Explaining Why Singapore SHOULD NOT Be at GMT+8

Ajouté : 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]We all know that Singapore is GMT+8, but do you know that that is technically… not correct?

[00:00:05]Because we should be at GMT+7?

[00:00:08]Watch on and you’ll be smarter by just a bit!

[00:00:10]If you didn’t become smarter then that means you were never smart in the first place lah you bodoh, coz smarter means you need to be smart in the first place, it’s a comparative adjective, not an absolute adjective aiya I say liao you also catch no ball So, so, So Do YoU MisS Me ScolDinG SlaveS?

[00:00:19]Before anything, you need to know how time zones work first.

[00:00:22]How Time Zones Work Firstly, why are there time zones?

[00:00:27]Because sometimes, couples go to shopping centres and don’t know what to do, so the guy bring the girl to Timezone to show off his X-Men Vs Street Fighters Huh?

[00:00:34]Oh, wrong?

[00:00:35]Oh, duck noodles, sorry sorry sorry~ WHO THE HECK STILL PLAY AIR COMBO Duck rice, we’re talking about time zones, the different timings each region use.

[00:00:42]In Singapore and Malaysia, we, of course, use GMT+8.

[00:00:45]Here’s how it works: the Earth is a ball, and back in the 1880s, the world basically agreed to slice it into 24 vertical strips, anchored to a place called Greenwich, in London.

[00:00:55]Yes, this is why GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time.

[00:00:58]Anyways, each strip is 15 degrees of longitude wide, and each one is exactly one hour apart.

[00:01:03]Singapore sits at about 103.8 degrees east of Greenwich.

[00:01:06]Do the maths and that puts us squarely inside the GMT+7 strip, similar to Bangkok and Jakarta, as they’re roughly on the same vertical line as us.

[00:01:14]But we’re using GMT+8 instead.

[00:01:17]Why?

[00:01:17]Short answer: politics, business, and something that happened in 1981.

[00:01:22]But before we get to that, Singapore's clock has actually been changed not once, not twice, but six times in the last 120 years.

[00:01:29]Let's talk about the first five.

[00:01:30]How We Change Time Zones Like Tan Zhi Wei Changing Girlfriends On 1 June 1905, the British standardised everything in Malaya to GMT+7:00.

[00:01:38]Now, okay, that makes sense.

[00:01:39]But in 1933, we became GMT+7:20 due to...daylight saving.

[00:01:44]Daylight saving is a very complicated topic by itself, so if you want me to do a video about that, just type "Blue Cats like waffles" and I'll consider doing one.

[00:01:51]But anyways, in September 1941, it was pushed forward another 10 minutes to GMT+7:30, partly to fit BBC overseas radio programming times during the war period.

[00:02:01]And in 1942, we were occupied by the Japanese, so we switched to GMT+9:00, which is their timing.

[00:02:06]And finally, in 1945, we moved back to GMT+7:30 after the British took Singapore back.

[00:02:12]So, why is it GMT+8 then?

[00:02:14]The 1982 decision It all started in December 1981.

[00:02:26]Malaysia at that time had a weird problem: they were running on two different time zones in one country.

[00:02:31]You see, West Malaysia is at GMT+7:30 and East Malaysia is at GMT+8.

[00:02:36]The Malaysian government decided to fix this, and announced they were moving West Malaysia forward by 30 minutes, so the whole country would be on GMT+8.

[00:02:44]Remember, back then, Singapore was at GMT+7:30.

[00:02:47]So, Singapore had to make a choice.

[00:02:49]Stay on GMT+7:30 and be the only country in the region on that time, or follow Malaysia.

[00:02:54]The decision came fast.

[00:02:55]On 20 December 1981, the Singapore Ministry of Culture issued a press release announcing Singapore would also move to GMT+8, effective 1 January 1982.

[00:03:04]The official reason?

[00:03:05]Trade, travel, and the many close ties between the peoples and governments of Singapore and Malaysia.

[00:03:10]The then-president of the Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce had said, "If Singapore does not change its time, it would mean half an hour of reduced contacts, especially since most business dealings are conducted over the telephone."

[00:03:21]There’s another reason.

[00:03:22]If we use GMT+7:30, Singapore's working hours barely overlapped with the rest of the world.

[00:03:27]When the US west coast markets were closing, we were just starting work.

[00:03:30]By the time we were ready to do business with them, they had already gone home.

[00:03:33]The 30-minute jump fixed this.

[00:03:35]At GMT+8, Singapore could now catch the last bit of America's trading day, then pass the baton to London when Europe woke up.

[00:03:41]Also, we were now on the same time as Hong Kong, which is on GMT+8, and had 30 more minutes to do business with Japan, which is on GMT+9.

[00:03:49]Also, Japan was pumping quite a bit money into Singapore at that time.

[00:03:53]So, on New Year's Eve 1981, Singapore did something big.

[00:03:56]At 11:30pm on 31 December, the clocks jumped straight to midnight.

[00:04:00]Basically, if you’re someone who’s born before 31 December 1981, you’ve once time-travelled 30 minutes.

[00:04:07]Then how about the many different time travelling Singaporeans went through before?

[00:04:10]How would they feel?

[00:04:11]I don’t know; ask her.

[00:04:12]Huh?

[00:04:13]The GMT+8 Stays Until Today Therefore, since 1 January 1982, Singapore has been running about one full hour ahead of where the sun thinks we should be.

[00:04:21]This is why our sunrise is so late compared to other countries.

[00:04:24]Even near the equator, where the day should be a clean 12 hours, Singapore's sun comes up around 7am instead of 6am.

[00:04:30]So, the next time you wake up before sunrise and feel like something's not right, you're not imagining.

[00:04:35]The clock is really about an hour ahead of where the sun says it should be.

[00:04:38]Anyways, do you know that on certain months, the sunrise and sunset in Singapore would be very, very different?

[00:04:44]Watch this and you’ll understand.

[00:04:45]Also, if you want to advertise with us, even as a stand-alone video, do contact us.

[00:04:49]Our website is in the description, or you can scan this QR code.

[00:04:52]Thank you for spending almost five minutes with me.

[00:04:53]I really appreciate it, and hope you learn something.