Friday, December 22, 2006

Why is Singapore in the Wrong Time Zone?

The current Singapore local time is different from what it used to be. For those of you who do not know, back in the old, old days till 1905, we used to be 6hr 55m 25s ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). We are now 8 hours ahead. Here's a very interesting story on the different standard/local times that were used for Singapore throughout its history and why Singapore is in the wrong time zone:
1942. 16th Feb 1942, Japanese formally occupied Singapore. Singapore time moved ahead by 1 hr 30 min to conform with Tokyo Standard Time, which is 9 hours ahead of GMT.

1945. 12th Sep 1945, Japanese formally surrendered in Singapore. Singapore time reverted to “pre-invasion” standard: 7 hrs 30 min ahead of GMT. The exact dates for the change to and from Tokyo Standard Time have not been ascertained yet. The dates given here are based on educated speculation...

1981. Sometime in 1981, Malaysia declared that West Malaysia would move their clocks ahead by 30 min to match the time in use in East Malaysia (8 hrs ahead of GMT). This meant that Singapore would be in a rather awkward position in time if she didn't follow suit, especially with the amount of traffic and trade across the causeway. Singapore Government Gazette Notification S 392/81 (dated 31 December 1981) notified the nation that as of 1st Jan 1982, Singapore Standard Time would be 8 hours ahead of GMT.
(Thanks Marcus Chen)

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