The little island(s) that grew and grew!

Bukom -- my childhood island in the sun -- was in the news. ST (Feb 4) published the changing outline of the map of Singapore, as part of its story on government plans to transform the Little Red Dot to accommodate more people by 2030. And of course, Pulau Bukom (and its satellite islands) was included. But first, Singapore from 1966 to 2012, and the projection for 2030. I wonder how many people are able to locate Bukom, from the four ST graphics below:

  

For sure, the Shell Company has been expanding Pulau Bukom and Pulau Bukom Kechil for the longest time, and it has even created a new islet, Pulau Anak Bukom. All three features are now linked. I tried to "zoom in" on the four graphics above, but -- because the graphics were small-sized -- the results are not sharp at all:

Despite the grainy results, Bukom and Bukom Kechil were accurately depicted circa 1966 as two separate islands. By the time of the 2002 graphic, Anak had been created (but I am not sure when). From the last graphic, the Bukom that I knew as a boy would have been transformed beyond recognition.

I found from the Internet this undated map:

There is also this aerial view of the modern-day Pulau Bukom complex, which I had also used previously:

I'll continue with my reflections on this topic tomorrow, in Part 2. But before wrapping up, I think this FT article in TODAY (Feb 4) on the geopolitical import of Myanmar is worth a read: