1982 in Singapore

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← 1981 1980 1979 1982 in Singapore → 1983 1984 1985
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
See also:	Other events of 1982 Timeline of Singaporean history

The following lists events that happened during 1982 in Singapore.

Incumbents

• President: C.V. Devan Nair
• Prime Minister: Lee Kuan Yew

Events

January

• 1 January – The time zone in Singapore has changed to UTC+08:00 and it has not changed since.
• 2 January – The metric system of weights and measures is introduced, replacing the Imperial units.

February

• 23 February – The Sentosa Monorail is opened, making travelling convenient for visitors. ^[1]

March

• 20–24 March - The first Festival of Dance (which was the early form of the current Singapore Arts Festival) was held at Victoria Theatre. ^[2]

May

• 14 May – Singa the Lion is unveiled as the National Courtesy Campaign's mascot, being launched two weeks later. ^[3]
• 28 May – The Government allows the building of the Mass Rapid Transit after a 10-year debate. The first lines to be constructed are the North South MRT line and the East West MRT line, scheduled for 1984. To fund the MRT, money earned from land plots in Marina Bay will be used. ^[4]

June

• 11 June – The Sentosa Musical Fountain is officially opened. ^[5] It ran for 25 years until its closure in 2007. ^[6]

July

• 1 July – New Nation newspaper is replaced by Singapore Monitor. ^[7]
• 25 July – The first locally produced drama, Seletar Robbery, is shown on SBC 8.

October

• 1 October – The Postal Services Department merges into the Telecommunication Authority of Singapore, giving better services. ^{[8] [9]}

November

• 6 November – The National Civil Defence Plan was launched, setting guidelines for emergency preparations. ^[10]

Date unknown

• Ang Peng Siong was ranked world's No.1 in 1982 for clocking 22.69s in the 50m freestyle during the US Nationals and was named the World's Fastest Swimmer for 1982 by Swimming World magazine. ^[11]

Births

• 24 January – Fiona Xie, actress.
• 2 June – Jonathan Leong, singer, runner-up of Singapore Idol (Season 2).
• 7 September – Race Wong, former singer and 2R member, entrepreneur and co-founder of Ohmyhome.

Deaths

• 9 February – R. A. Hamid, trade union activist (b. 1922/1923). ^[12]
• 17 February – Seah Peng Chuan, former legislative assemblyman for Kampong Kapor Constituency (b. 1914). ^[13]
• 22 June – Lancelot Maurice Pennefather, famous sportsman (b. 1894). ^[14]
• 29 October – Lim Yong Liang, Singaporean footballer (b. 1900). ^[15]
• 8 December – H. J. C. Kulasingha, former legislative councillor for Bukit Timah Constituency (b. 1900). ^[16]

References

1. "Monorail all set to roll into service". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 20 February 1982. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
2. "Singapore dance festivals". Archived from the original on 15 December 2011. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
3. "Mascot for campaign". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 15 May 1982. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
4. "Go-ahead for MRT: Work starts in '84". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 30 May 1982. Retrieved 6 September 2019.
5. "Musical fount opens". The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 10 June 1982. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
6. Tan, Valarie (26 March 2007). "25-year-old Sentosa Musical Fountain stages last two shows". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 29 March 2007. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
7. "Advertisements". New Nation (retrieved from NLB). 28 June 1982. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
8. "Singapore Telecom goes public". NLB. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
9. "Telecoms tie-up just for you..." The Straits Times (retrieved from NLB). 1 October 1982. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
10. "Milestones: 1888–1990". SCDF. Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
11. "Ang Peng Siong". Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 11 January 2012.
12. "R. A. Hamid". www.nlb.gov.sg. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
13. "141 Deaths". NewspaperSG. 19 February 1982.
14. "Lancelot Maurice Pennefather". NLB. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
15. "Lim Yong Liang". NLB. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
16. "Former Councillor Kulasingha dies". NewspaperSG. 8 December 1982.