SARS or bird flu. The illness, also known as Whitmore's Disease, is listed by the U.S. government as a potential biological weapon but Singapore government officials said there was no sign it had been spread intentionally.
    (Reuters, 9/17/04)

2004        Nov 25, In Singapore China Aviation Oil, CAO Singapore, filed for bankruptcy protection following an estimated loss of $550 million from a series of bets on oil prices.
    (WSJ, 12/6/04, p.A1)

2004        Dec 13, It was reported that the math skills of US students were declining that some educators were importing texts from Singapore, where students routinely scored high.
    (WSJ, 12/13/04, p.A1)

2005        Jan 1, Singapore was forecast for 4.9% annual GDP growth with a population at 4.3 million and GDP per head at $25,070.
    (Econ, 1/8/05, p.91)

2005        Jan 17, Singapore said its exports expanded by 17 percent to a record high in 2004, reflecting strong demand from China for oil and commodities and solid sales of electronics and pharmaceuticals to the United States and European Union.
    (AP, 1/17/05)

2005        Feb 21, PM Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore will lower personal income tax, reduce spending and aim for a modest surplus in its US$18.13 billion 2005 budget.
    (WSJ, 2/22/05, p.A12)

2005        Apr, Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong announced his government’s decision to legalize gambling.
    (Econ, 4/23/05, p.43)

2005        May 31, China said reporter Ching Cheong of The Straits Times, Singapore's main English-language newspaper, has admitted to spying for a foreign intelligence agency. Cheong’s wife said he was arrested April 22 after a source gave him documents about purged former Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang, who died this year.
    (AP, 5/31/05)(WSJ, 5/31/05, p.A1)

2005        Jun 20, India approved a free-trade agreement with Singapore.
    (WSJ, 6/21/05, p.A14)

2005        Aug 15, Singapore hosted maritime exercises aimed at stopping shipments of weapons of mass destruction. The drills are part of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI). Other participants in the Deep Saber exercises included Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Russia and the US.
    (AP, 8/15/05)

2005        Nov 17-2005 Nov 20, Singapore hosted the World Cyber Games (WCG). Some 700 participants competed in 8 games with prize money topping $2.5 million.
    (Econ, 11/26/05, p.54)(www.worldcybergames.com/main.asp)

2005        Dec 2, Singapore executed 25-year-old Australian Nguyen Tuong Van for drug trafficking, after he had a "beautiful last visit" with his family. Australia's leader protested the sentence, saying it would damage ties.
    (AP, 12/02/05)

2005        Dec 6, Devan Nair, former president of Singapore (1981-1985), died in Canada.
    (Econ, 12/24/05, p.122)

2005        Dec 8, Police in Singapore said they have arrested 13 foreigners, including an American, in an anti-drug operation, less than a week after an Australian was put to death for a narcotics conviction.
    (AP, 12/09/05)

2006        Jan 27, British port operator Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co. switched prospective suitors for the second time after Dubai Ports World raised its offer for the company to almost $7 billion, trumping an offer from Singapore's PSA International Ltd.
    (AP, 1/27/06)

2006        Feb 3, Mas Selamat Kastari, Singapore's most-wanted man, believed to have planned bomb and plane-crash attacks on the island's airport, was deported to Singapore following his arrest in Indonesia under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
    (Reuters, 2/6/06)

2006        Mar 16, Queen Elizabeth II arrived in the former British colony of Singapore for a two-day state visit.
    (AP, 3/16/06)

2006        May 6, Singaporeans voted in legislative elections. The ruling party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. It has won every general election held in the island nation since it became independent in 1965.
    (AP, 5/6/06)

2006        May 26, Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of The Venetian in Nevada, won a hotly-contested license to build Singapore's first casino, which could be the world's costliest casino resort project by the time it opens in 2009.
    (AP, 5/26/06)

2006        Jun 3, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, attending a security conference in Singapore, branded Iran the world's leading terrorist nation yet hoped Tehran seriously would consider incentives from the West in exchange for suspending suspect nuclear activities.
    (AP, 6/3/07)

2006        Jul 14, Malaysia's government declassified documents on negotiations with Singapore over an aborted bridge in a bid to counter criticism from defiant ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad.
    (AFP, 7/14/06)

2006        Jul 23, The 654-foot Singapore-flagged Cougar Ace, a cargo ship carrying 4,813 cars from Japan to Canada, began tilting to its port side late at night hundreds of miles off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. 23 crew members were rescued the next day. The ship was owned by Tokyo-based Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and listed on its side for several weeks before being righted. 4,703 of the cars were new Mazdas valued at about $100 million. After a year of planning Mazda scheduled all the cars for complete reduction to scrap in Portland, Ore.
    (AP, 7/25/06)(SFC, 7/25/06, p.A2)(WSJ, 4/29/08, p.A9)

