The national anthem that we know today wasn't the original version composed by Zubir Said. His first version was longer and was set at a higher key. Emeritus Professor Bernard Tan talks about how "Majulah Singapura" came about and how it changed over the decades, and illustrates how these versions differ on his piano. 

Emeritus Professor Bernard T. G. Tan is a retired professor of physics from the National University of Singapore who also dabbles in music. Some of his compositions have been performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. He is a former chairman of the Sing Singapore organising committee.

What Prof Tan Talked About

• 00:52 – Brief history of Singapore’s national anthem
• 04:33 – Zubir Said’s composition of "Majulah Singapura" for Victoria Theatre
• 07:50 – Adoption of the anthem and its unauthorised shortening
• 11:53 – Comparison of different versions of the anthem
• 15:44 – How Prof Tan verified Zubir Said’s original manuscript
• 21:43 – Fanfare introduction and early concert arrangements
• 25:08 – Recording and performances at national events and parades
• 28:17 – Government-led initiative to reorchestrate the anthem
• 31:12 – Lowering the anthem’s key from G major to F major
• 34:24 – Military band considerations and key signature decisions
• 37:28 – Lee Kuan Yew’s input on the anthem
• 40:31 – Zubir Said’s versatility and legacy beyond the anthem
• 43:30 – Preservation of early scores and access through archives
• 46:26 – Insights into musical phrasing and national identity
• 52:30 – Making the anthem singable and inclusive
• 55:24 – Role of music in civic pride and national consciousness
• 58:34 – Recollections from school days and early arrangements
• 01:01:18 – Music, memory and cultural preservation

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/the-making-of-majulah-singapura-as-we-know-it-bernard-tan/transcript
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-3/oct-dec-2025/zubir-said-majulah-singapura/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Prof Tan for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Tay Seow Huah, then Permanent Secretary for the Home Affairs Ministry, helmed Singapore’s response to the 1974 Laju hijacking incident. This was when four terrorists tried (but failed) to destroy Shell’s oil infrastructure on Pulau Bukom Besar and subsequently took five hostages. Little is known about the enigmatic spy chief, who was the founding Director of the Security and Intelligence Division. Simon Tay, lawyer, academic and winner of the 2010 Singapore Literature Prize, tells us how his Penang-born father – who lived through WWII, the Malayan Emergency and the political tumult of the 1960s – came to play a giant role serving a newly independent Singapore.

Simon Tay is the chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, a non-profit think tank. He is an associate professor of law at the National University of Singapore and a former Nominated Member of Parliament. In 1995, Simon was named a Singapore Young Artist, and his novel City of Small Blessings won the Singapore Literature Prize in 2010. In 2021, he received the S.E.A. Write Award, a regional award given to leading ASEAN poets and writers.

What Simon Talked About

• 00:00 – The 1974 Laju hijacking and its significance
• 02:03 – Tay Seow Huah’s legacy and role in Singapore’s security operations
• 07:37 – Singapore’s strategic and diplomatic response to the Laju incident
• 10:38 – Why Lee Kuan Yew appointed Tay to lead the Special Branch
• 11:50 – Background on the Laju hijackers and geopolitical tensions in the 1970s
• 16:39 – Insights from S. R. Nathan’s memoir
• 17:38 – Why Tay did not accompany hijackers to Kuwait although he volunteered
• 17:42– Challenges of writing about classified events and uncovering the past
• 19:05 – Tay’s childhood in Malaya and educational achievements
• 19:56 – Speculations about Tay’s post-university activities before joining civil service
• 22:23 – Comparison between Tay and James Bond
• 28:02 – How Simon’s relationship with his father changed after Tay’s heart attack
• 30:26 – Tay’s declining health and early retirement from civil service
• 32:19 – Tay’s struggles in his retirement years
• 33:03 – Simon’s reflections on his grandmother’s strength and complexity
• 35:13 – How Tay’s childhood hunger shaped his habits
• 35:57 – Tay’s party trick
• 38:09 – Simon on his public service journey
• 43:45 – Why Simon’s wrote the book Enigmas

Transcript

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/tay-seow-huah-first-spy-chief-of-independent-singapore-simon-tay/transcript/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Simon for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Hawkers traditionally sell their food on streets. Uniquely in Singapore though, they ply their trade in fixed stalls in hawker centres. Ryan Kueh, author of the bestselling From Streets to Stalls, tells us how the hawker culture has evolved in Singapore since the colonial period and what hawker centres have come to represent.

Ryan Kueh holds a master’s degree from Tsinghua University under the Schwarzman Scholars programme and completed his bachelor’s at Yale–NUS College, where he read philosophy, politics, economics and history. His key research focus is consumption culture and history, with a secondary interest in international affairs. He is the author of From Streets to Stalls: The History and Evolution of Hawking and Hawker Centres in Singapore.

