BiblioAsia podcast on Singapore history

Lee Ek Tieng (1933–2025) was the civil servant who headed the clean-up of the Singapore River, had the foresight to modernise the sanitation system, and ensured water self-sufficiency for Singapore. Writer Samantha Boh tells us how he did it with his colleagues and earned their respect.

Environmental historian Fiona Williamson tells us how people kept themselves cool before air-conditioning arrived, why weather science was important to the colonial enterprise, and what environmental history can tell us about a city’s development.

Jan Beránek sets out to find out what happened to his granduncle, Silvestr Němec, who left his Czech village for Singapore in 1938 and died as a volunteer during WWII. He finds Silvestr’s story woven with that of the Bata Shoe Company, the Czechoslovak community and volunteer forces in Singapore.

Former Straits Times editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng tells us about how he negotiated OB markers with the government during his tenure (1987–2006), how he juggled the interests of the paper’s stakeholders, and which news story he nearly went to jail for.

The Hawkins Road camp in Sembawang was home to thousands of Vietnamese refugees until it closed in 1996. Researcher Rebecca Tan talks about how the refugees spent their days in the camp and their lives after Singapore.

The national anthem that we know today wasn't the original version composed by Zubir Said. Emeritus Professor Bernard Tan talks about how "Majulah Singapura" came about and how it changed over the decades, and illustrates how these versions differ on his piano.

Tay Seow Huah, then Permanent Secretary for the Home Affairs Ministry, helmed Singapore’s response to the 1974 Laju hijacking incident. Award-winning writer Simon Tay tells us about how his Penang-born father came to play a giant role serving a newly independent Singapore.

Hawkers traditionally sell their food on streets. Uniquely in Singapore though, they ply their trade in fixed stalls in hawker centres. Researcher Ryan Kueh tells us how the hawker culture has evolved in Singapore since the colonial period and what hawker centres have come to represent.

The folktale goes that Badang, an aboriginal slave, gains supernatural strength after eating the vomit of a spirit. Independent scholar William Gibson tells us the tale is more complicated than generally known.

When Peng Tsu Ying came to Singapore from Shanghai in the late 1940s, he could not find a deaf person like him. So he opened a school for the deaf. Librarian Nathaniel Chew talks about Peng’s advocacy for the deaf, and the Singapore Sign Language.

In 1952, four Singapore artists – Chen Chong Swee, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Liu Kang – travelled to Java and Bali in search of artistic inspiration and held a landmark exhibition in 1953. Gretchen Liu, Liu Kang’s daughter-in-law, tells us about the little-known trip.

Zubir Said is best known for composing the national anthem, “Majulah Singapura”. But the prolific composer has done more than that, as music director Julian Wong, who wrote and performed in "Don’t Call Him Mr. Mari Kita", tells us.

Sharing the literary landscape with D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, W. Somerset Maugham travelled to Singapore in 1921, where he wrote his most celebrated short stories. Writer Tracey Morton tells us how Singapore inspired his works and why they remain relevant.

Singaporeans love animals but only selectively, like otters, Ah Meng the orangutan, and Inuka the polar bear. Environmental historian Timothy Barnard tells us how some of these migrant animals came to be here, how they’ve been treated, and what makes them Singaporean.

To write a book about 60 Asian port cities, ex–ACM director Kennie Ting travelled as far as the Middle East and Africa. He tells us how port cities can tell a different history of Asia, and what his "eat, pray, love" cities and his favourite ACM artefacts are.

S. Rajaratnam's contribution to Singapore is so great that to cover his life adequately required 20 years of research. Irene Ng, his authorised biographer, tells us little-known facets of the man, his legacy as Singapore’s first foreign and culture minister, and his relationship with Lee Kuan Yew.

Stella Kon is known for creating the beloved Emily of Emerald Hill – possibly the most frequently staged play in Singapore. Also a musical theatre writer, Stella talks about the difference between writing plays and musicals, her favourite actor who played Emily, and her writing process.

MasterChef Singapore judge Damian D’Silva talks about how his childhood and grandfather influenced his cooking philosophy, when he found his calling in the kitchen (later than you'd expect), and what's left for him after winning the prestigious culinary award La Liste.

Growing up as a Chetti Melaka (Peranakan Indian), Tanya Pillay-Nair realised her family was different when she was seven or eight years old. Her family spoke Malay at home, ate sambal belacan, and had huge parties with a lot of unusual food.

Abbess Yang Qincai of the temple Hai Inn See in Choa Chu Kang was one of the Buddhist women who spread vegetarianism before it became mainstream, though others did it through restaurants and cookbooks.

