Jurong Island is an island located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of seven offshore islands, the islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kechil, Pulau Sakra, Pulau Seraya, Pulau Meskol, Pulau Mesemut Laut, Pulau Mesemut Darat and Anak Pulau. This was done through Singapore's land reclamation efforts. Land reclamation on Jurong Island was completed on 25 September 2009, 20 years earlier than scheduled. Pulau Buaya was joined to Jurong Island via reclamation in 2010. Jurong Island forms a land area of about 32 km2 (12 sq mi) from an initial area of less than 10 km2 (4 sq mi), and is the largest of Singapore's outlying islands.
Pulau Tekong, also known colloquially as Tekong or Tekong Island, is the second-largest of Singapore's outlying islands after Jurong Island. Tekong is located off Singapore's northeastern coast, east of Pulau Ubin. Since the 1990s, the island has been used by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and is generally restricted from public access. Transport to the island for permitted persons is via the SAF Changi Ferry Terminal at Changi Beach.
A leper colony, also known by many other names, is an isolated community for the quarantining and treatment of lepers, people suffering from leprosy.
M. leprae, the bacterium responsible for leprosy, is believed to have spread from East Africa through the Middle East, Europe, and Asia by the 5th century before reaching the rest of the world more recently. Historically, leprosy was believed to be extremely contagious and divinely ordained, leading to enormous stigma against its sufferers. Other severe skin diseases were frequently conflated with leprosy and all such sufferers were kept away from the general public, although some religious orders provided medical care and treatment. Recent research has shown M. leprae has maintained a similarly virulent genome over at least the last thousand years, leaving it unclear which precise factors led to leprosy's near elimination in Europe by 1700. A growing number of cases following the first wave of European colonization, however, led to increased attention towards leprosy during the New Imperialism of the late 19th century. Following G.A. Hansen's discovery of the role of M. leprae in the disease, the First International Leprosy Conference held in Berlin in 1897 renewed interest and investment in the isolation of lepers throughout the European colonial empires. Although Western countries now generally treat cases of leprosy individually on an outpatient basis, traditional isolated colonies continue to exist in India, China, and some other countries.
Pulau Ubin, also simply known as Ubin, is an island situated in the north east of Singapore, to the west of Pulau Tekong. The granite quarry used to be supported by a few thousand settlers on Pulau Ubin in the 1960s, but only about 40 villagers remained as of 2012. It is one of the last rural areas to be found in Singapore, with an abundance of natural flora and fauna. The island forms part of the Ubin–Khatib Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports significant numbers of visiting and resident birds, some of which are threatened. Today, the island is managed by the National Parks Board, compared to 12 agencies managing different areas of the island previously.
The Singapore Management University (SMU) is a publicly-funded private university in Singapore. Founded in 2000, SMU is the third oldest autonomous university in the country, modelling its education after the Wharton School. The university is triple accredited by AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA. In 2024, SMU was ranked 44th in the world for Business and Management Studies, while also placing in the top 100 for Economics and Finance by QS.
Saint John's Island also known as St John's is an island in the Straits of Singapore located 6.5 km off the southern coast of Singapore. With an area of 0.41 km2 (0.16 sq mi), it is the largest of the Marine Park islands which also include the Sisters' Islands and Pulau Tekukor. St John's was colonised by the British along with mainland Singapore in the 19th century and was the site of a colonial quarantine centre. In the 20th century, the island served as a detention centre, drug rehabilitation centre and refugee settlement. Singapore gained independence under the Government of Singapore in the mid-20th century and maintained sovereignty over St John's. In the present day, the island has doubled as grounds for recreational facilities and aquaculture research and development facilities.
Pulau Semakau is located to the south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore. The Semakau Landfill is located on the eastern side of the island, and was created by the amalgamation of Pulau Sakeng, and "anchored" to Pulau Semakau. The Semakau Landfill is Singapore's first offshore landfill and now the only remaining landfill in Singapore.
Bawean is an island of Indonesia located approximately 150 kilometers north of Surabaya in the Java Sea, off the coast of Java. It is administered by Gresik Regency of East Java province. It is approximately 15 km (9.3 mi) in diameter and is circumnavigated by a single narrow road. Bawean is dominated by an extinct volcano at its center that rises to 655 meters above sea level. Its population as of the 2010 Census was about 70,000 people, but more than 26,000 of the total were temporarily living outside, working in other parts of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. As a result, females constituted about 77% of the actual population of the island, which is thus often referred to as "the Island of Women". The 2020 Census revealed a population of 80,289, while the official estimate as at mid 2023 was 83,455.