What Ryan Talked About

• 00:00 – How the term “hawker” is understood differently in Singapore, compared to in other countries
• 04:44 – When hawking might have started in Singapore
• 05:32 – Preconditions for hawking
• 07:40 – Colonial records, and hygiene and urban discipline issues during colonial times
• 09:56 – Why hawking was an attractive and accessible job then
• 11:00 – Challenges colonial authorities faced in controlling hawkers
• 11:49 – Post-independence reforms in hawking
• 14:00 – Establishment of hawker centres and their purpose
• 16:20 – How rent subsidies keep hawker food affordable
• 18:08 – Origins of the first hawker centre and differences from hawker shelters
• 21:22 – Loss of food heritage
• 24:00 – Gentrification in hawker centres
• 26:00 – Hawking as a vocation in the past and today
• 30:10 – Why Singapore’s hawker culture won the UNESCO recognition for intangible cultural heritage
• 31:15 – Contemporary political use of hawker centres
• 33:00 – What Ryan is working on and what his favourite hawker centre is
• 36:47 – Hawking is…

Transcript

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/hawker-culture-in-singapore-ryan-kueh/transcript

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Ryan for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Many people know of the story of Badang the strongman, an aboriginal slave who gains supernatural strength after eating the vomit of a spirit. He throws a stone, which might or might not be the Singapore Stone, and his miracle-working grave is believed to be on Pulau Buru in the Riau Archipelago. However, independent scholar William Gibson tells us the tale of Badang (and the location of his grave) is much more complicated than is generally known.

Dr William L. Gibson is an author and researcher based in Southeast Asia since 2005. A former Lee Kong Chian Research Fellow of the National Library Singapore, he is the author of Keramat, Sacred Relics and Forbidden Idols in Singapore (Routledge, 2024). His articles have appeared in Signal to Noise, PopMatters.com, The Mekong Review, Archipel, History and Anthropology, the Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient and BiblioAsia, among others.

What William Talked About

• 00:00 – What a keramat is
• 01:13 – Legend of Badang the strongman
• 02:20 – William's past research on keramat
• 03:07 – Badang as a national icon and his myth in the Malay Annals
• 04:43 – British interest and early translations of Badang’s story
• 06:26 – The rock-throwing legend and its transformation into a national tale
• 08:26 – Origins of the Singapore Stone and colonial myth-making
• 11:00 – The three different rocks associated with Badang
• 13:02 – The search for the real burial site of Badang
• 18:08 – The shrine’s transformation into a government-designated cultural site
• 20:40 – The Karimun inscription and its link to Badang folklore
• 22:00 – Other stones with footprints and mythical associations
• 24:00 – Theories of Badang’s burial sites
• 26:00 – Other folktales with vomit-eating as a power transfer motif
• 28:00 – Broader meaning and significance of keramat and nature shrines
• 31:05 – Existing keramat in Singapore
• 35:10 – Stories of the keramat Habib Noh
• 39:01 – Challenges of preserving keramat in Singapore
• 42:00 – Fates of kermat in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia
• 44:07 – The heritage value of keramat
• 47:55 – Mythology is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/Badang-the-strongman-a-miracle-working-grave-a-folk-tale-and-a-nations-mythology/transcript
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-1/apr-jun-2025/origins-badang-strongman-singapore-stone/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Nookcha Films. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to William for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

When Peng Tsu Ying came to Singapore from Shanghai in the late 1940s, he could not find a deaf person like him. Determined to improve the situation for the deaf community, he founded Singapore's first school for the deaf in 1954. Librarian Nathaniel Chew tells us about Peng's advocacy, his own journey learning the Singapore Sign Language and the different ways it has evolved. 

Nathaniel Chew is a librarian with the National Library Singapore. He works with the Singapore and Southeast Asia Collection, and his research interests lie at the intersection of language and society.

What Nathaniel Talked About

• 02:13 –  Who Peng Tsu Ying was
• 04:07 – What Singapore was like for the deaf community before WWII
• 05:34 – How Peng started the first school for the deaf
• 07:42 – Peng’s foray into car racing
• 10:12 – Joining forces with the Red Cross
• 11:13 – What the Singapore Sign Language is
• 19:00 – How Nathaniel got interested in sign language
• 19:40 –  Peng’s influence on Singapore’s deaf community
• 22:17 – Nathaniel’s research interest in linguistics
• 23:56 – Nathaniel’s take on Singlish
• 25:28 – BiblioAsia is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/peng-tsu-ying-singapore-pioneering-deaf-educator-nathaniel-chew/transcript
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-1/apr-jun-2025/deaf-education-singapore-sign-language/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Nathaniel for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

In 1952, four Singapore artists – Chen Chong Swee, Chen Wen Hsi, Cheong Soo Pieng and Liu Kang – travelled to Java and Bali in search of artistic inspiration. The following year, they put up an exhibition showcasing art they had produced from the trip, an exhibition often hailed by art historians as a milestone in Singapore art history. Yet much of the trip has been shrouded in mystery, until Gretchen Liu, the daughter-in-law of Liu Kang, discovered Liu Kang's archives and photographs from the trip. She tells us how the trip came together, what the artists did in Java and Bali, and what the trip meant to them as artists. 

