Singapore

The Republic of Singapore (Chinese 新加坡共和国, pinyin: Xīnjīapō Gònghéguó; Malay Republik Singapura; Tamil சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு, Cingkappūr Kudiyarasu), 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.

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History

Main article: History of Singapore

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. It is noted in several accounts that he chose Singapore due to its deep harbour and its prime location to break the monopoly of the Netherlands. At that time, the British were fiercely competing with the Netherlands in terms of trade. The Dutch held a monopoly over the Spice Islands, and prohibited the British from trading from all ports near the Spice Islands within their control, except for one port, Batavia, at which unfavourable prices were set at the expense of the British. The British disliked this, and sought a way to bypass the Dutch control of supply of spice produce. However, their current ports were insufficient - Penang, for example, was too far away, Bencoolen was facing the Sunda Straits, which lay among a less busy route. Many other sites were also Dutch-controlled or had too shallow a harbour. Singapore, however, proved a favourable site for a port and was founded for this reason, since it was close enough, as well as having a deep harbour and lay among the busy Malacca Straits route, which ran from India to China. It also held fresh water supplies and wood to repair ships. Today, these reasons remains one of the primary reasons that modern merchants still call at Singapore, save that wood is no longer really used to repair ships.

Yet roadblocks for making it a British port still remained. The island was a under control of the Sultan of Johore, who, his base of power being the Dutch, would certainly not cede Singapore to his sponsor's competitors! However, it came to the attention of Raffles through the Temenggong of Singapore that the current Sultan, Tengku Abdul Rahman was Sultan only because his older brother was away getting married in Penang when their father had died. Not being present, they had crowned the younger brother instead. Raffles took this chance to recognise the older brother as the rightful Sultan, Tengku Hussein, who then allowed in exchange for yearly payment, allowed the British to build a port. This was ratified with a treaty as well as the traditional ceremony on 6 February 1819.

With the Convention signed on 7 June 1823, British possession extended to the entire island, save for the residences of the Sultan and Temenggong. They would cede rights to port taxes and revenue and numerous other functions on the island in return for the Sultan and Temenggong receive payment of 1500 dollars and 800 dollars monthly respectively for their lifetimes. British law thus came into effect, from then on, minding Malay customs, traditions and religion, 'where they shall not be contrary to reason, justice or humanity' (as stated by the Convention). In 1824, the authorities in Calcutta of the British East India Company recognised Singapore as a permanaent and sovereign possession, as parts of the Straits Settlements.

As the port become much more busier, however, a need was felt, by merchants trading there especially to establish it as a Crown Colony and not merely as part of the governing structure under the British East India Company. This was because under the the governing structure of the East India Company, it took an immensely long period to recognise or pass any laws or resolutions at all. It can be compared to bureaucracy and red tape, in a sense. It was established as a Crown Colony in 1867, receiving orders directly from the Queen of England, signifying its importance.

Singapore continued to grow and expand as years passed. Commerce skyrocketed, but so did darker elements like crime, narcotics such as opium and secret societies, especially with the influx of coolies. Singapore can be said to be perceived as a land of oppurtunity to Asia, especialy China, in comparison New York was to Europe. Historians generally blame these problems on British insensitivity and the treatment of immigrants as second-class. Attempts were made to suppress the secret societies by improving the police force and its morale, banning the secret societies, and appointing people to the police force who were sensitive to the culture of the members of such secret societies. This had partial success. Housing, health and living standard problems continued right up into the post war were they took a great turn for the worse, and this later would become one of the primary reasons to achieve self-government.

Japan declared war against the Allies in December 7, 1941, in a three-pronged attack: South-East Asia was one of them, because it held resources to fund the war in China.

During World War II, Singapore was considered an "impregnable fortress" due to the fact Malayan jungle provided a natural barrier to the north and was heavily defended by naval artillery to the south, Fort Siloso, Fort Canning and the Guns of Labrador. Therefore the British did not bring tanks (considered useless in the jungle) or much of an air force or navy to support Singapore, since it was considered unnecessary, and it is held that British nationalism and complacency also led to a great underestimation of the sheer effectiveness of the Japanese threat which emerged during World War II. British defences were rather unco-ordinated. The two "unsinkable" warships, the Prince of Wales and the Repulse was sunk because British air support did not arrive on time to combat the Japanese planes terrorising it from above. The failure to bring tanks meant absolute supremacy on the ground for Japan, as the light tanks moved quickly through the jungle to the surprise of the British, and British infantry were powerless against them.

