Poh Ern Shih Temple 3.81

Poh Ern Shih is located on a small hilltop at Chwee Chian Road, off Pasir Panjang Road, on Singapore's southern coast. The Buddhist temple was built as a memorial to those who lost their lives during the Battle of Pasir Panjang in 1942, villagers as well as Allied and Japanese soldiers. The temple's first abbot, Sumangalo, an American Theravadin monk, was the first Westerner to be appointed abbot of a Buddhist temple in Singapore.Following a major development project which began in 2003, Poh Ern Shih became the first religious building in the country to incorporate both eco-friendly and elderly-friendly features. Together with its partner, the Buddhist Fellowship, the temple conducts programmes such as Dharma talks, Sutta discussions and meditation courses in Chinese and English for the Buddhist community.HistoryPoh Ern Shih is located on the top of Chwee Chian Hill, off Pasir Panjang Road, on Singapore's southern coast. Facing the hilltop is Bukit Chandu ('Opium Hill' in Malay), where the British East India Company had an opium factory to process raw opium from the Golden Triangle for sale to China and South East Asia in the 19th century. To protect its military facilities in the vicinity, the British colonial government placed heavy artillery guns on Chwee Chian Hill before the onset of the Second World War, in anticipation of seaborne attacks by the Japanese off the coast of Pasir Panjang.