Recently when Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott's flight stopped over in Singapore while returning home from London, our Prime Minister treated him breakfast and the two leaders had a discussion. This news was reported on social media and there were people who asked whether our Prime Minister talked about the topic of buying back Christmas Island. Apparently, I am sure it wasn't discussed.
First of all, I am sure lots of Singaporeans and perhaps even the older generation are unaware of this island. Christmas Island is situated in the Indian Ocean, quite near to Java, Indonesia. It probably takes only about 1.5 hours of flight to get there from Singapore. The main activity on this island is phosphate mining and the land crabs and sea birds are most noticeable fauna on the island. There are even flats on the island similar to the one shown below that are build in accordance to Singapore Housing Board standards in the 1960s.
The island got its name because it was discovered on Christmas day by either English or Dutch explorers. Somehow, the island was controlled by British and was administered under the Administration of the Government of Singapore which was still a crown colony of Britain back then. For some reason, the UK government decided to transfer the sovereignty of the island to Australia in which the Australian government paid £2.9 million in compensation to the Singapore government. Literally, it was the colonial government that sold Christmas Island before Singapore's independence and not our own government.
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