Sentosa

Coordinates: 1°14′53″N 103°49′48″E / 1.248°N 103.830°E / 1.248; 103.830
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Not to be confused with Sentosa Development Corporation.

Sentosa
Island of Singapore
Official logo of Sentosa
Looking south (top) and north (bottom) of Sentosa Island
Nickname: 
The State of Fun
Map
Location in Singapore
Coordinates: 1°14′53″N 103°49′48″E / 1.248°N 103.830°E / 1.248; 103.830
CountrySingapore
Government
 • MayorSouth West CDC
 • Members of ParliamentWest Coast GRC
  • Rachel Ong Sin Yen
Area
 • Total4.71 km2 (1.82 sq mi)
Capella Singapore
Sentosa Island
Sentosa's logo
LocationSentosa Island
Opened1975; 49 years ago (1975)
ThemeFantasy, adventure
SloganAsia's Favourite Playground / Singapore's Island Resort / The State of Fun

Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly Pulau Blakang Mati, is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island.[1] The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the Keppel Harbour, and is adjacent to Pulau Brani, a smaller island wedged between Sentosa and the main island.

Formerly used as a British military base and afterwards as a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, the island was renamed Sentosa and was planned to be a popular tourist destination. It is now home to a popular resort that receives more than twenty million visitors per year.

hotels and the Resorts World Sentosa, which features the Universal Studios Singapore theme park and one of Singapore's two casinos, the other being in Marina Bay Sands
.

Sentosa is also widely known as being the location of the

Capella Singapore located on the island. This was the first-ever meeting between the leaders of North Korea and the United States.[3] As an island geared towards recreation and tourism with its casino and resorts under a tropical climate, as well as residences for the wealthy, Sentosa is more than twice the size of Monaco
.

Etymology

Sentosa is marked as "Blacan mati" (left, above Singapura) for "blakang mati" in this 1604 map of Singapura by the Malay-Portuguese cartographer Manuel Godinho de Erédia. The Malay Peninsula (Ujontana) is to the right.

The name Sentosa translates to "peace and tranquility" in Malay, which was in turn derived from the Sanskrit term Santosha, meaning "contentment, satisfaction".[4][5] Sentosa was formerly known as Pulau Blakang Mati[6][7] which in Malay means the "Island of Death Behind".[8][9]

The name Blakang Mati is old; an island was identified as Blacan Mati in Manuel Godinho de Erédia's 1604 map of Singapore. Other early references to the island of Belakang Mati include Burne Beard Island in Wilde's 1780 MS map, Pulau Niry, Nirifa from 1690 to 1700, and the nineteenth century reference as Pulau Panjang (J.H. Moor). However, early maps did not separate Blakang Mati from the adjacent island of Pulau Brani, so it is uncertain to which island the seventeenth century place names referred.

The island has changed name several times. Up to 1830, it was called Pulau Panjang ("long island"). In an 1828 sketch of Singapore Island, the island is referred to as Po. Panjang. According to Bennett (1834), the name Blakang Mati was only given to the

Malay
villagers on the island. The Malay name for this island is literally translated as "dead back" or "behind the dead"; belakang means "at the back" or "behind" or "after"; mati means "dead". It is also called the "dead island" or the "island of the dead" or perhaps "island of after death".

There are a number of different suggestions on how the island came to acquire such an unpropitious name:

  • One account attributed the ominous name to murder and piracy in the island's past.
  • A second claimed that the island is the material paradise for the spirits of warriors said to have been buried at Pulau Brani.
  • A third account claims that an outbreak of disease on the island in the late 1840s almost wiped out the original Bugis settlers on the island. Dr Robert Little, a British coroner investigating the deaths, stumbled upon what was called Belakang Mati Fever, purportedly a type of fever caused by miasmastic fumes arising from decaying leaves and swampy water on the island. This led to a controversy in medical circles at that time as to the causes of this disease. The disease was later recognised in 1898 as malaria spread by the Anopheles mosquito. The government's malaria research station was originally located here.
  • A fourth interpretation is that "dead back island" was so-called because of the lack of fertile soil on the hills. However, since the island creates an area of dead water behind it with no wind (hence "still behind" - still or stopped being an alternative translation of mati) it may be as simple as this — less romantic perhaps, but believable from a nautical viewpoint.
Mainland Singapore

In 1827, Captain Edward Lake of the Bengal Engineer Group in his report on public works and fortifications had proposed an alternative name for Belakang Mati as the "Island of St George". However, the island was seen as too unhealthy for habitation and his proposed name was never realised.