Gretchen Liu is a former journalist, a writer and an independent scholar with an interest in visual culture and heritage. She is the editor and author of several books. Most recently, she has been researching the early life of her father-in-law Liu Kang, a journey that has taken her deep into early 20th-century Chinese art history. Her latest book is Bali 1952: Through the Lens of Liu Kang.

What Gretchen Talked About

• 02:14 – The importance of the 1953 exhibition in art history
• 05:20 – The story of the shoebox
• 08:17 – What makes the newly discovered photographs special
• 11:00 – The significance of the artists’ journey to Bali and Java
• 14:11 – How their journey began with the kindness of strangers
• 16:07 – The life and times of the four pioneering artists
• 21:11 – Gretchen’s journey following in the footsteps of the artists
• 23:15 – Her intention in showcasing the photographs alongside the art they inspired
• 26:14 – The hardest part about researching the book
• 27:29 – How Gretchen became interested in Singapore’s visual history
• 30:02 – The book she is most proud of
• 32:21 – Her experience as the in-house historian for the Raffles Hotel
• 35:19 – What is next for Gretchen
• 35:56 – Family history is…

Transcript

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/the-misunderstood-trip-that-led-to-the-1953-landmark-art-exhibition-gretchen-liu/transcript

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music “Di Tanjong Katong” was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Gretchen for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Zubir Said (1907–87) gave Singapore its national anthem, “Majulah Singapura”, and its official Children’s Day song, “Semoga Bahagia”. Working with theatre company Wild Rice, music director Julian Wong put together a critically acclaimed production on the life of Pak Zubir that mixed history, music and memory in a moving show, Don't Call Him Mr. Mari Kita. Performances were sold out in 2022 and 2024. In this episode, Julian tells us the challenges of putting up the show, including the research and transcription, and reveals if he’s a Swiftie.

Julian Wong is a composer, arranger, music director, educator and performer. He has composed for Wild Rice, including An Inspector Calls, Pinocchio, Tartuffe: The Imposter, etc. As music director, he has helmed overseas assignments such as Liao Zhai Rocks! (Shanghai) and Spotlight Singapore (Mexico City), as well as home-grown projects such as Hossan Leong’s Hossan-AH! 50, Pam Oei’s Faghag and The Theatre Practice’s If There’re Seasons. Additionally, Julian has conducted and arranged for Joyful Strings, Ministry of Bellz, Orchestra of the Music Makers, Metropolitan Festival Orchestra, and many more. Julian graduated from Berklee College of Music, where he received the Professional Music Excellence Award and Alex Ulanowski Award. In 2023, he received the Young Artist Award, Singapore’s highest award for young arts practitioners.

What Julian Talked About

• 03:07 –  How the show Don't Call Him Mr. Mari Kita came about
• 05:17 – Julian’s research into the life of Pak Zubir Said
• 08:04 – Performing the show during Covid
• 10:13 – How Julian arranged his version of “Semoga Bahagia”
• 12:35 – Difficulties of researching Pak Zubir’s life
• 13:40 – The most interesting discovery about Pak Zubir
• 15:49 – A touching story about Pak Zubir
• 17:50 – Continuing the legacy of teacher-student collaborations 
• 18:59 – How “Majulah Singapura” was conceived
• 22:44 – What Julian learnt about Pak Zubir from his teacher Iskandar Ismail
• 24:42 – Julian’s relationship with his teacher
• 26:37 – Mentoring students budding musicians at ITE
• 27:57 – On winning the Young Artist Award by the National Arts Council
• 29:43 – Favourite song from Don't Call Him Mr. Mari Kita
• 31:36 – What he’s working on
• 32:54 – Julian’s favourite musician
• 34:06 – Is he a Swiftie?

Transcript

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/life-and-legacy-zubir-said-julian-wong/transcript/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. This version of “Semoga Bahagia” was composed by Zubir Said, produced by Julian Wong and performed by Wild Rice. Special thanks to Julian for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Sharing the literary landscape with contemporaries like D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf, W. Somerset Maugham (1874–1965) travelled to Singapore in 1921. Though he was already well-known as a writer then, it was his stay in Singapore that inspired some of his most celebrated short stories. Crime fiction writer Tracey Morton tells us how Singapore inspired his works, why they remain relevant, and whether the Menendez brothers deserve their sentence.

