Aerial panorama of Singapore facing the Singapore skyline

Lazarus Island, also known as Pulau Sakijang Pelepah, is one of the

Southern Islands The Southern Islands is a planning area consisting of a collection of islets located within the Central Region of Singapore, once home to the native Malay islanders and sea nomads before they were relocated to the mainland for urban redevelopm ...

in Singapore. It is south of the main island of Singapore, off the Straits of Singapore and is uninhabited. It is connected by a causeway to

Saint John's Island Saint John's Island also known as Saint John's is the largest of the Southern Islands in Singapore. Its indigenous Malay name is Pulau Sekijang Bendera. It is located approximately 6.5 km to the south of the main island of Singapore, off t ...

, which is reachable by ferry.

Etymology

Lazarus island was also known as ''Pulau Sakijang Pelepah'' (alternatively spelled as ''Pulau Sekijang Pelepah'')''.'' Literally translated from Malay, 'sa' means one, 'kijang' means barking deer, and 'pelepah' is a palm frond. Put together, it means 'Island of One Barking Deer and Palms'. It is unclear when and why it was renamed to Lazarus Island. The nearby St Johns Island was originally a penal colony and a quarantine station initially for cholera, beri-beri then later for leprosy. Lepers may have been transferred to Lazarus Island (the connection being that the biblical character Lazarus was a leper). See

Order of Saint Lazarus The Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, also known as the Leper Brothers of Jerusalem or simply as Lazarists, was a Catholic military order founded by crusaders around 1119 at a leper hospital in Jerusalem, Kingdom of Jerusalem, whose care beca ...

and Leper colony. Another possibility is that it was renamed after World War II to honour Lazarus Rayman who, as a high-ranking official in the treasury department of the British High Commission, took steps to save the colony's gold reserves from the Japanese. He was variously honoured by Singapore after the War, with a park (now built over) named after him, and possibly a statue, though these are all family stories passed down.

References

{{Islands of Singapore Islands of Singapore Southern Islands