Lee Ek Tieng (1933–2025) was the civil servant who headed the clean-up of the Singapore River, had the foresight to modernise the sanitation system, and ensured water self-sufficiency for Singapore. Writer Samantha Boh tells us how he did it with his colleagues and earned their respect.

Samantha Boh is a journalist and an author who covers the environment and science. She has written extensively on scientific breakthroughs in biomedical science, robotics, water resources, recycling, and food wastage over more than a decade. She is a co-author of The Last Fools, The Price of Being Fair and Lee Ek Tieng: The Green General of Lee Kuan Yew.

What Samantha Talked About

1. 02:59 – About Lee Ek Tieng
2. 07:16 – Lee Ek Tieng’s key achievements
3. 12:31 – His personality and leadership style
4. 19:07 – Conflict with Economic Development Board during industrial pollution control and backing from Lee Kuan Yew
5. 24:01 – Building water self‑sufficiency
6. 29:20 – How NEWater got its name
7. 31:16 – What colleagues said about him
8. 35:31 – His hobbies and DIY spirit
9. 38:03 – Books by Nutgraf

Transcript and Resources

1. Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/civil-servant-in-charge-of-clean-and-green-singapore-lee-ek-tieng-samantha-boh/transcript/

Subscribe to BiblioAsia for more stories about Singapore.

This episode of BiblioAsia podcast 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 Samantha for coming on the show.

The BiblioAsia Podcast by the National Library Singapore tells stories about Singapore history.

Before air conditioning was introduced in Singapore in the 1920s, temperature control was a matter of architectural design. Environmental historian Fiona Williamson tells us how people kept themselves cool before air conditioning arrived, why weather science was important to the colonial enterprise, and what environmental history can tell us about a city’s development. 

Fiona Williamson is an environmental historian with a particular interest in the history of the climate, meteorology and extreme weather in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. She is professor of environmental history at the Singapore Management University.

What Fiona Talked About

• 03:12 – How people kept cool before air conditioning
• 05:49 – When and how air conditioning was introduced to Singapore
• 07:53 – Who could afford early air conditioning
• 10:19 – European reactions to tropical heat
• 12:51 – Meteorology as a colonial science
• 15:31 – Observational stations and instruments
• 18:07 – Colonial attempts to manage water and flooding
• 23:15 – The MacRitchie Reservoir mistake
• 28:03 – Fiona’s book Imperial Weather
• 34:19 – Fiona's work with the International Commission for the History of Meteorology
• 36:52 – Climate history is…
• 38:02 – Whether climate change can be reversed

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/the-days-before-air-conditioning-fiona-williamson/transcript/
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-4/jan-mar-2026/air-conditioning-in-singapore/

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 Fiona for coming on the show.

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

Jan Beránek sets out to find out what happened to his granduncle, Silvestr Němec, who left his Czech village for Singapore in 1938 and died as a volunteer during WWII. He finds Silvestr’s story woven with that of the Bata Shoe Company, the Czechoslovak community and volunteer forces in Singapore.

Jan Beránek is a Czech environmentalist and an energy expert. He was born and raised in the Czech city of Brno, where he studied physics and sociology. Jan has worked for several environmental organisations and was also the chairman of the Czech Green Party. He currently lives in Amsterdam, working for Greenpeace International as Director for Organizational Strategy and Development. He is the author of In Search of Silvestr: Unravelling My Granduncle's Fate, Bata, Czechoslovaks and World War II in Singapore (Landmark Books, 2025).

What Jan Talked About

• 01:31 – Introduction to the podcast and Bata’s Singapore history
• 02:07 – Silvestr Němec’s disappearance
• 02:29 – Jan Beránek’s research journey
• 03:26 – Family memories  
• 04:37 – The post-war search for Silvestr
• 05:49 – Discovery of family letters in 2017
• 07:25 – Motivation for beginning the investigation
• 08:45 – How Silvestr was sent to Singapore by Bata
• 09:20 – Silvestr’s job at Bata’s flagship store
• 10:05 – Bata’s international success and localisation
• 11:42 – Bata’s early operations and expansion in Malaya
• 13:17 – What made Bata successful
• 14:11 – The Czechoslovak community in Malaya
• 14:55 – Czechoslovaks’ impressions of colonial Singapore
• 16:35 – Czechoslovakia during WWII and Bata’s wartime challenges
• 22:26 – Silvestr’s service in the Volunteer Corps
• 24:44 – What happened to Silvestr
• 28:37 – Jan’s research process and reflections
• 36:07 – The number of Bata shoes Jan owns
• 36:58 – Family history is…

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/searching-for-family-in-the-shadows-of-war-jan-beranek/transcript/
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-21/issue-4/jan-mar-2026/lost-family-silvestr-nemec-war-search-czech-singapore/

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 Jan for coming on the show.

