Sentosa is the fourth largest island of Singapore, located off the southern coast of the main island. It hosts a sheltered beach of more than 2 km in length on its southern coast, a musical fountain replete with the latest lighting display technologies, and historical fortifications in Fort Siloso, dating from World War II. There are also two golf courses and two five star hotels.
Future plans for Sentosa aim to establish it as one of the world's most luxurious holiday locations, with a SG$10 billion masterplan for the future involving the construction of private housing, partial redevelopment of Siloso Beach, and Asia's first tourism academy.
It can be reached via a short causeway, or via cable car, which originates on Mount Faber and passes through HarbourFront en route. In the future, it will also be accessible by a SG$140 million light rail link between Sentosa and the mainland.
Sentosa was known in the immediate years after World War II as Pulau Blakang Mati, roughly translated from Malay as the Island of Death from Behind, because most of the defending artillery guns in Fort Siloso then were pointed to the south, facing the sea in expectation of a seaward Japanese assault. However, the Japanese eventually invaded and captured Singapore from the north, after having done the same to Malaya (now known as West or Peninsular Malaysia).
