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SINGAPORE The Republic of Singapore,
is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, at latitude 1°17'35"N longitude
103°51'20"E, 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.
History
The history of Singapore begins with the earliest references to the island
in Chinese texts from the 3rd century. The island served as an outpost of
the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and was originally given the Javanese name
Temasek. Temasek rose to become a significant trading city in its heyday,
but later declined in significance - little is to be found of old Temasek in
Singapore other than archaeological evidence.
The current name of the city derives from the
Sanskrit Singapura (Lion City); this name became common by the late 14th
century. The 15th and 16th century Sultanate of Johore included Singapore.
During the Malay-Portugal wars, Singapura was burned down by Portugese
forces in 1617. The city was officially abandoned; the island remained
inhabited by small bands of fishermen and pirates.
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 Johor, the effective ruler of the island of
Singapore then. After some conflict over the territory between the Dutch and
the British, the Dutch withdrew objections to Great Britain's founding of
Singapore as a trade city in Southeast Asia in August 1824. After undergoing
a number of territorial incarnations, Singapore was made a crown colony in
1867.
Singapore prospered as a trading port. Entrepot trade grew, no doubt helped
by Singapore's strategic location at an important trade route along the
Straits of Malacca, later to become the busiest shipping route in the world.
During World War II, Japanese forces invaded Malaya and pushed southwards
towards Singapore. The British and Allied forces were forced to retreat
towards Singapore with the Japanese in pursuit. Despite having numerical
superiority, the British and Allied troops were less well trained and they
did not have the combined arms support of the navy and air force that the
Japanese enjoyed after successful raids on the Royal Air Force base in
Singapore and the destruction of the battleships, the "Prince of Wales" and
the "Repulse". The Japanese landed in Singapore on February 7, 1942. On
February 15, 1942, Lieutenant General Arthur Percival, commander of British
forces in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita.
The Japanese held Singapore until September 1945.
Singapore became a self-governing nation in 1959. Singapore joined Malaya,
Sabah and Sarawak as part of the Federation of Malaysia between 1963 and
1965. It however, withdrew from Malaysia, becoming a sovereign nation on
August 9, 1965 as racial tensions grew within Malaysia. Singapore rapidly
formed its own armed forces as Britain withdrew troops from Singapore in
October 1971.
Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore's first Prime Minister, governing Singapore from
1959 to 1990. His main priority then was to raise Singapore from the ashes
after the World War II and develop it to compete in the global market, which
was extremely hard, given the economic and political state of Singapore
after the war.
His successor Goh Chok Tong, took office in 1990 as the second Prime
Minister, while Lee Kuan Yew became Senior Minister. Goh Chok Tong was faced
with the problems of sustaining Singapore's growth and further promote it as
a business hub. He also saw the country through crises such as the 1997
Asian economic crisis and SARS in 2003.
On August 12, 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, took
over as the third Prime Minister of Singapore. In turn, Goh Chok Tong became
Senior Minister while Lee Kuan Yew took on the newly created portfolio of
Minister Mentor.
Geography
Singapore's main territory is a diamond-shaped island which is 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 bridge (Tuas Second Link) in the
western part of Singapore connecting to Johor. Singapore also has dozens of
smaller islands, of which 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.
When Singapore was first colonized by the British, the city of Singapore was
situated on the southern coast, around the mouth of the Singapore River.
This area remains the downtown core of Singapore. The rest of the island was
farmland and jungle. However, since the 1960s the government has constructed
many new towns in other areas, so that today the island is nearly entirely
built-up, with only a few exceptions. 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 697.1km² today, and may grow by another 100km² by 2030.
Since Singapore is basically a city-state, there are no further
administrative divisions. Singapore does however have community development
councils and town councils that handle local matters.
Climate
Singapore's climate is tropical ("tropical rainforest climate" under Köppen
climate classification), with no distinct seasons. Because of its
geographical location and maritime exposure, its climate is characterised by
uniform temperature and pressure, high humidity and abundant rainfall.
Temperature as a diurnal range of a minimum 23-26ºC and a maximum of 31-34ºC.
Relative humidity has a diurnal range in the high 90's in the early morning
to around 60 % in the mid-afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative
humidity often reaches 100 %.