The Tallest Merlion statue on Sentosa which has since been permanently closed

In a 1972 contest organised by the

tranquility", from Sanskrit, Santosha
.

History

Early period

Pulau Blakang Mati

Pulau Blakang Mati was once home to the native Malays who were relocated to the mainland, together with the

forts built on the island were Fort Siloso, Fort Serapong, Fort Connaught and the Mount Imbiah Battery.[6][10]

Fort Siloso and Sarang Rimau

The western end of Pulau Blakang Mati, the place where Fort Siloso is now, used to be called sarang rimau (the tiger's den). Selusuh is a kind of herb used as a remedy in childbirth,[11] 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.

Fort Connaught

Fort Connaught, on eastern side of Sentosa island, was earlier called Belakang Mati East Battery which was constructed in 1878. It had ammunition similar to Fort Siloso, with three

Duke of Connaught. In 1930s, fort was rebuilt and three Mark X 9·2-Inch Guns on 30° Mark VII Mountings with better range replaced the older firepower. On Mount Serapong, an underground Battery Plotting Room was constructed on the northern side and a Battery Observation Post on top of the mountain. In 1942, during WWII, British forces at this fort exhausted their ammunition, and guns were tempered and disabled before the British surrendered to Japanese forces. A significant part of Mount Serapong was removed and it made way for the present day Tanjong Golf Course, due to which a major part of the fort was destroyed. Presently few remains of the fort can still be seen in the extreme east corner of the Tanjong Golf Course, namely observation tower in the northeast corner of golf course near Allenbrooke road, then to the south of it are gun number 3, gun number 2 and engine room, and finally gun number 1 - all short distance from each other.[12]

Fort Serapong

Fort Serapong, Fort Siloso, Fort Connaught and Imbiah Battery were constructed on Sentosa island in 1870 to form the southern defence of Singapore. Presently only 20% of the original fort has been discovered. [13] Ruins are reachable via Fort Serapong Road, then walking on a forested ridge which has several "Danger: keep out" type of signs.[14]

Second World War

During the

Second World War, the island was a British military fortress. The British set up large-calibre gun fortifications at various points along the island that were aligned to the south, facing the sea in expectation of a seaward Japanese assault. The myth that the guns were incapable of pointing north developed after the War but this was wrong, they could swivel to point north but they were only equipped with armour-piercing shells for ships which made the shells ineffective against land based forces. The Japanese 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,

Sook Ching Operation, Chinese men who were suspected, often arbitrarily, of being involved in anti-Japanese activities were brutally killed. 300 bodies, riddled with bullet wounds, washed up on the beach of Pulau Belakang Mati, and were buried by the British prisoners.[16]

1945–72

Pulau Belakang Mati map, 1945

After the

Protestant church
house respectively. Fort Connaught was left in ruins. Fort Serapong became a secure communications and listening station.

In the early 1960s, during the

Telok Ayer
Basin. The School of Maritime Training was also set up there, as was the first Naval Medical Centre. It became part of the Republic of Singapore Navy. Also in 1967, Pulau Belakang Mati became the military base for the School of Field Engineers, which relocated there from Pasir Leba Camp. The Field Engineer School trained the 1st Batch of Combat Engineer Commanders who in turn trained the 1st batch of Full Time National Servicemen who were enlisted in 1968. The 1st operational Combat Engineer Battalion was also raised here. The Engineer Headquarters (EHQ) was established here 1970 before moving to Gillman Camp in 1971.

