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About
Shangri-La Hotel was officially opened by the Defense Minister, Dr. Goh Keng Swee, at 6:00 PM on 23 April 1971. The opening was attended by “3,000 guests representing Government, travel agencies, airlines, shipping companies, leading commercial houses, and the press” (Kwee 1971). The Chairman of the hotel was Mr. Robert Kuok Hock Nien, widely known as the “sugar king.” The Deputy Chairman, Mr. Runme Shaw, also served as Chairman of the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board.
The Island Ballroom often hosted banquets, but in 1972, Violet Oon observed that cultural impresario Donald Moore’s “experiment” in turning the ballroom “into a concert hall proved a success,” with the Music Group of London performing there. She further noted that the ballroom’s size was “perfect for a chamber performance,” offering an “intimate atmosphere” often “impossible to achieve in a theatre” (Oon 1972).
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Kwee, Masie. 1971. “Dr. Goh Opens $38½ Shangri-La Hotel.” The Straits Times, April 23, 1971, 33. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19710423-1.2.171.
Oon, Violet. 1972. “Chamber Music Success in Ballroom.” New Nation, January 31, 1972, 2. https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/newnation19720131-1.2.18.
Contributor
2026. “Shangri-La Hotel Island Ballroom“. In Performing Archipelagos, edited by Kyueun Kim, Alvin Eng Hui Lim and Hedren Wai Yuan Sum. Singapore: National University of Singapore.
