Pulau Senang is an

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

-formed

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the Republic of Singapore, located about off the southern coast of the main island of Singapore. Along with

Pulau Pawai Pulau Pawai, also known as Alligator Island during the colonial times, is a island located within the Singapore Armed Forces Live Firing Area. It is located off the southwestern coast of Singapore, between Pulau Sudong to its north and Pulau Sa ...

to the northwest and

Pulau Sudong Pulau Sudong is a 209-hectare coral island off the southern coast of Singapore. It was enlarged through a land reclamation process during the late 1970s. Restricted area Since the early 1980s, Pulau Sudong, together with Pulau Senang and Pulau ...

further behind Pulau Pawai, it is used as a military training area for

live-fire exercise A live-fire exercise (LFX) is a military exercise in which live ammunition and ordnance (as opposed to blanks or dummies) is expended. The term can also be found in non-military usage. Armed services Armed services usually use live-fire exerci ...

s carried out by the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MIND ...

(SAF). Pulau Senang is best known in the

history of Singapore The history of the modern state of Singapore dates back to its founding in the early nineteenth century; however, evidence suggests that a significant trading settlement existed on the Island of Singapore in the 14th century. The last ruler of ...

as the location of a former experimental offshore

penal settlement A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

that failed after only three years when an infamous riot against the small unit of prison authority (no more than 10) broke out in 1963, resulting in the death of three officers, including the overall prison-chief.

Etymology

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

, ''Pulau Senang'' literally translates as the "Island of Ease".

Prison riot

In 1960, an experimental-type offshore penal colony was established on Pulau Senang by the

Singapore government The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise ...

. On the island, the

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

ers, predominantly gangsters, were allowed to roam freely and were put to

manual labour Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual ...

. It was envisioned that these hardened detainees could be reformed through hard work and be sent back home with an ability to seek employment afterwards. The prison-settlement was started on 18 May in 1960, when 50 detainees, sent from

Changi Prison Changi Prison Complex, often known simply as Changi Prison, is a prison in Changi in the eastern part of Singapore. History First prison Before Changi Prison was constructed, the only penal facility in Singapore was at Pearl's Hill, beside ...

, arrived with Irish-born Prisons

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

Daniel Dutton, the appointed chief of the penal settlement. Over the next three years, the number of detainees from the mainland rose to 320 and together they transformed the island into an attractive settlement, albeit one for criminals still. Dutton believed that the detainees under his charge were not entirely cruel and evil and could be rehabilitated, thus leading to his rather lenient attitudes. However, despite such an outlook, he was also a strict enforcer of discipline and would not hesitate to punish those detainees who dared to challenge or defy his orders or the prison's regulations, as well as those recalcitrant prisoners who continuously broke the law. Also, with the firm belief that the tough detainees could be reformed through hard work, Dutton ordered the removal of

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

from the prison-guards, believing it unnecessary for the need to maintain order via armed force. By the end of 1962, the prisoners, most of whom had begun to utterly resent Dutton's iron-fisted rule and harsh approaches in their perception, saw that an opportunity to fight back was nearing. Dutton and his prison-authority staff were aware of this and despite being warned that an uprising might occur soon, Dutton, nicknamed "The Laughing Tiger", laughed it off and took no heed. On 12 July in 1963, a group of some 70 to 90 detainees rioted and burned down most of the buildings of the prison-settlement. Just before things went out of hand, Dutton still had the chance to call for police reinforcements from the mainland as well as seek assistance with the Marine Police, but by the time he realised the situation was out of control, it was too horribly late. The prisoners went straight towards the prison-authorities' quarters and, with

axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...

s and hoes (''changkuls''), had Dutton brutally hacked to death, mutilated his corpse, and killed three other prison-officers. Once prison-authority collapsed, the convicts began a mass celebration as though they had just conquered the island from their former captors. Shortly thereafter, police back-up arrived on the island and quickly secured what was left of the penal settlement and all of the prisoners (none attempted to escape from the island despite having the opportunity). In the wake of the riot, 58 prisoners were

accused Accused or The Accused may refer to: * A person suspected with committing a crime or offence; see Criminal charge ** Suspect, a known person suspected of committing a crime * The Accüsed, a 1980s Seattle crossover thrash band *''The Accused'', a ...

of rioting and murdering Dutton and his staff-officers, Arumugan Veerasingham, Chok Kok Hong and Tan Kok Hian. Because of the large number of the accused, a special courtroom dock had to be constructed for them. The particularly-notorious case went to

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...

in the Singapore Supreme Court on 18 November in 1963 and lasted an unprecedented 64 days. The prisoners were represented by David Marshall. On 12 March of the following year, the seven-member

jury A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England du ...

found 18 of the accused

guilty Guilty or The Guilty may refer to: * Guilt (emotion), an experience that occurs when a person believes they have violated a moral standard Law *Culpability, the degree to which an agent can be held responsible for action or inaction *Guilt (law) ...

of murder, 18 guilty of rioting with deadly weapons and 11 guilty of rioting. The remaining 11 accused were

acquitted In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...

. The 18 found guilty of murder were

sentenced to death Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

while those 18 found guilty of rioting with deadly weapons were sentenced to three years of imprisonment, with the rest of the 11 accused given two years of imprisonment. This case was noted as one of the most famous cases prosecuted by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) and later dissident

Francis Seow Francis Seow, born Seow Tiang Siew ( zh, s=萧添寿, p=Xiāo Tiānshòu; 11 October 1928 – 21 January 2016), was a Singaporean lawyer who was Solicitor-General of Singapore and later the President of the Law Society of Singapore. Seow started ...

. Most of those involved in the rioting were well-known and particularly-infamous members of local Singapore

secret societies A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...

who were detained without trial and had little to no hope of leaving the island for the rest of their lives. As a result of the terrible riot, the experimental penal settlement was shut down and the programme came to an abrupt end by the end of 1964, with the island being declared out of bounds to all.

Restricted Area

Since 9 June 1989, the island, together with

and

, form the

(SAF) Southern Islands Live-Firing Area (SILFA), a restricted

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

training area and live-firing zone. As with all other military areas, installations and zones within the country, the entire live-firing zone is strictly off-limits to all civilians and unauthorised vessels at all times of the day and the night. In SILFA, the

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establi ...

(RSAF) conducts military exercises for aerial bombing and parachute/rappelling practices, and on Pulau Sudong, there is a runway and a small control-tower for (military) planes to land and takeoff before flying off to the nearby

, on where a series of artificial ground-targets are located, for bombing exercises.Typical MINDEF notice during live-firing ex
/ref> While not often, the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) occasionally uses SILFA for naval gunnery drills and exercises.

Panorama

References

*Victor R Savage, Brenda S A Yeoh (2004), ''Toponymics - A Study of Singapore Street Names'', Eastern University Press, *Tommy Koh ''et al.'' (2006), '' Singapore: The Encyclopedia'', Editions Didier Millet and National Heritage Board,

External links

Coral reefs of Singapore - Live-firing islands"Dolphins spotted off Pulau Senang" at ''habitatnews''Satellite image of Pulau Senang
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Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panoramic views of streets ( Street View), real-time traffic conditions, and rou ...

{{Islands of Singapore Senang Western Islands Planning Area