Little Red Dot: a short story by Mok Ly Yng

Posted by Mok Ly Yng under National History
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When President Habibie made a jibe about about Singapore being a little red dot in 1998, I was wondering if he had actually seen this 1969 map of Singapore.

As far as I can tell, since 1819, this is the only map of Singapore by Singapore which has the little red dot for Singapore.

Ironically, it is also the *only* topographical map of Singapore which was published by the Chief Surveyor of Singapore.

From Curtin University’s library (in Perth, Australia) (Kindly click on the image for a larger view)

Originally posted to Singapore Heritage Mailing List on 18th December 2005.

In The Straits Times of Saturday, 17th December 2005, there is a special feature on local writers and the books they have published. The writer compiled a list of top 20 trends in local books.

Trend #12 is on ‘The Little Red Dot’.
12. Red dot diplomacy

FORMER Indonesian president B. J. Habibie’s infamous jibe about Singapore in 1998 has become an ironic book title in The Little Red Dot:

Reflections By Singapore’s Diplomats, edited by Tommy Koh and Chang Li Lin.

The 470-page book, published by World Scientific and the Institute of Policy Studies, exorcises the ghost of Dr Habibie’s insult by telling the story of Singapore’s rise through the eyes of 50 of its finest diplomats.

These include President S R Nathan, who was envoy to Malaysia, and former Foreign Minister and now Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng.

The book has sold about 5,000 copies so far.

For more diplomacy, check out two coffee-table books put out by Editions Didier Millet - The Singapore Foreign Service: The First Forty Years, byGretchen Liu, and Across Missions: Selections From The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Art Collection.

I do not know the technical way to describe such language usage which has been influenced by the ‘map’ image.

But I do know that there is a real map with Singapore depicted as a little red dot. A copy of it is available in Curtin University’s library (in Perth, Australia).

(Kindly click on the image for a larger view)

The map has the following specifications:

Title: SINGAPORE SERIES 1
Edition: EDITION 1
Scale: 1 inch to 1 mile (1:63,360)

Published by the Chief Surveyor, Singapore, 1969

Prepared under the direction of AD Survey, Far East Land Forces, by 84 Survey Squadron RE, in 1969…

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When President Habibie said those words way back then, I was wondering if he had actually seen this 1969 map of Singapore.

As far as I can tell, since 1819, this is the only map of Singapore by Singapore which has the little red dot for Singapore.

The red dot is used in the small map inset showing Singapore in a regional context.The map itself has a story. It was (and still is) the *only* topographical map of Singapore which was published by the Chief Surveyor of Singapore (as head of the Survey Department of Singapore (SDS)).

Topographical maps were surveyed and produced by the Pan-Malayan Federal Survey Department with HQ in Kuala Lumpur. The component states within Malaya (the Straits Settlements and the various Malay States) had their own Survey Departments respectively to handle cadastral (land and property boundary) surveys only. In many cases, the cadastral maps were also printed in KL at the HQ.

In 1959, Singapore achieved self-rule, and the ties were temporarily severed. But from 1959 to 1963, no new topographical maps of Singapore were produced locally. From 1963 to August 1965, Singapore was back in the now Pan-Malaysian establishment and a new topo map was published in 1964 by KL.

After separation, Singapore relied upon the British forces’ map production facilities as a temporary measure. The Survey Department of Singapore (SDS) took over the surveys and production of Singapore’s topo maps after separation–theoretically and legally only. Singapore had insufficient (or rather non-existent) technical capability and capacity to execute these tasks in the few years after separation.

In 1969, a ‘new’ topographical map of Singapore was prepared and published, nominally by the Chief Surveyor of Singapore. This was the SERIES 1 topo map where the ‘red dot’ appeared.

By the end of 1970, Singapore had formed its own national mapping establishment: Mapping Unit. Mapping Unit took over the surveys and production of topo maps from the Survey Department of Singapore from 1971 effectively. This arrangement is still in force. In 1971 a new topo map entitled TOPO 1 was published by Mapping Unit.

Therefore, as you can see, due to a whole series of events, the Chief Surveyor of Singapore and the Survey Department of Singapore ended up with the one and only one topo map published by their office, in 1969 with the Little Red Dot!

I hope this story is of some interest. At least, you have actually seen the mythical .

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