Singapore, Republic of Singapore

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state off
the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the
equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau
Islands. At 710.2 km2 (274.2 sq mi), Singapore is a microstate and the
smallest nation in Southeast Asia. It is substantially larger than Monaco
and Vatican City, the only other present-day sovereign city-states.

Singapore is an alpha World City. Singapore is unique as it is the only
country in Asia which has English as its first language. Singapore also has
one of the highest percentage of foreigners in the world. 36% of the
population in Singapore are foreigners and foreigners make up 50% of the
service sector in Singapore.

Even before independence in 1965, Singapore was already one of the richest
states in East Asia. Its GDP per capita then was $511, roughly the same as
Portugal. In comparison, both South Korea and China had a GDP per capita of
$105 and $90 respectively in 1965. After independence, Foreign direct
investment into Singapore and a state-led drive to industrialization based
on plans drawn up by the Goh Keng Swee and Albert Winsemius have created a
modern economy focused on industry, education and urban planning. Singapore
is the 5th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita.
As of January 2009, Singapore's official foreign reserves stand at US$170.3
billion (9th in the world). The city state is also the second most crowded
country in the world after Monaco.

In 2009, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Singapore the tenth most
expensive city in the world in which to live―the third in Asia, after Tokyo
and Osaka. The 2009 Cost of Living survey, by consultancy firm Mercer, has
ranked Singapore similarly as the tenth most expensive city for expatriates
to live in.

The population of Singapore including non-residents is approximately 4.99
million. Singapore is highly cosmopolitan and diverse with Chinese people
forming an ethnic majority with large populations of Malay, Indian and other
people. English, Malay, Tamil, and Chinese are the official languages.

Singapore is a parliamentary republic, and the Constitution of Singapore
establishes representative democracy as the nation's political system. The
People's Action Party (PAP) dominates the political process and has won
control of Parliament in every election since self-government in 1959.

Etymology

The English language name Singapore comes from Malay Singapura, "Lion-city",
but it is possible that one element of its name had a more distant original
source. Pura comes from Tamil Puram,meaning city or a metropolis.

Singa- comes from Tamil Singam, which means lion. Today the city-state is
referred to as the Lion City. Studies of Singapore indicate that lions
probably never lived there, not even Asiatic lions; the beast seen by Sang
Nila Utama, the founder of Singapore who gave it the name meaning "Lion City
, was most likely a tiger, probably the Malayan Tiger.

"Singapore" is the name of both the city and country, which are the same
entity. That is, the entire country constitutes a single municipality. It is
considered incorrect to call the city "Singapore City."

History

The first records of settlement in Singapore are from the 2nd century AD.
The island was an outpost of the Sumatran Srivijaya empire and originally
had the Javanese name Temasek ('sea town'). Temasek (Tumasek) rapidly became
a significant trading settlement, but declined in the late 14th century.
There are few remnants of old Temasek in Singapore, but archaeologists in
Singapore have uncovered artifacts of that and other settlements.

Between the 16th and early 19th centuries, Singapore island was part of the
Sultanate of Johor. During the Malay-Portugal wars in 1613, the settlement
was set ablaze by Portuguese troops. The Portuguese subsequently held
control in that century and the Dutch in the 18th, but throughout most of
this time the island's population consisted mainly of fishermen.

British colonial rule (1819�1940)

On 29 January 1819, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles landed on the main island.
Spotting its potential as a strategic trading post for Southeast Asia,
Raffles signed a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah on behalf of the British
East India Company on 6 February 1819 to develop the southern part of
Singapore as a British trading post and settlement.

Until 1824, Singapore was still a territory controlled by a Malay Sultan. It
officially became a British colony on 2 August 1824 when John Crawfurd, the
second resident of Singapore, officially made the whole island a British
possession by signing a treaty with Sultan Hussein Shah in which the Sultan
and the Temmenggong handed it over to the British East India Company,
marking the start of the island's modern era.

Raffles' deputy, William Farquhar, oversaw a period of growth and ethnic
migration, largely spurred by a no-restriction immigration policy. The
British India office governed the island from 1858, but it was made a
British crown colony in 1867, answerable directly to the Crown. By 1869, 100
000 people lived on the island.

