Singapore

Singapore Flag

Map of Singapore being distributed into planning areas.

Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered in greenery. More land is being reclaimed for future development. Singapore is also known as Pulau Ujong, but the term is rarely used.

Singapore had been a part of various local empires (most notable is the British Empire) since it was first inhabited in the second century AD. Modern Singapore was founded as a trading post of the East India Company by Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819 with permission from the Sultanate of Johor. The British obtained full sovereignty over the island in 1824 and Singapore became one of the British Straits Settlements in 1826.

Singapore was occupied by the Japanese in World War II and reverted to British rule after the war. It became internally self-governing in 1959. Singapore united with other former British territories to form Malaysia in 1963 after a merger referendum was held in 1962. and became a fully independent state two years later after separation from Malaysia.

Since then it has had a massive increase in wealth and is one of the Four Asian Tigers. The economy depends heavily on the industry and service sectors. Singapore is a world leader in several areas: It is the world's fourth-leading financial centre, the world's second-biggest casino gambling market, and the world's third-largest oil refining centre. The port of Singapore is one of the five busiest ports in the world, most notable for being the busiest transhipment port in the world. The country is home to more US dollar millionaire households per capita than any other country. The World Bank notes Singapore as the easiest place in the world to do business. The country has the world's third highest GDP PPP per capita of US$71,054, making Singapore the 3^rd wealthiest countries in the world.

Singapore is a parliamentary republic with a Westminster system of unicameral parliamentary government. The People's Action Party (PAP) has won every election since the British grant of internal self-government in 1959. The legal system of Singapore has its foundations in the English common law system, but modifications have been made to it over the years, such as the removal of trial by jury. The PAP's popular image is that of a strong, experienced and highly qualified government, backed by a skilled Civil Service and an education system with an emphasis on achievement and meritocracy; but it is perceived by some voters, opposition critics and international observers as being authoritarian and too restrictive on individual freedom.

Some 5.612 million people live in the country, of whom 3.439 million were born locally. Most are of Chinese, Malay or Indian descents. There are four official languages: English, Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Singapore is also one of the five founding members of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) which was established on 8 August 1967, Singapore also hosts the APEC Secretariat, and is a member of the East Asia Summit, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Commonwealth, and the United Nations (UN).

Government

Position	Incumbent	Since
President	Halimah Yacob	14th September 2017
Prime Minister	Lee Hsien Loong	12th August 2004
Deputy Prime Minister	Heng Swee Kiat	1st May 2019
Senior Minister	Teo Chee Hean	1st May 2019
	Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Speaker of Parliament	Tan Chuan Jin	11th September 2017
Deputy Speaker of Parliament	Lim Biow Chuan	25th January 2016
Minister in the Prime Minister's Office	Maliki Osman	27th July 2020
	Tan See Leng
	Indranee Rajah	1st May 2018
Minister for Communications & Information	S. Iswaran	1st May 2018
Minister for Culture, Community & Youth	Edwin Tong	27th July 2020
Minister for Defence	Ng Eng Hen	21st May 2011
Minister for Education	Lawrence Wong	27th July 2020
	Maliki Osman (Second Minister)
Minister for Sustainability and the Environment	Grace Fu	27th July 2020
Minister for Finance	Heng Swee Keat	1st October 2015
	Lawrence Wong (Second Minister)	22th August 2016
	Indranee Rajah (Second Minister)	1st May 2018
Minister for Foreign Affairs	Vivian Balakrishnan	1st October 2015
	Maliki Osman (Second Minister)	27th July 2020
Minister for Health	Gan Kim Yong	21st May 2011
	Masagos Zulkifli (Second Minister)	27th July 2020
Minister for Home Affairs	K. Shanmugam	1st October 2015
	Josephine Teo (Second Minister)	11th September 2017
Minister for Law	K. Shanmugam	1st May 2008
	Indranee Rajah (Second Minister)	1st May 2018
Minister for Manpower	Josephine Teo	1st May 2018
	Tan See Leng (Second Minister)	27th July 2020
Minister for National Development	Desmond Lee	27th July 2020
	Indranee Rajah (Second Minister)
Minister for Social & Family Development	Masagos Zulkifli	27th July 2020
Minister for Trade & Industry	Chan Chun Sing	1st May 2018
	Tan See Leng (Second Minister)	27th July 2020
Minister for Transport	Ong Ye Kung	27th July 2020
Minister-in-charge of Muslims Affairs	Masagos Zulkifli	1st May 2018
Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations	S. Iswaran	1st May 2018

Former territories

• Cocos Island: Sovereignty transferred to Australia on 23 November 1955.
• Christmas Island: Sovereignty transferred to Australia on 1 October 1958.

See Also

• Arab Singaporean
• British Singapore
• Chinese Singaporean
• Indian Singaporean
• Malay Singaporean
• Singaporean cuisine

• Wikipedia article