Pulau Tekong

Pulau Tekong, also known colloquially as Tekong, is the second-largest of Singapore's outlying islands and found off Singapore's northeastern coast, east of Pulau Ubin.

Tekong Island
Native name:
Pulau Tekong
Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC) at Pulau Tekong.
Pulau Tekong
Location of Pulau Tekong within Singapore
Geography
LocationSoutheast Asia
Coordinates1°24′29″N 104°03′21″E
ArchipelagoMalay Archipelago
Area24.43 km2 (9.43 sq mi)
Administration
RegionNorth-East Region
Planning AreaNorth-Eastern Islands
CDC
Town council
  • East Coast-Fengshan Town Council
Constituency
Member of Parliament
Additional information
Transport SAF Changi Ferry Terminal
Pulau Tekong Hot Spring

The island is used by the Singaporean military and not open to the general public. Transport to the island for permitted persons is by SAF Changi Ferry Terminal.

The 24.43 km2 (6,037 acres) island is expanding due to land reclamation works on its southern and northwestern coasts which will eventually subsume many of its surrounding small islets, including the 89-hectare (220-acre) Pulau Tekong Kechil.

Etymology
Pulau Tekong lies in the distance in the background, as taken from Changi Beach Park.

Pulau Tekong appears in the Franklin and Jackson's 1828 map as Po. Tukang. The early name could have arisen because the island served as a trading station for both residents of Pulau Ubin and the state of Johor. Tukang means merchants in this case.

Tekong means "an obstacle", so-called because the island blocks the mouth of the Sungai Johor. Pulo Tekong Besar came under the Changi district, and the island had a sizeable population, being the largest island off Singapore and two miles from Fairy Point. Ferries plied from the pier at that point and the island daily. After 1920, it was mostly known for its rubber plantations.

History

The island was once home to 5000 inhabitants, the last of which moved out in 1987. 60 percent of the inhabitants were Chinese, out of which 70 percent were Hakkas and 30 percent were Teochews, and 40 percent were Malays.[1][2] There were a few Indians as well.

The reason for Hakka being the majority of the Chinese population is that most of the Hokkien and Teochew businessmen already had flourishing businesses on the mainland. When the Hakkas arrived, they decided to make a living on an island less inhabited. Most were farmers, fishermen and shop owners selling sundry goods.

Wild pigs and deer were once plentiful on Pulau Tekong, and attracted hunters from Singapore. Pulo Tekong Besar had undergone so much development after World War II, with vegetable, fruit and poultry farms, that the wildlife has mostly disappeared.

Present

Today, Pulau Tekong is used exclusively as a training base for various Singapore Army Units.

Home to the Basic Military Training Centre (BMTC), this is also where young Singaporean males are conscripted into National Service.

The School of Infantry Specialists (SISPEC), which was situated Rocky Hill Camp, relocated to a new campus at Pasir Laba Camp in December 2005. A new training area, called Sanyongkong Field Camp, has been completed on the reclaimed land south of Dogra Bridge. Built by the Combat Engineers, this field camp will be used to train Infantry and Guards battalions.

It also provides habitat to some wild animals that are rarely seen in the main island Singapore such as the leopard cat, Sunda slow loris and Sunda pangolin.[3] The extended Pulau Tekong will massively replace all training grounds, like Mandai, Marsiling, Seletar, Nee Soon, Lower Seletar, Upper Thomson and Simpang. The island also houses Singapore's second hot spring, Pulau Tekong Hot Spring in the former grounds of Kampung Unum.[4]

Pulau Tekong Besar is one of the island that is a training base for the various Singapore Army with another islands, Pulau Sudong, Pulau Pawai & Pulau Senang.

Runaway elephants

On May 29, 1990, national servicemen spotted a family of three Indian elephants which had swum 1.5 km (0.9 mi) across the Straits of Johor.[5] The Singapore Zoo worked with the Malaysian Wildlife Department's Elephant Capture and Translocation Unit to help in its plan to recapture the runaway elephants.

On June 10, all three elephants were captured and relocated back to the jungles of Johor.

Land reclamation issues

Land reclamation work is currently undergoing off the southern part of the island. Malaysia has referred the reclamation issue to International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in July 2003. Subsequently, the tribunal ordered a year-long joint study on the issue. The conflict was resolved in April 2005 following the signing of an agreement between the two countries. The agreement includes modifications of the island in "Area D". The signed agreement was sent to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea for final judgment.

Armed robbery incident

In March 2004 Pulau Tekong was the hiding place for a group of armed robbers comprising two Indonesians and a Malaysian. The robbers had fled from Malaysia, sparking off a massive coordinated manhunt involving Air Force helicopters, commandos, ground surveillance radar, troops from the 2nd Singapore Infantry Regiment, troops from the 40th Singapore Armoured Regiment and the Singapore Police Force. All three were caught by police officers; two by members of the Gurkha Contingent and one by the Police Coast Guard's Special Task Squadron. They were later charged with illegal entry and possession of firearms.[6]

In Singaporean folklore, the island is deemed to be extremely haunted. The Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (now MediaCorp) Channel 8 drama "Son of Pulau Tekong" portrayed the lives of the inhabitants of Pulau Tekong before it was turned into a training area for the Singaporean military. It is unclear whether the folklore actually dates back to the days when Tekong was inhabited by civilians, or if the beliefs sprang up after the island was taken over as military territory.

Coastal protection

The National Biodiversity Centre and National Parks Board (NParks) will be conducting coastal protection and restoration works at the north-eastern coastline of Pulau Tekong which suffers from coastal erosion. The National Biodiversity Centre stated that the erosion resulted from the movements of ships and strong waves in the area. A study NParks commissioned in 2006 found that 1.65 km (1.03 mi) of the north-eastern shore is most severely affected. The coastal erosion poses a threat to the 92 ha (230 acres) of mangroves in Pulau Tekong which is one of the largest remaining mangrove areas in Singapore with a mature and undisturbed habitat.[7] Ecologists point out that the island is extremely rich in biodiversity and resident to some rare or endangered species,[8] including the Fern Dipteris conjugata.[9]

References
  1. "Tekong Revisited". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  2. "Home on Pulau Tekong". Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
  3. Lim, K.K.P.; Chua, M.A.H.; Lim, N.T-L. (2016). "Freshwater fishes, terrestrial herpetofauna and mammals of Pulau Tekong, Singapore" (PDF). Nature in Singapore. 9: 165–198. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-07-14. Retrieved 2016-11-15.
  4. "10 Army Facts So Secret Even Our NS Boys Don't Know Them". Archived from the original on 2020-03-22. Retrieved 2020-03-22.
  5. "Runaway elephants on Pulau Tekong". Singapore National Library Board. Archived from the original on 2014-04-21. Retrieved 2007-07-15.
  6. "Massive manhunt on Pulau Tekong for 3 armed robbers fleeing Johor". ChannelNewsAsia. Archived from the original on April 7, 2004. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  7. "NParks to conduct coastal protection & restoration works at Pulau Tekong". Archived from the original on 2010-05-14. Retrieved 2010-06-14.
  8. Victor R. Savage, Environment and Climate Change in Asia: Ecological Footprints and Green Prospects, 2012.
  9. Ibrahim, Hassan. "Saving A Prehistoric Fern From Extinction". nparks.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2019.

Sources
  • Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2003), Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names, Eastern Universities Press, ISBN 981-210-205-1
Library resources about
Pulau Tekong
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