Singapore

The Republic of Singapore (Simplified Chinese: 新加坡共和国; Malay: Republik Singapura; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு), is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, situated on the southern tip of Malay Peninsula, south of the state of Johor of Peninsular Malaysia and north of the Indonesian islands of Riau. Its coordinates are 1° 17′ 35″ N 103° 51′ 20″ E, just 137 km north of the Equator.

Established as a trading port by the British in the early 19th century, Singapore became a centre of British influence in Southeast Asia. Upon achieving independence from Malaysia in 1965, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew advanced Singapore from a third world to first world nation. Singapore is known for its lack of corruption and low crime rate. One of the East Asian Tigers, Singapore enjoys a highly developed and successful free-market economy and has one of the highest per capita gross domestic products in the world.

In spite of practices such as the ban of imports of chewing gum, that have led some to label it a "nanny state", Singapore is a popular tourist destination in Southeast Asia. National service is mandatory for all male citizens and permanent residents, and Singapore maintains as many as 225,000 operationally ready national servicemen and has one of the most advanced air forces in Southeast Asia, even though Singapore has not been engaged in military conflict since World War II. Singapore has had a thorny relationship with its northern neighbour Malaysia over disagreements over issues such as the sale of water. However, Malaysia remains a vital, albeit partial, economic hinterland.

History

Main article: History of Singapore

The first recorded mention of Singapore is in Chinese texts dating back to the 3rd century. The island served as an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally bore the Javanese name Temasek. Temasek rose to become a significant trading city in its heyday, but later declined in significance. Most of the remnants of old Temasek no longer exist in Singapore other than archaeological evidence.

In the 15th and 16th century, Singapore was a part of the Sultanate of Johor. During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1617, Singapore was set ablaze by Portuguese troops.

In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, an official with the British East India Company, established Singapore as a trade post and settlement, having made a treaty with the Sultan of Johore. Singapore was later made a crown colony in 1867 after a number of territorial expansions. It soon prospered economically as an entrepot town owing to its strategic location near the busy shipping routes.

During World War II, Japanese forces seized Malaya and the surrounding region. Despite numerical superiority the unprepared British were defeated, surrendering in February 1942 to the Japanese. The Japanese renamed Singapore as Syonan-to (Light of the South) and held it till September 1945, when they were defeated by the Allies. In 1959, Singapore became a self-governing crown colony with Lee Kuan Yew from the People's Action Party (PAP) becoming the first Prime Minister of Singapore following the 1959 elections. After a national referendum in 1962, it was admitted into the Federation of Malaysia along with Malaya, Sabah, and Sarawak as a state with autonomous powers in September 1963, and remained in the union until August 1965.

After intense ideological conflict developed between the People's Action Party, which formed the state government, and the federal government in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore was expelled from the federation on August 7, 1965, gaining official sovereignty two days later on August 9 with Malaysia becoming the first country to recognize it as an independent nation. Among the problems the fledgling nation faced after the Separation included mass unemployment, housing problems, and the lack of natural resources and land. From 1959 through 1990, Lee Kuan Yew was Prime Minister. During his term in office, his administration curbed unemployment, raised the standard of living, developed Singapore's economic revenue and infrastructure, and overcame Singapore's initial problems of lack of housing, social stability and independent national defence. This elevated the nation first to developing nation and then subsequently to developed status.

On November 26 1990, Goh Chok Tong assumed the office of prime minister, and under his watch the country survived the 1997 Asian economic crisis, the SARS outbreak in 2003, as well as the terrorist threat posed by the Jemaah Islamiah. Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, took over on August 12, 2004, as the third Prime Minister of Singapore after securing the confidence of a majority in Parliament, which is still dominated by the PAP today.

Politics & legislation

Main articles: Politics of Singapore, Laws of Singapore

The parliament and the cabinet have been dominated by the People's Action Party (PAP) since Independence. Over the years the PAP has been accused of taking harsh actions against opposition parties to discourage and impede their success, such as gerrymandering (redrawing electoral districts to one's own favour). Since most people are supportive or apathetic regarding PAP policies, the opposition parties are stereotypically associated with the truly political passionate. There are also several cases of government leaders taking out civil suits against the opposition for libel or slander. J. B. Jeyaretnam, leader of the opposition Workers' Party, lost a series of suits to members of the PAP and was declared bankrupt in 2001, disbarring him and disqualifying him from taking part in future elections. In universities and polytechnics, student political activism has been repeatedly suppressed.

Critics claim that Singaporean courts have been favouring the government and the PAP in law suits involving them and members of the opposition parties, although there were a few cases in which the opposition won. Western democracies consider the form of government in Singapore to be closer to authoritarianism rather than true democracy, and could be considered an illiberal democracy or procedural democracy.

