This story first appeared in The Straits Times on 18 March 2023.

Lazarus Island, formerly known as Pulau Sekijang Pelepah, has recently been announced to be the site of new tourism developments. In ‘From Houses on Stilts to Eco-Houses: Former Lazarus Islanders Fondly Recall Their Old Home’ (Straits Times, March 2023), the history of this island is briefly revisited as locals look forward to its future possibilities.

Assistant Professor Hamzah Muzaini (NUS Southeast Asian Studies) reveals that, from the 1970s, plans were plotted to develop Lazarus Island for recreation purposes. Sentosa Island’s development would later come to fruition as part of this suite of plans. Lazarus Island’s inhabitants were relocated to the mainland in 1975 to facilitate further development of the island.

Although the original plans for the development of Lazarus Islands did not come to fruition in the 1980s, recreation plans in the form of short-term recreational accommodation are being restarted, according to parliamentary remarks by Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan. This takes advantage of the islands existing lush greenery and natural scenery.

Once an inhabited island, Asst Prof Muzaini says that Lazarus Island was home to 44 houses across two kampungs at its peak. It had been inhabited from the early 1800s. Today, public representation of the communities that once lived on the island seems sparse.

As plans to convert Lazarus Island into an eco-conscious recreational space develop, Asst Prof Muzaini urges planners to incorporate lessons from former islanders’ coexistence with nature into the eco-tourism spot’s offerings.

Read the article here: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/from-houses-on-stilts-to-eco-houses-former-lazarus-islanders-fondly-recall-their-old-home