Republic of Singapore

Singapore (ˈsɪŋɡəpɔːr/), officially the Republic of Singapore, and often referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City, and the Red Dot, is a global city in Southeast Asia and the world's only island city-state. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southernmost tip of continental Asia and peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island, Pulau Ujong or Singapore Island, and 62 islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km2), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

The islands were settled from the second century AD by a series of local empires. In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded modern Singapore as a trading post of the East India Company; after the company collapsed, the islands were ceded to Britain and became part of its Straits Settlements in 1826. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from Britain in 1963, by uniting with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was expelled two years later over ideological differences. After early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an one of the Four Asian Tiger economies, based on external trade and its human capital.

Singapore is a global hub for commerce, finance and transport. The World Bank rated it as the "easiest place to do business" for ten consecutive years, while the Economist's Intelligence Unit named it most "technology-ready" nation. It ranks highly in various other economic metrics such as investment potential, competitiveness, efficient foreign exchange markets and container port activity. For the past decade, it has been the only Asian country with the top AAA sovereign ratings from all major credit rating agencies such as S&P, Moody's and Fitch.

Singapore is one of the world's wealthiest and most developed countries, ranking the highest in Asia, and eleventh highest globally, in the (U.N.) Human Development Index. It performs well in key measures of education, healthcare, life expectancy, quality of life, personal safety, and housing. Although income inequality is high, 90 percent of citizens own their homes, and the country has one of the highest per capita incomes. This cosmopolitan nation is home to 5.5 million residents, 38 percent of whom are both permanent residents and foreign nationals. Singaporeans are mostly bilingual, with English as the common language and a second mother-tongue language. Singapore's cultural diversity is reflected in its extensive "hawker" cuisine and major ethnic festivals—Chinese, Malay, Indian, Western—which are all national holidays.

Singapore's political culture places an emphasis on meritocracy, multiculturalism and secularism. The country's pragmatic and efficient governance and civil service, together with its rapid development policies, is widely cited as the "Singapore model". Singapore has significant influence on global affairs relative to its size, leading some analysts to classify it as a middle power.

Singapore is a unitary multiparty parliamentary republic, with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People's Action Party has won every election since self-government in 1959. One of the five founding members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Singapore is also the host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Secretariat, and a member of the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, and the Commonwealth of Nations.

Geography

Singapore consists of 63 islands, including the main island, Pulau Ujong. There are two man-made connections to Johor, Malaysia: the Johor–Singapore Causeway in the north and the Tuas Second Link in the west. Jurong Island, Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Sentosa are the largest of Singapore's smaller islands. The highest natural point is Bukit Timah Hill at 163.63 m (537 ft).

Ongoing land reclamation projects have increased Singapore's land area from 581.5 km2 (224.5 sq mi) in the 1960s to 719.1 km2 (277.6 sq mi) in 2015, an increase of some 23% (130 km2). The country is projected to grow by another 100 km2 (40 sq mi) by 2030. Some projects involve merging smaller islands through land reclamation to form larger, more functional islands, as has been done with Jurong Island.

Nearly 10% of Singapore's land has been set aside for parks and nature reserves. The network of nature reserves, parks, park connectors, nature ways, tree-lined roads and other natural areas have enhanced the sense of green space in the city. This is a result of five decades of greening efforts, which began in 1963, when Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew launched Singapore's first tree-planting campaign by planting a mempat tree (Cratoxylum formosum). The aim was to soften the harshness of urbanisation and improve the quality of life. This initiative continued into the 1970s and 1980s under the Parks and Recreation Department (PRD), renamed the National Parks Board (abbreviation: NParks) in July 1996.

Due to these efforts, Singapore was ranked fourth in the 2014 Environmental Performance Index, which measures the effectiveness of state policies for environmental sustainability.

