1995 in Singapore

1995 in Singapore
The following lists events that happened during 1995 in Singapore.
Incumbents
President: Ong Teng Cheong
Prime Minister: Goh Chok Tong
Events
January
16 January – BBC World Service Television was officially launched new name, new programme, new power, new transmitter, new vision, new screen and new office took place becomes BBC World on Thursday, 26 January 1995 at 19:00:00 or 7:00:00pm GMT was officially opening ceremony or grand opening to international free-to-air terrestrial news channel.
26 January – Officially opening ceremony or grand opening of BBC World and BBC Prime at 19:00:00 or 7:00:00pm GMT transformation from BBC World Service Television.
February
26 February – Britain's oldest merchant bank Barings Bank collapses due to Briton Nick Leeson's trading activities, losing $1.4 billion by speculating on the Singapore International Monetary Exchange, primarily using futures contracts. He was arrested on 23 November after fleeing Singapore for 272 days. Subsequently, Nick Leeson pleaded guilty to two charges out of three charges of forgery and eight charges of cheating and was sentenced to 6½ years in prison.
March
1 March – The Family Court is established to settle family disputes effectively.
4 March – The Kranji Expressway is officially opened.
6 March – "Good Morning Singapore (早安您好)" as Singaporean Mandarin first flagship weekday breakfast programmes on TCS Channel 8 began airing live on Monday to Friday from 7:00am SST.
8 March – Briton John Martin murdered South African Gerard George Lowe in River View Hotel, dismembered his body, and disposed the body parts in the Singapore River. He is found guilty of murder and hanged on 19 April 1996.
10 March – TCS Channel 8 begin its trials of 24-hour broadcasts on Friday and Saturday nights with movies and infomercials throughout the early hours. It would go on to broadcast 24-hour a day on a daily basis almost 5 months later in the same year.
17 March – Filipina domestic worker Flor Contemplacion is hanged for 4 May 1991 murder of fellow worker Delia Maga and her four-year-old charge, Nicholas Huang.
26 March – Walt Disney Television's Satellite Facility is officially opened making it Disney's first international centre. The facility broadcast Disney's programmes to Southeast Asia.
April
27 April – The ST Teleport is launched for telecommunications and broadcasting purposes.
End April - IKEA Alexandra store, the first new building adjacently opposite Queensway Shopping Centre is officially opened.
May
2 May – The first C651 trains are put into operation on the North South and East West lines.
3 May - MTV Southeast Asia, E! Entertainment Television and Hallmark Entertainment Network were launched on 3 May 1995 as a Singaporean 24-hour English pay television channel. Both were launched on Wednesday, 3 May 1995 at 12am SST with an opening ceremony by Janet Jackson (MTV) and Tyra Banks (Hallmark). The launch was on the same day that MTV Indonesia launched. These channels were the pay-TV channels owned by Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS), under licenses from Viacom (MTV) and Hallmark Entertainment Network's international corporation (Hallmark). MTV Southeast Asia, E! Entertainment Television and Hallmark Entertainment Network's opening ceremony were broadcast on air from iconic locations; the Padang, Singapore and Changi Airport. MTV Southeast Asia, along with its sister channels MTV Indonesia were launched on the Palapa C2 digital satellite. E! and Hallmark's production facilities were in Singapore. This marked the return of MTV in Asia, after the removal of the channel on the STAR TV Network.
17 May – The Chinese Heritage Centre is officially opened in Nanyang Technological University, showcasing Chinese culture and history.
June
2 June – National Day Ceremony song "My People My Home" is unveiled and announced to be used for the 1995 National Day Parade. Since then, it was planned for the NDP to held at Padang in every five years.
12 June – Dongli 88.3FM (present day 883Jia) is launched as a bilingual radio station by SAFRA.
20 June – CNBC Asia was officially opened by President of Singapore Ong Teng Cheong on 20 June 1995 at 6am SST along with its sister channel NBC Asia (now National Geographic). It was originally based in Singapore, with Television Corporation of Singapore (TCS) owned the channel under license from NBC. The channel was launched after Asia Business News in 1994. CNBC had both Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur bureaus and reporters based across the region. Anchors such as Rico Hizon, Bernard Lo, Lorraine Hahn, Sumire Sugimoto, Dalton Tanonaka and Bill Hartley were part of the original CNBC Asia team which includes around 170 Singapore based staff. It adopted similar programmes from its US counterpart, such as The Money Wheel and Business Tonight, but also had a few of its own programmes as well. In addition, during the launch, CNBC Asia retransmitted programmes from CNBC Europe during the afternoon and CNBC US overnight.
