Celebrating SG60: 12 key objects from Singapore's 60-year history

Straits Times

4 days ago

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(Clockwise from left) The first post-independence National Registration Identity Cards, Changi Airport Terminal 2's flight information board, and thermometers used against Sars in 2003.
SINGAPORE – The Straits Times' interactive gathers together 60 objects, one for each year of the nation's history. Here is a sneak peek at some of the objects, one for each decade of the country's independence.
1965 to 1975
Old National Registration Identity Card
First issued in 1966, the pink cards carried a photograph of the person on the left and his or her thumbprint on the right.
The first post-independence National Registration Identity Cards (NRICs) were made of laminated paper. At 6.4cm by 10.4cm, the I-cards – as they were known then – were slightly bigger than today's standard credit card-size plastic cards.
A total of 1,232,705 cards were issued after the National Registration Act of 1965 came into effect. The first IC number, S0000001/I, was issued to Singapore's first president, the late Mr Yusof Ishak.
The massive exercise took place in three phases – starting in early May with schoolchildren and teachers, followed by workers in the second phase and members of the public in the third. It was known as a national 're-registration' exercise because identity cards existed even before independence. – Shawn Hoo
Pierre Balmain kebaya
SIA flight attendants line up to welcome drivers before the night race of the Formula One Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sept 18, 2016.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Mention Singapore Airlines and the first image that pops to mind is of the Singapore Girl, clad in her signature Pierre Balmain-designed kebaya.
Before the French designer came on board in 1968, Singapore Airlines flight attendants wore kebaya made of different batik. Balmain introduced a streamlined crew neckline for the kebaya top and the fabric was standardised to a unifying print.
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The uniform has remained the same, although there was a change in footwear following the 2000 crash of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 in Taipei. Open-toed sandals were exchanged for new slingbacks, also designed by Balmain, which were safer as they stayed strapped to the feet. – Ong Sor Fern
1975 to 1985
Big Mac Styrofoam box
When the first McDonald's outlet in Singapore opened in 1979, it had six burgers on the menu, including the Big Mac.
PHOTO: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SINGAPORE
A symbol of globalisation, American fast-food giant McDonald's is so ubiquitous in global consciousness that the price of a Big Mac is sometimes used to compare relative purchasing power between countries.
In 1979, Singapore joined in the craze when the first McDonald's outlet opened at Liat Towers in Orchard Road. There were six burgers on the menu. Each was presented in a colourful foam box or wrapping paper, and priced between 75 cents and $1.70.
Today, there are more than 135 McDonald's outlets in Singapore. – Clement Yong
Changi Airport Terminal 2 flight information board
Changi Airport was built in a record time of six years.
PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD
Changi Airport was officially opened by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew on Dec 29, 1981.
It was built in a record time of six years, an impressive achievement considering land had to be reclaimed for its construction and there was a shortage of manpower and materials at the time.
Changi Airport replaced Paya Lebar Airport, which had been operational since 1955. It was obvious by the 1970s that Paya Lebar Airport would not be able to cope with increasing air traffic.
By 1986, Changi Airport was serving 10 million passengers a year. In the financial year ending March 2025, the airport clocked 68.4 million passenger movements and Changi Airport Group recorded a net profit of $841 million.
Prime Minister Lawrence Wong broke ground on Changi Airport's fifth terminal on May 14, 2025. The mega-terminal, which will be as big as Terminals 1 to 4 combined, will open in the 2030s. The aim is to serve 140 million passengers yearly, over 55 per cent more than the airport's present capacity of 90 million. – Ong Sor Fern
1985 to 1995
Zouk main signage in Jiak Kim Street
Nightclub Zouk opened in Jiak Kim Street in 1991 and was named one of the top three dance clubs in the world in 1999.
PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD
Zouk made Singapore cool. Opened in 1991 in Jiak Kim Street, the $8 million club revitalised three dilapidated warehouses and revolutionised the party scene with its cutting-edge programming of music and events.
By 1995, up to 10,000 people were thronging Zouk's premises each weekend. This now-retired 4m-long signage in Jiak Kim Street would have been the backdrop to many a new friendship cemented, lovers' tiffs and drunken merriment.
The club was Singapore's international claim to being a legitimate party town. British magazine The Face named it Singapore's best club in 1994, while British dance music magazine Ministry crowned it one of the top three dance clubs on the planet in 1999.
It moved to its current Clarke Quay location in 2016 and, today, faces stiff competition from a more diversified nightlife scene, as well as the teetotal tendencies of Gen Zs. – Clement Yong
Hand-built model of old Woodbridge Hospital
This model of the old Woodbridge Hospital, currently housed at IMH's Woodbridge Museum, was made by patients in the 1970s as part of their occupational therapy.
PHOTO: INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH
Founded as the 30-bed Insane Hospital at the junction of Bras Basah Road and Bencoolen Street in 1841, the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) – Singapore's only tertiary hospital specialising in psychiatry – has cycled through names and locations throughout its storied history.
It was called the Lunatic Asylum and Mental Hospital at various points, until the hospital was renamed Woodbridge Hospital in 1951 to shake off the stigma. It was so called as its Yio Chu Kang site was near a stream with a wooden bridge.
This model of the old Woodbridge Hospital, currently housed at IMH's Woodbridge Museum, was made by patients in the 1970s as part of their occupational therapy. – Shawn Hoo
1995 to 2005
First Build-To-Order projects in Sengkang and Sembawang
