Singapore Info

Singapore
Motto: Majulah Singapura
(Malay: "Onward, Singapore")
Anthem: Majulah Singapura

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state, located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. It lies 137 kilometers (85 miles) north of the Equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. It is the smallest country in Southeast Asia. The site of several ancient port cities, the main island was a fishing village sparsely populated by indigenous Malays and Orang Lauts when it was colonized by the British Empire in 1819. Occupied by the Japanese Empire during World War II, it reverted to British rule in 1945 and was later part of the merger which established Malaysia in 1963. Singapore acquired independence in 1965. Foreign investments and government-led island-wide industrialization has since created an economy relying heavily on electronics and manufacturing exports and entrepôt and financial trade centering around its strategic port position. The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore established the city-state's political system as a representative democracy while the country has official United Nations' recognition of a parliamentary republic. Since its independence, the country has been governed by the People's Action Party, which has won every election to date.

History of Singapore
The name Singapore was derived from Malay words singa (lion) and pura (city). Folklore attributes this name to a 14th-century Sumatran prince Sang Nila Utama, who, on alighting the island after a thunderstorm, renamed it Lion City after spotting an auspicious beast identified as a lion. The first records of Singapore's inhabitance are from 3rd-century AD.[citation needed] The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally bore the Javanese name Temasek ('sea town'). Temasek (Tumasek) rapidly become a significant trading city, but declined in the late 14th century. There are few remnants of old Temasek in Singapore, but archaeologists in Singapore have uncovered evidence of the civilization and other settlements. Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Singapore was part of the Sultanate of Johore. During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1613, she was set ablaze by Portuguese troops. The Portuguese subsequently held control in the 16th century, the Dutch in the 17th, but most of this time the island was occupied by mainly fishermen and occasional pirates. Statue of Thomas Stamford Raffles by Thomas Woolner, erected at the spot where he first landed at Singapore. He is recognized as the founder of modern Singapore.In 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island. Seeing its potential, Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British East India Company to develop Singapore as a trading post and settlement, marking the start of her modern era. Raffles's deputy, William Farquhar, oversaw a period of growth and ethnic migration. The British India office governed the island in 1858, but Singapore was made a British crown colony, answerable directly to the Crown, in 1867. By 1869, the island boasted a sizeable community of 100,000. During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya, culminating in the Battle of Singapore. The ill-prepared British were defeated in six days, and surrendered the island, the supposedly impregnable Bastion of the Empire, to General Tomoyuki Yamashita on 15 February 1942. The Japanese renamed Singapore Shonan, from Japanese Sho (Showa) and nan (South), and occupied it until the British repossessed the island on 12 September 1945, a month after the Japanese surrender. Singapore became a self-governing state in 1959 with Yusof bin Ishak its first Yang di-Pertuan Negara and Lee Kuan Yew its first Prime Minister. Following the 1962 Merger Referendum of Singapore, Singapore joined Malaya alongside Sabah and Sarawak to form the Federation state of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, but was expelled two years later after heated ideological conflict between the state PAP government and the federal Kuala Lumpur government. She gained official sovereignty on 9 August 1965. Yusof bin Ishak was sworn in as the first President of Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew remained as prime minister. The fledgling nation had to be self-sufficient, and faced problems like mass unemployment, housing shortages and lack of land and natural resources. During Lee Kuan Yew's term as prime minister from 1959 to 1990, his administration curbed unemployment, raised the standard of living and implemented a large-scale public housing programme. The country's economic infrastructure was developed, the threat of racial tension was curbed and an independent national defence system, centered around compulsory male military service, was created. In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as Prime Minister. During his tenure, the country tackled the impacts of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak, as well as terrorist threats posed by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) post-September 11. Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister in 2004.