2006        Sep 15, In Singapore Paul Wolfowitz, the chief of the World Bank, took a hard line on corruption. Rodrigo de Rato, his counterpart at the IMF, said policy-makers need to be ready to adapt to a more difficult economic environment in the coming year as delegates gathered for the sister institutions' annual meetings. Wolfowitz said that Singapore had damaged its own reputation by imposing "authoritarian" restrictions on the entry of activists for the World Bank/IMF meetings.
    (AP, 9/15/06)

2006        Sep 16, In Singapore top finance chiefs stepped up pressure on China to relax its grip on its currency, warning that trade imbalances threaten a flourishing global economy. G7 finance ministers and central bank governors also called for a resumption of global free trade talks and a revamp of the IMF, saying China should be given a louder voice but must also fulfill its broader economic responsibilities.
    (AFP, 9/16/06)

2006        Sep 28, Singapore banned the Far Eastern Economic Review magazine after it failed to comply with media regulations. The Review, published by Dow Jones & Co Inc., is being sued by Singapore's PM Lee Hsien Loong and his father, Singapore's founding PM Lee Kuan Yew, over a July article about opposition politician Chee Soon Juan.
    (AP, 9/28/06)

2006        Oct 11, Indonesia apologized to Singapore and Malaysia for the choking haze over both countries and agreed to convene a meeting of regional environment ministers to tackle the problem. This was the worst smog since 1997 and 1998, when tens of thousands of people were hospitalized.
    (AP, 10/11/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.47)

2006        Nov 12, In Singapore student Ang Chuang Yang (16) broke the Guinness World Record for the shortest time needed to type a 160-character SMS (short message service) message after whizzing through the task in less than 42 seconds in a competition.
    (AP, 11/12/06)

2006        Nov 16, Pres. Bush in Singapore voiced tentative support for a free trade agreement covering all 21 members of APEC and warned North Korea against trying to sell nuclear arms.
    (SFC, 11/17/06, p.A4)(WSJ, 11/17/06, p.A1)

2006        Dec 8, Singapore awarded its second casino resort contract to Genting International, whose $3.38 billion proposal promises to lure family tourists with a Universal Studios theme park and a huge outdoor marine park.
    (AP, 12/8/06)

2007        Jan 26, Singapore executed two Africans on drug trafficking charges despite pleas for clemency by Nigeria's president.
    (AP, 1/26/07)

2007        Feb 6, An Indonesian ban on sand exports went into effect. The ban was directed at Singapore, which purchased sand to reclaim land from the sea.
    (Econ, 2/10/07, p.42)

2007        Mar 1, Singapore’s American Chamber of Commerce said trade between Singapore and the United States rose 19 percent in 2006 from the year before, the second fastest growth rate among Washington's major trading partners.
    (AP, 3/1/07)

2007        Apr 9, Officials said the yearly salaries of Singapore's well-paid government ministers are headed higher, by 60 percent to more than $1.25 million by the end of 2008. Premier Lee Hsein Lloong will now make $2.1 million a year.
    (AP, 4/9/07)(WSJ, 4/10/07, p.A1)

2007        May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on economic cooperation.
    (WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)

2007        Sep 2, Temasek, Singapore’s state-owned investment company, said it would take a 8.3% stake in China Eastern Airlines and Singapore Airlines announced a 15.7% stake.
    (Econ, 9/29/07, p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Eastern_Airlines)

2007        Sep 4, 5-nation war games began in the Bay of Bengal. Indian and US aircraft carriers launched fighter jets into the air as American submarines cruised below Japanese, Australian and Singaporean warships.
    (AP, 9/6/07)

2007        Oct 15,     Airbus finally delivered its first A380 superjumbo jet. Singapore Airlines took delivery of the double-decker jet, the world's largest passenger plane, almost two years late.
    (AP, 10/15/07)

2007        Oct 25, An Airbus 380, the world's largest jetliner, made aviation history, completing its first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney with 455 passengers, some of them ensconced in luxury suites and double beds.
    (AP, 10/25/07)

2007        Nov 6, Singapore presented its case regarding sovereignty of three disputed islands in the Pacific Ocean at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, a claim disputed by Malaysia.
    (AFP, 11/6/07)

2007        Nov 20, In Singapore Southeast Asian leaders (ASEAN) adopted a landmark charter but their vision to create an EU-style bloc faced hurdles because of concerns over Myanmar, whose military rulers have defied international calls to restore democracy.
    (AP, 11/20/07)(Econ, 11/24/07, p.43)

2007        Dec 10, Swiss banking giant UBS AG said it will write off a further $10 billion on losses in the US subprime lending market and will raise capital by selling substantial stakes to Singapore and an unnamed investor in the Middle East.
    (AP, 12/10/07)