The National Library, Singapore is the flagship national library of Singapore. A subsidiary of the National Library Board (NLB), it is located on an 11,304–square metre site in Victoria Street within the Downtown Core. It is the country's largest public library.
The Southern Islands is a planning area consisting of a collection of islets located within the Central Region of Singapore, once home to the native Malay islanders and sea nomads before they were relocated to the mainland for urban redevelopment and future use. The islands that form the planning area are Kusu Island, Lazarus Island, Pulau Seringat, Pulau Tekukor, Saint John's Island, Sentosa and the two Sisters' Islands. The islands encompass a total land area of about 5.58 square kilometres (2.15 sq mi). The Sentosa Development Corporation oversaw the development and maintenance of these offshore islands south of Singapore from 1976 to March 2017, when it handed it back to the Singapore Land Authority.
Lee Foundation is Singapore's largest private charitable foundation. It was founded in 1952 by philanthropist and businessman Lee Kong Chian, and has since supported various educational causes, healthcare and medical endowments as well as disaster relief efforts. It is run by a board composed of Lee's descendants and non-family members. The foundation is also shareholder of OCBC Bank and Singapore Press Holdings.
Tan Sri Dato' Lee Kong Chian, also known by his alias Lee Geok Kun, was a prominent Chinese Singaporean businessman and philanthropist based in Malaya and Singapore between the 1930s and the 1960s. He was the founder of the Lee Foundation and one of the richest men in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also a son-in-law of Tan Kah Kee, another well-known Chinese businessman and philanthropist based in Southeast Asia. He is affectionately known today as the "founding father" of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation.
The bicolored roundleaf bat is a species of bat in the family Hipposideridae found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Timor-Leste. This bat inhabits caves, rock crevices and tunnels among lowland forests. They roost in large numbers and consume mostly small winged insects. Their navigation and hunting skills come from the use of echolocation. Its leafnose is used to release ultrasonic shouts to distinguish its surroundings. Echolocation is also used to distinguish other species based on their wingbeat and size. The habitat of this bat decides the color of its fur. Bleaching fumes of a cave environment will cause an orange colored fur. Those who inhabit a well-ventilated roost will be a light brown color.
Leper colony money was special money which circulated only in leper colonies due to the fear that money could carry leprosy and infect other people. However, leprosy is not easily transmitted by casual contact or objects; actual transmission only happens through long-term, constant, intimate contact with leprosy sufferers and not through contact with everyday objects used by sufferers.
Sorokdo is an island in Goheung County, South Jeolla in South Korea. The word sorok means "small deer", which the island's coastline, viewed from above, is supposed to resemble. The island is approximately one kilometer away from the larger Nokdong Port.
The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum is a museum of natural history at the Kent Ridge Campus of the National University of Singapore. It is named after Lee Kong Chian, a prominent Chinese businessman and philanthropist active in Malaya and Singapore between the 1930s and the 1960s. It was officially opened on 18 April 2015.
Pulau Sarimbun is a small island situated in the Straits of Johor, off the north-western coast of Singapore. Located within Singapore waters, it has an area of 1.4 hectares.
Pulau Seletar is an island in Singapore waters, in the Straits of Johor off the northern coast. It has an area of 38.5 hectares. It is in a bay into which several streams flow, including the waters of mainland Singapore's only hot spring.
Peter Kee Lin Ng is a Singaporean carcinologist and ichthyologist at the National University of Singapore, concurrently working as Director of both the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and the Tropical Marine Science Institute. He has written extensively with over 510 technical papers, mostly in international journals - his research is primarily on the diversity and biology of marine and freshwater crabs in the Indo-West Pacific. He has many awards, the Singapore National Youth Award, National Youth Movement, People's Association (1993); the National Science Award 1995, National Science & Technology Board, Ministry of Trade and Development; and the ASEAN Young Science and Technologist Award, ASEAN Science and Technology Ministers, 4th ASEAN Science Ministers Meeting, Bangkok (1995).