Despite this, Singapore has what many consider to be a highly successful and transparent market economy. Singapore was originally known as a social democracy, but the PAP has consistently rejected the notion of being socialist. One difference from a social democracy could be the sense that it uses public opinion and feedback to make policies instead of rigorous lawmaking procedures. However, the PAP's policies contain certain aspects of socialism, which includes government owned public housing constituting the majority of real estate and the dominance of government owned and controlled companies in the local economy. The PAP has also consistently rejected Western democratic values in the past, with former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew citing incompatibilities with "Asian values". Most recently, the PAP has promulgated the loosening of social conservative policies and measures to encourage entrepreneurship but the effects of both efforts have not been completely manifested.

Laws in Singapore are generally strict and aimed at instilling a disciplined society with restrictions and harsh punishments such as caning and execution. Pornography, oral sex, anal sex, and homosexual intercourse are illegal in Singapore. There is stringent government censorship of the media including the magazines, newspapers, movies and TV programmes. Some offences can lead to heavy fines or caning; while murder and drug trafficking are capital offences.

In 1994, an American teenager, Michael Fay, generated intense media interest and protest from the United States, after he was sentenced to six strokes of the cane for vandalism. The sentencing triggered a formal request from U.S. government not to carry out the sentence. The appeal was denied, but the sentence was commuted to four strokes.

Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world, with low incidence of violent crimes. Both locals and tourists generally feel safe in the country.

Geography

Main article: Geography of Singapore

Singapore's main territory is a diamond-shaped island with her surrounding smaller islands. There are two connections from Singapore to the state of Johor, Malaysia — One is a man-made causeway to the north, crossing the Tebrau Straits, and the other is the Tuas Second Link (called Linka Dua in Malaysia), a bridge in the western part of Singapore that connects to Johor.

Of Singapore's dozens of smaller islands, Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the larger ones. The highest point of Singapore is Bukit Timah, with a height of 164m or 538 feet.

Urban area used to be concentrated on the southern part of Singapore, around the mouth of the Singapore River, while the rest of the land was tropical rain forest or used for agriculture. However, from the 1960's, these areas were developed for housing and towns so that most of the island is now urban. In addition, Singapore has reclaimed land with earth obtained from its own hills, the seabed, and neighbouring countries. As a result, Singapore's land area grew from 581.5km² in the 1960s to 697.2km² today, and may grow by another 100km² by 2030.

Without natural freshwater rivers and lakes, the primary domestic source of water in Singapore is rainfall, caught in reservoirs or catchment areas. Although there is abundant rainfall, it caters only 50% of Singapore's water consumption; the remaining is imported from Malaysia. More catchment and recycled water (called NEWater) or desalination facilities have been or are being built, to reduce reliance on foreign supply.

Singapore has a tropical rainforest climate with no distinct seasons, under the Köppen climate classification. Its climate is characterised by uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and abundant rainfall. The temperatures range from 23ºC to 34ºC. On average, the relative humidity is around 90% in the morning, to 60% in the afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative humidity often reaches 100%.

Economy

Main article: Economy of Singapore

As one of the East Asian Tigers, Singapore enjoys a highly developed and successful free-market economy, characterised by a remarkably open and corruption-free environment, stable prices, and one of the highest per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in the world. The economy depends heavily on exports, particularly in electronics and manufacturing, and was hard hit in 2001 by the global recession and the slump in the technology sector, which caused the GDP that year to contract by 2.2%. The Economic Review Committee (ERC), set up in December 2001, made key recommendations in remaking Singapore's economy.

The economy has since recovered in response to improvements in the world economy, and grew by 8.4% in 2004. In the longer term the government hopes to establish a new growth path that will be less vulnerable to the external business cycle than the current export-led model, but is unlikely to abandon efforts to establish Singapore as Southeast Asia's financial and high-tech hub. The per capita GDP in 2003 was US$25,200. In the fourth quarter of 2004, the unemployment rate was 3.7%.

Tourism in Singapore

Main Article : Tourism in Singapore

Singapore has a well developed tourism industry, with over 8 million visitors in 2004. As a cosmopolitan city featuring a harmonised diversity of races and cultures, many visitors visit Singapore as a destination in itself, rather than just as a stepping stone or transit stop.

Singapore has become noted among international travellers as an exciting travel destination, making tourism one of the largest industries in Singapore. Its cultural diversity reflects its rich colonial history and Malay, Chinese, Arab and Indian ethnicities. For many years considered to be the business hub of Southeast Asia, Singapore has an expansive shopping precinct located in the Orchard Road district. Filled with several multistorey shopping centres, the area also has many hotels, and is regarded by many as the tourism centre of Singapore.

