Singapore

新加坡共和国
Republik Singapura
சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு
Republic of Singapore

(In Detail)
National motto: Majulah Singapura (Malay: Onward, Singapore)
Official languages	English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil
National language	Malay
Capital	Singapore
President	S. R. Nathan
Prime Minister	Goh Chok Tong
Area  - Total  - % water	Ranked 174th 692.7 km² 1.444%
Population  - Total (July 2003 est.)  - Density	Ranked 115th 4,608,595 6751/km²
GDP  - Total (2001)  - GDP/head	$106.3 billion $23,872.99
Independence  - Date	From Malaysia August 9, 1965
Currency	Singapore Dollar (S$, SGD)
Time zone	UTC +8
National anthem	Majulah Singapura
Internet TLD	.SG
Calling code	65

History

Singapore's history dates at least as far back as the 14th century. At that time, it emerged as Temasek, a port and fortified city of some importance. It was part of the Sri Vijaya Empire based in Sumatra, which was undergoing a protracted period of decline. While the written historical records of the Malays (the 'Sejarah Melayu', or Malay Annals) tend to exaggerate claims of the city's greatness, recent archaeological evidence does point to an urban settlement and trading centre of some importance. Following the decline of Sri Vijayan power, Temasek was claimed by rival emerging regional powers such as the Majapahit Empire in Java and the Ayuthia Kingdom in Thailand. The city's fortifications allowed it to withstand at least one attempted Thai invasion. Around this time, at start of the 15th century, Temasek was also renamed 'Singapura', which means 'Lion City' in Sanskrit. The modern city of Singapore was founded in 1819 by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles as a British trading settlement. The British surrendered Singapore to Japan during World War II, and it was returned to British administration in 1945. Self-government was granted by the British in 1959. In 1963, Singapore joined Malaysia but separated from it in 1965 and was re-instituted as an independent republic. It has subsequently become one of the world's most prosperous countries, with strong international trading links (its port is one of the world's busiest) and with per capita GDP above that of the leading nations of Western Europe. During the early years, it was led by prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose policies were responsible for Singapore's prosperity and authoritarianism.

Politics

Singapore has a Westminster-style constitution. In practice, politics is dominated by the People's Action Party which has ruled since Independence. The mode of government is perhaps closer to authoritarianism than true democracy. Paradoxically (for political scientists), Singapore has a highly successful, corruption-free, and transparent market economy.

Economy

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 GDPs 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. In 2001, GDP contracted by 2.2%. The economy is expected to recover in 2002 in response to improvements in the US economy, and GDP growth for 2002 is projected to be 3% to 4%. 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.

Geography

Singapore's main territory is a diamond-shaped piece of land that would be an island, if it was not connected to the city of Johor Bahru in the state of Johor (Malaysia) by a man-made causeway to the north. There is also a second link in the form of a bridge to Johor to the west in the Tuas area. Singapore also has dozens of smaller islands, of which Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest. Since Singapore basically consists of only one city, there are no further administrative divisions.

Demographics

Apart from the much smaller Monaco, Singapore is the most densely populated independent country in the world. 85% of the population stay in public housing. Source: Dept of Statistics

Singapore's population is diverse. Chinese account for 76.8% of the population, Malays 13.9% who were the indigenous or native group of the country. Indians are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9%. Source: Singapore Department of Statistics Census 2000.

The official languages are English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Malay is also Singapore's national language but this is largely symbolic, being the language of the national anthem. The ruling PAP has preferred to promote English as the country's lingua franca, with Malay being confined largely to its native speakers, with relatively few Chinese and Indian Singaporeans speaking it.

Culture

• Music of Singapore

Laws

• The sale of chewing gum is forbidden although chewing the gum is not;
• Heavy fines are levied on people who litter or discard items in public areas;
• Car ownership is curbed through a government scheme in which residents must bid for a Certificate of Entitlement (COE)
• Eating and drinking on buses and metro trains (also known as the Mass Rapid Transit system) also carries heavy fines;
• Vandalism and graffiti are punishable by mandatory caning;
• There is tough (by western standards) censorship:
  • Some foreign newspapers and magazines, such as the Asian Wall Street Journal and the Far Eastern Economic Review have had their circulation or sale restricted. Malaysian newspapers are not allowed to be sold in Singapore (and vice versa)
  • pornography is not allowed; depiction of sex and nudity is restricted, e.g. Playboy and certain other 'adult' magazines such as Cosmopolitan Magazine are not allowed. Sex and nudity, if allowed at all, must be relevant to the context; movies containing nudity, sex or high levels of violence are usually categorised as 'Restricted (Artistic)' or R(A).
  • Private ownership of satellite dishes is banned, and international TV broadcasts (such as CNN, BBC, etc) can only be received by cable.
  • Certain political material is not allowed;
  • Material which may disturb religious and racial harmony is not allowed;
• Narcotics laws are very strict;
  • Anyone caught with more than or equal to 13-14 g (0.5 ounces) of heroin, 28 g (1 ounce) of morphine or 480 g (17 ounces) of cannabis faces mandatory capital punishment. From 1991-2004, 400 people have been hanged in Singapore, mostly for drug trafficking, the highest execution rate in the world relative to population. See Singapore Government's response to its capital punishment.
• Homosexual penetration is illegal.

In 2003, the Censorship Review Committee recommended that the ban on Cosmopolitan Magazine be lifted but that the one on Playboy be continued because the Singaporean community is not ready for Playboy's liberal use of sexually explicit photographs.

Trivia

• Right Hand Drive.
• Officially, English used is modelled on British English, though American English is perfectly acceptable. The local version of English, Singlish, a combination of English with Hokkien accents and a smattering of words from other local languages, is popular, but frowned upon in official contexts.
• Date format: DD/MM/YYYY
• Postal Code: 6 digits.
• System of units: SI (Metric)
• Voltage: 220-240V, 50 Hz; Power connector: 3-pin rectangular (British)

Miscellaneous topics

• Communications in Singapore
• Transportation in Singapore
• Military of Singapore
• Education in Singapore
• Foreign relations of Singapore
• Tourism in Singapore
• Changi International Airport

Reference

• This article incorporates public domain text from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.

External links

• Singapore Government Online Portal
• The Singapore Infomap
• National Anthem: Majulah Singapura

Referenced By