Temasek
What’s the story beneath this island?
What character does it carry?
In Sanskrit, it signifies Singa for a lion and Pura for a city. “Lion City” is the complete word.
In 1160, Sri Tri Buana, Sang Nila Utama, the ruler of an ancient kingdom saw the white shore of this little island, described by the annalist.
He asked, “what is that stretch of sand, we see yonder?”
“Your highness, that is the land called Temasek”. One of the companions replied.
When they reached the shore, he saw a strange animal “very swift and beautiful”, with a bright red body, its head jet black and its breast pure white. The beautiful animal has the size of a he-goat.
The companion said, “Your Highness, I have heard that in ancient times, it was a lion which has that appearance”.
Sang Nila Utama then established a city at Temasek and name it Singapura.
This is a short story about how the name of my country came by.
25) Where is this place ?
Labrador Park Pt 2
Walking towards the left of the Park, the scene of an inviting island over the other side of the sea greets you with open arm. This is the western side of Sentosa Island, Ford Siloso is lush by the den and greenish forest.
There is an machine gun post built during the British colonial era and is meant to protect the coastal shore. Thus, any attempt to assail the main island will acquire a heavy cost.
There is also a restoration of Dragon’s Teeth Gate. According to the provided introduction, Dragon’s Teeth Gate was famously known as “Batu Berlayer” or “Sailing Rocks” among the local Malays.
In 1349, A Chinese Historian Wang Da Yuan described in his article, “the straits between the two hills, Temasek (old name of Singapore) looks like Dragon’s Teeth, this is how the name was derived.
In 1405, the great Navigator, Zhen Hē sail passed Temasek using his navigation chart with Dragon’s Teeth Gate as one of the landmark.
In 1819, the first resident of Singapore, William Farquhar found a deep harbour at the site and named it Keppel Harbour. Subsequently, the British blew up Dragon’s Teeth Gate to widen Keppel Harbour. Fortunately, this historical scene was saved by an artist name J T Thomas with his brush of paint.
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