Info:

Motto: "Majulah Singapura" (Malay) | Onward Singapore
Anthem: Majulah Singapura |  "Onward, Singapore"
Capital: Singapore
Official Languages: English | Malay | Mandarin | Tamil
Religion: Buddhism | Islam | Hinduism | Christianity
Demonym: Singaporean
Legislature: Parliament
Area: 719.1 km2
Currency: Singapore dollar (SGD)
Time Zone: SST (UTC+8)
Date Format: dd-mm-yyyy
Drives on the: left
Calling code: +65
ISO 3166 Code: SG
International TLD: .sg | .新加坡 | .சிங்கப்பூர்

Largest Cities/Towns/Districts of Singapore

1. Singapore

Flag of Singapore

Red stands for universal brotherhood and equality of man. White symbolises pervading and everlasting purity and virtue. The crescent moon represents a young nation on the ascendant, and the five stars depict Singapore's ideals of democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality.

Official Website: Gov.sg

Did You Know?

• Singapore is a rapidly growing city-state of nearly 6 million people. It is one of the smallest countries in the world.
• Singapore has transformed itself from a third-world, swampy island to a first-class, modern city in just fifty years. It’s a regional hub for corporations, with its own high tech centers, biomedical facilities and so on.
• There are four official languages in Singapore: English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil, reflecting the different ethnic make-up of the city.
• Most people speak English, often very well. The schools educate children primarily in English, with a small portion of the day in “Mother Tongue” (e.g. if you are Chinese, you learn in Mandarin).
• Many Singaporeans have a habit of adding “la” to the end of their sentences. For example, “okay-la,” is one example of Singlish.
• Singapore is an extremely green city with gardens, trees and jungles everywhere. They are transforming into a “city in a garden”, a current government campaign. It’s also very clean due to its littering laws.
• The country sits just 85 miles North of the equator and the temperate is always hot (though it was cooler than Thailand). Their seasons are hot & dry and hot & rainy and when the rain comes, it’s extremely heavy.
• The lowest minimum recorded temperature ever is Singapore was 68F and that was 80 years ago!
• In spite of its small size, the city has six digit zip codes!
• Singapore is often referred to as a “fine city” because of the number of big-dollar fines that one can receive for infractions. For example, you can be fined for not flushing a public toilet or for chewing gum!
• The government has its own matchmaking department called the Social Development Unit (SDU). Detractors call it “Single, Desperate and Ugly”.
• Most of the population, about 85%, live in public housing developments and, of these, 95% own their flats. Living in public housing is not considered a sign of poverty and some sell for more than one million $US.
• Everyone we spoke to, from taxi drivers to friends, lamented that the cost of living is very high, which we also experienced.
• Many families, both foreign and local, employ a live-in “helper”. The hard-working helpers are usually a woman from The Philippines and it’s quite affordable. Oh, to have a clean house and someone who could help with cooking and childcare back home….
• Caning is a form of corporal punishment still practiced in Singapore. One can be caned for relatively minor offenses such as vandalism and petty theft. You must be physically awake for the caning and if you pass out, they will stop the caning and let you heal before recommencing the punishment. Only young men are caned.
• Homosexual acts are illegal. Hopefully attitudes are changing.
• Changi Airport is a modern, award-winning facility unlike any airport we’ve seen! It has vast shopping centers, dining options and entertainment features. While waiting for our flight, we had access to free gaming rooms, movie theaters, orchid gardens and fast wi-fi.
• To own a car, you must purchase a Certificate of Entitlement (COE) which gives you the right to drive a car on the streets. The COE charge varies depending on the size of the vehicle and the demand at the time. When we were there, the COE for a small car was more than US$50,000 (and it had been as high as US$75,000 recently). This is in addition to the cost of the car, which is also at a premium.
• The COE is valid only for ten years. After that, most people decide that it is not worth to renew the COE on an old car. At that point, cars are scrapped (literally chopped down the middle) or sold abroad.
• The largest tropical orchid garden in the world is found in Singapore. Charlie, in particular, loved our time with these unusual flowers. It was stunningly beautiful!

References

• Wikipedia
• Notes From a Big World Wordpress
• Nhb Gov Sg
• Geo Names