A tireless steward of Malay culture, Hajah Asfiah (1920–87) worked all her life to preserve and pass on Malay crafts.

You hear Malay, Javanese, Tamil and Punjabi as you wander the streets with shops selling colourful textiles and carpets, spices and flowers. In this episode, Khir tells us about the Kampong Gelam (present-day Bugis) he grew up in.

Kueh pie tee is not a pie that goes with tea. So where did the name (and dish) come from? Award-winning cookbook author Christopher Tan combs through old newspapers and cookbooks, in search of the origins of the dish. PS: Dates back to 1570!

Tan Teng Kee was the Mike Tyson of Singapore boxing in the 1920s. Known as Battling Key, the larger-than-life boxer attracted crowds wherever he went. Which makes his drastic downfall all the more tragic.

Nicknamed “Twinkle Toes” for his agility, Chia Boon Leong (1925–2022) is widely regarded as one of Singapore‘s most talented football players. Academic and sports historian Nick Aplin talks about the footballer’s sporting achievements, his character and their friendship.

In the 1960s and ’70s, lured by adventure and money, Singaporean musicians went to South Vietnam to perform for American troops during the war. They were met with cheers, bullets and assault.

Thanks to restoration, classic films like The Teenage Textbook Movie (1998) can still be shown on a big screen 20 years after its cinema run. On a mission to preserve Singapore's film heritage, film archivist Chew Tee Pao saves important movies and gives them a second life.

In the mid-19th century, two ancient gold coins were found near present-day Keppel Harbour. Unfortunately, the coins vanished before they were studied carefully. Their Jawi inscriptions were recorded, though they didn’t make sense. More than 180 years later, Foo Shu Tieng tries to solve the case.

A young German girl met an untimely end on Pulau Ubin in 1914. A shrine set up in her honour becomes Internet-famous. Following a deep search into the historical records, writer and researcher William Gibson discovers some inconvenient truths behind one of Singapore’s best-known shrines.

Yip Yew Chong’s 60-metre-long work, “I Paint my Singapore” comprises 27 scenes of 1970s–1980s Singapore, merging history, memory and nostalgia. Yew Chong explains how he created this work and reveals what he would love to paint but has not.

The Great Reclamation is a work of historical fiction set in Singapore that has received rave reviews. Listen to author Rachel Heng talk about her book and her fascinating research process, which includes a BiblioAsia article on land reclamation she referred to!

The Orang Seletar used to live on boats that plied the Johor Strait. They were here when Raffles landed in 1819. Today, however, they have settled in kampongs in Johore. Some of the older ones still remember playing in the waters around Seletar island, says writer and educator Ilya Katrinnada.

Lt Adnan of the Malay Regiment and Lt Col Ivan Lyon of Operation Jaywick are commemorated here. But so are people like Cpl Raymond Lee and civilian fighter Sim Chin Foo, who joined Dalforce. Librarian Janice Loo profiles those buried or memorialised at the Kranji War Cemetery.

The Crescendos didn’t just rock the airways in Singapore in the 1960s. They changed the entire music recording industry, says sound archivist Ross Laird.

People have been worshipping the shrines on Kusu Island since the mid-19th century. The people said to be buried at Kusu Island, however, haven’t always stayed the same, according to writer and researcher William L. Gibson.

How can an entire island appear and then disappear? Especially one that was said to be Singapore’s first island resort? Librarian Lim Tin Seng solves the mystery of Sarong Island.

The Hindu firewalking festival – Theemithi – draws massive crowds every year. But less well-known are the many important rituals that precede Theemithi, some very dramatic, like the sacrifice of Aravan, the chakravarti kottai and the padukalam.

Archaeologists have found stone tools in Tanjong Tajam on Pulau Ubin and Tanjong Karang (now Tuas). Is this evidence of people living in Singapore during the stone age? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Penang-born Khoo Hooi Hye played at Wimbledon and represented China at the Olympic Games in Paris. Snapping at his heels was Lim Bong Soo, who was so famous he had a tennis racket named after him. These two giants dominated Malayan tennis.

During the 19th century, people were fined for illegally storing belacan in the city. Toffa Abdul Wahed sniffs out the condiment’s long history.

The enormous murals at the old Paya Lebar Airport were iconic landmarks for travellers. But after the air force took over the airport, the murals vanished.

Maiden Lim is said to have killed herself after being wrongly accused of infidelity. A shrine to honour her then turned her into a local Taoist goddess. Writer Ng Yi-Sheng talks about Maiden Lim and two other local Taoist deities in this intriguing podcast.

After Kosman Hassan volunteered to take his uncle’s place to work on the infamous Death Railway, no one heard from Kosman for three years. But his family never gave up hope.