By 1967, the Singapore government had reached an agreement with Esso to build an oil refinery on the island with the intent to eventually turn the island into a petrochemical complex. However, the then-chief of the Urban Renewal Unit (the forerunner of the Urban Redevelopment Authority), Alan Choe, wanted to somehow preserve the greenery of the island. With the support of Dr Albert Winsemius, he managed to convince then-Finance Minister Goh Keng Swee and then-Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong to turn the island into a tourism destination, and shift the planned Esso refinery to Jurong Island instead.[17]

1970s

Aerial perspective of Sentosa's Bridge

In the late 1960s, the government began to set out proposals for developing the island, and a contest to find a new name for the island was held in November 1969.

tourists, and a S$124-million plan for developing Sentosa was unveiled in March 1972.[18]

The Sentosa Development Corporation was formed and incorporated on 1 September 1972 to oversee the development of the island.[7] Since then, some S$420 million of private capital and another S$500 million of government funds have been invested to develop the island.[7]

In 1974 the

mainland.[19]

The Sentosa Monorail system was opened in 1982 to transport visitors across seven stations located around the western side of the island.[19]

1989

The former political prisoner and Nobel prize nominee Chia Thye Poh spent three-and-a-half years in internal exile on Sentosa after he was freed from 23 years in jail in 1989.[20]

2005

On 16 March 2005, the monorail service was discontinued to make way for the new Sentosa Express, which commenced operations on 15 January 2007.[19] An environmental assessment conducted by the government of Singapore concluded that the construction of an integrated resort on Sentosa would result in a high likelihood of high scale biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, soil erosion and climate change, as well as several other destructive ecological impacts. Therefore, over two hundred trees and plants from the area that was to be cleared for the construction of the resorts were replanted elsewhere on the island to minimize negative environmental impact.[21]

In 2009, construction of a new

walkways and travellators along the boardwalk for rainy days.[22] The Boardwalk, officially opened by Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on 29 January 2011, provides visitors with an alternative mode of travel to reach the island.[23][24] Sentosa Boardwalk, designed by Aedas, was named Best Leisure Architecture in Asia Pacific and 5* Best Leisure Architecture in Singapore, at the 2014 Asia Pacific Property Awards.[25][26]

2018

The island hosted the

Capella Singapore.[27] Sentosa island was gazetted as a 'special event area' by the Singapore Government and the Capella Singapore was chosen as the venue by the White House, a week prior to the summit.[28]

In his 2018 autobiography, Emeritus Senior Minister

nudist resort to be built on Sentosa in order to attract tourists, but the motion was ultimately vetoed.[29][30]

Geography

The island has an area of close to 5 km2 (1.9 sq mi). It lies just half a kilometre (a quarter of a mile) away from the southern coast of the

peacocks, parrots as well as other native fauna and flora, also, when the construction of Resorts World Sentosa
commenced; environmental impact was kept at a minimum when over two hundred trees in the designated area were replanted elsewhere on the island.

Further development has significantly impacted the biodiversity of the island, resulting in the loss of much of the native fauna and flora. The island also has a 3.2 km (2.0 mi) stretch of white sand beach, which has impacted the reef. Significantly large portions of land are currently being added to Sentosa due to land reclamation.

Facilities

Transport

A retired Volvo B7RLE on the Blue Line. Buses currently serve as the main means of getting to and around Sentosa. It is fitted with Twin Vision EDS.
Beach station of Sentosa Express monorail at Sentosa island

Cable Car and Mainland Buses

Sentosa can be reached from the

HarbourFront en route to its final destination at Imbiah Lookout
. In 2015, Sentosa opened an intra-island Cable Car to facilitate travelling within the island. Dubbed the "Sky Network", the Cable Car has 3 stations, in Siloso, Imbiah, and near the now-closed Merlion, and is not linked to the original Cable Car.

Public bus services are available to connect Sentosa Island to the mainland. Tong Tar Transport service RWS8 operates between VivoCity/ HarbourFront station to Resorts World Sentosa during peak hours only. On 30 July 2017, SBS Transit Bus Service 123 was extended to enhance connectivity to Resorts World Sentosa, Merlion Tower (now closed), and Beach Station Bus Terminal.