2007        Dec 24, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell $5 billion of new stock to Temasek Holdings, Singapore’s sovereign investment company and a smaller stake to a domestic firm. Merrill said it will write down an additional $8 billion of mortgage investments in the 4th quarter.
    (SFC, 12/25/07, p.E1)

2007        Singapore’s population numbered about 4.7 million. Growth to 6.5 million was expected in 40-50 years.
    (Econ, 10/27/07, p.51)

2008        Feb 27, In Singapore Mas Selamat bin Kastari, an alleged leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant network, escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre. He was accused of planning to hijack a plane and crash it into the city's Changi Airport.
    (AFP, 2/28/08)

2008        Apr 9, Singapore's Media Development Authority, which regulates and censors media and the arts, said it fined StarHub S$10,000 (3,675 pounds) for airing a commercial for a song that featured "romanticized scenes" of lesbians kissing and portrayed the relationship as "acceptable."
    (AP, 4/9/08)

2008        Apr 18,     In Singapore J.B. Jeyaretnam (82), interim secretary general of the Reform Party, vowed to fight what it called the "enslavement" of Singapore after nearly half-a-century of rule by the People's Action Party (PAP).
    (AFP, 4/18/08)

2008        May 23, The International Court of Justice awarded Singapore sovereignty over a disputed island at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Straits. The ICJ ruled in favor of Singapore in the 28-year dispute with Malaysia over a tiny but strategic uninhabited island the size of half a football field. The court, however, gave Malaysia ownership of a smaller uninhabited outcropping. Sovereignty over a third disputed cluster of rocks was left to be determined later between the countries when they sort our their territorial waters.
    (AP, 5/23/08)

2008        Jul 3, In Indonesia a police source said that a group of 10 suspected Muslim militants detained in raids on Sumatra island by Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit was plotting to attack Western targets. The raids followed the capture of a suspected militant after a tip-off by authorities in Singapore.
    (Reuters, 7/3/08)

2008        Jul 18, In Singapore Peter Lloyd (41), a TV reporter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), was charged with trafficking about one gram of methamphetamine to a Singaporean for 100 Singapore dollars (73.5 US) at a hotel early this month.
    (AFP, 7/18/08)

2008        Jul 24, In Singapore North Korea's reclusive communist regime, long seen as a nuclear threat to the region, signed a nonaggression pact with Southeast Asia, in a largely symbolic move. The Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) with the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came into force in 1976, requires signatories to renounce the use or threat of force and calls for the peaceful settlement of conflicts.
    (AP, 7/24/08)

2008        Aug 15, In Beijing 2 positive dope tests by Asian athletes overshadowed Singapore's first medal in 48 years and a podium for Malaysia with a North Korean shooter and a Vietnamese gymnast exposed as cheats.
    (AP, 8/15/08)

2008        Sep 19, Singapore banned all dairy imports from China and the European Union demanded answers from Beijing as the baby formula scandal, which left 4 babies dead and over 6 thousand infants ill across China, spread to liquid milk.
    (Reuters, 9/19/08)

2008        Oct 10, Singapore’s economy fell into recession for the first time in 6 years leading the city-state’s central bank to ease monetary policy and warn of more struggle to come.
    (WSJ, 10/11/08, p.A10)

2008        Oct 13, Singapore's High Court ruled that an opposition party and two of its leaders must pay $416,000 in defamation damages to PM Lee Hsien Loong and his father, former PM Lee Kuan Yew, related to criticism published in 2006 in the party's newspaper.
    (AP, 10/14/08)

2008        Oct 16, Authorities in Malaysia and Singapore said they will guarantee all foreign currency and local currency bank deposits.
    (WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A5)

2008        Oct 23, China and Singapore signed a free trade agreement on the eve of a summit of European and Asian leaders in Beijing. Held every two years, ASEM has no mandate to issue decisions, but participants hope it will produce some degree of consensus ahead of a Nov. 15 meeting of the world's top economies in Washington to discuss the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.
    (AP, 10/23/08)(WSJ, 10/24/08, p.A13)

2009        Jan 2, Singapore said its GDP had contracted at an adjusted annualized pace of 12.5% in the 4th quarter. Its biggest contraction since it began publishing data in 1976.
    (WSJ, 1/3/09, p.A4)

2009        Jan 24, In Singapore a couple treated open air diners to a 15-minute naked parade, triggering both embarrassment and applause for a scene almost unheard of in the conservative city-state. The couple, a Caucasian man and an ethnic Chinese woman in their 20s, were arrested and released on bail.
    (Reuters, 1/28/09)

2009        Feb 19, About 12 pirates armed with guns attacked the tug and barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped two crew members as the vessel was en route to Singapore.
    (AP, 2/20/09)

End of file.