The Japanese in contrast, were well co-ordinated, and the speed of infantry on flexible bicycles meant Malaya had fallen to the Japanese by the end of January 1942. The Causeway linking the Malayan region of Johore to Singapore was blown up in an effort to stop the Japanese. However, the Japanese crossed the Strait of Johor in inflatable boats days after, before proceeding to finish coup de grace and take control of Singapore. Several heroic fights by volunteers of Singapore's population against the Japanese took place during this period, such as the Battle of Pasir Panjang. It is a common misconception that Singapore's naval guns could not fire upon the Japanese because "they were turned the wrong way". This is not true. Naval guns can turn to the north, and they did in fact fire upon the advancing Japanese columns, but naval guns are not designed to take out infantry, instead rather to pierce hull armour, and thus ineffective as they cannot lay damage to a wide area, which is best for taking out infantry. Shortage of supplies led to a surrender on 15 February 1942. Today it is known in Singapore as the Total Defence Day of Singapore - stressing the importance of good defence.

It is nicknamed the "darkest years of Singapore's history", because widespread oppression occurred during this period by Japanese troops, and a great number of war atrocities, including rape, massacre and much purging. Even though the Japanese declared they were "liberating South-East Asia from colonialism", it is considered much worse than British colonial rule. The Sook Ching also occurred, where suspicious elements of dissent were executed in a method not much different from the Holocaust. This often included Chinese civilians who had donated to charities to aid the war effort in China, which had greatly stalled Japanese progress of conquest. Casualties are reported to number above 20,000 during the Sook Ching. The supposed intent was to terrorise the population into loyal submission, including spies and secret police.

After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, a state not too different from anomy occurred as the Japanese occupants had yet to leave since the British had not arrived to take control, but now had considerably less of a hold over the populace, thus looting and revenge killing increased drastically but it was held as impossible to do anything since the Japanese still stressed their control over Singapore. Singapore was returned to British administration in September 1945 with great cheering and celebration.

However, after the failure of the British to defend Singapore, anti-colonialism considerably spread, its flames fanned by large scale unemployment and housing and living standard problems. In 1948, 1955 and finally 1959, self-government was introduced in stages as Britain was also ready to release its hold on its colonies. Leftist and Marxist movements were widespread during this period, and British government, fearing a communist takeover, called a State of Emergency in Malaya from 1948 to 1960. It was this fear that discouraged Britain from giving Singapore full independence.

In 1962, Singapore, Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak agreed to merge to form the Federation of Malaysia. It was thought to be the solution to resolve unemployment, a stagnating economy and the security threats posed by revolutionary elements in the period by forming a new nation where no trade taxes would be imposed between them, thus a market would open up, solving economic and unemployment woes. However, differences in policy, such as the relationship between state and Federation, and bumiputra racism, (special rights given to the Malays) and the racial tension and racial riots which the policy differences generated led to expulsion and independence of Singapore on 9 August 1965.

The dismal state of the country led to the infamous world conclusion that "Singapore would never make it". However, to the contrary, economic reform and implementation of industrial infrastructure, especially in Jurong, led to an economic stimulation which saved Singapore from certain doom. In order to resolve racial tension, a policy to create national identity through education in schools and flag raising and lowering ceremonies was implemented. Further economic success continued through the 1980's onwards.

Singapore has thus 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 development. In 1990, Lee Kuan Yew passed the reins to successor Goh Chok Tong, and in 2004, Lee Hsien Loong became the third prime minister of Singapore.

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Geography

Main article: Geography of Singapore

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 164 metres.

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 581.5 square kilometres in the 1960s to 697.1 square kilometres today, and may grow by another 100 square kilometres by 2030.

Singapore's climate is tropical ("tropical rainforest climate" under Köppen climate classification), with no distinct seasons. Temperatures almost never drop below 20°C (68°F) or rise above 35°C (95°F). Humidity is high, and precipitation is frequent year-round, often coming in the form of sudden thunderstorms, and is slightly more frequent between October and March. Singapore is however nearly never affected by typhoons.

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's population is diverse. Chinese account for 76.8% of Singaporeans, Malays 13.9% who were the indigenous or native group of the country, but they have largely intermingeled with many other races from the other parts of the world, especially with the Arabs ad the Bugis from Sulawesi. Indians are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9%. Source: . The government of Singapore has been careful to maintain ethnic harmony after racial riots erupted in the 1960s, by putting people of different ethnicities together in schools, government housing, and the military. So far the policy has been successful, and there have been few outward signs of any 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 recipocral ban on other religious symbols).

The official languages are English, Mandarin Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Though Malays consist of only a minority of the population, Malay is also Singapore's national language for historical reasons - it remains the language of the national anthem. The ruling PAP (People's Action Party) has preferred to promote English as the country's lingua franca, and today English is spoken by the majority of the population, while Malay is confined mostly to ethnic Malays.

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Culture

Main article: Culture of Singapore Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of Chinese, Malay 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 reflect this diversity, including Chinese New Year, Buddhist Vesak Day, Muslim Eid ul-Fitr and Eid ul-Adha (known locally by its Malay names Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji respectively), Hindu Diwali (known locally by its original name Deepavali). While Christians are a minority, Christmas Day, Good Friday, and New Year's Day are also public holidays.

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.

