Badang was a poor young man who made his home on the banks of Sungai Singapura (Singapore River). He was thin and weak but dreamed of becoming strong. Badang had an old fish trap that he set every evening in the river to catch fish. On one unfortunate morning, he discovered that his fish had been eaten up and all that were left were fish bones scattered near where the fish trap was set. His old fish trap was also damaged.
Determined to catch the culprit, Badang secretly monitored the activities around his fish trap and it paid off as the identity of the thief was revealed; a strange scaly genie. Badang fearlessly confronted the genie who alas at the sight of Badang's ferocious eyes begged to be let go while promising to grant Badang any wish. Badang wished to be stronger than any man but had to fulfill an unpleasant condition; he had to eat up what the genie threw up. True to the genie's words, after downing the genie's vomit, Badang was able to uproot a tree effortlessly.
Badang's newfound might set his quiet fishing village abuzz and before long the news reached the throne, and Badang was appointed a hulubalang (court warrior) . His fame went beyond to as far as India. Not to be outdone, the ruler of India sent the kingdom's strongest man, Wadi Bijaya, to Singapura for a duel with Badang. Wadi Bijaya set sail with seven ships filled with valuables as prizes for the winner. Should he win, Raja Singapura would in turn give seven ships of the same valuables to him. There was a series of matches to test the two strong men's strength. Badang won all of them. The last was a rock throwing contest. While Wadi Bijaya could only lift the enormous rock up to his knees, Badang lifted it up over his head and flung it into the sea where it landed near the mouth of Sungai Singapura (Singapore River).
This is part one of the movie about it called "Badang" by Cathay Kris Productions
The Rock that Badang threw was found by the British, who wanted to decipher the ancient inscription on the rock, however Captain Stevenson, had it blown up to pieces in 1843. Now, the only remains is a small piece of the rock, which is called the "Singapore Stone" at the Singapore History Museum.
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