1 January – The Trade Development Board is formed to promote trade, taking over the Timber Industry Board and the Department of Trade with responsibility for domestic trading of commodities handled by the Domestic Trade Section of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and metrication taken over by the Singapore Institute of Standards and Industrial Research.[1]
29 January – A disaster occurred on the Singapore Cable Car. As a result, 2 cable cars plunged, causing 7 fatalities.[2]
3 April – Trans-Island Bus Services starts operations as the second bus operator in Singapore, after the bus mergers of 1971 and 1974.Therefore, TIBS was renamed and reoperated as SMRT Buses in May 10, 2004.
23 July - National Service conscript Sek Kim Wah and his accomplice Nyu Kok Meng went to rob a rich businessman and his family who lived in Andrew Road. Sek murdered three of the victims (which included the businessman, his wife and the family maid), with the remaining two hostages (the businessman's young daughter and the girl's tuition teacher) being released by Nyu, who protected them from Sek's murderous rampage, which would make headlines nationwide and brought shock to Singaporeans in 1983. Sek, who was also involved in an unrelated double murder that occurred a month earlier, was later arrested and sentenced to death for the five murders. Nyu, who turned himself in, was subsequently incarcerated for life and caned 6 strokes for armed robbery after the prosecution decided to dismiss the murder charges against him since he did not partake in the killings Sek committed. Sek was eventually hanged in Changi Prison Complex on 9 December 1988.