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

Former Straits Times editor-in-chief Cheong Yip Seng tells us how he negotiated OB markers with the government during his tenure (1987–2006), how he balanced the interests of the paper’s stakeholders, and which news story he nearly went to jail for.

Cheong Yip Seng is a veteran journalist. He was editor-in-chief of the Straits Times from 1987 to 2006 and editorial adviser to the South China Morning Post from 2012 to 2020. He has written OB Markers: My Straits Times Story and Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel.

What Cheong Talked About

• 00:55 – Podcast introduction
• 01:48 – Why a sequel to OB Markers
• 03:21 – Differences between the two books
• 06:24 – Events leading to Cheong's appointment as editor-in-chief
• 11:33 – Accusations of the Straits Times (ST) as government mouthpiece
• 17:16 – Impact of social media on traditional news
• 18:28 – Cheong's near arrest over a leaked story
• 20:50 – Hardest decisions as editor-in-chief
• 21:52 – Importance of ST credibility
• 24:06 – Cheong's principles in negotiating OB markers
• 27:40 – Criticisms ST faced over its coverage of the 1987 “Marxist Conspiracy”
• 29:48 – Cheong’s outlook on ST in the next two decades  
• 33:30 – Why Cheong became a journalist
• 26:29 – Person who had the greatest intellectual impact on Cheong

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/negotiating-ob-markers-when-running-straits-times-cheong-yip-seng/transcript/
• Read Cheong's books:  OB Markers: My Straits Times Story and Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel 

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 Cheong for coming on the show.

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

The Hawkins Road camp in Sembawang was home to thousands of Vietnamese refugees until it closed in 1996. Researcher Rebecca Tan talks about how the refugees spent their days in the camp and their lives after Singapore. 

Rebecca Tan is Digital Preservation Archivist at the National Archives of Singapore. She was previously Children and Teens Librarian at Toa Payoh Public Library, and Digital Heritage Librarian at the National Library.

What Rebecca Talked About

• 01:17 – Overview of Hawkins Road camp
• 02:26 – Conditions in the camp
• 03:18 – Life in the refugee camp
• 08:08 – Singapore’s plan for long-term refugees
• 10:17 – What the refugees said about Singapore
• 11:20 – Singapore's evolving refugee policy
• 14:41 – How Rebecca knew about the refugee camp
• 15:25 – Rebecca’s research
• 16:49 – Interview with a Hawkins Road camp refugee who still lives in Singapore
• 22:07 – Being a librarian at Toa Payoh Public Library
• 24:26 – The libraries and archives are...

Transcript and Resources

• Read the transcript: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/podcast/25-hawkin-road-home-to-vietnamese-refugees-rebecca-tan/transcript
• Read the BiblioAsia article: https://biblioasia.nlb.gov.sg/vol-20/issue-3/oct-dec-2024/hawkins-road-refugee-camp/

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 Rebecca for coming on the show.

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

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

• 00:00 – Introduction to Singapore’s national anthem
• 03:16 – How “Majulah Singapura” came about
• 04:14 – Zubir Said’s composition of “Majulah Singapura”
• 06:18 – Adoption of the anthem and its unauthorised shortening
• 09:24 – Comparison of different versions and musical implications
• 15:18 – Prof Tan’s detective work to verify Zubir Said’s original manuscript
• 19:31 – Fanfare introduction and early concert arrangements
• 22:22 – Government-led initiative to reorchestrate the anthem
• 25:48 – Lowering the anthem’s key from G major to F major
• 27:45 – Lee Kuan Yew’s suggestion on the anthem
• 33:18 – Controversial arrangements of "Majulah Singapura"
• 36:57 – Origin of “Negaraku”, Malaysia’s national anthem  
• 40:22 – How Prof Tan juggles his roles as a composer, professor of physics and SSO board member
• 42:51 – How he helped found the SSO
• 48:44 – His career at NUS
• 51:20 – Similarities between scientific research to music writing

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
• 05:20– Preconditions for hawking
• 07:11– Colonial records, and hygiene and urban discipline issues during colonial times
• 09:06 – Why hawking was an attractive and accessible job then
• 10:39– Challenges colonial authorities faced in controlling hawkers
• 11:47 – Post-independence reforms in hawking
• 14:25– Establishment of hawker centres and their purpose
• 15:47 – How rent subsidies keep hawker food affordable
• 17:43– Origins of the first hawker centre and differences from hawker shelters
• 20:12– Loss of food heritage
• 23:27– Gentrification in hawker centres
• 25:27– Hawking as a vocation in the past and today
• 27:44– Why Singapore’s hawker culture won the UNESCO recognition for intangible cultural heritage
• 30:04– Contemporary political use of hawker centres
• 31:51– 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.