Geography and climate of Singapore
Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island itself. There are two connections to Johor the man-made Johor-Singapore Causeway in the north and Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's many smaller islands. The highest point of Singapore is Bukit Timah Hill 166 metres, 538 ft). The urban area used to be only concentrated on the south of Singapore, around the mouth of the Singapore River, and what is now the Downtown Core, while the rest of the land was undeveloped tropical rainforest or used for agriculture. Since the 1960s, the government has constructed new residential towns in outlying areas, resulting in an entirely built-up urban landscape. The Urban Redevelopment Authority is the government agency responsible for the urban planning of Singapore. Singapore has an on-going land reclamation project 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 (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 697.2 square kilometres (269.1 sq mi) today, and may grow by another 100 square kilometres (38.6 sq mi) by 2030.[15] Many of the smaller islands have been expanded and joined together through land reclamation in order to form larger, more functional islands, such as in the case of Jurong Island. Singapore Botanical Gardens, a 67.3-hectare (166 acre) botanical garden in Singapore that includes the National Orchid Garden which has a collection of more than 3,000 species of orchids.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. Temperatures range from 22°C to 34 °C (72°-93°F). On average, the relative humidity is around 90% in the morning and 60% in the afternoon. During prolonged heavy rain, relative humidity often reaches 100%.[16] The lowest and highest temperatures recorded in its maritime history are 18.4 °C (65.1 °F) and 37.8 °C (100.0 °F) respectively. The highest wind speed recorded is 120 km/h on July 27, 2001. About 23% of Singapore's land area consists of forest and nature reserves. Urbanisation has eliminated many areas of former primary rainforest, with the only remaining area of primary rainforest being Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. A variety of parks are maintained with human intervention, such as the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Without natural freshwater rivers and lakes, the primary domestic source of water supply in Singapore is rainfall, collected in reservoirs or catchment areas. Rainfall supplies approximately 50% of Singapore's water; the remainder is imported from Malaysia or obtained from recycled water facilities and desalination plants. More NEWater and desalination plants are being built or proposed to reduce reliance on foreign supply.

Demographics
Built in 1843, the Sri Mariamman Temple is the largest Hindu temple in Singapore. It is also one of the many religious buildings marked as national monuments for their historical value.Main articles: Demographics of Singapore and Religion in Singapore Singapore is the second most densely populated independent country in the world, excluding Macau and Hong Kong which are parts of the PRC. The largest ethnic group in the population of 4.48 million (as of June 2006) are the Singaporean Chinese, who account for 76.8% of Singaporeans. The Singaporean Malays, who are the indigenous natives 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 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. 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. Public signs and official publications are in English although there are translated versions in the other official languages. 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. In year 2006, 38,232 babies were born, compared to around 37,600 in 2005. Singapore's large number of migrants has kept Singapore's population from declining.

Architecture
The architecture of Singapore is extremely varied. Due to the lack of available space, few historical buildings remain in the centre of the Central Business District (CBD) of Singapore, known as Raffles Place - the Fullerton Hotel and the previously-moved Lau Pa Sat being some exceptions. However, just outside of Raffles Place, and throughout the rest of the downtown core, there is a large scattering of pre-WWII buildings - some going back nearly as far as Raffles, as with the Empress Place Building, built in 1827. Many beautiful classical buildings were destroyed during the post-war decades, up until the 1990s, when things completely changed and the government started very strict programs to conserve the many remaining buildings and whole areas that are of historic and aesthetic value. Just one example of a partially preserved neighborhood is Chinatown, just abutting Raffles Place. Past the shopping malls are streets lined with old but newly-painted shophouses. Many other such areas have been gazetted as historic districts. Information can be found at the URA Centre. Singapore has also become a centre for modern, or more correctly, postmodern architecture. 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 office buildings. These buildings comprise the skyline along the coast of Marina Bay and Raffles Place, a famous tourist attraction in Singapore. Due to the air restrictions in Singapore,[citation needed] 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. In addition, some interesting 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 governors when Britain occupied the country. Later, they became home to many Japanese generals after the fall of Singapore during World War II.

Culture of Singapore
Enjoying Singaporean cuisine is a national pastime. Hawker centres and kopi tiams are well-distributed throughout the country.Singapore is a mixture of an indigenous Malay population with a third generation Chinese majority, as well as Indian and Arab immigrants with some intermarriages. There also exist significant Eurasian and Peranakan (known also as 'Straits Chinese') communities. Singapore has also achieved a significant degree of cultural diffusion. One example is in Singaporean cuisine. 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. The majority of Singaporeans live in planned estates of high-rise, high-density HDB flats.Singapore has several ethnic neighbourhoods, including Chinatown and Little India. These were formed under the Raffles Plan to segregate the immigrants, but now have a more diverse patronage. Many places of worship were also constructed during the colonial era. 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. Since the 1990s, the government has been striving to promote Singapore as a centre for arts and culture, and to transform the country into a cosmopolitan '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.

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