Tracey A. Morton is a Singapore-based Irish/Australian writer and a Cambridge graduate. She is co-host of the podcast, The Asian Bookshelf, and author of the upcoming novel, The Coffee Shop Masquerade. In 2020, she was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize for her short work, “Faded Ink”, and the Virginia Prize for Fiction for The Queen, The Soldier and The Girl. Her novel, Someone Is Coming, based on plantation murders in Malaya in the 1900s, was published by Monsoon Books in 2022 and has been optioned for television.

What Tracey Talked About

• 02:29 – Who Somerset Maugham was
• 04:11 – Why Maugham came to Singapore?
• 06:46 – Which Maugham’s stories had the most impact
• 07:38 – Maugham’s writing style
• 10:03 – How Maugham’s work would be received today
• 10:45 – The influence Asia had on Maugham and his stories
• 13:26 – How Tracey became interested in Maugham’s life and works
• 16:28 – What inspired her to write stories about Maugham
• 18:07 – Tracey’s journey into crime fiction writing and historical research
• 22:18 – How the idea for Someone Is Coming came about
• 26:23 – Tracey’s new book The Coffee Shop Masquerade
• 28:45 – What the Singapore literary scene lacks
• 35:07 – Crime writing is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/somerset-maugham-scandalises-1920s-singapore-tracey-morton/transcript/
• Check out the BiblioAsia article "W. Somerset Maugham: Secrets from the Outstations": https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-20/issue-4/jan-mar-2025/william-somerset-maugham-secrets/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tracey for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

Singaporeans love animals, but only selectively. Otters, Ah Meng the orangutan, and Inuka the polar bear are among the beloved. Less favoured are monkeys in the Botanic Gardens, many of which were culled before WWII, and pesky Aedes mosquitoes. Environmental historian Timothy Barnard tells us how some of these migrant animals came to be here, how they’ve been treated, and what makes them Singaporean.

Timothy P. Barnard is an associate professor in the Department of History at the National University of Singapore, where he specialises in the environmental and cultural history of island Southeast Asia. He is the author of Imperial Creatures and Nature's Colony, and the editor of Nature Contained and Singaporean Creatures.

What Timothy Talked About

• 02:26 – Monkeys in the Botanic Gardens before WWII
• 07:15 – Understanding Singapore’s history through its animals
• 08:41 – What makes a creature Singaporean?
• 10:10 – How the Garden City concept shaped human-animal relationships in Singapore
• 12:34 – Why some recognisable Singaporean animals were left out of the book
• 14:31 – Otters as returning migrants
• 16:33 – Singaporeans’ fondness for the zoo and its creatures
• 20:31 – How Tim came to be interested in environmental history
• 23:37 – Challenges in teaching environmental history
• 26:01 – The animal he would like to interview  
• 27:13 – The profession he would pick if he weren't a historian

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/what-makes-an-animal-singaporean-timothy-barnard/transcript/
• Check out the book: Singaporean Creatures: Histories of Humans and Other Animals in the Garden City.

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Tim for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.

To write a book about 60 Asian port cities, ex–ACM director Kennie Ting travelled as far as the Middle East and Africa. He tells us how port cities can tell a different history of Asia, and what his "eat, pray, love" cities and his favourite ACM artefacts are.

A writer and museum professional fascinated by the history, heritage and culture of Asian port cities, Kennie Ting is the former director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum in Singapore. He has written The Romance of the Grand Tour: 100 Years of Travel in South East Asia (2015) and Singapore 1819: A Living Legacy (2019). His recent book, The Great Port Cities of Asia in History (2024), re-examines Asian history from the perspective of 60 port cities across the region.

What Kennie Talked About

• 02:00 – How Kennie found time to write his book The Great Port Cities of Asia in History while heading two museums
• 04:17 – Kennie’s travel experiences
• 05:37 – How his fascination with port cities began
• 06:57 – His writing approach and themes of the book
• 10:09 – How he categorised port cities into six eras in his book
• 13:18 – The hardest thing about writing this book
• 14:36 – His favourite artefacts in the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM)
• 16:00 – Wuhan’s significance as a historic port city 
• 18:23 – Kennie’s research process
• 18:59 – His “eat, pray, love” port cities
• 22:19 – The port cities Kennie would pick to live in
• 26:32 – What he misses about ACM
• 27:14 – What’s next for Kennie Ting

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/asian-port-cities-with-ex-acm-director-kennie-ting/transcript
• Check out Kennie's book: The Great Port Cities of Asia in History

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia+ was hosted by Jimmy Yap and produced by Soh Gek Han. Sound engineering was done by Doppler Soundlab. The background music "Di Tanjong Katong" was composed by Ahmad Patek and performed by Chords Haven. Special thanks to Kennie for coming on the show.

BiblioAsia+ is a podcast about Singapore history by the National Library Singapore.