Yeo Hiap Seng Limited (YHS) is a manufacturer and distributor of food and beverages. Listed on the Singapore Exchange since 1969, it has grown from a family-owned and controlled business to one with an international reach, with products distributed in more than 55 countries. YHS has also diversified into property development, building a number of condominiums and landed properties. In the mid-1990s, control of YHS passed from the Yeo family to Ng Teng Fong's Far East Organization.
At midnight on 1 May 1955, some 1,300 port workers belonging to the Singapore Harbour Board Staff Association (SHBSA) went on strike for better wages and working conditions. The strikers included clerks, technicians, storekeepers and firemen. The strike lasted 67 days and ended on 7 July 1955.
Tan Boon Teik (b. 1929, Penang, Malaysia – d. 10 March 2012, Singapore) was Attorney-General (A-G) of Singapore between 1969 and 1992, making him the longest-serving A-G in independent Singapore.
The Japanese Cemetery Park at 22 Chuan Hoe Avenue was established in 1891 to serve the burial needs of Japanese residents in Singapore. Said to be the largest and best-preserved Japanese cemetery in Southeast Asia, the site measures 30,000 square meters and has an estimated 910 tombstones. Those interred here include Japanese businessmen, professionals, tradesmen and prostitutes who plied their trade in Singapore, as well as a number of war dead from World War II. The cemetery was closed to burials in 1973 and named a memorial park in 1987.
Gog Sing Hooi (b. 1933, Guangzhou, China – d. 11 February 1994, Singapore) was one of Singapore's pioneer watercolour painters. He was known for his transparent watercolour depictions of street scenes and the Singapore River. He helped co-found the Singapore Watercolour Society in 1969, and was a strong promoter and supporter of this art form.
Influenza A (H1N1-009), previously referred to as “swine flu”, was reported in 2009 as a new strain of influenza virus that spreads from human to human. The symptoms of H1N1 are similar to those of seasonal influenza and include fever, sore throat, cough, body aches, runny nose, headaches and tiredness. Unlike seasonal influenza, however, the H1N1 virus tends to strike a higher proportion of young adults and those with underlying medical conditions. Most cases of H1N1 infection in Singapore were mild, although up to 18 deaths due to H1N1 were reported in 2009.
Humphrey Morrison Burkill (b. 1914, Singapore – ) was the director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens 1957 to 1969. He was the son of a former Garden's director, Isaac Henry Burkill. Today, in tribute to the only father and son pair who were directors of the Gardens, the Directors House has been renamed the Burkill House.
During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore from 1942 to 1945, two prisoner-of-war camps were located in the area bound by River Valley Road and Havelock Road. Due to their proximity, these camps were often referred to collectively as the River Valley Road Camp. European, Australian, Indian and local prisoners-of-war were interned at this camp. In the post-war period, the site was redeveloped into a Fraser & Neave factory, then replaced by the Fraser Suites condominium and the Valley Point shopping mall adjacent to it. The location was marked as a historic site in 2002.
Chap ji kee (12 units in Hokkien) is an illegal lottery that was widespread in Singapore until the 1970s. The popularity of the lottery spawned a system of promoters and their agents, bet collectors, accountants, cashiers and couriers that numbered in the thousands during chap ji kee's heyday. Major chap ji kee syndicates were estimated to turn over $300,000 daily in the 1950s. The lottery remains existent in Singapore on a less prominent scale.
Desmond Sim (b. Singapore, 1961- ), a playwright, poet, short story writer and painter, is best known for his short stories and the plays that he has penned and staged. One of his many well-known accomplishments is winning a Merit Singapore Literature Prize for Poetry for his collection of poems titled Places Where I've Been(1993). His detailed and wide-ranging portfolio includes his work for Singapore Airport Teminal Services, teaching duties as guest lecturer at the Temasek Polytechnic's School of Design as well as consultancy work for Green House Design & Communications which he co-founded. He is the Associate Artistic Director at Action Theatre. He is also a director of his consultancy firm, Desmond Sim & Co Pte Ltd.