23 June – Singapore Cable Vision is officially launched as a cable television provider, providing Singaporeans with more entertainment options. The whole cable system is completed in 1998.
24 June – The Ren Ci Hospital is officially opened.
26 June – MTV Southeast Asia's broadcasting centre was opened. It had production facilities which broadcast MTV in English, heralding a wave of music programmes.
July
July – Parco Bugis Junction is opened to the public.
1 July –
CityCab starts operations, formed from the merger of three taxi companies, Singapore Airport Bus Service Ltd (SABS), Singapore Bus Service Taxi Pte Ltd (SBS Taxi Pte Ltd) and Singapore Commuter Pte Ltd.
The West Coast Barter Trade Centre closes due to declining use.
3 July – TCS opened its lunchtime television news bulletin programmes for both TCS Channel 5 and TCS Channel 8.
"News 5 Today" as Singapore English weekday midday and afternoon television news bulletin programmes aired on Monday to Friday from 12:00pm to 12:05pm and 3:00pm to 3:05pm SST. The bulletins lasted 10 minutes each.
"Midday News (午间新闻)" as Singaporean Mandarin weekday midday television news bulletin programmes aired on Monday to Friday at 1:00pm to 1:15pm SST.
August
1 August – The Seletar Satellite Earth Station is officially opened.
6 August – The UOB Plaza is officially opened. It joins OUB Centre (present-day One Raffles Place) as Singapore's tallest buildings at 280 metres, until Guoco Tower's completion in 2016, which is 290 metres.
9 August – Singapore National Day Parade celebrated its thirtieth years of anniversary was slogan and tagline is "My Singapore, My Home" with "30 Years of Nationhood / My Singapore, My Home: A Nation in Harmony" theme, organizer by HQ Armour and held at Padang was presidented by President of the Republic of Singapore Ong Teng Cheong and prime ministered by Prime Minister of Singapore Goh Chok Tong. Singaporeans celebrate the nation's 30th birthday with the live telecast of the Singapore National Day Parade (NDP) 1995 on Wednesday, 9 August 1995 from 5:30pm to 8:30pm SST at Padang, Singapore. Singapore television viewers can enjoy the live telecast parade aired on TCS Channel 5, TCS Channel 8 and TV12 Channel 12. The commentary on TCS Channel 5 and TV12 Channel 12 in English, TCS Channel 8 in Mandarin, TV12 Channel 12 in Malay and TCS Channel 8 in Tamil. Those out and about on Singapore National Day Parade to catch the live screening of the Parade on the outdoor digital screens managed by Television Corporation of Singapore at all Singaporean shopping centres. Radio Corporation of Singapore radio stations simulcast the parade live over One FM 90.5, Capital 95.8FM/95.8FM城市频道, Warna 94.2FM and Oli 96.8FM from 6:15pm to 8:30pm SST in English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil respectively.
20 August – The Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme (SERS) is announced to unlock economic value for residential buildings. On the same day, the Executive Condominium scheme is introduced to meet Singaporeans' aspirations for condominium living, which may be too expensive for some.
22 August – Sites located at Boon Tiong Road and Tiong Bahru Road are selected for the first SERS project.
25 August – SAFTI Military Institute is officially opened in Jurong West.
30 August – The Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre (now Suntec) is officially opened.
31 August – News Brief in Mandarin (新闻简报) aired its very final and last edition before becoming a full-fledged Mandarin Chinese channel the next day while the Tamil News (Tamil Seithi) also aired its final edition for this channel beforehand before moving to the newly renamed Prime 12 the next day.
September
1 September –
Channel 12 was officially split into two new free-to-air terrestrial channels such as Prime 12 and Premiere 12 was officially full launched took place.