The early onset of town planning in colonial Singapore came largely through
a "divide and rule" framework where the different ethnic groups were settled
in different parts of the South of the island. The Singapore River was
largely a commercial area dominated by traders and bankers of various ethnic
groups with mostly Chinese and Indian coolies working to load and unload
goods from barge boats known as "bumboats".

The Malays, consisting of the local "Orang Lauts" who worked mostly as
fishermen and seafarers, and Arab traders and scholars were mostly found in
the Southeast part of the river mouth, where Kampong Glam stands today. The
European settlers, who were few then, settled around Fort Canning Hill and
farther upstream from the Singapore River.

Like the Europeans, the early Indian migrants also settled more inland of
the Singapore River, where Little India stands today. Little is known about
the rural private settlements in those times (known as kampongs), other than
the major move by the post-independent Singapore government to re-settle
these residents in the late 1960s.

World War II (1941�1945)

During World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded Malaya, culminating
in the Battle of Singapore. The British were defeated in six days, and
surrendered the supposedly impregnable fortress to General Tomoyuki
Yamashita on 15 February 1942. The surrender was described by the British
Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, as, "the worst disaster and largest
capitulation in British history." The British naval base (see above) was
destroyed before the Japanese could take over the base and make use of it.
Widespread indiscriminate killing of the Chinese population occurred (see
Sook Ching massacre).

The Japanese renamed Singapore Shōnantō (昭南�?), from Japanese "Shōwa no
jidai ni eta minami no shima" ("昭和の�代に得た南の�"?), or "southern island obtained
in the age of Shōwa", and occupied it until the British repossessed the
island on 12 September 1945, a month after the Japanese surrender. The name
Shōnantō was, at the time, romanised as "Syonan-to" or "Syonan", which means
"Light of the South".

Independence (1946�present)

Following the war, the British government allowed Singapore to hold its
first general election, in 1955, which was won by a pro-independence
candidate, David Marshall, who thus became Chief Minister.

Demanding complete self-rule, Marshall led a delegation to London, but was
refused by the British. He resigned upon return, and was replaced by Lim Yew
Hock, whose policies then convinced the British. Singapore was granted full
internal self-government with its own prime minister and Cabinet overseeing
all matters of government except defence and foreign affairs.

Elections were then held on 30 May 1959 with the People's Action Party
winning a landslide victory. Singapore eventually became a self-governing
state within the British Empire on 3 June 1959 and Lee Kuan Yew was sworn in
as the first prime minister of Singapore two days later. Then Governor of
Singapore, Sir William Allmond Codrington Goode, served as the first Yang
di-Pertuan Negara from 3 June 1959 until 3 December 1959. He was succeeded
by Yusof bin Ishak, who would later become the first President of Singapore.

Singapore declared independence from Britain unilaterally in August 1963,
before joining the Federation of Malaysia in September along with Malaya,
Sabah and Sarawak as the result of the 1962 Merger Referendum of Singapore.
Singapore left the federation two years after heated ideological conflict
between the state's PAP government and the federal government in Kuala
Lumpur. Singapore officially gained sovereignty on 9 August 1965. Yusof bin
Ishak was sworn in as President, and Lee Kuan Yew became the first prime
minister of the Republic of Singapore.

While trying to be self-sufficient, the fledging nation faced problems like
mass unemployment, housing shortages, and a dearth of land and natural
resources. During Lee Kuan Yew's term as prime minister from 1959 to 1990,
his administration tackled the problem of widespread unemployment, raised
the standard of living, and implemented a large-scale public housing
programme. It was during this time that the foundation of the country's
economic infrastructure was developed; the threat of racial tension was
curbed; and an independent national defence system centering around
compulsory male military service was created.

In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as Prime Minister. During his tenure, the country faced the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the 2003 SARS outbreak, and terrorist threats posed by Jemaah Islamiyah after the September 11 attacks in the United States. In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister. Amongst his more notable decisions is the plan to open casinos to attract tourism.