Prior to COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, SMRT had operated Express Bus Services 188R and 963R between Choa Chu Kang and Woodlands towards Resorts World Sentosa respectively on weekends and public holidays. These bus routes were withdrawn on 7 April 2020 due to low demand.

Sentosa Express

The island is also accessible by the

Circle Line
.

Bus Terminal

The Beach Station Bus Terminal within Sentosa serves both residents and tourists access to various amenities around Sentosa. There are two bus services serving the terminal, identified as Bus A and Bus B. SBS Transit Bus Service 123 also serves this terminal.

Car/Foot

Since 1998, passenger cars have been allowed to enter the island.

Visitors can also access the island via the Sentosa Boardwalk which is parallel to the causeway (which opened on 29 January 2011). The first two days of its opening were marked with free entry into Sentosa for visitors who walk, and subsequently, an SGD 1 admission fee into Sentosa is charged. From 7 June 2014 to 4 January 2015, walk-in entry into Sentosa via the Sentosa Boardwalk is free on weekends and public holidays. Walk-in has been free of charge since the end of

SG50
celebrations. The Sentosa Boardwalk hosts frequent bazaars on weekends.

Tram

Sentosa Beach Tram is a free-to-ride tram that serves Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach, and Tanjong Beach, using four vehicles including 2 Volvo B12BLEAs, in which the second carriage is an open-top and another one with green and blue liveries. The Volvo B12BLEAs were manufactured by ComfortDelGro Engineering bodywork. The connection is at

Beach Station
.

Separately, a 3-car tram used to serve Underwater World.

An Autonomous Bus Trial was also conducted from mid-2019 to the end of 2019.

Attractions

Aerial of Sentosa Island Singapore
The tall ship, Royal Albatross

Operating attractions

Sentosa offers a variety of attractions, museums, and other facilities. These include

Universal Studios and Madame Tussauds chain of attractions, as well as a Marine Life Park, which consists of a water park and an aquarium. Most of the attractions on Sentosa are located in either Resorts World Sentosa, Imbiah Lookout
, or the Sentosa Beachfront.

  • Magical Shores opened on Siloso Beach in January 2020,[31]
  • The Royal Albatross is a unique 47 m class A luxury Tall Ship (pirate ship) that is berthed behind the SEA Aquarium at Resorts World Sentosa. The ship has 4 masts, 22 sails, and is the largest charter yacht in Singapore, with a capacity of 149 passengers. It is owned and operated by Tall Ship Adventures Pte Ltd and can be chartered by the hour or day for private and corporate events. The company also sells tickets for short cruises via their website.[32] The ship was featured as Bruce Wayne's luxury yacht in the Batman movie The Dark Knight.
  • 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.
  • Wings of Time a multimedia performance which started its run on 17 June 2014 replacing previous successor show called Songs of the Sea, with pyrotechnics displays, water fountains, water screens, laser projectors, flame bursts. The show currently runs every evening once during weekdays and twice during weekends, eve of public holidays and on public holidays.[33]
  • Sentosa 4D Adventureland contains Singapore's and
    DTS
    6.1 sound system. Currently, there are several attractions in Sentosa 4D Adventureland:
  1. An immersive 4-D movie - "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island", based on the film starring Dwayne Johnson
  2. A virtual 4-D roller coaster - "Extreme Log Ride"
  3. An interactive 4-D Shoot-Out game - "Desperados"
  4. A new 4-D experience ride - "Haunted Mine"

