Compulsory military conscription was first introduced on the island in 1952. The move sparked widespread resistance, especially from Chinese Middle School students, cumulating in the 1954 National Service Riots. This early conscription card was sourced from a trash bin at...

Singapore was already an established free trade port by the time of its independence in 1965. But the island lacked natural resources that could enable it to be self-sufficient. Jurong Industrial Park was already established in 1964, and the first...

An example of an early booklet educating the public about fire safety. As early as in the mid-1850s, Singapore's first Fire Committee was formed following a devastating fire at Kling Street on 7 November 1855. This early brochure bears the...

The following pictures show a 1980s Speak Mandarin Campaign booklet. The campaign was first initiated in 1979 to encourage Singaporeans to speak Mandarin in place of the various dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese etc. Interestingly enough, this booklet was...

Featured is a handbook text (circa 1986) used at Vocational Industrial and Training Board, an earlier incarnation of the post-secondary school system, Institute of Technical Education. Following independence in 1965, the Singapore’s main concern was employment for its citizens. Emphasis...

"I remember enlisting in 1998, my girlfriend came with me and my family to Nee Soon Camp where I was to start my Basic Military Training. By the time I was commissioned from the Officer Cadet School a year later,...