[1] The rest of the crown colony was under the authority of the Singapore Rural Board.

[3][4] The municipality was then conferred with city status by a royal charter from King George VI on 22 September 1951, when Singapore was then a Crown colony.

Ong went on to become Minister of National Development under Lee Kuan Yew's premiership.

[5] In 1965, upon Singapore's expulsion from Malaysia, the Republic of Singapore Independence Act 1965 provided the following clause which empowered the President to abolish the City Council and the Rural Board, with the powers of the local authorities assumed by the Government.

President may by order make such modifications in any written law as appear to him to be necessary or expedient in consequence of the abolition of the City Council and of the Rural Board and of the assumption of the powers of the local authorities by the Government.Today, the Central Area, which sits in the south-eastern corner of Singapore, mostly corresponds with what was once the City of Singapore.