Sentosa

Sentosa (Chinese: 圣陶沙) is a popular island resort in Singapore, visited by some twenty million people a year. Attractions include a 2 km (1.2 mi) long sheltered beach, Fort Siloso, two golf courses, 14 hotels, and the Resorts World Sentosa, featuring the theme park Universal Studios Singapore.

History

Pre-1945

In the nineteenth century, the island was considered important because it protected the passage into Keppel Harbour. Plans to fortify the island as part of the defence plan for Singapore were drawn up as early as 1827, but few fortifications actually materialised until the 1880s, when the rapid growth of the harbour led to concern over the protection of coal stocks against enemy attack. The forts built on the island were Fort Siloso, Fort Serapong, Fort Connaught and the Mount Imbiah Battery.

The western end of Pulau Belakang Mati, the place where Fort Siloso is now, used to be called sarang rimau (the tiger’s den). Salusuh is a kind of herb used as a remedy in childbirth, but there is no explanation of how the fort came to be so-called, the orang laut of Kampong Kopit only knowing the place by the name of sarang rimau. By the 1930s, the island was heavily fortified and a crucial component of Fortress Singapore, and the base of the Royal Artillery.

During the Second World War, the island was a British military fortress. The British set up artillery guns in Fort Siloso that were then pointed to the south, facing the sea in expectation of a seaward Japanese assault. However, the Japanese eventually invaded and captured Singapore from the north, after having done the same to Malaya (now known as West or Peninsular Malaysia). Following the surrender of the Allied Forces on 15 February 1942, the island became a prisoner of war camp, housing Australian and British prisoners of the Japanese. During theJapanese Occupation, under the Sook Ching Operation, Chinese men who were suspected, often arbitrarily, of being involved in anti-Japanese activities were brutally killed. The beach at Pulau Belakang Mati was one of the killing fields.

1945-72

After the Japanese surrender in 1945 and the return of Singapore to British rule, the island became the base of the locally enlisted First Singapore Regiment of the Royal Artillery (1st SRRA) in 1947. Other locally enlisted men from Singapore were sent to the island for basic military training before being sent to other units of the British Army in Singapore. Ten years later, the 1st SRRA was disbanded and its guns dismantled. The coast artillery was replaced with Gurkha infantry units, first the 2/7th Duke of Edinburgh’s own Gurkha Rifles and later the 2/10th Princess Mary’s own Gurkha Rifles. Fort Siloso and Fort Serapong became a Catholic retreat and a Protestant church house respectively. Fort Connaught was left in ruins.

In the early 1960s, during the Indonesian Confrontation, the 2/10th unit defended the island against Indonesian saboteurs. With the end of the Confrontation in 1966 and the withdrawal of the Gurkha units from the island, the British handed over Sentosa to the Singapore Armed Forces of the newly independent Government of Singapore in 1967. In 1967, Pulau Blakang Mati became the base for the Singapore Naval Volunteer Force, which relocated there from its old base at Telok Ayer Basin. The School of Maritime Training was also set up there, as was the first Naval Medical Centre.

In the 1970s, the government decided to develop the island into a holiday resort for local visitors and tourists.

1972–present

The island was renamed “Sentosa” in 1972, which means peace and tranquillity in Malay (from Sanskrit, Santosha), from a suggestion by the public. The Sentosa Development Corporationwas formed and incorporated on 1 September 1972 to oversee the development of the island Since then, some S$420 million of private capital and another S$500 million of government funds have been invested to develop the island.

In 1974 the Singapore Cable Car system was built, linking Sentosa to Mount Faber. A series of attractions were subsequently opened for visitors including Fort Siloso, Surrender Chamber wax museum, Musical Fountain, and the Underwater World. The causeway bridge was opened in 1992 connecting Sentosa to the mainland.

The Sentosa Monorail system was opened in 1982 to transport visitors across seven stations located around the western side of the island. On 16 March 2005, the monorail service was discontinued to make way for the new Sentosa Express, which commenced operations on 15 January 2007. An environmental assessment conducted by the government of Singapore concluded that the construction of the resorts on Sentosa would to result in high likelihood of high scale biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, soil erosion and climate change, as well as several other destructive ecological impacts, therefore, in the area that was to be cleared for the construction of the resorts, over two hundred trees and plants were replanted elsewhere on the island to minimise negative environmental impact.

In 2009, construction of a new foot bridge began. The S$70 million Sentosa Boardwalk includes themed gardens, shops and eateries. There are covered walkways and travellators along the boardwalk for rainy days. The boardwalk, officially opened by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on 29 January 2011, will provide visitors an alternative mode of travel to reach theisland. Sentosa Boardwalk, designed by Aedas, was named Best Leisure Architecture in Asia Pacific and 5* Best Leisure Architecture in Singapore, at this year’s Asia Pacific Property Awards.

Attractions

Sentosa offers a variety of attractions, museums and other facilities to provide a variety of experiences, recreation and entertainment to visitors. Many attractions on Sentosa are located in Imbiah Lookout, which contains 11 attractions.