Defunct attractions

  • A section of Imbiah Lookout closed down on 27 March 2007 to make way for Resorts World Sentosa. Some of the attractions listed here may have closed down earlier.[citation needed]
  • Sijori Wondergolf was a miniature golf park. There were 54 landscaped greens set in three different 18-hole courses. It eventually went under redevelopment.[36]
  • theme park
    . Opened in 1994 at a cost of S$54 million, it had numerous water slides and other features. It was plagued by several accidents that resulted in several people getting injured as well as two fatalities. All these accidents led to the eventual closure of the attraction on 2 November 2002.
  • Adventure Asia Park, adjacent to Fantasy Island, was a separate gated attraction housed within the Asian Village-themed area. 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 and some of them reused. The monorail was replaced by the three internal bus lines and the current Sentosa Express, which operates from the main island of Singapore to Sentosa.
  • Volcanoland featured an artificial volcano along with Mayan motifs and scenery. It was closed down to make way for the new integrated resort, Resorts World Sentosa
  • Sentosa Musical Fountain, opened in 1982, underwent three extensive renovations in 1992 (upgrading project) and 1999 (major restoration and upgrading). In 2002, Yves Pépin who also designed Songs of the Sea and Wings of Time created a new musical fountain show named Magical Sentosa Show which lasted for 5 years, from 2002 to 2007. The fountain itself eventually shut down on 25 March 2007 to make way for the Resorts World Sentosa.
  • 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 that 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.
  • Asian Village Opened in 1993, Asian Village closed in 2000.
  • Underwater World was an oceanarium. Opened on 13 May 1991, the Underwater World closed on 26 June 2016.
  • Tiger Sky Tower (previously known as the Carlsberg Sky Tower) was 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 a panoramic view of Sentosa, Singapore, and the Southern Islands. It has a lifting speed of 1.2 meters 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 Bintan (43 km / 27 miles). At ground level, visitors enter a large disc-shaped air-conditioned cabin fitted with glass windows all around. The cabin then revolves slowly as it ascends the column of the tower. The cabin has a capacity of 72 visitors. The Sky Tower sits at the very spot of what was formerly known as the Dragon Court. It had a dragon statue as the centerpiece with water spouting from its mouth. In one of its claws, it held a previous logo of Sentosa which was used in the early 1980s. Its tail ended at the Dragon Trail in the northern part of Imbiah Lookout. The statue was demolished a few months before the groundbreaking ceremony of the Sky Tower. The Sky Tower was officially opened on 7 February 2004, is situated in the Imbiah Lookout zone in the center of Sentosa and can be reached by Cable Car, Sentosa Luge Chair Lift, the Sentosa Express or by an internal bus. Tiger Sky Tower closed on 28 December 2018 after three breakdowns occurred; it was dismantled shortly afterwards.
  • Sentosa Merlion was a gigantic 37-meter-tall replica of the
    S$90 million Sentosa Sensoryscape project to be completed by 2022.[37]
  • KidZania Singapore opened in 2016 at Palawan Beach, as an interactive indoor theme park for children aged 4 to 17, part of the international indoor chain of family entertainment centers,
    Kidzania
    . Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, KidZania Singapore closed permanently after four years of operation and laid off 103 employees.

Beaches

Siloso Beach in Sentosa, with the Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa resort overlooking the bay
View on Tanjong Beach
Aerial of Siloso Beach Singapore
Palawan Beach Singapore

Sentosa has a stretch of sheltered beach of more than 2 km (1.2 mi) on its southern coast, divided into three portions: Palawan Beach, Siloso Beach and Tanjong Beach. These beaches are artificial, reclaimed using sand bought from Indonesia and Malaysia. They are guarded by a beach patrol lifeguard team who are easily identified by their red and yellow uniforms.

  • Palawan Beach lies in the centre of the southern coast of Sentosa. There is a suspension bridge that leads to a small islet off the coast which is said to be the southernmost point of continental Asia, or Asia's closest point to the
    Central Beach Monorail Station
    , but this station closed in 2005.
  • Siloso Beach lies on the west portion of the southern coast and it is known as the place for beach volleyball and other outdoor activities such as canoeing, skimboarding, mountain biking and rollerblading. There are also dining and shopping outlets along the beach. The beach underwent a SGD$3 million facelift in December 2012. The
    AJ Hackett
    Sentosa, Wavehouse, iFly Singapore, and Wings of Time.
  • Tanjong Beach is located on the relatively more secluded eastern part of the coast. The crescent-shaped beach is sometimes used for special events or parties. The Tanjong Beach Club is now the main draw on Tanjong Beach.

