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5 shortlisted names for baby panda at River Safari. Mandai Wildlife Group had invited the public to submit suggestions for the panda's name, and it has narrowed the shortlist down to these five names for the public to vote: Hong Hong (宏宏): Hong (宏) means magnificence (宏伟/宏大) in Mandarin, signifying well-wishes for the panda cub to grow up magnificent and healthy. Le Le (叻叻): Le (叻) comes from the old Chinese term for Singapore, "Shi Le Po" (石叻坡). Xin Le (新乐): Xin Le means new joy and can also mean Singapore’s joy. Xin Yang (新阳): Xin Yang means Singapore Sun or new Sun, which symbolises the brightness and joy this birth brings. The panda was also born in the morning. Xin Yuan (新缘): Xin (新) refers to Singapore, while Yuan (缘) means affinity/fate. Yuan also sounds like (圆) which means fulfilment. The cub was born after fate brought Kai Kai and Jia Jia together in Singapore. Votes are now open for the public to choose their favourite name and will end on Nov. 7, 2021, at 11:59pm. 😁

Longlong,chingching? i tink will win http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/sin...1089255/1/.html Nationwide panda-naming contest extended to year-end By Dylan Loh | Posted: 25 October 2010 1919 hrs Photos 1 of 1 Pandas SINGAPORE : A nationwide contest to name two pandas coming to Singapore from China next year has been extended till 31 December 2010. The animals will be on loan to Singapore for a 10-year period. They will arrive next year and can be seen at the Wildlife Reserves Singapore's River Safari attraction when it opens in 2012. Wildlife Reserves Singapore said the contest was extended to allow more people to submit entries. Over 1,000 entries have been received since the contest opened in June. A judging panel, including China's ambassador to Singapore, will decide on their names based on the suggestions received. - CNA/al

Osman Haji Mohammed Ali, 25, and Harun Said, alias Tahir, 21, (third and fourth from left) were charged with having "knowingly caused" the deaths of three persons when a bomb exploded on the landing of the mezzanine floor of MacDonald House on March 10, 1965. Singapore concerned over naming of Indonesian navy ship after executed commandos Singapore has registered its concerns over Indonesia’s naming of a navy ship after two Indonesian marines who took part in the 1965 bombing of MacDonald House on Orchard Road. Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman said on Wednesday night that Foreign Minister K Shanmugam spoke to his Indonesian counterpart, Dr Marty Natalegawa, to register these concerns “and the impact this would have on the feelings of Singaporeans, especially the families of the victims”. Indonesia’s Kompas daily had reported this week that the last of the Indonesian Navy’s three new British-made frigates would be named the KRI Usman Harun, after marines Osman Haji Mohamed Ali and Harun Said. “The two Indonesian marines were found guilty of the bombing which killed three people and injured 33 others,” the MFA spokeman said in response to media queries. “Singapore had considered this difficult chapter in the bilateral relationship closed in May 1973 when then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew visited and scattered flowers on the graves of the two marines,” he added. The duo were members of Indonesia’s special Operations Corps Command, which is today the Marine Corps, and had been ordered to infiltrate Singapore during Indonesia’s Confrontation with Malaysia. Then-president Sukarno had opposed the formation of Malaysia, which Singapore was part of from September 1963 to August 1965, as a puppet state of the British. Both marines were convicted and executed in Singapore in 1968 for the March 10, 1965 bombing of MacDonald House, which stands near where Dhoby Ghaut MRT station is today. Their hanging saw some 400 agitated students in Jakarta ransack the Singapore embassy, attack the consul’s residence and burn the Singapore flag, and bilateral ties remained tense for several years. The marines were welcomed home as heroes, and given a ceremonial funeral at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta. Relations between Singapore and Indonesia were restored when Mr Lee Kuan Yew visited Jakarta in 1973, and sprinkled flowers on the marines’ graves. Former Singapore ambassador to Indonesia Lee Khoon Choy had earlier recounted that the gesture, which the Javanese believe propitiates the souls of the dead, moved the hosts deeply because it demonstrated that Singapore was sensitive to Javanese culture. But in recent years, efforts to commemorate both marines – alongside other declared heroes – have resurfaced, and last year(2013), the Marine Corps proposed to rename Jalan Prapatan in Central Jakarta, where the unit’s headquarters are, as Jalan Usman Harun. The Navy said two other new ships it would take charge of would be named after Indonesian independence heroes Bung Tomo and John Lie. The first, KRI Bung Tomo, will set sail from Britain in June 2014. Bung Tomo led the popular resistance against Allied British and Dutch forces in the Battle of Surabaya in November 1945, while John Lie smuggled agricultural produce to buy and smuggle arms from Malaya for the fledgling Indonesian armed forces from 1945 to 1949. Kompas cited Indonesia’s Navy chief, Admiral Marsetio, as saying that the three ships would be named after these men “in remembering the services they had rendered to the Indonesian nation”. Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/breaking-news/singapore/story/singapore-registers-concerns-over-indonesian-navy-ship-20140206