Other popular tourist attractions include the Singapore Zoo and its Night Safari, which allows people to explore Asian, African and South American habitats at night, without any visible barriers between guests and the wild animals. The Singapore Zoo has embraced the 'open zoo' concept whereby animals are kept in enclosures, separated from visitors by hidden dry or wet moats, instead of caging the animals. Also famous is the Jurong Bird Park, wherein there are specimens of magnificent bird life from around the world, including a flock of one thousand flamingos. The tourist island of Sentosa, located in the south of Singapore, consists of about 20–30 landmarks. Built as a fortress to defend against the Japanese during World War 2, the guns can be seen at Fort Siloso, from a mini sized to a 16 pounder (7 kg) gun. Recently, the island has built the Carlsberg Sky Tower, which allows visitors to view the whole of Sentosa. Looking forward, Singapore is going to have two integrated resorts with casinos in 2009, one at Marina Bayfront and the other at Sentosa which the government announced during a parliament session on 18 April 2005.

Transportation

Main Article : Transportation in Singapore

Singapore's history has been closely tied to the growth of its transportation industry since its infancy. It remains so even today as this industry contributes over 10% of gross domestic product, despite an increasingly diversified economy.

The Port of Singapore, run by port operators PSA International (formerly the Port of Singapore Authority) and Jurong Port, is the world's busiest in terms of shipping tonnage handled. 1.04 billion gross tons (GT) were handled in the year 2004, crossing the one billion mark for the first time in Singapore's maritime history. Singapore also emerged as the top port in terms of cargo tonnage handled with 393 million tonnes of cargo in the same year, pipping the port in Rotterdam for the first time in the process. Singapore is ranked second globally in terms of containerised traffic, with 21.3 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) handled in 2004, and retains her position as the World's busiest hub for transhipment traffic. She is also the world's biggest bunkering hub, with 23.6 million tonnes of bunkers sold in 2004.

In the aviation business, the Singapore Changi Airport, situated at the eastern end of the island, serves as a major air hub for the region and beyond, particularly as a stopover point for the "Kangaroo route" between Australasia and Europe. As one of the top 5 airports in Asia in terms of passengers handled, it crossed the 30 million passenger mark for the first time in the year 2004. In anticipation of rising demand in both the regular and low-cost sectors, a third passenger terminal and a low-cost terminal are currently under construction and these will increase the airport's total capacity to 66.7 million passengers annually by 2008.

Domestic transport infrastructure includes the heavy rail passenger Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system, the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system, an extensive expressway and road system, and a nationwide system of taxis and buses. To control road usage, vehicles are subject to toll by an Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system during hours of heavy road traffic. Recently, there has been complaints of rising public transport fares but the government asserts that this is due to the increase in global oil prices.

Demographics

Main articles: Demographics of Singapore, Religion in Singapore

Singapore is the second most densely populated independent country in the world. 84% of Singaporeans live in public housing provided by the Housing and Development Board (HDB).

Singapore's population, though small at around four million, is relatively diverse compared to most other countries, although neighbour Malaysia also features a multiracial population. The Chinese, who constituted the majority of the island population since the colonial days, account for 76.8% of Singaporeans. Malay, who are the indigenous native group of the country, constitute 13.9%, though this number includes many Malay ethnic groups from other parts of the Malay archipelago including the Javanese, Bugis, Baweans and Minangs. Indians are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9% and they consist of several groups — Tamils, who form the largest Indian group and others such as Malayalees, Punjabis and Bengalis. The rest are made up of smaller groups such as the Arabs and the Eurasians.

Singapore is generally a multi-religious country, mainly due to its strategic location and the variety of religious beliefs that most Singaporeans hold. More than 40% of the Singaporeans adhere to Mahayana Buddhism, the main faith of the Chinese population. Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, and ancestral worship are merged into one by most Chinese adherents to Buddhism. Most Muslims are Malay and there are some Indian Muslims.

The government of Singapore has been careful to maintain ethnic harmony after racial riots erupted in the 1960s. Racial harmony has been emphasized in all aspects of society, including education, military and housing. So far the policy has been largely successful, and there have been few signs of ethnic tension since the early 1970s. Issues exist such as bans on fundamentalist evangelical Christian activities such as groups like Jehovah's Witness and the Islamic headscarf in public schools.

The official languages of Singapore are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. English has been promoted as the country's lingua franca since independence, and it is spoken by the majority of the population. Malay remains as Singapore's national language for historical reasons and it is used in the national anthem. To promote Chinese culture and the use of Mandarin, the government has introduced a "Speak Mandarin Campaign".

Culture

Main article: Culture of Singapore

As Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of semi-indigenous Malay population with the majority Chinese and the minority Indian and Arab migrants with little intermarriage, there appears little in the way of specifically Singaporean culture. However, there exists a community of Peranakan or "Straits Chinese", of mixed Chinese and Malay descent and a steadily increasing Eurasian community. The major public holidays in Singapore reflect this diversity, including the religious holidays of various denominations.