Other facilities

The Singapore Civil Defence Force's (SCDF) newest fire station officially commenced operations on the island of Sentosa at 8am on Monday (6 June 2016). Sentosa Fire Station, which is located at 37 Artillery Avenue, has a fleet of five emergency vehicles: two fire engines, a fire bike, an ambulance and an aerial firefighting and rescue support vehicle. It is strategically placed to provide emergency services within the island and the immediate vicinity such as the HarbourFront and Telok Blangah areas.[39]

Hotels

There are several hotels and resorts in Sentosa (excluding Resorts World Sentosa accommodations):

  • Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa[40] has five-star hotel facilities, and 140 guest rooms, suites, villas and mansion to offer.
  • Kim Jong-un
    on 12 June 2018.
  • Costa Sands Resort operates a number of
    kampung
    -like huts. It is located on a hill overlooking Siloso Beach.
  • Oasia Resort Sentosa is a 191-room resort and spa located at the former Le Meridien Hotel and Spa. The resort opened in the second quarter of 2021.[41]
  • Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort, Singapore is a beachfront five-star hotel located at the western tip of Siloso beach, with 454 rooms and suites.
  • Siloso Beach Resort opened in July 2006. It has 172 rooms, 10 family suites, 1 treehouse and 12 Villas overlooking the sea. In line with ecologically friendly carbon credit practices, over 600 of the original trees that are native to Sentosa island were preserved. 1000 more fruit trees, flowering plants, exotic ferns, and herbs were planted. The architecture of the resort was purposely structured to circumnavigate and protect these trees.
  • The Barracks Hotel Sentosa is a 40-room luxury resort housed in a conserved colonial building.[42]
  • The Outpost Hotel Night Club Sentosa is a 193-room dance resort.[43]
  • Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa (known as The Sentosa Resort & Spa till 2015[44]) is a five-star hotel with 214 rooms and suites.
  • Village Hotel Sentosa is a 606-room hotel and is the flagship property of the Village hotel brand.[45]
  • W Singapore - Sentosa Cove is a 240-room five star luxury resort hotel well known for providing a variety of services & facilities including the popular Whatever/Whenever service. The property is connected to a 228 unit residential complex (W Residences) located at Quayside Isle - inaugurated in September 2012.

In addition, there are six hotels in Resorts World Sentosa:

  • Crockfords Tower is an exclusive all-suite hotel.
  • Hotel Michael designs its rooms in the style of a gallery, with mural-adorned walls and artistic furnishing.
  • Hard Rock Hotel Singapore
  • Festive Hotel
  • Equarius Hotel
  • Spa Villas

Spa

  • Fish Reflexology is a foot massage where Turkish spa fish or African spa fish nibble on the dead skin of one's feet, making the skin smooth. This is followed by a reflexology session. This is available in the Underwater World.
  • Spa Botanica is set in the Sentosa Resort & Spa. It has facilities including mud pools and
    Turkish-styled steam baths
    .

Events

Trump and Kim in the summit room during the DPRK–USA Singapore Summit

Resorts World Sentosa

Main article: Resorts World Sentosa

This is a family-oriented

Universal Studios Theme Park (known as Universal Studios Singapore) which occupies nearly half of the resort space. Development of the resort was financed privately at a cost of $SGD5.75 billion and it does not receive any government subsidies. The proposal for a casino was met with extensive opposition from many conservative critics. Nevertheless, the government has constantly reassured the public that there would be stringent measures in place to maintain the social fabric of the nation Singapore, and to prevent problems such as gambling addiction. It is also home to several celebrity chef restaurants, including Joël Robuchon
, and the Ocean Restaurant by Cat Cora, which faces the open ocean display of the S.E.A. Aquarium.

The Adventure Cove waterpark offers water rides (including the Southeast Asia's first hydro wet coaster), and marine experiences like swimming with dolphins, sharks, manta rays, as well as snorkeling in an artificial reef.

It also has a concert venue known as the Hard Rock Colosseum, which has played host to musical acts like Of Monsters and Men, Jimmy Eat World and Bastille.