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Politics

Main article: Politics of Singapore

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 "Socialist Democracy", but the PAP has consistently rejected the notion of socialism, and has preferred a pragmatic approach toward governance and policy-making that involves public opinion and feedback.

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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 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.

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Science & Technology

Centralised control of the economy allows Singapore to easily pursue ambitious research programs. In the early 2000s, Singapore invested several billion dollars into research in therapeutic cloning, drug discovery, cancer research, and other areas of bioscience. While research areas include some too controversial or just not fundable in other countries, top-notch Western and Japanese scientists are required to follow a clearly articulated code of ethics largely accepted by worldwide bodies and supervised by ethics committees made up of representatives from relevant authorities and impartial experts from academia, religious groups and the private sector.

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Education

Main article: Education in Singapore

There is a compulsory six years of primary education, whereby students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) at the end of the sixth year.

At the secondary level, pupils have the choice of three courses designed to match their learning abilities and interests. Pupils undergo four to five years of secondary education with different curricular emphases. The majority of pupils undergo the Special course or Express course while the rest enter the Normal course. Within the Normal course, pupils have the option of taking the Normal (Academic) course or the Normal (Technical) course, both of which lead to the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'Normal' - GCE 'N' level examination at the end of four years. Those who are competent go on to take the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'Ordinary' - GCE 'O' level examination at the end of the fifth year.

Upon completion of their GCE 'O' Level Examinations, students can apply for entry to a junior college for a two-year pre-university course, or a centralised institute for a three-year pre-university course. Admission is based on a points system computed from the aggregate of the student's GCE 'O' Level result. At the end of the pre-university course, students sit for the Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education 'Advanced' - GCE 'A' Level Examinations. Their eligibility for tertiary education is determined by the results of their GCE 'A' Level Examinations.

Students can also apply for entry to either the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) or to a polytechnic.

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Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Singapore

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, 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 (Singapore) and Light Rail Transit (Singapore)) 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 system will be phased out within one or two years. A contactless smartcard (EZ-link), is used to pay bus and subway fares.

Expressways of Singapore

Pan Island Expressway | East Coast Parkway | Ayer Rajah Expressway | Central Expressway | Tampines Expressway | Seletar Expressway | Kranji Expressway | Bukit Timah Expressway | chewing gum was forbidden for 12 years until May 2004. However, those that buy chewing gum must show their ID, give their name, and have a doctor's prescription. If the pharmacist that sells the gum does not take the name of the buyer, they face a $3,000 fine.

Heavy fines and community service are levied on people who litter or discard items in public areas.
Car ownership is curbed through a government scheme in which car owners 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 are not allowed, Cosmopolitan Magazine was only recently permitted. 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 Mature 18 (M18), as Restricted 21 (R21), or are banned.
- It is of note that the government has shown some interest in relaxing these standards, and has in recent times introduced a new movie category allowing 18-year-olds to view more mature content (M18), besides the existing NC-16 and R21 ratings.
- 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 to its capital punishment.
Sex deemed by the Government to be "against the order of nature", including oral sex and anal sex, 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.

In recent years, the Singaporean government has relaxed some of the stricter laws. For example, bungy jumping is no longer illegal, and neither is having long hair. Film censorship has also been relaxed. There are also signs that the government is considering relaxing a number of laws concerning sex.

It is of note that while some strict (and to the point of being ludicrous) laws exist in theory, the government (usually) does not deliberately enforce these laws. For instance, while possession of pornography is illegal, no known checks have been made. Neither has the government tried to enforce a rule stating that oral sex be performed only as a precursor to sexual intercourse.

An American teenager, Michael Fay, aroused passionate media interest from the United States after he was caught vandalising Singaporean cars in 1994. There was a formal request by the American government not to carry out the sentence, which was caning. (Caning is also still allowed in Singapore schools, but only by the principal and/or the discipline master, and only for very serious offences, such as smoking. Furthermore, the canes used in schools are much less thick than those used on criminals, which can cause wounds with only one stroke.) Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called American practices "soft" and denied the appeal, although the number of strokes given was lessened. Fay was caned and interest in the incident has fallen since.

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Capital punishment

Singapore is believed to possess the highest per capita rate of executions in the world, according to Amnesty International. The Singapore government has released giving a breakdown of the numbers of executions that have taken place over the past five years. Executions by hanging occur every Friday morning in Changi prison; relatives are informed of the date of the execution four days before it is scheduled to take place, seven to fourteen days beforehand in the case of foreigners as is detailed in the Singapore government's to Amnesty International on the subject.

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Trivia

Traffic drives on the left.
Date format: DD/MM/YYYY
Postal code: 6 digits.
Telephone prefixes: 6xxx-xxxx land lines; 8xxx-xxxx and 9xxx-xxxx mobile lines. 9xxx-xxxx pager lines.
Voltage: 220-240V, 50 Hz; Power connector: 3-pin rectangular (British)

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Miscellaneous topics

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Reference

This article incorporates public domain text from the CIA World Factbook (2004) and the United States Department of State website.

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