Rivervale Green is one of the first cluster of flats built under the BTO system.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
If you live in Rivervale Green, Compassvale Arcadia or Sembawang's Spring Lodge, you are living in a piece of Singapore history – the first flats to be sold under the BTO scheme in 2001.
Prior to the creation of the BTO system, the Registration for Flats system had one major downside: Buyers did not know where exactly their flats would be and could select only from a broad geographical area. However, the waiting times then were shorter because the flats were completed or under construction.
Applying for a prospective BTO flat is now a rite of passage for young couples, with the purchase of a unit becoming synonymous with a marriage proposal. Singaporean poet Joshua Ip's humorous poem chope sums it up: 'is there an issue of sincerity / if over coffee, talk turns by and by / towards the prospect of a hdb?' – Shawn Hoo
Thermometer and temperature-taking notebook
Thermometers like this one were important pieces in Singapore's fight against the severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003.
PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD
Before Covid-19, there was the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), which breached Singapore's borders in February 2003 when three infected Singaporeans returned from a holiday in Hong Kong.
Within five days, a former flight attendant then in her early 20s, identified as the 'index case', had infected 20 contacts, who in turn transmitted the virus to 71 others.
Over three months – until the World Health Organisation declared Singapore Sars-free in May – 238 cases were reported, including 33 deaths.
The lessons learnt during the containment of Sars in 2003, such as contact tracing and temperature taking, would be applied during the Covid-19 pandemic, though it also posed problems where the two viruses diverged.
One of the most enduring pop-culture contributions to come out of the Sars epidemic was a rap by Phua Chu Kang, the comic alter ego of actor Gurmit Singh: 'Some say 'leh', some say 'lah'. Uncle Phua says time to fight Sars.' – Clement Yong
2005 to 2015
Red Box No. 1
Mr Lee Kuan Yew had used the red box to carry and store files and papers that he was working on.
PHOTO: NATIONAL COLLECTION
Singapore's first Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, died of pneumonia aged 91 at Singapore General Hospital on March 23, 2015.
His death coincided with the 50th anniversary of Singapore's independence. Of its five decades, Mr Lee had been leader for 25 years, handing over the reins to Mr Goh Chok Tong in 1990.
This red box had been used by the late Mr Lee to carry and store files and papers that he was working on. Though red dispatch boxes were issued to ministers to transport official documents, Mr Lee was one of its most consistent users.
Mr Heng Swee Keat, who was Mr Lee's principal private secretary, wrote in a tribute that 'a good part of my daily life revolved around the red box', which always reached Mr Lee's office before him at 9am, setting off a flurry of activity among his secretaries and assistants.
In addition to papers, it also held the cassette tapes on which Mr Lee had dictated instructions and thoughts for later transcription. His instructions ranged from communications with foreign leaders to trees he had seen on the expressway. – Clement Yong
Aware T-shirt
Aware's Shut Up And Sit Down T-shirt.
ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
It was the saga that launched a thousand memes, including the now-infamous call to 'shut up and sit down', reclaimed as a badge of pride on an Aware T-shirt that is sold in its online store.
A dramatic coup happened on March 28, 2009, when a flood of new members were voted in at Aware's annual general meeting and snatched nine out of 12 positions on the executive committee.
The ease with which the newcomers had taken over Aware served as a wake-up call for other civil society groups to tighten their processes. The new guard's moves to seize a secular space to promote their conservative agenda were met with critical backlash from Singapore society.
The saga proved that Singaporeans would protect secular spaces from religious intrusions, a critically important distinction in multiracial and multi-religious Singapore. – Ong Sor Fern
2015 to 2025
Singapore passport
In 2025, the Singapore passport was ranked the most powerful in the world by the Henley Passport Index, with Singaporeans enjoying visa-free entry to 195 out of 227 travel destinations
PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO
With Paraguay removing visa requirements for Singaporeans in 2017, the red Singapore passport became the most powerful in the world, according to an index developed by global advisory firm Arton Capital.
It marked the first time that an Asian country held the most powerful passport. In 2025, the Singapore passport was again ranked the most powerful in the world by the Henley Passport Index, with Singaporeans enjoying visa-free entry to 195 out of 227 travel destinations.
The high level of global mobility for Singapore passport holders can be attributed to a combination of the city-state's robust diplomatic and economic relations, as well as the cutting-edge security features of the Singapore passport.
Today, Singapore passport holders have to apply for a visa to only 32 destinations, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, India and North Korea. – Shawn Hoo
Joseph Schooling's autographed swimming shorts from the 2016 Rio Olympics
Swimmer Joseph Schooling's pair of swimming shorts that he wore at the Rio Olympics is on display at the National Museum of Singapore's Once Upon A Tide exhibition until Oct 9, 2026.
PHOTO: NATIONAL HERITAGE BOARD
The greatest moment in Singapore sport came on Aug 12, 2016, as a belated birthday gift to the nation. Swimmer Joseph Schooling flew across the pool at the Rio Olympics, setting an Olympic record and bringing home Singapore's first and only Olympic gold.
Right after his historic feat, the 21-year-old – who outswam his American idol Michael Phelps – told Singapore media: 'This swim wasn't for me. It's for my country.'
The medal rests in a safe in his parents' office, but Singaporeans can catch a glimpse of the piece of swimwear which made history. Schooling donated the autographed pair of swimming shorts – an electric-blue Mizuno – that he wore during that race. It is on display at the National Museum of Singapore's Once Upon A Tide exhibition until Oct 9, 2026. – Shawn Hoo