The climate of Singapore can be divided into two main seasons, the Northeast
Monsoon (December to early March) and the Southwest Monsoon season (June to
September), separated by two relatively short inter-monsoon periods. (These
seasons are usually found in more academic contexts and are not generally
familiar to laypeople in Singapore.) During the Northeast Monsoon season,
northeast winds prevail, sometimes reaching 20 km/h. Cloudy conditions in
December and January with frequent afternoon showers. Spells of widespread
moderate to heavy rain occur lasting from 1 to 3 days at a stretch.
Relatively drier in February till early March. Also generally windy with
wind speeds sometimes reaching 30 to 40 km/h in the months of January and
February. During the Southeast Monsoon season, southeast/southwest winds
prevail. Isolated to scattered showers occur in the late morning and early
afternoon. Early morning "Sumatra" line squalls are common.
Demographics
Apart from the much smaller Monaco, Singapore is the most densely populated
independent country in the world. 85% of Singaporeans live in public housing
provided by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). Source: Singapore
Department of Statistics
(http://www.singstat.gov.sg/keystats/people.html#hhlds)
Singapore's population is diverse. The Chinese account for 76.8% of
Singaporeans. Malays, 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.The Indians are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9% which
consisted 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 Arabs and Eurasians.
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 successful, and there has been no signs of ethnic unrest
since the early 1970s. Issues exist such as bans on fundamentalist
evangelical Christian activities and the Islamic headscarf in public schools
(without a reciprocal ban on other religious symbols).
The official languages are English, Mandarin Chinese, 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
Singapore's national language for historical reasons and it is used in the
national anthem.
Culture
Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of indigenous Malay
population with Chinese and Indian migrants. There appears little in the way
of specifically Singaporean culture, as there is little intermarriage,
although there is a community of Peranakan or "Straits Chinese", of mixed
Chinese and Malay descent. The major public holidays in Singapore reflect
this diversity, including the religious holidays of various denominations.
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 dialects of Chinese, 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 by the government.
Politics
Singapore has a Westminster-style constitution. There is an elected
figurehead president, who has veto powers in a few key decisions - such as
the use of the national reserves and the appointment of key judiciary
positions. True executive power rests with the prime minister who leads the
majority party in the elected Parliament.
In practice, politics is dominated by the People's Action Party which has
ruled since Independence. Over the years the PAP has been accused of taking
overly 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 (some say foolhardy). There are also several
cases of government leaders taking out civil suits against the opposition
for libel or slander. Critics point out that in any case brought before the
Singaporean courts involving the PAP or the Singapore Government, judges
have always ruled in their favour, although a few instances of successful
opposition suits have been recorded. Western democracies consider the mode
of government in Singapore to be closer to authoritarianism than true
democracy.
Paradoxically (for political scientists), Singapore has 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, PAP's policies contain certain hallmarks 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. 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 policies to
promote enterpreneurship but the effects of both efforts have not completely
manifested.
Economy
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 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. In 2001, GDP
contracted by 2.2%. The economy has since recovered in response to
improvements in the US economy, and is now expected to expand between 8 to
9% 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$22,366 (est.) with an unemployment rate
hovering around 5% in the same year.
The Economic Review Committee (ERC), set up in December 2001, made key
recommendations to remake Singapore into:
a globalised economy where Singapore is the key node in the global network,
linked to all the major economies;
a creative and entrepreneurial nation willing to take risks to create fresh
businesses and blaze new paths to success; and
a diversified economy powered by the twin engines of manufacturing and
services, where vibrant Singapore companies complement MNCs, and new
startups co-exist with traditional businesses exploiting new and innovative
ideas.
Transportation
Singapore is linked to Johor, Malaysia via a railway line operated by KTMB
of Malaysia, the causeway and bridge. Changi International Airport is
situated at the eastermost tip of the main island. Comprising of two
terminals, it is one of the most important air hubs in the region, serving
167 cities in 53 countries. When construction of the third terminal is
completed in 2006, Changi is capable of handling 64 million passengers every
year.
Within Singapore, there is a well-developed system of expressways and public
transport roads
In addition, Singapore has a subway system (Mass Rapid Transit and Light
Rail Transit) consisting of five lines. There is also a well-worked system
of bus routes throughout the island, most of which has air conditioning due
to Singapore's yearlong sweltering heat, while buses without air
conditioning will be gradually phased. A contactless smartcard (EZ-link) is
used to pay bus and subway fares.
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