• Tiger Sky Tower (previously known as the Carlsberg Sky Tower) is a free-standing observation tower. At a height of 110 m (360 ft) above ground and 131 m (430 ft) above sea level, it offers visitors a panoramic view of Sentosa, Singapore, and the Southern Islands.It has a lifting speed of 1.2 metres per second and weighs 200 metric tonnes. On a clear day, the view extends to parts of Malaysia, Johor Bahru (30 km / 18 miles),Indonesia,Pulau Bintan (45 km / 28 miles) and Pulau Bantan (43 km / 27 miles). At ground level, visitors enter a large disc-shaped air-conditioned cabin fitted with glass windows all round. The cabin then revolves slowly as it ascends the column of the tower. The cabin has a capacity of 72 visitors.The Sky Tower now sits at the very spot of what was formerly known as the Dragon Court. It has a dragon statue in the centerpiece with water spouting out from its mouth. In one of its claws, it holds a previous logo of Sentosa which was used in the early 1980s. Its tail ends at the dragon trail at the northern part of Imbiah Lookout. The statue was demolished a few months before the groundbreaking ceremony of the sky tower. It was opened on 7 February 2004, is situated in the Imbiah Lookout zone in the centre of Sentosa and can be reached by Cable Car,Sentosa Luge Chair Lift, by Sentosa Express or by bus.
• Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom is a landscape garden with over 15,000 live butterflies, representing more than fifty species. Housed in a cool outdoor conservatory, these butterflies range from the 25 millimetre (1 in) Eurema sari to the 150 mm (6 in) Papilio iswara. The Insect Kingdom houses some 3,000 species of rare insects from around the world, including a 160 mm Dynastes Hercules beetle.
• Merlion Statue is a gigantic 37-metre tall replica of the Merlion which was completed in 1996, it houses two viewing galleries and a souvenir shop. The Merlion statue once played a part in the world-famous Magical Sentosa show, but it had to drop the part after the show was shut down in March 2007 to make way for the construction of Resorts World Sentosa. The Sentosa Monorail used to pass by this gigantic statue, but now it is replaced by the Sentosa Express which still passes by the statue. The Merlion Statue played several parts in several performances at the famous Sentosa Musical Fountain, which included the Spirits Of Sentosa show, and the Magical Sentosa show.
• Underwater World and Dolphin Lagoon is an oceanarium located on the western part of Sentosa. Opened in 1991, the living museum has more than 2,500 marine and fresh-water animals of 250 species from different regions of the world. The oceanarium is underground and has an 83 metre long travelator that moves visitors along a submerged glass-windowed tunnel from which they can look at an array of marine life including a coral reef, stringrays, moray eels, turtles, sharks, and other fishes. In the ‘Dive-with-the-Sharks’ program visitors can scuba dive in the large oceanarium, even if they are not scuba qualified. Qualified scuba divers can also “Dive-with-the-Dugong”.The Underwater World also includes a Dolphin Lagoon which is home to some Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, also known as the pink dolphins. Several “Meet-the-Dolphins” sessions are held daily to allow visitors to enter the waist-deep pool and interact with the dolphins at close proximity. A more involved “Swim-with-the-Dolphins” program, where visitors can interact extensively with the dolphins, is also available. Underwater World Monorail Station of the now-defunct Sentosa Monorail once connected visiting tourists to the western half of the island, but it no longer does as the monorail was discontinued in March 2005.
• The Songs of the Sea show, designed by Yves Pepin, started on 26 March 2007, replacing the world-famous Magical Sentosa show at the 25-year old Sentosa Musical Fountain. The MalayKampung by the Sea or more commonly known as a Kelong, is 120 m (390 ft) long while the rest of the equipment (water jets, water screens, lasers and projectors) is hidden at the back of the kelong. It features pyrotechnics displays, water jets, laser show and flame bursts, a live cast and an open-air viewing gallery which can comfortably accommodate 2,500 visitors. The show runs twice nightly every evening. Tickets are purchased at all Sentosa ticketing counters or online.
• Sentosa 4D Magix is Singapore’s first and Southeast Asia’s original four-dimensional theatre. Opened in January 2006 at the cost of S$3.5 million, the theatre is equipped with digital projection and a DTS 6.1 sound system. Guests are seated on a motion based chair in a typical movie theatre watching a 4D show with visual effects popping out of the screen coupled with environmental effects providing a lifelike feel. The current show is the comedy Pirates!, as offered in other theme parks around the world.
• Sentosa CineBlas opened in June 2007, replaced Cinemania as Singapore’s only cinema ride. It features high definition 3D wide-screen projection and a 6 axis motion system, takes visitors on an ultimate virtual 4D simulation extreme log ride.
• Fort Siloso is located in the west of the island, with the guns of this preserved fort still standing. Fort Siloso was built by the British in 1880s to guard the narrow western entrance to Keppel Harbour. It was later modernised. The fort guarded the western approaches to Singapore during World War II. By 1939 it was armed with two 6-inch (150 mm) Mark2 guns and two rapid firing 12-pounder guns. Fort Siloso is now the only surviving coastal gun battery from the twelve such batteries that made up Fortress Singapore at the start of the war.The ammunition bunkers, barracks, tunnels, and gun emplacements of the fort are now open to visitors, as a military-themed attraction. Also on display is a collection of artillery guns dating from the 17th century to World War II. Life-sized replicas of British soldiers and other people were on display to depict lives at the fort in the past. There is also an exhibition with a large collection of photographs, documents and film clips. The fort also served as the place of internment of the Singaporean political prisoner Chia Thye Poh in the period from 1989 to 1993. This attraction was once served by the Fort Siloso Monorail Station of the discontinued Sentosa Monorail, after the monorail closed in 2005, the station was repurposed to add onto this attraction.
• MegaZip Adventure Park, located at the top of Mount Imbiah, is Singapore’s first adventure park with one of the longest and steepest zip wires in Asia, a 3 levels, 40 feet high ropes ultimate physical challenge course(Climb Max), a 50 foot drop free-fall (Para Jump) simulator, a challenging 16 metre high rock climbing wall(North Face) and Asia’s most extreme zip line of 75 metre high, 450m long at heart pounding speeds of 50kmph from the jungle canopy of Imbiah Hill to the sands of Fox Finishing Point at Siloso Beach. It was visited on the sixteenth season of the American reality show, The Amazing Race.
• Azzura Beach Club is a 2-level entertainment, dining and hydro sports facility.
• Wave House Sentosa is located at Siloso Beach. The 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m²) Wave House consists of the Double FlowRider and the 10-foot (3.0 m) FlowBarrel, Singapore’s first artificial barreling wave.
• The Sentosa Luge & Skyride features a self-steering, gravity-driven three-wheel cart. Originally from New Zealand, the non-motorised cart allows rider to speed down a hill over a course of 650 m ending at the Siloso Beach. At the end of the luge, there is the Skyride that can allow rider to see from a high view. It also can be boarded at the start of the Luge.
• iFly Singapore spanning 16.5 feet wide and 56.5 feet tall, this is the only wind tunnel with an 18 feet tall acrylic glass wall that makes visitors fly. Visitors will also receive professional training and guidance from certified instructors, complimentary skydiving gear rental and the actual skydive experience.
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Defunct attractions

