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Republic of SingaporeRepublik Singapura 新加坡共和国 சிங்கப்பூர் குடியரசு
Flag Coat of arms of Singapore Coat of arms
Motto: Majulah Singapura (Malay: "Onward, Singapore")
Anthem: Majulah Singapura
Capitaland largest city	Singapore
Official languages	English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil
Government	Parliamentary republic
• President	Sellapan Ramanathan
• Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong
Independence
• Unilateral declaration (from the UK)	August 31 1963
• Officially from UK (as a state of Malaysia)	September 16 1963
• from Malaysia	August 9 1965
• Water (%)	1.444
Population
• June 2006 estimate	4,480,000 (120th)
• 2000 census	4,117,700
GDP (PPP)	2006 estimate
• Total	$123.4 billion (57th)
• Per capita	$28,368 (22nd)
HDI (2003)	0.907 very high (25th)
Currency	Singapore dollar (SGD)
Time zone	UTC+8 (SST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+8 (not observed)
Calling code	65
ISO 3166 code	SG
Internet TLD	.sg
Singapore is a city-state. 02 from Malaysia.

Template:IndicText

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore (Template:Lang-ms; Chinese: 新加坡共和国, Pinyin: Xīnjiāpō Gònghéguó; Template:Lang-ta, Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)), is an island country and the smallest country in South-East Asia. It is located on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor, and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. It lies 137 kilometres (85 miles) north of the Equator.

The site of several ancient port cities and a possession of several empires in its history, Singapore was a Malay fishing village when it was colonised by the United Kingdom in the 19th century. It was further occupied by the Japanese Empire in World War II, and was later part of the merger which established Malaysia. When Singapore acquired independence, having few natural resources, it was sociopolitically volatile and economically undeveloped. Foreign investment and rapid government-led industrialisation has since created an economy which relies on exports of electronics and manufacturing primarily from its port.

According to the quality-of-life index assembled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Singapore has the highest standard of living in Asia, and is ranked 11th in the world. In the United Nations Human Development Index, Singapore holds the 25th place, behind only Japan and Hong Kong in Asia. Measured by GDP per capita, Singapore is the 22nd wealthiest country. The geographically small nation has a foreign reserve of S$197b (US$119b).

More than 85% of Singapore's population lives in housing estates constructed by the Housing Development Board and nearly half use the public transport system daily. As a result of efforts to control motorised traffic, the maintenance of natural greenery, strict regulations on industrial locations and emissions, and other pro-environmental initiatives by the government and the private sector, Singapore has been able to control its pollution levels to well within World Health Organization standards. The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the city-state as a representative democracy.

Military

The military of Singapore serves primarily as a deterrent to potential invaders of the island. Singapore has mutual defence pacts with several countries, most notably the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Singapore subscribes to a philosophy of Total Defence, in which five aspects of a holistic national defence are identified. Non-military aspects of total defence include civil defence, which is carried out by the Singapore Civil Defence Force; 'economic defence', which stresses the need for a robust economy in order to maintain a viable society; 'psychological defence', which calls for a patriotic citizenry willing to do all in the name of its country; and 'social defence', in which the need for a population at harmony with itself and strongly identified with each other is emphasised.

The military of Singapore includes the Singapore Army, the Republic of Singapore Navy, and the Republic of Singapore Air Force, collectively known as the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Various agencies of the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and some private companies also play a supporting role. The military of Singapore is one of the most modern in Asia, with its advanced equipment and high level of training reflecting the continued emphasis of the government on military defence — military expenditures dominate the annual government budget.

The recent rise in unconventional warfare and terrorism has cast increasing emphasis upon the non-military aspects of Total Defence. The Gurkha Contingent, which is part of the Singapore Police Force, is also a counter-terrorist force. Singapore's defence resources have been used in international humanitarian aid missions, including United Nations peacekeeping assignments in Kosovo, Kuwait and East Timor, and participating in the multinational force in Iraq. One notable incident of terrorism in Singapore prior to its independence was the bombing of MacDonald House during the Confrontation that took place between Malaysia and Indonesia in the early 1960s. More recently, the Shell Oil refinery on Bukom was attacked by members of the Japanese Red Army and the PFLP in the Laju Incident of 1974; and in 1991, the hijacking of Singapore Airlines Flight 117 ended in the storming of the aircraft and the subsequent deaths of all four hijackers. A current concern is Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Islamic group operating in South East Asia known to be responsible for several bombings around the region, as well as planning in 2001 an ultimately foiled attack on American interests in Singapore.

