Sentosa's Fort Siloso proposed as Singapore's next national monument

SINGAPORE — Sentosa's Fort Siloso could become Singapore's 74th national monument, after a proposal for it to be gazetted, the National Heritage Board (NHB) said on Tuesday (Jan 18).

The historical site will be gazetted next month if the proposal is confirmed and will become the country's eighth World War II-related monument.

Built by the British military on Sentosa in the early 1880s, Fort Siloso was one of three fortifications meant to protect the southern shipping lanes, according to NHB on its Roots website.

The fort fired its guns at Japanese troops in the west of Singapore during World War II and destroyed the oil refineries at nearby Pulau Bukom and Pulau Sebarok to prevent the Japanese from using them as a resource, said NHB.

The fort was also used as a prisoner of war camp during the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945.

The board noted that between 1963 and 1966, the 10th Gurkha Rifles Unit manned the fort during Konfrontasi to prevent Indonesian saboteurs from landing on Sentosa and Keppel Harbour.

Fort Siloso reopened in 1975 as a tourist attraction. The restored fort comprised underground tunnels, bunkers, gun emplacements and searchlight posts. A guns and weapons museum was later opened at the fort.

The previous additions to Singapore's lists of national monuments were the Cavenagh, Anderson and Elgin Bridges, which span the Singapore River, in 2019. CNA

For more stories like this, visit cna.asia.