• A section of Imbiah Lookout closed down on 27 March 2007 to make way for Resorts World Sentosa. Note that some of the attractions listed here may have closed down earlier.
• Sijori Wondergolf was a miniature golf park. There were 54 landscaped greens set in three different 18-hole courses. It eventually went under redevelopment and will re-open in the following years to come.
• Fantasy Island was a water based theme park in Sentosa. Opened in 1994 at a cost of S$54 million, it had numerous water slides and other features. Once a very popular park at the time of its opening, it was plagued by several accidents, which resulted in several people getting injured and two who were killed, all these accidents led to the attraction to be eventually closed down on 2 November 2002.
• Adventure Asia Park, adjacent to the water park, was a separate gate attraction. At least one roller coaster operated at this location. The park closed permanently before 1998.
• Sentosa Monorail circled the western half of Sentosa until it closed in March 2005. Most of the island monorail was dismantled though several of the stations were repurposed for other uses and parts of the original track structure still remain. The monorail was replaced by the red, blue and yellow bus lines and the current Sentosa Express, which operates from the main island of Singapore to Sentosa. The Sentosa Express now replaces the old monorail.
• Volcanoland, featured an artificial volcano along with Mayan motifs and scenery. It was closed down to make way for the new integrated resort.
• Musical Fountain, when opened in 1982, it was the star attraction at that time. It underwent three extensive renovations in 1972 (construction), 1992 (upgrading project) and 1999 (major restoration and upgrading project). In 2002, world-renowned fountain designer, Yves Pépin (who also designed Songs of the Sea) replaced all the musical fountain shows with the Magical Sentosa Show for a permanent basis but it only lasted for a mere 5 years. After operating for 25 years, it was shut down to make way for the integrated resort. Its last show was staged on 25 March 2007. It was replaced by the Songs of the Sea show.
• Sentosa Ferry Terminal opened in 1973, it was the first cruise center in the region, for some time it was a popular attraction which ferried 9 million passengers to and from Sentosa, but it was believed that passenger traffic started to decline steadily after 1998 when cars were allowed into the island for the first time. Ferry Terminal Monorail Station of the now defunct Sentosa Monorail once connected tourists to the western half of the island, but it no longer does after the station closed in 2005. The ferry terminal itself was demolished along with the Sentosa Musical Fountain and the Fountain Gardens which connected the terminal to the musical fountain in 2007, to make way for Resorts World Sentosa which would occupy the area. The demolition was watched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the media, and the general public
• Source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentosa
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