Architecture

The architecture of Singapore is extremely varied. Due to the lack of available space, few historical buildings remain in the urban areas of Singapore. However, Singapore has become a centre for modern architecture as older buildings are cleared away to make space for newer, larger buildings. Historically, the demand for high-end buildings has been in and around the Central Business District (CBD). After decades of development, the CBD has become an area with many tall business buildings. These buildings comprise the skyline along the coast of Marina Bay and Raffles Place, which is a famous tourist attraction in Singapore. Due to the air restrictions in Singapore, no building in Singapore is to be taller than 280 metres. The three tallest buildings in Singapore, namely Republic Plaza, UOB Plaza One and OUB Centre, are all 280 metres in height.

A few signs of Singapore's colonial past remain in the form of "Black and White Houses". These large houses are situated further away from the CBD and were built in the early to mid 19th century. These homes were built to house the British generals and governers when Britain occupied the country. Later, they became home to many Japanese generals after the "fall of Singapore" during World War II.

Demographics

Singapore is the second most densely populated independent country in the world, excluding Macau and Hong Kong which are parts of the PRC. Eighty-four percent of Singaporeans live in public housing provided by the Housing and Development Board (HDB). The largest group in the population of 4.48 million (as of June 2006) are the Singaporean Chinese who account for 76.8% of Singaporeans, making it one of the largest Chinese cities outside of China. Nearby Malaysia is also home to many ethnic Chinese. Singapore is also diverse, with the Singaporean Malays, who are the indigenous native group of the country, constituting 13.9%, though this number includes many Malay ethnic groups from other parts of the Malay archipelago including the Javanese, Bugis, Baweans and Minangkabau. Indian Singaporeans are the third largest ethnic group at 7.9%, consisting of several groups — Indian Tamils and Sri Lankan 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 Arab Singaporeans, Jews, Thais, Japanese, European and the Eurasian Singaporean community.

Singapore is also a multi-religious country, due mainly to its location on one of the world's major transportation routes. More than 40% of Singaporeans practice Buddhism. About 15% practice Christianity (mostly Chinese and Indians), and 15% profess no religion. Muslims (mostly Malays) account for 14%. A smaller minority practices Taoism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Baha'i Faith, and others.

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 the Singaporean education system, military and housing. So far the policy has been largely successful, and there have been few signs of ethnic tension since the early 1970s. Current issues include the ban on wearing the Islamic headscarf in public schools. The national language of Singapore is Malay for historical reasons, and it is used in the national anthem, "Majulah Singapura". The official languages are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil. English has been promoted as the country's language of administration since independence, and it is spoken by the majority of the population. Most public signs and official publication are in English although there are also translated versions in the other official languages. The government has introduced a Speak Mandarin Campaign- Hua Yu Cool - to promote Mandarin as a common language among the Chinese.

After two decades of a successful family planning policy, Singapore is now facing the threat of an aging population with declining birth rates. The government is encouraging Singaporeans to have more children through the provision of financial incentives for the first to fourth child of each family.

Culture

Singapore is a small and relatively modern amalgam of an indigenous Malay population with a third generation Chinese majority, as well as Indian and Arab immigrants with some intermarriages. There also exist Eurasian and Peranakan (known also as 'Straits Chinese') communities. Singapore has also achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion with its unique combination of these ethnic groups, and this has given Singapore a rich mixture of diversity for its young age. One of the prime examples is in Singaporean cuisine, often a cultural attraction for tourists.

The English used is primarily British English, with some American English influences. The local colloquial dialect of English is Singlish, which has many creole-like characteristics, having incorporated vocabulary and grammar from various Chinese dialects, Malay, and Indian languages. Singlish is spoken commonly on the streets, but the government frowns upon its use in official contexts. English became widespread in Singapore after it was implemented as a first language medium in the education system, and English is the most common language in Singaporean literature.