Prime 12 is a Malay and Tamil channel showcasing a wide range of programmes such as variety shows, movies, sitcoms, documentaries, lifestyle, television news bulletin, current affairs and children's programmes.
Premiere 12 is an Singapore English channel showcasing the best of culture, the arts, documentaries, classical music, children preschool and sport programmes.
Prime 12 officially began shifting and reorganised its news timeslots for both Tamil and Malay television news bulletin programmes.
"Tamil News (Tamil Seithi)" was officially launched new extended duration times and time slot such as 30 minutes and aired daily from 7:30pm to 8:00pm SST before Berita 12.
"Berita 12" was officially launched new time slot such as aired daily from 8:00pm to 8:30pm SST after Tamil News (Tamil Seithi) because due to at 8:00pm slot was usually reserved for Malaysian language main flagship television news bulletin programmes on RTM TV1 (Berita Perdana) and TV3 (Buletin Utama).
TCS Channel 8 became an full-fledged Mandarin Chinese channel on the same day and became the very second channel in Singapore to officially broadcast 24-hour on a daily basis after having done so on Friday and Saturday nights since 10 March on the same year marked Television Corporation of Singapore celebrated its first anniversary. A number of revamps for that channel also took place to coincide the major revamp of the TV12 channels on the same day.
News in Mandarin was officially renamed from 第八新闻 to become "晚间新闻" and thus becoming the main flagship nightly television news bulletin programmes and aired daily from 10:00pm to 10:30pm SST marked Television Corporation of Singapore celebrated its first anniversary.
The evening news bulletin "Singapore Today (狮城6点半)" made its debut and filled up the void of the Tamil television news bulletin programmes that moved to Prime 12 on the same day aired daily at 6:30pm to 7:00pm SST marked Television Corporation of Singapore celebrated its first anniversary.
The Land Transport Authority was launched to develop the land transport system in Singapore.
The National Library Board was launched to improve libraries in Singapore.
The prefix '9' is added to all mobile numbers.
A new six-digit postal code system takes effect, replacing the four-digit system used since 1979.
5 September –
Pacific Internet starts operations as Singapore's second ISP, after acquiring TechNet on 19 June.
Cyberway Internet is awarded an ISP licence, making it Singapore's third Internet operator.
18 September – British children's animated television series based on the books by Sarah Ferguson Budgie the Little Helicopter premieres on TCS Channel 5 with the series being reedited into two episodes.
October
1 October – The Public Utilities Board is reconstituted, resulting in the setting up of Singapore Power (now SP Group).
20 October – The National Orchid Garden was opened.
November
2 November – Parliament passed the Maintenance of Parents Act, a private member's bill introduced by Woon Cheong Ming Walter.
5 November – The second phase of the Seletar Expressway opened.
10 November – Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal is officially opened to enhance ferry links.
13 November – The second series of the British children's animated series Budgie the Little Helicopter begins airing on TCS Channel 5 after several months of airing in its country of origin. However the episodes were not transmitted in the right order as they when airing in the UK and were shown in a very slightly different order. The first two episodes of the second series of Budgie the Little Helicopter to be shown in Singapore were "Blown Up, Let Down" and "Wally Waddles In". However, the second series were later shown in the right episode order when the series was repeated on Eureka Learning Channel and Kids Central.
25 November – Century Square is officially opened.
December
7 December – Jurong Point opens its doors.
29 December – Nanook the polar bear (of Singapore Zoo) dies at the age of 18.
Births
16 June – Joseph Schooling, swimmer.
17 June - Chantalle Ng, Mediacorp TV actresses.
22 June - Amanda Germaine Lee, MADDSpace Senior Vocal Coach.
7 August – Kimberly Chia, actress.
14 December - Yung Raja, Singaporean Tamil rapper, TV actor.
Population of births: 48,635
Deaths
4 October – Eu Chooi Yip, one of the prominent Malayan Communist Party leaders in Singapore (b. 1918).
12 December – David Marshall, 1st Chief Minister of Singapore (b. 1908).
16 December – Anthony Then, dance pioneer (b. 1944).
Ang Chwee Chai, pioneer of photography (b. 1910).
Population of deaths: 15,569
References
1990s in Singapore
Singapore
Years in Singapore
Years of the 20th century in Singapore
Singapore