Pulau Pawai, also known as Alligator Island during the

colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

times, is a

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

located within the

Singapore Armed Forces The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) are the military services of the Republic of Singapore, responsible for protecting and defending the security interests and the sovereignty of the country. A military component of the Ministry of Defence (MINDE ...

Live Firing Area. It is located off the southwestern coast of

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, between

Pulau Sudong Pulau Sudong is a 209-hectare coral island off the southern coast of Singapore. It was enlarged through a land reclamation process during the late 1970s. Restricted area Since the early 1980s, Pulau Sudong, together with Pulau Senang and Pulau ...

to its north and

Pulau Satumu Pulau Satumu ( Chinese: 沙都姆岛) is a small island to the south of the main Singapore island, and the southernmost island of Singapore. The Raffles Lighthouse Raffles Lighthouse (Chinese: ; ms, Rumah Api Raffles; ta, ராஃபில� ...

to its south. It is one of the three islands owned by the Singapore Armed Forces for live firing exercises, the other two being Pulau Sudong and

Pulau Senang Pulau Senang is an coral-formed island in the Republic of Singapore, located about off the southern coast of the main island of Singapore. Along with Pulau Pawai to the northwest and Pulau Sudong further behind Pulau Pawai, it is used as a mil ...

Live Firing Area (Southern Islands)

Since 9 June 1989, the island together with

and

, these three islands formed the

southern islands

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

training area and live-firing zone. As with all other military installations within the country, the entire live-firing zone is strictly off limits to all civilians at all times of the day and night. The island is used mainly as a practice range for live-ammunition bombing both from the air and the ground. The

Republic of Singapore Air Force The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) is the aerial service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for controlling and defending the airspace of the country, and providing air support to the Army and Navy. It was establish ...

and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

take turns to use it, with the Air Force practicing strafing and the Navy practicing shelling targets. Pawai's lush green and brown forests are mostly undisturbed and it has been found to have a rich biodiversity of

coral reefs A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of Colony (biology), colonies of coral polyp (zoology), polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, wh ...

, especially

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

Etymology

"Pawai" means cortège (french: procession, retinue) or suite of the Raja, so presumably the retinue of the Raja stayed on this island.

Panorama

References

Pawai Western Islands Planning Area {{singapore-geo-stub