On 14 February 2010 at exactly 12:18 p.m., which was also the first day of the Chinese New Year, Resorts World Sentosa was opened to the public. In Cantonese, "1218" sounds like "prosperity", hence the opening time.[49] The resort's main attractions include Universal Studios Singapore, Adventure Cove water park, S.E.A. Aquarium, the Maritime Experiential Museum, The Royal Albatross and the Trick Eye Museum Singapore.

In 2019, Resorts World Sentosa is listed as a winner in TripZilla Excellence Award[50]

Sustainability

Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) has developed a sustainability plan to safeguard the environment and to conserve Sentosa's heritage assets. In fact, many parts of Sentosa still retain her original tranquil and lush environment - driven by the corporation's land-use policy of maintaining 60% of the island as green and open spaces (natural area reduced to about 25% by 2014).

Efforts are made to raise awareness among both visitors and staff of the island regarding environmental issues and sustainable tourism. This is done via regular campaigns and educational talks.

Key sustainability-related achievements include:

  • Sentosa was shortlisted as a Sustainable Tourism Destination finalist in the World Travel and Tourism Council's "Tourism for Tomorrow" Awards in 2013.[51]
  • The island is home to some 30 heritage trees (listed in the National Parks Board's Heritage Tree Register[52]) and over 20 conserved colonial buildings, some of which date back to the 1800s.
  • Singapore's only fully restored coastal military fort, Fort Siloso.
  • Several Green Mark-certified[53] buildings such as Sentosa Cove Village, Sentosa Family Entertainment Centre, W Hotel,[54] and Resorts World Sentosa. The Green Mark is awarded by Singapore's Building and Construction Authority to buildings that fulfill specific environmentally friendly criteria.
  • An eco-hotel, Siloso Beach Resort.[55]
  • Developing the Sentosa Boardwalk,[56] which is a covered pedestrian walkway with various sustainability features, to connect the island with the Singapore mainland. Guests are encouraged to use the Boardwalk to enter and exit Sentosa as it leaves a minimal carbon footprint.
  • Partnering with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) to testbed Singapore's first low-flow tidal turbine[57] at the Sentosa Boardwalk.
  • Community-giving initiatives such as an annual "Sentosa Gives" initiative[58] in September, which sees more than 1,500 children, teenagers and seniors from the participating voluntary welfare organizations, schools and charities benefiting from the many activities planned for them. The corporation also offers island entry concessions to charity groups throughout the year.
A collage of Sentosa, with labels next to attractions pictured

See also

References

  1. ^ "Sentosa Island". Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
  2. ^ "Sentosa Annual Report 2012/2013". Sentosa. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  3. National Archives
    .
  4. ^ Apte, Vaman Shivaram. "The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary". Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  5. ^ Peter H Van Ness, Yoga as Spiritual but not Religious: A Pragmatic Perspective Archived 19 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine, American Journal of Theology & Philosophy, Vol. 20, No. 1 (January 1999), pages 15-30
  6. ^
    ISBN 981-210-205-1
  7. ^ a b c d "Sentosa Then, Sentosa Today". About Us > Sentosa Island. Sentosa Leisure Group. 2007. Archived from the original on 28 October 2007. Retrieved 1 January 2008. Looking at Sentosa today, it's hard to imagine the island was once a fishing village known as Pulau Blakang Mati; The public was invited to suggest names for the island and "Sentosa" – meaning peace & tranquillity in Malay — was eventually chosen for the island resort. Tasked with overseeing the development, management and promotion of the island, Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) was incorporated on 1 September 1972 as a statutory board under the purview of the Ministry of Trade and Industry; Since the island's inception in 1972, S$420 million in private investments and another $500 million from Government funding have gone into developing the island.
  8. ISBN 978-1-84353-075-6. Archived
    from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  9. ^ McCurry, Justin (6 June 2018). "'Island of death from behind': dark past of Sentosa, the Trump-Kim summit venue". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  10. ISBN 981-4068-23-3
  11. ^ "Origin: Bukit Selusuh". Urban Explorers of Singapore. Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
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