Singapore has several ethnic neighbourhoods, including Little India and Chinatown. These were formed under the Raffles Plan to originally segregate the immigrants, but now have a diverse patronage whose main intentions are to either eat or buy something specific to that culture. Many places of worship were also constructed during the colonial era, a practice encouraged by the British to promote religious tolerance. Sri Mariamman Temple, the Masjid Jamae Mosque and the Church of Gregory the Illuminator are among those that were built during the colonial period. Work is now underway to preserve these religious sites as National Monuments of Singapore. The policy for the primarily commercial ethnic neighbourhoods stands in contrast to the housing policies of the Housing and Development Board (HDB). HDB policies attempt to promote a mix of all races within each housing district in order to foster social cohesion and national loyalty.

Since the 1990s, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a centre for arts and culture, including theatre and music, and to transform the country into a cosmopolitan and diverse community at the 'gateway between the East and West'. The highlight of these efforts was the construction of Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay, a centre for performing arts that opened on October 12, 2002.

Education

Primary education is compulsory in Singapore and as such the literacy rate is 95%. The standard for the school curriculum is set by the Ministry of Education with a mix of private schools and public schools. There is no strict public-private dichotomy: the degree of autonomy in regard to the curriculum and student admission, government funding received, and tuition burden upon the students is determined by a more specific classification system that includes classifications such as "government-run", "government-aided", "autonomous", "independent", and "privately-funded". Some schools have more than one classification. In addition, there are international schools catered to expatriate students, though they have some local students.

After primary education, students take the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Their performance in the examination is the main criteria in determining whether they enter their desired secondary schools.

There have also been complaints about excessive educational streaming at a young age; a popular local film, I Not Stupid, highlights the competitiveness of the system and social stigma that students struggling with studies have to face. After secondary education, a further set of examinations are taken which determine which kind of tertiary education they pursue, such as junior college, a precursor for entry into public universities such as National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University. Other post-secondary institutions include polytechnics, where students will graduate with a diploma and may choose to move into the workforce or pursue higher education in public universities such as those mentioned above. The polytechnics include Temasek Polytechnic, Singapore Polytechnic, Ngee Ann Polytechnic, Nanyang Polytechnic and Republic Polytechnic. Other institutes include a teaching college to train teachers, various management institutes, and vocational education institutes such as the Institute of Technical Education (ITE).

Singapore students took first place in the 1995, 1999 and 2003 TIMSS Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. They used Singapore Math Primary Mathematics series. The national textbooks have been adapted into a series which has been successfully marketed in North America as a rival to Saxon math and an alternative to controversial standards-based mathematics curricula which many parents complained moved too far away from the sort of traditional basic skills instruction exemplified by Singapore's national curriculum.

Transport

Singapore is a major Asian transportation hub, strategically lying on sea and air trade routes. Its history has been closely tied to the growth of its transportation industry since the establishment of its port. The transportation industry comprises over 10% of Singaporean GDP despite an increasingly diversified economy. The Port of Singapore, managed by port operators PSA International and Jurong Port, was the world's busiest port in 2005 in terms of shipping tonnage handled with 1.15 billion gross tons handled, and in terms of containerised traffic, with 23.2 million Twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) handled. It was also the world's second busiest in terms of cargo tonnage, coming behind Shanghai with 423 million tons handled. In addition, Singapore is the world's busiest hub for transhipment traffic and the world's biggest ship refuelling hub.

Singapore is an aviation hub, acting as a stopover point for the 'Kangaroo route' between Australasia and Europe. Singapore Changi Airport has a network of 81 airlines connecting Singapore to 179 cities in 57 countries (2005). It is one of the top five airports in Asia in terms of passengers handled, with 30 million passengers passing through in 2004. It has been consistently rated as one of the best international airports by numerous international travel magazines. It was also rated as the world's best airport in 2006 by Skytrax, defeating its long time rival, Hong Kong International Airport. A low-cost terminal, the Budget Terminal, which started operation in March 2006 and a third passenger terminal now under construction will increase the airport's total annual capacity to 66.7 million passengers by 2008. The national carrier Singapore Airlines (SIA) is internationally renowned for its service and will be the first airline in the world to fly the new Airbus A380 commercially.