Singapore has also achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion with its unique combination of these ethnic groups, and has given Singapore a rich mixture of diversity for its young age. This diffusion can be seen as a reason to view Singapore's culture as significantly rich. One of the prime examples is in Singapore's cuisine, and is often a cultural attraction for tourists.

Officially, the English used is modelled on British English (spelling and grammar), with some American English influences. The local colloquial dialect of English is known formally as Singapore Colloquial English (though it is more commonly called "Singlish"), and has many creole-like characteristics, having incorporated much vocabulary and grammar from various Chinese dialects, Malay, and Indian languages. Singlish is basically identical to Manglish (the English dialect of Malaysia), and is the usual language on the streets, but is frowned upon in official contexts, and this matter has been brought up in recent years in the Parliament and the ruling party. English use among the population generally became more widespread after the implementation of English as a first language medium in the Singapore education system.

Singapore also has several ethnic neighborhoods, including a "Little India" and a "Chinatown", formed by the Raffles Plan of Singapore to segregate the new immigrants into specific areas. Although the population are no longer segregated in distribution mainly due to the policies of the HDB now, these ethnic neighbourhoods retain selective elements of their specific culture. The usage of such neighbourhoods is mostly commercial or for a cottage industry specific to the culture of its ethnic neighbourhood, and does not play a big part in housing the population, although it is used for that purpose. Hence, these neighbourhoods have a diverse patronage who probably wish to either eat or buy something specific to that culture.

In other parts of the country, segregation is discouraged and diversity encouraged. This can often be found in the policies of the HDB, which try to make sure there is a mix of all races within each housing district. The effect of this can be observed in all parts of the country; for example a store devoted to selling Malay food might be right next to stores selling Chinese or Indian goods. This, in return, is thought by some to foster social cohesion and national loyalty, which are crucial for sustaining Singapore's growth.

Religious tolerance has been strongly encouraged since the British colonised Singapore; South Bridge Street, which was a major road through the old Chinatown, served as home to the Sri Mariamman Temple (a south Indian Hindu temple that was declared a national history site in the 1980s), as well as the Masjid Jamae Mosque that served Chulia Muslims from India's Coromandel Coast. Among other religious landmarks is the Armenian Church of Gregory the Illuminator, that was built in 1836, making it the oldest church in Singapore. It has been preserved until the present day, and Orthodox services continue to be held in it. Although orthodox religions are tolerated, some groups are banned (Jehovah's Witnesses, for example). The Societies Act forces all organizations, including churches, to be approved by the government.

Homosexuality is generally marginalized by Singaporean society. While homosexuality itself is not illegal, sexual intercourse between two men is liable to prosecution and conviction under Singapore law. Politically, this tension has been the subject of much debate both inside and outside of Singapore, and there is no current legislative proposal to resolve this. Under the Societies Act the government has not allowed any gay rights group to form and openly address the issue.

Since the late 1990's, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a cultural centre for arts and culture, including theatre and music. This fits in with Singapore's status as a cosmopolitian and multi-racial society, often being called the "gateway between the East and West". The highlight of this plan is the Esplanade – "Theatres on the Bay", a centre for performing arts, opened in 2003. The Esplanade is also known as "The Durian", due to its resemblance to the fruit.

Miscellaneous

• Communications in Singapore
• Education in Singapore
• Foreign relations of Singapore
• Music of Singapore
• Singapore Armed Forces

References

• "Nation's History." Singapore Infomap. Accessed on [[11 January, 2004]], 2004.
• "Census 2000." Singapore Department of Statistics. Accessed on [[11 January, 2004]], 2000.¹
• "Key Facts & Figures." Ministry of Transport, Singapore. Accessed on [[11 January, 2004]], 2003.²
• "Journey to Singapore's Yesteryears – Historical Landmarks – Armenian Church." Victoria School IT Club. Accessed on [[26 January, 2004]], 2003.
• "National Library Board Singapore: Branches & Hours." National Library Board Singapore. Accessed on [[26 January, 2004]], 2004.
• Diane K. Mauzy & R. S. Milne (August 2, 2002). Singapore Politics : Under the People's Action Party. Avaliable: Routledge. ISBN 0415246539
• This article incorporates public domain text from the websites of Singapore Department of Statistics, United States Department of State, the United States Library of Congress & CIA World Factbook (2004).

See also

• Singapore Changi Airport
• Singapore Armed Forces
• Republic of Singapore Air Force
• Republic of Singapore Navy
• Singapore Police Force

External links

• Travel guide to Singapore from Wikitravel
• Wikicities has a wiki about Singapore: Singapore Wireless
• Singapore Government Online Portal
• The Singapore Infomap
• CIA World Factbook Entry for Singapore
• Sights Of Singapore
• Singapore Guide
• Tomorrow.sg (Singapore's metablog)
• Online map of Singapore