The backbone of domestic transport infrastructure is the road transport system which includes a network of expressways that form the arteries between distinct towns and regional centres as laid out in Singapore's urban planning. Following a government study assisted by the United Nations Development Programme which foresaw problems with private transport such as traffic congestion and air pollution as the city grew, the Land Transport Authority began a series of measures to develop the use of the public transport system such as improving the nation's bus service and liberalising the hired vehicle market to allow for more taxi operators. Since 1987, the heavy rail passenger Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) metro system has been in operation. MRT was later augmented by and linked to the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) light rail system, which provides service to several expanses of housing estates. The EZ-Link system allows contactless smartcards to serve as stored value tickets for use in the public transport systems. More than 2.8 million people use the bus network daily, while more than 1.3 million people use either the LRT or MRT as part of their daily routine. Approximately 900,000 people use the taxi services daily. Private vehicle use in the Central Area is discouraged by tolls implemented through an Electronic Road Pricing system which operates during hours of heavy road traffic.

References

• Diane K. Mauzy & R. S. Milne (2002). Singapore Politics: Under the People's Action Party. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-24653-9.
• "Census 2000". Singapore Department of Statistics. Retrieved 11 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "Key Facts & Figures". Ministry of Transport, Singapore. Retrieved 11 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• "Nation's History". Singapore Infomap. Retrieved 11 January. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
• 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).

Notes

1. Worldwide quality-of-life index "Singapore's position in the World in terms of Quality of Life". The Economist. Retrieved 2006-8-17. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
2. ^ "Singapore Land Transport: Statistics In Brief 2005" (PDF). Land Transport Authority. Retrieved 2005-12-07.
3. "Singapore Green Plan 2012". Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. Retrieved 2006-08-14.
4. "Peacekeepers :: In the Service of Peace". Retrieved 2006-05-01.
5. "Singapore to send 192 military personnel to Iraq". Agence France Presse. October 27, 2003. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
6. "Sample Household Survey 2003". Housing Development Board. Retrieved 2006-04-14.
7. "Key Indicators of Resident Population by Ethnic Group" (PDF). Singapore Department of Statistics.
8. "History & Background". Speak Mandarin Campaign.
9. "Baby Bonus". Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports. Retrieved 2006-04-14.
10. "Ethnic Group Eligibility, Housing Development Board InfoWEB". Retrieved 2006-04-30.
11. "Renaissance City Report: Culture and the Arts in Renaissance Singapore (Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts)" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-05-01.
12. "Virtual Tourist: Reviews of Esplanade (Theatres by the Bay)". Retrieved 2006-03-28.
13. "Singapore in Brief 2006, Singapore Department of Statistics" (PDF). Retrieved 2006-05-01.
14. "Education System:Secondary". Retrieved 2006-05-01.
15. "Singapore remains world's busiest port". Xinhuanet. 12 January 2006.
16. "2006 Airport of the Year result". Retrieved 2006-06-01.
17. "Singapore opens budget air terminal". Channel NewsAsia. 26 March 2006.
18. Tien Fang Fwa (4 September 2004). "Sustainable Urban Transportation Planning and Development — Issues and Challenges for Singapore" (PDF). University of Tokyo. Retrieved 2006-05-01. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

External links

General Information

• Singapore Government Directory Interactive
• Singapore Government Online Portal
• Gateway To All Government Services
• Amnesty International's 2005 report on Singapore
• CIA World Factbook Entry for Singapore
• Asia Death Penalty blog monitors the death penalty in Asia, including in Singapore

Travel

• Template:Wikitravel
• Singapore Tourist Guide

Maps

• WikiSatellite view of Singapore at WikiMapia
• Singapore Infomap

Photography

• 1, 2

v t e Foreign relations of Singapore
Africa	Kenya South Africa
Americas	Canada Mexico Trinidad and Tobago United States
Asia	Armenia Bangladesh Brunei Cambodia China (Hong Kong) India Indonesia Israel Japan Kazakhstan Malaysia Mongolia Myanmar North Korea Pakistan Philippines Saudi Arabia South Korea Taiwan Thailand Turkey Vietnam
Europe	France Germany Kosovo Netherlands Russia United Kingdom
Oceania	Australia New Zealand
International organisations	Commonwealth of Nations United Nations (UN relations) APEC ASEAN Asian Development Bank WTO G-77 Non-Aligned Movement Interpol PCA ICA ICRM WCO IAEA
Treaties	Agreement between New Zealand and Singapore on a Closer Economic Partnership ASEAN–China Free Trade Agreement Five Power Defence Arrangements Malaysia–Singapore Points of Agreement of 1990 Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks Southeast Asian Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty Straits Settlement and Johore Territorial Waters Agreement of 1927 Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership United Nations Charter
Related topics	Diplomatic missions of / in Singapore

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